<p>I am an accepted student at the Pratt School of Engineering and I have a few questions regarding Duke:</p>
<li><p>I know Duke is known for being an academic powerhouse, but is the workload and difficulty of the material overwhelming to the average student at Duke? How is the rigorous academic environment compared to the academic environment at schools such as UC Berkeley, JHU, Brown, Columbia, Cornell? Is the environment cutt-throat?</p></li>
<li><p>If for some reason I decide that engineering is not what I want to pursue after a semester or two at Pratt, how easy or difficult is it to transfer to the Trinity School of Arts and Sciences? </p></li>
<li><p>Duke is very generous in terms of its financial aid, but has the initial notification ever differed significantly from the actual amount offered after a student it admitted to Duke? Even if family circumstances remain relatively the same from one year to the next, does Duke decrease the financial aid offered substantially after the first year as it expects the student to continue at Duke regardless of the costs (luring in the student for his/her first year with generous financial assistance)? </p></li>
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<p>Although some of the questions are answered by Duke’s FAQ, I want to hear from a current student or someone who is familiar with the environment at Duke. I appreciate any responses. Thank you.</p>
<p>I think there are some more qualified people here like DukeEgr who could give you some more detailed answers, but I'll give you my perspective/what I know (think I know):</p>
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<li><p>Obviously workload depends on your major and classes. Engineering majors seem to have some of the more challenging classes. Plus they have a lot of labs that take up a good amount of time both in and out of class. I'm a chem major so I have had some overlap classes with engineering students/some of my best friends here are engineers, and I wouldn't say that they felt overwhelmed. Obviously, engineering at Duke is no cakewalk, but if you stay halfway focused, you'll still have plenty of time/energy for everything else Duke has to offer. I would not call Duke's environment cut-throat at all. You always hear those horror stories in high school about the ultra-competitive college students who will not help out others/try whatever it takes to optimize their grade, but overall I've never seen that here. Other students are very nice and are very willing to study with you/help you.</p></li>
<li><p>This is not uncommon, and from what I've heard it's not tough at all.</p></li>
<li><p>From my experience, they're pretty consistent. Number of siblings in college seems to be a huge factor that has affected me most. Duke financial aid definitely would not undercut a student for your scenario.</p></li>
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