<p>I'm so torn and don't know which to do! What are the type of people that do Pwaves? PWild? Which is better if you wanna form a tight-knit community? Which program is more fun? Any insight from someone who has done one and has a friend who did the other?</p>
<p>They are both great experiences, but keep in mind there are very limited slots for both and only a small percentage of frosh are able to attend. You can apply for both and then individuals are selected randomly after all applications are in.</p>
<p>I do know that there is limited space which is why I"m trying to decide NOW which I want to do so I can be able to apply for it the first day possible. So, any students experiences they’d like to share? Coming from someone on campus’ point of view, what type of people do PWaves, what type do PWild? Which is a better experience.</p>
<p>pwild kids my year were essentially a cult
pwaves doesnt tend to be so much</p>
<p>gotcha, that’s what i thought. not to sound elitist or annoying-but are the PWild kids like weird nature kids? as opposed to fun partying kids at pwaves. that’s the image im getting. like i like the idea of pwild more but idk how i feel about the people</p>
<p>I did pwild as a freshman and I came back to staff pwild trips. My freshman trip was awesome and I recommend it to everyone. I’m still very good friends with the people I meet on my freshman trip. That and you get to climb rock faces, eat wild blueberries, swim under waterfalls and enjoy gorgeous mountain top views.
No, we’re not weird nature kids, we like to climb rock faces and hike mountains. What’s weird about that? In fact I think we’re pretty representative of the Duke population. Some of us parties 4-5 days a week, others don’t drink, most are in between. The great part is that doesn’t matter, you meet people that would never meet otherwise and you find that they are great people. Most of the incoming freshmans have very little outdoor experience, a good fraction have never gone camping. Almost everyone love the trip. Some say the outdoors aren’t really for them but they still are really glad they did it. About 40% liked the trip well enough to come back and staff, which I think is a really high fraction considering the amount of time and effort it takes to become staff. (We all have to be medically certified and take a Duke accredited half credit course on wilderness skills and pwild policies)<br>
And no braaap we’re not a cult. We just like the people we hiked with and we have a lot of inside joke and stories from the trip. </p>
<p>This is what I think:
Pwild is a longer trip (two weeks instead of one) so you get to know everyone a lot better.
The general consensus on campus is that pwilders are closer to other pwilders then pwavers are to pwavers. That’s probably why they don’t get the cult label.
Pwaves is smaller and does fill up faster.
both trips are fun and you should apply to both in case you don’t get into one of them.
In my opinion, pwaves is more of a fun kayaking trip and pwild is more of a preorientation program that forms a cohesive group of friends at Duke.</p>