Professor Interaction and Other Questions about Duke

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>I initially applied to Duke not really sure where it fell on my list. Almost all of the schools I applied to were LACs and I didn't know if I could handle a student body as big as Duke's. I also applied to the Naval Academy, and at the time, it was my tied top choice with Williams College. </p>

<p>Right now, Duke is at the top of my list and sometimes I regret not applying ED. Some of the main reasons its made this jump are: </p>

<p>Duke's top programs in my potential majors (Earth/Ocean Science and Public Policy)</p>

<p>A full tuition scholarship through NROTC (all I pay for is room and board, I receive a stipend for books and other expenses)</p>

<p>Duke's awesome campus community and culture</p>

<p>I LOVE COLLEGE BASKETBALL (right now I bleed orange for Syracuse, but thats really just because I live in upstate NY)</p>

<p>Southern Gentility and a diverse student population at the same time</p>

<p>Students actually know how to have a good time, but are still excited and passionate about learning </p>

<p>Gorgeous weather</p>

<p>I'm actually regretting not having considered smaller uni's in my search until later (most notably rice, but oh well...) as I definitely see some of the benefits of being at one. At the same time though, I have a few concerns about Duke, especially considering it's the largest school on my list.</p>

<p>For Duke grads/students:
What was the biggest class you've ever seen/had/heard about? What was it?
How large are classes typically for underclassmen?
Do you think being in a larger class took away from your learning experience?
Do you still have a lot of interaction with your teachers even in a population with a lot of grad students and research-focused profs? Do most smaller classes have broken up discussion sections/labs?
Did you ever feel stiffed by Duke's size?
How often are TA's in class? Are they teaching, or just doing discussion groups?</p>

<p>And also a few unrelated questions:
Does Duke have a Model UN club? I looked online but couldn't find a full list of clubs/organizations.
Does anyone here have any experience with NROTC? I'd love to hear if you have anything to say about the program.</p>

<p>Just a note if you were wondering about the Naval Academy, since I mentioned it in this thread:</p>

<p>Currently, I have a congressional nomination from Annapolis but don't think I will get accepted because someone from my congressional district has already received an appointment; unless he is a recruited athlete, my chances are greatly reduced. Either way, I'm not 100% sure if I'd go to Annapolis even if I was accepted, though it is something I've thought about doing for a very long time.</p>

2

<p>I’m a current Duke student so I’ll try my best to answer your questions.</p>

<p>For Duke grads/students:
What was the biggest class you’ve ever seen/had/heard about? What was it?</p>

<p>The biggest class I have been in is my intro biology class this semester (it has 300 people). I think the largest class at Duke is Econ 51, which is introductory economics, and it has around 400 people. I spent a year at Rice before transferring to Duke (for the environmental sciences program), so I can give you a comparison. The largest class at Rice is approximately 250-300 students, and that’s also intro biology or intro physics. So even though Rice is half the size of Duke, the class sizes don’t differ that much. Now, between a research university and a LAC, that might be a different story.</p>

<p>How large are classes typically for underclassmen?</p>

<p>The intro classes (i.e. intro econ, intro chem, organic chem, intro bio, intro physics, etc.) are all going to be pretty large. They usually fall between the 150-250 student range, except for the classes I noted above. However, I think there is at most 10-15 classes at Duke that are greater than 100 students. EOS is known for having small classes. Pub Pol is quite popular, so you might find larger classes there. However, as you reach upper-level courses, they are usually no more than 20-25 students.</p>

<p>Do you think being in a larger class took away from your learning experience?</p>

<p>Yes and no. It really depends on how your professor organizes the class and also the nature of the class. With organic chemistry, I don’t think it would have made a difference if the class only has 10 people versus 200. My biology professor organizes the 300 person class very well. Plus, not everyone shows up to class.</p>

<p>Do you still have a lot of interaction with your teachers even in a population with a lot of grad students and research-focused profs? Do most smaller classes have broken up discussion sections/labs?</p>

