<p>Any thoughts? Which ones are good? Which ones are bad? Thanks</p>
<p>Truthfully I think ANY of them can probably be good... it just depends on your interests more than anything. They normally get some of the "higher up" profs than what a lot of frosh get outside of the program.</p>
<p>If you haven't already I suggest you go to the FOCUS site and check out where it gives you a break down with descriptions on each course in each focus and such.</p>
<p>thanks for your help-- I've actually already looked at that site and made up a list of the ones i'd like to take- my top choices are global health, exploring the mind, and the genetics one. have any current students had any experiences with these three or heard anything about them?</p>
<p>as a focus alum, i think that there definitely are some misconceptions about the focus program.</p>
<p>sure-- we have "higher up" professors, but it comes at a price. most of my professors only taught graduate school, or have so many fancy titles attached to their name that they haven't taught in many semesters and have instead done research and wrote books. therefore, some were brilliant minds who were clearly experts in their field, but they weren't great TEACHERS... and they especially, at times, couldn't relate to first semster freshmen. i mean, of course, if you're really interested in the topic that could translate to far better mentorship/research/internship/whatever opportunities than if you had a professor who isn't as high up on the duke ladder, but you never know.</p>
<p>my worst professor at duke was in my focus, and one of my best (in terms of great guy, brilliant mind, very "high up" in the department) was from that semester, but wasn't in focus. it just depends who you take. while focus does get some top notch professors, i've seen that so many of the people that students would peg as duke's best professors tend to avoid focus, and instead teach departmental courses that they know would be entirely filled up with junior and senior majors. </p>
<p>as for your choices, i've heard that students have generally enjoyed them, but that they are all among the hardest/most demanding of the focus programs.</p>
<p>I'm fairly curious about the Global Americas focus cluster. Do you know about the quality, workload, social interaction of this cluster? I am interested in doing focus, but don't want to waste my first semester floating through some blow-off speciality seminars.</p>
<p>I know people who did it and said it was more work than my focus (doesn't say much) and they all are still super close friends and many of them are still focusing on what they studied in their focus.</p>
<p>that's the key, i think, when picking a focus. are you interested in just doing focus? or are you actually interested in perhaps majoring in one of the topics you're studying? if it's the latter, then go for it. i found my focus a complete waste because i'm not studying ANYTHING i learned... i just picked a topic that sounded cool to me and did focus for the sake of doing focus. so for me, it was a complete waste of a semester (something which is bothering me as i'm fulfilling major requirements and still trying to go abroad).</p>
<p>do we really have to write about all six choices for the focus clusters?/ make 6 choices. what if you're really only interested in participating in 3 or 4 of them?</p>