<p>Wait a sec, why is my post (#17) before runawa's post (#18)?? I posted in response to him! Must be a board bug or something...</p>
<p>I see it cavalier. :p</p>
<p>Runawa: Nice post - I like the colors comment. Please consider Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Agreed! Every college has skeletons in its college...ours just happens to be open at the moment.</p>
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not all white people down there are bad
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<p>Actually most white people down here are not bad. ;)</p>
<p>Runaway - I definitely agree with BigGreen - you have many options open to you and should consider all of them fully, with eyes wide open to all the realities of colleges and all the opportunities and challenges they represent. And, certainly, if you have any questions about Duke, there are several Duke people here - students and parents and (at least one) faculty who will seek to give you our honest answers.</p>
<p>Runawa~</p>
<p>It sounds like Duke would be lucky to get you, so I hope you give it full consideration! </p>
<p>My son is an EXTREMELY happy (and successful) freshman at Duke this year. Duke has been everything he thought it would be...and more. I can personally attest to the southern hospitality that you cited because we experienced that throughout our visit to Durham when we were dropping off our son last August. I have never met a finer group of people--adults and kids alike--than I met at Duke during that week. (And trust me, I KNOW hospitality...I'm a TEXAN!! :))</p>
<p>Incidentally, one of the reasons my son chose Duke was precisely for its diversity. We live in a relatively homogenous small town in Kansas, and as the only Jew in his school (besides his sister! <em>lol</em>), my son experienced ongoing anti-Semitic attitudes/actions for the entirety of his h.s. career. On each trip he has made home during breaks, my son has remarked how fabulous the interaction has been at Duke--his best friend there is black/hispanic, and many if not most of his friends are of different races and ethnicities than he. This type of interaction, where friendships are NOT based on color or ethnicity or religion was what he was so hoping for at Duke, and Duke has definitely NOT disappointed him.</p>
<p>So, if you DO end up there, I hope you two find each other because like you, my son "loves people, not colors"!</p>
<p>Best of luck with your difficult decision...btw, my son had a hard choice too.....he was also accepted to Penn (in the Vagelos Program) and JHU (with the Hodson Scholarship) and some other fine schools, but Duke won out!</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>berurah~and we're all so glad!!!!!!!</p>
<p>From what I've seen in the media, I'm quite surprised at how they've treated the entire lax team. How do you convict everyone for the actions of a few? It's like the Duke student body, and administraton, has thrown out the entire legal justice system. This is heavy handed and unAmerican. </p>
<p>I'm sorry, but I have some serious doubts about what this woman reported. This 911 call about the racial slur really has me questioning what transpired that night. The address for the lax house isn't visable, yet the caller had the exact address??? Highly suspicious. I've seen false sexual assault accusations before and this one smells of a setup.</p>
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berurah~and we're all so glad!!!!!!!
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irish~</p>
<p>Hey sweetie!! Sooooooooooooo glad that your son is at Duke also, and also soooooooooooo glad to have you as a fellow Duke mom! :)</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>Runawa~ see ^^ very friendly people at Duke. (and great parents!!!!!!~thanks, berurah!!!!!!!!) My son has loved everything, but particularly all the different people he has met--and sports, especially basketball!!!!!!!!! He can't believe his first year is almost over--it's been everything he dreamed it would be (and this had been his dream school since he was in grade school!!!!!) and then some. So glad your visit to Duke was a good one, sounds like it would be a wonderful fit for you!!
Good luck, and congratulations on being accepted!!!!!!!!!</p>
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Deciding not to enroll at Duke is a way of letting the ignorants win. If I love that school, I will go there, period.