<p>I feel that Duke balances undergraduate teaching and research quite well. The thing I like about Duke is that there are so many resources here in whatever area you want to study (if you are interested in EOS… you should look up the Nicholas School of the Environment, which was the reason why I transferred to Duke). There are research-focused professors here, but you are going to find them at any research university. Although I’ve only been here for a semester and a half, most of my professors seem to care for the undergrads. </p>

<p>Did you ever feel stiffed by Duke’s size?</p>

<p>No. I feel Duke is the perfect size for me.</p>

<p>How often are TA’s in class? Are they teaching, or just doing discussion groups?
TAs usually lead lab sessions, discussion sessions, and review sessions. It is very rare for TAs to be teaching a class. Even if TAs do teach a class, sometimes they are better teachers than a professor would be.</p>

<p>And also a few unrelated questions:
Does Duke have a Model UN club? I looked online but couldn’t find a full list of clubs/organizations. </p>

<p>Yes, Duke has a MUN club. It’s part of another organization, however (I think it is Duke’s International Relations Association… but I’m not sure).</p>

<p>Does anyone here have any experience with NROTC? I’d love to hear if you have anything to say about the program.</p>

<p>I don’t have any experience with NROTC, but I will say that Duke seems to have a strong program. I see uniformed students all the time walking around campus. Robert Gates gave a speech here in September, and he directly pointed out Duke’s ROTC programs as strong.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

3

<p>One of my son’s (09) best friends graduated Navy ROTC at Duke. He had a lot of fun at Duke despite the rigors of his track in engineering. Studied hard. Loved Duke sports. Played some intramurals. Made friends in ROTC and out of it. Was in a frat and had friends in and out of greek world. He has a terrific post/job with the Navy in a very good location where there are a lot of Duke grads. He is getting outstanding training in his post Duke position. Best of all his parents do not have the debt we incurred. </p>

<p>sliknik has provided lots of accurate numbers. However I will comment on how our son managed to find a few corners of Duke that felt more like a liberal arts college and he bleeds blue and has a great time with Duke alum as a graduate…it is fun to meet up in bars to watch ball games with alum in other cities which is a perk of going to a school Duke’s size. Our son opted for FOCUS and continued to keep up with his FOCUS classmates…even going abroad with a couple of them and traveling to meet others later. Not everyone is wild for FOCUS but he loved his. Also he took up a new foreign language and those classes can be quite small in the upper levels. He went abroad in this language and made friends therefore on this faculty and this was a homey spot for him. He was in the Duke Symphony which is not too demanding time wise but is quite a friendly place and was a part of his best memories. He took private music lessons on campus…and enjoyed his mentor who is a gifted chamber orchestra musician. He made a lot of his best friends in his freshman dorm and lived with some of them the rest of his years. Not unusual. Duke’s freshman dorms are rather congenial as they are not cold skyscrapers but building only 3-4 stories high that have some charm despite the lack of a/c in most of them. Try to double major so that at least one of your departments is a bit cozier than perhaps your major dept could end up being. Just turning out to support your many classmates who are hard working student athletes takes time. Many other sports besides basketball but plenty of espirit de corps at Duke.</p>

<p>When you don’t have access to your teacher like you would in a small school, turn to your peers. There are usually savant types in every classroom and some of them tutor others quite generously.</p>

<p>You will find that Duke students have broad and varied talents and that every Duke student will access the university in his or her own way.</p>

4

<p>wow, thanks for the detailed replies. Hopefully I’ll be able to get in and experience the awesome Duke community! Though Duke might not have as much student-professor interaction as the LACs on my list, I know I’ll be able to find my niche.</p>

5

<p>My Duke son was also a Bowdoin scholar and really loved Bowdoin but he wouldn’t trade the wonderful sports, the incredible on campus world class performance series, the bold and fun Symphony and the alum network for anything. Did he get the intimacy of Bowdoin? no, you can’t replace what a great LAC offers in a mid sized research college but the permutations are vaster in a larger college socially and academically. While my son was of average ability at Duke, he learned as much from his peers as he learned from his professors.<br>
Go with your financial and emotional fit. You can’t go wrong. A great LAC is a great start in life. But if you want more stimulation and variety and you want to see international students in high numbers go to Duke</p>

