Note to CCers about Duke

[John117]

<p>Hello everyone.</p>

<p>Recently on CC, I have just realized how many CCers bash Duke and the Duke CC "Homer-Dukes" who bash other schools.
Based on a recent poll conducted by myself, I see that a disturbing amount of people hate Duke for some unexplained reason.
Actually I believe the reason is because of the Homer-Dukes who mindlessly promote Duke over the expense of other great schools such as Brown, Columbia, Amherts, etc...even Harvard.</p>

<p>I want to apologize on their behalf. I'm really sorry about these stupid people claiming Duke to be better than Harvard, if they exist. I personally do have school spirit. I LOVE Duke. But I won't bash other schools for it. And if a CC student is planning a career on engineering, I would 100% advocate him to choose MIT or Cornell over Duke.
If you look at my post history, I am a very reasonable person at best. The only times I give aggressive answers is when people randomly hate on Duke and bash it.</p>

<p>For one, I really have no need to prove Duke's greatness. It is a great and prestigious school in America. I'm not going to argue that its better than Columbia or Berkeley or Yale, and I want you all to recognize this and leave it at that. Why? Because these are PEER schools of Duke. Peer = friends. You don't say one friend is better than the other, because that isn't true friendship. That's arrogance and contempt.
Prestige-wise, Yale is probably better than UCLA. But that doesn't mean Yale is a better school. It just means that one of your friends is popular, and the other is a bit introverted. Being popular doesn't make you any better in life--that reasoning is SO HIGH SCHOOL. I mean do you ever try to hang out more often with your school's USAMO/Intel Finalist winner over the 3.4 GPA average student? IF you you say yes, then you're beyond repair.</p>

<p>So, anyway, going back to my previous argument. Please stop bashing Duke. It's all I ask. From time to time, you may meet these "Homer-Dukes" (not pointing out names), but please don't debunk Duke. Have fun debunking them.
Besides, its been a while since I've personally seen these Homers myself here at CC.</p>

<p>Whenever you see a Duke vs Stanford thread, stop saying "Duke sux, go stanford cuz its HYPSM" because that's just ridiculous. Stanford and Duke are America's top universities. Its time you give reasonable answers that concern money, department, social life, atmosphere, etc.</p>

<p>Thanks, everyone.</p>

[xrCalico23]

<p>

Based on a recent poll conducted by myself…

</p>

<p>Is this “poll” in High School Life the poll you’re talking about? </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/937830-there-any-universities-you-hate.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/937830-there-any-universities-you-hate.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>People were just ranting about random schools, and no one was truly taking the “poll” seriously. Sometimes people say that they “hate” a certain school because they may dislike someone who attends the institution, dislike someone who they associate with the school, or they themselves were rejected from the school (which admittedly was not the case in the HSL thread since most of the posters were sophomores and juniors who probably have not even seriously researched college options yet). For most of the supposedly “Duke-haters”, if you offer them the chance to be admitted to Duke many would be more than happy to accept the offer. In addition, the “poll” was such an informal survey; you really can’t reach any meaningful conclusion from such a small and self selective sample size. And don’t worry - I don’t know any one in real life who hates Duke.</p>

<p>

For one, I really have no need to prove Duke’s greatness.

</p>

<p>Exactly. You have no need to prove that to anyone. Duke remains a great school no matter what a few people think :).</p>

[p_hp_fan]

<p>Haha, this is a really interesting post. I think my favorite part is “peer = friends”, lol. </p>

<p>Hmm…where to start. John, I think your first mistake is to assume that CC matters. Who cares what people on here think, jeez, don’t let it upset you. The main benefit CC is information transfer. Maybe I know something that you don’t and I can help you out, give you some advice from my experience. All of the other stuff is essentially blabber–no need to take it so seriously. Commanding people on what to say and what not to say tells people more about you than it does influence themselves.</p>

<p>If you’re coming to Duke then I suggest you just get used to people saying that Duke sucks for no good reason…that’s part of being at Duke. Sometimes it’s just in good fun and sometimes they’re serious, but it doesn’t really matter either way. CC is very good at making people feel insecure about themselves, their accomplishments, and their decisions. If you like Duke, then cool…see you there. If other people don’t…meh.</p>

<p>Moreover, there’s no need to apologize for your fellow Dukies. Just because you were accepted into Duke doesn’t mean you are the same person as everyone at Duke. Let them speak for themselves and you can argue with them if you want, but don’t try to speak for them. Once you get on campus you’re going to find a lot of people you don’t like and a lot of people you just fundamentally disagree with. But that’s OK…you can argue with them about it or you can just let it go…but no need to write a treatise trying to prevent such arguments in the first place.</p>

[TippuSultan]

<p>I bet people will start worshiping Duke as a holy place when a direct descendant of Saint Ramanuja starts attending classes there. Don’t worry, all hatred will end with his holiness’ presence. Peace.</p>

<p>@p<em>hp</em>fan I like your attitude. It is the presence of people like you that make Duke a great place for education.</p>

[SBR]

<p>ahhh youthful idealism…how refreshing…let’s keep it from wandering into presumption shall we?</p>

[lesdiablesbleus]

<p>They hate us because they will all be working for us one day.</p>

[eatsalot]

<p>

John, I think your first mistake is to assume that CC matters. Who cares what people on here think, jeez

</p>

<p>Amen.</p>

<p>

And if a CC student is planning a career on engineering, I would 100% advocate him to choose MIT or Cornell over Duke.

