<p>Am I going to regret it?</p>
<p>Me neither. None looked really interesting to me. I'd rather pick individual classes that interest me.</p>
<p>I decided not to do focus...there was only one I liked and I heard that it is the most competitive one to get into...so I didn't really feel like writing 6 essays and not getting into the one I actually wanted.</p>
<p>It doesn't appeal to me very much. None of the clusters were very exciting to me, I'm going to have a full enough schedule as is, and I prefer to get to know a wide variety of people without being glued to one particular group. That's just me, though, and my tastes. There are some people who are perfect for FOCUS, and they just aren't me.</p>
<p>Remember, in the end, only a certain number of people will get to do FOCUS...most of our class will not be doing it.</p>
<p>Looking back on it, doing FOCUS did not make or break my college experience. The only thing it did was give me a group of friends in my dorm... which I could have done perfectly well on my own. I did not get into my top choice (or even one of my top three choices, for that matter) but still decided to stick with it. I mean, the positive aspect was that I got my writing and seminar out of the way right away without having to worry about registration windows and such, but I wish I could have taken one of my seminars from FOCUS and replaced it with a course to count towards one of my majors... not that I am now in a crunch for time due to FOCUS or anything. I guess my main point is that if there's not a topic that interests you, don't do it, and don't worry about the fact that you're not doing it.</p>
<p>In all likelihood, you won't regret it. I did it this past year, and although I don't regret the experience, I would choose not to do it if I faced the choice again. The reason is that Duke has so many interesting classes that I think it's better to explore a variety of your interests. Three classes of classics was a bit too much for me. I think I could have taken one class on ancient Greece and that would have been enough.</p>
<p>This comment, however, does not mean that FOCUS is by any means a program that is bad or that you should not do. For some people, the small classes present the perfect transition from high school to college. Also, some clusters have more positive experiences than others. The profs are really the deciding the factor.</p>
<p>The best part about focus was having classes with kids in my dorm.
And then second semester I realized that I was still taking classes with kids in my dorm.</p>
<p>If I had a time machine, I'd go back and not do focus... but it does provide for some wonderfully hilarious stories we all like to joke about.</p>
<p>I don't think you will regret it unless they somehow dramatically improved the focus program. I didn't do focus but a few of my friends' experiences with focus were lower than what they expected.</p>
<p>I probably won't do focus either because none of the clusters really appealed to me. Although, I do like the whole small independant discussions with your FOCUS group.</p>
<p>i'm not doing focus. just too much focus on one topic for me literally.</p>
<p>Question, is FOCUS a lot of extra work? Is it tough to balance FOCUS with other hard courses?</p>
<p>I'd say it depends on the course. For me, it wasn't a problem. I did FOCUS with Chem 21, so there was a great difference in the work. FOCUS is very reading and writing intensive... you are taking a writing class and two seminars, after all. Chem was much more quantitative, so I would sometimes do my chem work in order to take a break from all of the subjectiveness of my other classes. I feel that both of my semesters were weighted equally with regard to work... it's just that the work in FOCUS is enforced, while doing the work for the classes I took second semester wasn't as much, so I found myself slacking a little bit, and paying for it when tests and finals came around.</p>