...btw; on my visit down, very happy to experience a vibrant black community that is very supportive of one another. did not get to see that much interaction between races, but that better change when I get there b/c I love people, not colors
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<p>That is one of the most positive and promising comments I have seen on any board that discusses the lax incident. Keep it up and please come! You seem like the type of kid who will probably go places no matter where you end up, but I hope you'll go places here!</p>
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He can't believe his first year is almost over
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</p>
<p>Tell him to enjoy the next three because they will go by just as quickly :(</p>
<p>hey.. im a gurl from bangladesh...(look it up!!!)..iv nevr been to america...n iv been accepted to Duke with an awesum scholarship..the lacrosse scandal really scared me at first...guess wat on the morning of the admission release(i live one the other side of the world if ur still not finding it!) any ways..i woke uo n saw the news bout the lax thingy...n then chekd the web..hehe...it was wierd to say the least...but who cares rite? i luv Duke..n my dreams r not gna be spoiled by sum few perverts and sum overzealous news reporting...thanx u guys..reading these msgs have made me less apprehensive...DUKE HERE I HOPEFULLY COME!!(VIsas here is a *****!!)</p>
<p>The LAX scandal is not going to affect my decision at all...I've wanted to come to Duke ever since I heard about it when I was 8...and I'm not going to let some fools stop me.</p>
<p>My wife and I went to Duke and I was a serious, full time scholarship athlete there with a deep appreciation of Division 1 sports. And my daughter just got admitted to Duke this past week. My wife and both have stayed involved in the school and know quite a bit about it - and have sent our daughters to the academic summer camps at Duke as well. In sum, while laying no claim to knowing the be all and end all about Duke, we know a lot about it, and are hardly uninformed. </p>
<p>And I must state that without equivocation that we are very concerned about what happened with the Lacrosse team. It is not easy to quantify, but the lacrosse team's antics revealed a part of the University that has always been there (and frankly, at a lot of other campuses, too) that we never liked. Perhaps it is unrealistic to think that we should expect more from Duke students, but I sure as heck know that if I had an off-campus party with my team that featured adult entertainment, my athletic scholarship would be at risk and likely gone (witness that my team parties at my apartment were spaghetti dinners with only beer - legal then for 18 years and older- with both women and men attending and helping to make the dinner and party be fun and appropriate for college age people). At some level the school is at fault. The posters here who call parents naive do not understand the degree of distress this incident has placed upon people like me who know the school well. As I said, it has revealed an element of Duke we never liked, and it is sad to see that that element still exists and was, whether the behavior ends up being criminal, the apparent cause of some really insensitive behavior. I used to run 15 miles or so on Sunday morning, venturing into Durham neighborhoods so poor the streets were not paved. It impacted me. And my instincts, like those my friends, was to be respectful of people in such a tragic situation. It is appalling to think these rich, spoiled kids treated people from these circumstances like property, without dignity (no matter what the criminal slant may be or whether the victim is telling the truth). I am not so sure that this incident is in an of itself a reason not to attend, but I would look to carefully measure whether that element will likely survive at Duke.</p>
<p>I am so excited that they accepted me and I know that every school isn't perfect.
But I am just waiting on their financial aid offer and I hope it compares very well with Penn and Dartmouths.</p>
<p>The media has handled this case in a completely immature fashion, practically convicting those on the lacrosse team before the DNA tests come back! There is no evidence at this point, only accusations. I have been following the newspapers closely (here in Raleigh, it's front page news everyday) and it seems like the reporters are simply repeating the same information....</p>
<p>...because they have hardly any real evidence to make a conviction.</p>
<p>My boyfriend and I were both accepted into Duke. He plays lacrosse, and I could not tell you the number of immature comments I have received because of that. The whole situation is completely stupid. </p>
<p>A few weeks ago, two students fell out a UNC dorm window. Then an alumnus drove his Jeep into UNC's Pit (the main gathering space for students) in what he said was a "terrorist attack", sending 9 kids to the hospital. Both incidents were scarcely reported in the local papers. Why?</p>
<p>It's because Duke is seen as such a prestigious university. People will gobble up any information that attempts to dampen its reputation. However, I hope that we all know better than to pass judgment before it's warranted.</p>
<p>mam1959 I agree with you. Apparently there is a disconnect with the values of Duke and Durham. It this lack of shared values that imparts conflict. How does empathy, self respect, common values manifest itself in the Duke community? I am heartened to read that you, an alum, have distress about your alma mater and the situation.</p>
<p>mam1959: Well put.</p>