</p>

<p>Yet, you say

Prestige-wise, Yale is probably better than UCLA. But that doesn’t mean Yale is a better school

</p>

<p>Come to Duke first and realize that the difference in these perceived “differences” in schools is miniscule and negligible. If a student wantEd a well-rounded engineering education and wants a life that only Duke offers, why go to MIT/Cornell when you can get a comparable education at Duke? The problem with many on CC is that when they see “HYPSM,” they ignore other great schools that offer similar environments and a great education like Duke, Penn, Columbia, UChicago, etcetc.</p>

[p_hp_fan]

<p>Haha, “Come to Duke first and realize that the difference in these perceived ‘differences’ in schools is miniscule and negligible.” That’s extremely true. While there are significant differences between universities, those differences are usually in insignificant places–or at least not where you might expect. For example, Duke has an all-freshman campus. That is <em>really</em> different, but it doesn’t make Duke a “better” or “worse” school in any sense that I can think of. I liked it, but…it’s not like I can’t envision an alternative setup that wouldn’t work just as well. The things that are really going to define your life at Duke cannot even begin to be captured by something like USNWR–it’s the small, arbitrary, and often unpredictable things that give a university its character. That said, I kind of have a problem with you (John) calling Duke great without even experiencing it (assuming you don’t live in Durham, etc.). How do you know it’s great? I hope not because USNWR told you so. Some people come to Duke and hate it and transfer (or hate it and don’t transfer). Some people hate it their freshman year and love it for the rest of their time.</p>

<p>In a way, CC and USNWR remind me of the game maffia. The (simplified) premise of the game is that you’re supposed to figure out who is the maffia and who isn’t–but you have no evidence to go on! Because there’s usually no way to even begin to make an educated guess about who’s who, people usually just start making up very shaky evidence–just so they have something to go on. For example, “they’re blinking too much, they must be in the maffia.” People who’ve played the game know that a lot of times these arbitrary “reasons” are wrong and you end up killing the townspeople accidentally.</p>

<p>The game is similar to college selection and what makes a college “great”. It’s really difficult to ever know if a college experience was “great”. For example, after my freshman year I thought Duke was just a mediocre place. I liked it OK but wouldn’t dare to call it “great”. But after my sophomore year, I thought Duke was an incredible place. Maybe next year I’ll think it’s dull again. But if it’s hard to tell whether or not a place is great after being there even for a year, then using USNWR rankings without even ever experiencing the place is like trying to grasp for reasons when you don’t really have any. Calling Duke great because it ranked 10th on USNWR is similar to saying you’re the maffia because you’re blinking too much–you’re basically inventing reasons out of your true lack for any.</p>

[gunit5]

<p>People just hate Duke because: </p>

<p>1) Their favorite basketball team was one of those schools that got whooped by a smaller school (i.e. St. Mary’s, Northern Iowa)
2) They flat out got rejected and so they have to use ego defense mechanisms (or any other methods to defend their big ego) to save their sorry tushes.
3) The school they are going to just can’t take compete with Duke (like the person in John117’s thread who said [and I paraphrase]: screw Duke, I’m going to Maryland)
4) They go to UNC <–self explanatory (BTW, maybe the UNC Tar Heels should go to the gulf coast and go for a swim, I mean part of what is washing up on shore is Tar, it would be like heaven for them)</p>

[Cuse0507]

<p>

4. They go to UNC <–self explanatory (BTW, maybe the UNC Tar Heels should go to the gulf coast and go for a swim, I mean part of what is washing up on shore is Tar, it would be like heaven for them)

</p>

<p>I’d rather swim in the ocean than swirl in the toilet, which is what Dook does. :)</p>

<p>People hate Duke because Dukies think that they are God’s gift to the world. People hate Duke’s basketball team because it is overly hyped. That’s it. No other reasons.</p>

[gunit5]

<p>

I’d rather swim in the ocean than swirl in the toilet, which is what Dook does.

What’s a Dook? Clearly you are evidence that UNC don’t know what they are taking about or how to use the English language. They don’t even know how to use the correct term. “Dook” is not a word, maybe you should go English.</p>

<p>

People hate Duke because Dukies think that they are God’s gift to the world. People hate Duke’s basketball team because it is overly hyped. That’s it. No other reasons.

