<p>How cut throat is Duke and how hard is it to get a good grade in the classes compared to the Ivies? Is there a lot of grade deflation?</p>
<p>Grade inflation is comparable to the Ivies. FWIW, my GPA is quite high and I don't feel I've ever had to be cutthroat to get it. But then again, I'm not pre-med, so I might be missing out. ;)</p>
<p>not meaning to offend and am being completely serious. i want to know before i actually go there lol</p>
<p>how's your social life while maintaining grades at duke? is it one or the other or what?</p>
<p>Duke is pretty much defined by "Work hard, Play hard." Not gonna lie, everyone has nights when they'd rather go out but they have to stay in and write a paper/study for a midterm/etc. Especially around finals time. But EVERYONE, even if they're overloading/pre-med/engineering/whatever else is defined as tough, has time to do whatever they want socially - whether it's getting wasted at frat parties or hanging out around the dorm with friends. I don't know anyone that never does anything but study, and I don't know anyone who always parties and never does any work. Everyone is basically somewhere in the middle - depending on the person and the work schedule, the mixture of work & play varies, but everyone has some sort of a balance.</p>
<p>There's definitely a majority sense of balance...</p>
<p>you'll always see notorious partiers at Bostock, but I know people who don't ever go out-- who didn't even celebrate LDOC because of finals the following week, etc. Those GPAs are ridiculously high, but I feel that they're sacrificing a beautiful part of Duke and college in general.</p>
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how's your social life while maintaining grades at duke? is it one or the other or what?
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<p>Based on my personal experience, you don't have to sacrifice one for the other. I don't spend very much time studying, but I've still managed to maintain a near-perfect GPA (got one A-, grr :p). Most people seem pretty capable of striking a healthy balance. It's a matter of being efficient and knowing your own capabilities, so you can best allocate time to each class.</p>
<p>bandcampgirl-- why must work and play be mutually exclusive things? i really hope there are those who truly enjoys learning and sees-- at least-- some of the "work" as pure pleasure.</p>
<p>Chlor, I remember you saying this same thing to me on another thread. "Work hard, play hard" is a common saying that is used at schools across the country, not just Duke. Of course most people study subjects that they love, or else there would be no point in taking those classes, and I'm sure most people enjoy what they're learning. But you really can't compare a night of hanging out with friends with hours spent secluded in the basement of a library studying for a final. Come on, now.</p>
<p>I agree-
at Duke, for most students, work and play are not mutually exclusive. I for one, find tremendous happiness in pleasure in the majority of what I am studying-- especially as I take higher level courses within my areas of concentration. Most Duke students find some level of happiness in what they are studying, otherwise they wouldn't be studying it at Duke.</p>
<p>However, there is an important difference that bandcampgirl points out-- there is a difference between studying and hanging out, no matter how much you love what you're doing. For example, I take a lot of film classes and have to analyze films and write papers very often and I find this fun, however, I don't see it as 'play' because I think of 'play' as when I'm pretty carefree. Even though work can be fun, it is for a grade and it does count and does matter, so there is, at least for me, a difference between work and play in that regard.</p>
<p>I read somewhere above that grade inflation at Duke is common. While this may be true for most humanities, I would say that the more popular/less subjective study areas. For instance, most engineering, economics, mathematics, natural sciences, etc are usually graded very toughly and with a bell curve. You'll find it rare to know many people who have taken a significant number of courses in any of those areas with a spotless, straight-A record.</p>
<p>yeah, i would definitely say that grade inflation is not something seen in the sciences. I understand more in my college classes than I did in my high school classes, and I still end up with Bs in my classes because of the curve...and because the professors sometimes grade theirs tests weirdly.</p>
<p>I never said grade inflation was common. I said it was comparable to the Ivies, which is what the OP asked about, and also happens to be true.</p>