Freshman Dorms at Duke (Substance-Free and Performing Arts)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

Hi, everyone! Just wondering about the freshman dorms at Duke. I’m especially interested in the substance-free and performing arts housing. Does anyone have an insider’s perspective to offer on the different atmospheres, social and study scenes, and/or people (noise level, parties, etc.)? And on that note, what’s it like to live in NEITHER of these; in a “normal” East campus dorm?

[Side note: I know it’s pretty early to be worrying about this, but I decided to just let the question float around in the forums anyway. All the other threads about Duke freshman housing seem pretty outdated, and (who knows?) maybe this can help other future Blue Devils. :smiley: ]

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Hi! I am currently a freshman a Duke who lives in Jarvis (the substance-free dorm). I really enjoy it, even though it is one of the oldest buildings on Duke’s campus. It feels very homey and it is nice to be surrounded by people who don’t enjoy drinking. However, because these people don’t usually go out, there are always a lot of people just hanging out in the dorm. This could be a good or bad thing. The people in Jarvis are usually VERY close. I have heard great things about the performing arts dorm as well. The other dorms are all decent, I am sure you will be happy wherever you end up. :slight_smile: Let me know if you have any other questions.
P.S. - There is a bit of a stigma associated with living in Jarvis, but it isn’t that big of a deal.

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Also a current freshman, I live in Giles, which this year has kind of gained a reputation as being full of troublemakers (getting EMS’d, flipping benches, fires…) but at least it’s exciting. Pegram (the arts building) is also referred to as the weed dorm and in my personal opinion, it’s not an exaggeration. Cheers.

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^ I agree, there is a lot of drug-use in the performing arts dorm, but there are also plenty of students in the performing arts dorm who did not indicate a preference to live there. I love the performing arts, but I live in a different dorm and do not feel as if I am missing out. The performing arts dorm is also very loud, people are always playing music. On the other hand, there is a piano in each freshmen dorm, and there are people I jam out with in my common room all the time. And I am happy that my dorm is almost as close to the music building as the performing arts dorm is.