<p>This is a question for current Duke students:
Would you suggest taking the Focus program? Which ones are the most popular? Are they easy to get in to?</p>
<p>Also, on a side note, I know that if you take Focus, you're assigned to a Focus Group, and each Focus Group stays in the same dorm. Which Focuses are in which dorms?</p>
<p>I wouldn't suggest taking a focus unless you see something that you specifically could enjoy, since you will be very involved with that topic for a whole semester (though I have met people who have just done one randomly and actually liked it/didn't hate it, but there are also some horror stories out there). some are much more popular than others, like the "exploring the mind" one, I think. The most popular ones are actually pretty hard to get into. they're a lot of work, so i've heard. I just prefer to kind of do my own thing so I turned away from the whole FOCUS idea very quickly. I like control.
I don't remember which focuses (foci?) are where, but I would suggest that that would be a very bad way to pick which focus to apply to...</p>
<p>I was enrolled in the Modern America FOCUS last semester. It's the oldest focus, and I think in the coming years, they may be ending it. We all joked about my focus and called it the slacker focus, and it was kind of true. I heard that some focuses had 20 page papers within the first few weeks of the semester, and we never had any... in any of the classes. a lot of the projects were in groups, so it was never overwhelming. but yes, generally speaking, focus kids do more work on average than other trinity college kids, and very often, the work is in the form of papers. (this can be argued, that one of the focus classes is the required writing 20 class). the reading and writing can get a bit much at times.</p>
<p>that being said, my focus experience was alright. i got into my first choice, and i think it was the first choice of most of us. exploring the mind, the genome one, and i think the russian one are usually more popular and therefore more difficult. (sometimes the students in the russia focus get to go to russia, making it quite popular). otherwise, you're pretty much always put in your first choice, or your second choice. it counts to spend a little bit of time on your essay, though.</p>
<p>as for dorm assignments: modern america is in pegram, russia is in alspaugh, 20th century europe is in blackwell, the latin american one is in ay****, humanitarian challenges is in GA, um... i don't really remember anything else.</p>
<p>as for my focus, i'm still wavering on my feelings. it certainly was a good transition into college, my professors (with the exception of the writing prof) really were among the best in the university, some classes were more interesting than others... i would probably recommend it.</p>
<p>i'm not in focus and i'm perfectly content...as someone who has very varied interests, the idea of one elective a semester wasn't too enticing. However, if you have a passion for one of the topics, go for it. but definitely only if you reallyhave an interest in it - that will balance out the extra time it takes. it's more of a different type of first year expereince, not necessarily a better one.</p>
<p>and genome revolution is in bassett.</p>
<p>do premeds enter focus?</p>
<p>They can. My focus had nothing to do with medicine, and there were a bunch of pre-meds (including my best friend) involved. If you're planning on being pre-med and doing focus, you're advised to take Chem as your one non-focus class to stay on track/start fulfilling pre-med requirements.</p>