<p>"Need" is a funny word, of course, no one really "needs" a car at most schools. I am sure that there are lots of kids at Duke who don't have cars and are happy. My question really is, if you are at Duke, are you likely to wish that you had a car? Are you going to feel trapped/isolated/left out/whatever if you are one of the kids who doesn't have a car? Is it convenient/inconvenient to have one?</p>
<p>well since I have a car and have had one at Duke for close to 2 years. I’d say yes, I’d feel very much inconvenienced if I don’t have a car.</p>
<p>Our son did not take his car. Part of his choice was financial (he pays for the insurance). There have been times, I am sure, where he would have preferred to have it, but on balance he must be fine with the choice, because he is a junior and his car is still here. He’ll be living off campus next year and will take his car. Other friends will be living in the same building as seniors and will not have cars.</p>
<p>You can make it work either way.</p>
<p>My D was accepted for next year but we haven’t yet visited. The Duke website mentions a Zip Car program. Has anyone tried using one of these cars? Does the program seem to work well? Our D wasn’t planning to take a car to college.</p>
<p>This is really helpful, mafool and SBR. Any other input would be appreciated!</p>
<p>the zipcar program is pretty good, I talked to some students about it</p>
<p>it sucks though because the zipcars are priuses.</p>
<p>Of course it is very convenient to have a car, and many students do. The best parking/living situation is actually on East Campus where the freshmen are housed. As it happened, many of our son’s friends have cars and he will go along on grocery runs and such. He is an excellent driver, so he is often nominated to drive on longer trips. I think he has borrowed a car from his very good friend exactly once, and that was to pick up a mutual friend from the airport.</p>
<p>Actually parking is very good on central too, probably even better than on East. I can look out my bedroom window and see my car. I use my car for a couple of things that I do regularly, thus it’s very convenient. </p>
<p>1) I go to church in raleigh every sunday, so having a car is almost a necessity
2) I go to grocery stores at least twice a month
3) I live on central where there are basically no university services of any kind so if I want to go to the library, gym, my lab, McDonalds etc at night, I’d have to wait for a bus or take my car
4) I’m pretty spontaneous in what I do. Having a car helps me to just hop in and be off. Obviously can’t do that without one.
5) I’m living off campus next year –> need a car</p>
<p>Other reasons why a car is good for me personally:</p>
<p>1) I live reasonably close to Duke that driving there isn’t a huge undertaking. Having a car allows me to take stuff home or bring stuff to Duke that I couldn’t if I didn’t drive
2) It’s cheaper to drive to Duke
3) More convenient schedule-wise
4) More freedom for me while at Duke to go places, especially places not local</p>
<p>So yeah, if you don’t do any of the above all that much, having a car might not benefit you as much. But those are my reasons for saying going without one would be a huge inconvenience for me.</p>
<p>Bump if anyone else has an opinion or experience to offer…</p>