<p>I have been accepted at Duke and other equivalent ivy schools.</p>
<p>I visited on Blue Devil Days -- great weather and wonderful speech by Sam Wells. </p>
<p>I am ready to go, but wonder . . .</p>
<p>I can't imagine my social life being beer with the guys and talking about f****** basketball for the next four years!! Could I be more bored?</p>
<p>Unless someone can prove to me that there is more to Duke social life than sports talk, I'm outta here!! I want smart friends and intellectual conversation; I want study groups: I want people who don't need to paint their faces on weekends.</p>
<p>Do these people exist at Duke in sufficient numbers that one can stumble upon them and have a life together? Further, although frats are only 30% of campus, I was told at BDD that they basically set the tone and activity level for the balance of the 70%. I truly cannot imagine something so boring . . .ugh.</p>
<p>But, on the other hand, Duke science is the beast. I am paralyzed: good days at Duke science, bad nights at Duke socials. Help.</p>
<p>Liking sports does not make people stupid. Don’t be so judgemental. Not everyone at Duke is obsessed with basketball and drinking, but if you’re going to speak so condescendingly towards people that are then no one is really going to want you there. So go on ahead to your “equivalent ivy schools.” No one will be weeping due to the lack of your presence.</p>
<p>I went to BDD earlier this week. The people I talked to constantly said that even if you’re not involved with greek life, you will find LOTS of other social events to occupy yourself with. </p>
<p>And I can’t even take the rest of your comments seriously. Really? I’m sure people want to go to Duke more than you, so do us all a favor, and go somewhere else.</p>
<p>You know, I can’t imagine 4 years of swilling beer and talking basketball either. But there’s a flip side to the coin. Instead of asking others to serve social activities to you on a silver platter (though there are decidedly many social/activity groups for all interests on campus), have you thought about taking the initiative and imagining how you can make a contribution by creating something new? </p>
<p>As an example, during my time at Duke, my friend found a group of friends and introduced them to his passion for all things involving nerf guns. Then he made running around campus in nerf battlegear for epic skirmishes a semi-regular event on the weekends for us. While that may sound incredibly nerdy, he managed to create something that he enjoyed when he couldn’t find it on campus. </p>
<p>So instead of asking where the non-beer-swilling, non-basketball-obsessed people are, why not start with yourself and try to see if you can find something that you can pursue at Duke? Then try basing your decision off that. As cliche as it sounds, college is in many ways what you make of it, so stop trying to find others to prepackage it into what you want. </p>
<p>… fraternities aren’t into basketball Nearly as much as independents. But honestly… if you’re gonna be so judgmental about a few kids having fun in the last few weeks of school (or even their college career)… big deal. I hate to say this, but go ahead somewhere else if you’re gonna be so basic and judgmental</p>
<p>I don’t know about the rest of you, but if you don’t make judgments I don’t know how you can make decisions. Maybe the word “critical,” is what you were trying to say. But, yes, making a judgment call is exactly what deciding which college to attend is all about. It is self-evident that one can make one’s own way in any setting – college being only one such setting. I was using the beer-swilling basketball rubes as my analogy to overall Duke culture. If that is the underlying culture that one must work against or find one’s way around, etc. etc. then you really haven’t helped matters by simply stating that there are “other” ways to enjoy Duke life. I was trying to get a fix on the fact that, yes indeed, beer-frat-basketball is the framework culture of Duke versus (as a contrast) the intellectual-fun-in-the-sun of Stanford or the residential close college system of Yale. I thank you all for doing me the favor of confirming that Duke indeed is a frat-based social culture that one must work around in order to build a decent personal life. I will have to think about this and weight that against all the benefits of Duke classwork which, in my limited experience, seems excellent.</p>
<p>That’s not actually true. I wasn’t in a frat and had a great enjoyable time at Duke without much difficulty. And I was in Pratt. I had many friends in the Greek system, though, and they enjoyed it greatly. And some friends not in the Greek system - it didn’t really matter, everybody hung out. I’ll say that the majority of organized parties/etc are through the Greek system simply because they are larger organizations that can pull off such events. But there are plenty of other social avenues on and off campus and it’s not difficult to find them/find people to partake in them. </p>
<p>In regards to athletics, you’d be shocked at how many people don’t go to a single basketball game in their four years. I was. I personally enjoy sports and going to games gives me a sense of community as well as being really fun, which I find fairly unique to Duke (sense of unity among the student body that is developed by sports), but you’ll have plenty of classmates at Duke who don’t care. The student section seats about 1,500 and there are more than 6,000 undergrads, so a full 75% of students don’t attend a given game.</p>
<p>I think people above understand your concerns, they were just a bit offended by the tone of your original post. You shouldn’t dismiss people as ridiculous or non-academic simply because they are into athletics or because they enjoy the benefits a fraternity gives them. You’ll be missing out on a sizable contingent of individuals that can make your experience more enriching. Duke is a diverse community and really anybody can find their niche, but you’ll grow more as an individual in four years (and have more fun) if you keep an open mind to all sorts of people. Good luck.</p>
I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone characterize Stanford as being an intellectual place. You may need to reevaluate your conception of the “framework culture” at most of these schools, including Duke.</p>
<p>OP - you’d be better off somewhere else. You’ve already made your final judgement on our school, and no amount of advice is going to persuade you otherwise. Open up a spot on the waitlist for someone who wants to be here. </p>
<p>It sounds like you’ve already judged Duke, but if you’re still keeping an open mind, I think it’s worth noting that alcohol and partying make up the most visible aspect of the social scene at most schools. Duke campus culture isn’t without its flaws, but I don’t think it’s substantially different from any other top-10 school. This observation is based on conversations I’ve had with friends at Chicago and Yale, among other schools. Was I surprised by the prevalence of drinking when I got to Duke? Certainly, but my friends at other schools were just as surprised.</p>
<p>Also, admitted student weekends give you a small snapshot of the social atmosphere at a school, so you shouldn’t use these weekends alone to make final judgments. For instance, if you had met me during BDD, you might be left thinking that Duke social life is full of watching 30 Rock late at night, playing video games, and eating out at random ethnic restaurants in downtown Durham. There are plenty of people who live for intellectual discourse here, there are plenty of frat bros who party all weekend, and there are plenty of people who are in-between. Whichever group is the majority isn’t important; what’s important is that we embrace the variety.</p>