Hey everybody!
I’m a prospective Duke student, and recently have been seeing a bunch of posts about how people hated their Duke experience. When I visited campus last fall, I had a great impression of the school, and as a big sports fan, getting to watch Duke basketball is definitely enticing! Prior to these posts, I considered Duke to be one of my top schools (probably in my top 2 or 3), however, the recent posts have made me reconsider to an extent based on the social scene. I’m a fairly reserved, short, Indian male, and although I’m relatively athletic, I definitely do not look the part. If admitted, I will be majoring in computer science, and as a sports fan I definitely look forward to tenting in K-ville. In high school, I’m fairly well known and have several popular friends/acquaintances (mostly since I played football all four years), however my best friends are all Indian/Asian. Despite my connections, I have never been to a high school party or partaken in any illegal substances. Based on my brief description, do you think Duke would be a good place for me socially?
Many thanks, and I wish all of my fellow applicants good luck for tomorrow!
Yes, I think Duke would be a great fit for you and I’d trust your instincts. You sound like the prototypical Duke student. I wouldn’t worry about a couple posts by anonymous internet posters about a given school. It’s not necessarily representative of the thousands of people that attend the university and you can see with survey data that Duke students have extremely high satisfaction rates and very low transfer rates. (I’m not dismissing those other posters certainly as I think they brought up some good and interesting points – I simply wouldn’t let that cloud your judgment to come to the conclusion that your experience will be identical to theirs). Duke students are generally a happy bunch that are very welcoming to all types of people – with a strong sense of community and great weather which fosters fun activities outside and just hanging out on the quad and having conversations.
Based on your gut instinct and the description of yourself, I think you’d fit in well at Duke and really enjoy the experience if given the opportunity. I was a similar individual to you in high school (reserved, sports fan, planning to major in engineering, looking forward to K-ville, although I’d say I did NOT have several popular friends in high school…) and had a fantastic social and academic experience at Duke.
Good luck!
Agree with bluedog. If you were my son I advise you to honestly follow your instincts. And congratulations on your admission to Duke.
@bluedog right on. Duke is a great place.
If you are antisocial, like to retreat to your room and read all night, and don’t like social sports activities then look elsewhere. Otherwise for the vast majority of students Duke is a great place.
Hi, I’m an Asian male. You may have seen my thread on having a bad time at Duke, but I think I concluded saying that most of it was my own fault.
I think you’ll do well at Duke. From what you have described, you might find out that SLGs like Mirecourt, Maxwell, and maybe ever some fraternities like PiKapp may interest you as they have similarly described people there. My only warning is that the work at Duke is hard. The academics is tough, and having fun (finding the time and finding the right people) is tough as well. But with a good self-esteem you can go far and overcome the mental game. If I were you, I’d try to enjoy myself by attending a high school party or two. It won’t hurt, but only help as it’s always good to let loose 