6

<p>Haha small world! I’m a Duke freshman in NROTC who had a very similar predicament about this time last year. If you have any specific NROTC questions (I had sooo many) just PM me. I’m in Barcelona right now on Spring Break, so my internet is pretty shoddy, but I’ll try to get back to you in a reasonable time (Navy efficiency ehh? haha)</p>

<p>As for your questions:
What was the biggest class you’ve ever seen/had/heard about? What was it?</p>

<p>-Honestly, this doesn’t matter nearly as much as everyone makes it out to be. Especially for PubPol and EOS, you’ll have 1-2 large (100-200 person) classes and the rest will all be 5-15 person seminars or 10-30 person lectures. It’s actually nice to have some huge classes because it breaks the awkward monotony of seminars [when you really don’t want to talk for 45 minutes at 0830, ie if you had a little too much fun the night before or were cramming for another test that day and didn’t get sleep].
Overall class sizes at Duke are very small (mine average about 12 people)</p>

<p>How large are classes typically for underclassmen?
-kind of merged this question and the above into my previous answer</p>

<p>Do you think being in a larger class took away from your learning experience?
-nope, gives you the independence that seminars can sap from your intellectual development (ie you aren’t spoonfed everything and forced to discuss XYZ every other day, in larger classes you have 4-6 weeks between papers/tests so either you slowly absorb material and attend lecture or cram the nights before)</p>

<p>Do you still have a lot of interaction with your teachers even in a population with a lot of grad students and research-focused profs? Do most smaller classes have broken up discussion sections/labs?
-Very much so. I’ve had offers for 3 recommendation letters and am relatively close with at least another 2 profs. You can FLUNCH (Faculty Lunch) any 2 professors for free at any eatery on (or off, very very nice touch) of campus. I’m actually FLUNCHing the President of the University when I get back! haha he’s a really nice guy, I’m sure you’ll meet him if you come here</p>

<p>Did you ever feel stiffed by Duke’s size?
Never, it’s actually a very inclusive and small/medium feeling U
All of the grad schools and hospital stuff are away from the main campus so almost everyone you see is an undergrad </p>

<p>How often are TA’s in class? Are they teaching, or just doing discussion groups?
-ehh TAs are in classes larger than 20-25 usually, they are okay. Generally they only do the b1tch work and lead discussion groups. They are not terribly important .</p>

<p>And also a few unrelated questions:
Does Duke have a Model UN club? I looked online but couldn’t find a full list of clubs/organizations.
-Yes, a very prominent one actually. I don’t really like MUN so I don’t know much, but my friends who are in it love it.
*Are you interested in Diplomacy/IR? I’m an IR/Econ double major, and I want to be a FAO once a get SWO qual’d. If you ever want to know more about that, message me! I’m the only one at Duke.</p>

<p>Does anyone here have any experience with NROTC? I’d love to hear if you have anything to say about the program.
-Haha</p>

<p>Okay hopefully I basically filled in the gaps, I’m sure I’ll be talking to you soon.</p>

7

<p>USNAGolden,</p>

<p>Thanks for the reply! I’ve talked to LT Pintauro via phone and email, but I haven’t had any contact with current midshipman, so I’ll be sure to PM you with some specific questions. I’m definitely interested in IR/Diplomacy, but haven’t seriously considered becoming a FAO, though I admit a big reason why is because I’ve heard its about as selective as getting a med-core billet (which I’m not at all interested in). </p>

<p>I’m actually interested in aviation, though I intend to go into IR after the navy (or maybe I’ll go into an admin/policy making position within the navy…I don’t know if I want to be in a military career just yet, though I have plenty of time to decide). </p>

<p>I’ll send you a PM tonight, as soon as I have enough time to type everything out.</p>