<p>I just want to cite a really interesting (and, I think, completely telling) conversation that I had with my roommate a couple of months ago. We were discussing how my friend, who is in an a cappella group at BC, was shocked that our most famous a cappella group (The Pitchforks) does joke performances like Tenacious D's "Tribute," Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back," or Trick Daddy's "Let's Go." He mentioned that they would never do that because they only really do serious, high-quality performances. Which they do...they're a very good group. But then my roommate said, Well thats pretty much Duke, isnt it? When I asked her to explain what she meant she just said, I mean, thats kind of our thing, right? The Pitchforks are an amazing vocal group, and have been on all of these great compilation CDs across the country. Yet they dont take themselves seriously they still sing stupid stuff that they know will make us laugh. And our basketball fans are mostly made up of valedictorians, straight-A students from high school, people who got 1500+ scores on their SATs but we dont take ourselves so seriously that were afraid to paint our entire bodies blue and jump up and down screaming on national television. I mean, I always saw that as sort of Dukes thing the fact that we never take ourselves seriously. Its kind of awesome.</p>
<p>Just thought that entire conversation really says a lot about Dukes atmosphere and the Duke student body. And in my experience, its totally true. The OP asked for challenging schools that still managed to be relaxed, laid-back, and friendly, and Im totally standing by my claim that this is Duke the school that has stellar academics, but still doesnt always feel the need to take itself so seriously. </p>
<p>And ridethecliche Im not sure how much of what you said about self-segregation is based on the media and how much really is based on what your friends said, but I gotta say as a Duke student, I just really dont see it. Maybe its because Im the type of person who gravitated towards friends who wouldnt act that way, but I mean I just have such an amazingly diverse group of friends in terms of ethnicity, religion, and where theyre from. Ive been in a couple of interracial relationships here, so has my roommate, and so have my 2 best friends. In fact, so have most of my friends that I can think of. Because of my experience, I really have trouble listening to all of the Duke is segregated crap that I hear all of the time. I mean, this complaint that you discussed doesnt even have to do with the OPs question, but I still felt the need to address it because it just bothers me so much.</p>
<p>sorry i know this is totally lame and not at all related to your post, but i really want to post something and i just joined the website today but i have NO IDEA HOW TO POST MY OWN MESSAGE! all i know how to do is comment on other peoples' comments. can you help me?</p>
<p>u guys are missing one really big one, Vanderbilt University. Its top twenty and its really laid back (i.e. southern lifestyle). I got accepted to it, sometimes I wonder if I should have chosen it, but then I remember Nashville, and its crappy streets, which for comparison are like those of Boston. Go Cornell!</p>
<p>Cornell isn't chill from anything i've ever heard...</p>
<p>Bandcampgirl, I'm not talking about anything from media portrayals at all because come on how accurate are those anyway...
If I listened to those, then I'd be sure that where I'm going to school this fall (Wesleyan Univ.) is a crazy hippy place where everyone does drugs and is a crazy activist: aka not true.</p>
<p>I was talking to a friend who got into JHU, Penn, Duke, and Colombia (well she was deciding between these), and when I talked to her after she was done visiting she said that it felt like there was a lot of self segregation at Duke and she felt as if the races didn't mix. If i'm not wrong, I mentioned that it appeared that way as a primary glance lookie here "I've heard Duke is really chill, but friends who went there told me that the student body tends to segregate itself a lot. Not something i'd want, although i'm not 100% sure how true just the surface look is." that's a quote from what I said earlier, so sheesh!</p>
<p>Santa Clara U in Nor Cal..... students were amazingly friendly when I visited. And for being such a small school with not amazing athletics it has a TON of school spirit.</p>
<p>Stanford, UCSB, & Dartmouth are also all very laid back</p>
<p>OK, ridethecliche, I wasn't trying to attack you. No need to get so defensive. But please keep in mind that, while that very well might have been the impression your friend got, the opinion of someone who visited vs. the opinions of people who actually attend might be very different. I also didn't really see how that fit in with the original question the OP asked - it sort of just seemed like an anti-Duke argument, rather than a "Duke isn't laid-back" argument. But whatever.</p>
<p>The threads name is 'relaxed/friendly atmosphere', and to the best of my knowledge, a self segregated campus isn't friendly...
I felt this way at lafayette and colgate, and it was one of the reasons why i declined those two schools.
Duke doesn't have a diversity problem, just maybe in how the races mix, but you know better than me since you're a student there which is why i refused to give a solid opinion. I'm not getting defensive, I just get annoyed when people tell me what I said bothers them instead of simply correcting what I said and telling me how it really is...</p>
<p>I go to Stanford University, and even in the premed classes I've taken (which are known for being really dog-eat-dog in most universities), the students are not cutthroat at all. They're very focused and the atmosphere in classes is intense, but students will definitely help you out. I often formed study groups and often one kid often teaches others the material. Seriously, when i hear horror stories from friends at Berkeley or Harvard, I just feel bad. So if you're thinking not a lot of backstabbing, apply to Stanford.</p>
<p>Cornell is not chilll...it's definitely known for being cutthroat for a reason...same with Johns Hopkins..those are probably the least laid back schools that I can think of</p>
<p>Haha, yeah wharf stop with that...
Dwincho, Lafayette was better, but when I was visiting Colgate I noticed that all the African American students sat at the same table and no one would go and sit next to them, they were also walking amongst themselves on campus. Seemed slightly self segregated... I know people are going to disagree with me, but from a visit overview that's what it felt like. Students didn't really seem TERRIBLY friendly either. I smiled at students as I was walking by in the cafeteria and I just got dazed looks (it was a saturday, so hangovers?).
Lafayette students were more friendly and chill. I sat in on a class and two or three girls walked with me after class just asking me what i thought about the school and about my other options and other stuffs.</p>
<p>At wes, I saw students of all races walking together and engaged in various discussions all over campus. Students were very friendly on campus too which is always a plus.</p>
<p>In the end it's what you prefer, students are all comfortable at different places. I'm Indian, and I didn't really feel a good vibe at colgate. But that's just me... Many other people choose to go there and love the school, in the end it comes down to what you like so go yourself and visit!</p>