Evidence that Duke’s think we are God’s gift? The players might not be God’s gift, but they are gifted.
Also, I don’t think it is overly hyped. Lasted time I checked, Duke won the NCAA Championship. What about UNC? Ehhh, they went from National Champions to third to last in the ACC, ouch. Sorry, but there is clear evidence that that we are not overly hyped. There is a clear reason for all that hype, it’s because we have risen to the top.</p>

[Cuse0507]

<p>Here’s a hint : if you are going to call someone out for their grammar, you’d better be damn sure that your own post is correct. (tip- “english” isn’t a verb)</p>

<p>Oh, and congrats in that championship. I really mean it. At the end of the day though, Duke is still the second best program in its own state by every measure (ncaa titles, wins, head-to-head record, etc.).</p>

[danstearns]

<p>I still laugh about the Duke info session. We were making the circuit of H, Y, P and were pretty impressed with the world changers throughout history who attended these institutions. We then attended the Duke session and the the slide show was primarily focused on some tent city where a bunch of painted kids sleep out for basketball tickets! I mean, Duke is a perfectly good school, I’m sure, but Duke pride seems to be based on this fratty / basketball thing. I imagine it’s a lot of fun, though.</p>

[braaap]

<p>As a student, what do you benefit more from, the fact that JFK was a student there, or the fact that there are real, tangible, incredible traditions to partake in.
I won’t say that Duke is even on the same level as Harvard and Yale, I know it’s not and frankly I’m glad it’s not. I’ve visited a finals club, I’ve seen a lot (not all, granted).</p>

<p>Basically… I think it’s better for Duke to focus on stuff that students can actually partake in and will spend a lot of their life doing, as opposed to the intangibles. </p>

<p>AND… Cameron crazy is NOT fratty.</p>

[Lobzz]

<p>

I mean do you ever try to hang out more often with your school’s USAMO/Intel Finalist winner over the 3.4 GPA average student? IF you you say yes, then you’re beyond repair.

</p>

<p>My favorite part.</p>

[objobs]

<p>

@John117

Recently on CC, I have just realized how many CCers bash Duke and the Duke CC “Homer-Dukes” who bash other schools.
Based on a recent poll conducted by myself, I see that a disturbing amount of people hate Duke for some unexplained reason.

</p>

<p>It’s really not that hard to explain:</p>

<p>

@John117

The thing is, a lot of people (I mean A LOT) were rejected by simple colleges (using CC standards here) such as UC Irvine and UC Davis.
I’m not going to lie, but I considered UCLA as a back up school.
And getting into Berkeley isn’t really hard for the average CCer (who is from California, of course) unless you applied to Berkeley EECS.</p>

<p>After the whole college process, a lot of my acquaintances are going to state schools. About 5 got into Berkeley (no EECS) and 6 into UCLA…which honestly I don’t think is a big deal.</p>

<p>We’ve gotten 1 into Harvard and 2 into Duke, including myself. I can’t help but look down on the people who were rejected by these “simple UC schools.”

</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064547831-post1.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064547831-post1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

@John117

For one, I really have no need to prove Duke’s greatness. It is a great and prestigious school in America. I’m not going to argue that its better than…Berkeley

</p>

<p>So put your money where your mouth is:</p>

<p>

@John117

They put Berkeley up with the Ivies and Stanford, MIT, Duke, etc.
But why??</p>

<p>Maybe I understand grad school, but undergrad??
Berkeley seems so overrated. I know a lot of undeserving people who got in. Its got a high admit rate (comparatively speaking) and classes are inflexible. So overcrowded, and horrible campus.

</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064732445-post1.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064732445-post1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>

@John117

Please stop bashing Duke. It’s all I ask. From time to time, you may meet these “Homer-Dukes”

</p>

<p>You’ve formally introduced yourself.</p>

<p>

@John117

Whenever you see a Duke vs Stanford thread, stop saying “Duke sux, go stanford cuz its HYPSM”

</p>

<p>You keep tempting fate by starting these threads:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/907144-am-i-only-one-who-finds-stanford-duke-very-similar.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/907144-am-i-only-one-who-finds-stanford-duke-very-similar.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/931610-how-did-stanford-duke-mit-get-so-prestigious.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/931610-how-did-stanford-duke-mit-get-so-prestigious.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>What do you expect people to say? “Stanford sux cuz its HYPSM, so go Duke?” Because that ain’t happening…</p>

[Helicio]

<p>I go to Duke and used to post on these forums a lot. Now I just go on here for a good LOL at the HYPSM people or the top 10 rankings people, etc. from any school. UNC people aren’t top 10 or wtvr but they act like they are God’s gift to earth (I live in NC) so I shall LOL at them too.</p>

<p>Get over it, Duke is ranked top 10, we are good, who cares what others think. Other schools are great too. Heck, community colleges have some good programs.</p>

<p>People on CC really do live in a different world than other people. Pretentiousness is probably one of the things I hate most.</p>

<p>Anyway, time to have my good lol.</p>

<p>LOL!</p>

<p>And yes, GO DUKE BLUE DEVILS! :)</p>