<p>so how hard is duke? is grade deflation a problem there?</p>
<p>im also wondering this. if so, could you guys explain the level of difficulty for both trinity and/or pratt?</p>
<p>uhhhhhhhhhh...any possible way for you to narrow that down a little bit? Otherwise, you might as well just come to Duke and experience it for yourself. To properly describe absolutely everything about Duke's academics would be somewhat pointless.</p>
<p>let me be more specifc:</p>
<p>can you analyze the difficulty based on</p>
<ol>
<li>Grades, especially grade deflation (is it hard to keep a good GPA at Duke)</li>
<li>Coursework and Homework (in terms of time etc.., I looked on last years thread but most were talking on behalf of Pratt, not Trinity)</li>
<li>Scheduling (good or bad i guess, also in terms of trinity if u can, the last thread was almost all Pratt)</li>
</ol>
<p>Ok, then, I'll have to defer to some Trinity CCers. Sorry :-/</p>
<p>Yeh seems most of us that answer questions here are associated with Pratt. I'd give you my opinion on Trinity schedules/grades but I already gave some of those answers in the other thread and my opinions of Trinity are tainted a little by the fact that I am Pratt geek.</p>
<p>The one way that Pratt is "easier" grade wise than Trinity though is that there is typically a lot less judgment in one's grades, with papers and such it often seems to me like opinion factors into the grades while with tests the grader can objectively say exactly what I did wrong that cost me those points. Now this may not seem easier to some people (like people who like to argue up their grades, an act which just ****es me off) but I happen to like it a lot better.</p>
<p>I agree, sometimes I have trinity classes where to get an "A", the teacher expected absolutely groundbreaking brilliance or uniqueness in analysis-something that obviously not everyone can do. If you merely fulfilled expectations, that's an A- or a B+. To me, it's hard to comprehend since in engineering, a perfect (meets all expectations) anything is not only uncommon, but quite an accomplishment, one that deserves an A+. But that's what happens when there are no hard answers set in stone.</p>
<p>I'm in Trinity, Art History major, used to be a Chem major.</p>
<ol>
<li>Grades, especially grade deflation (is it hard to keep a good GPA at Duke)</li>
</ol>
<p>It honestly varies based on the course and or professor, but most of my friends have somewhere between a 3.4 and a 3.8. With most humanities classes (there are exceptions, as was said) you can definitely get away with doing the bare minimum and getting a B (3.0), B+ (3.3), A- (2.7). You have to really screw up to get lower, and have to do a reasonable amount of work to get a solid A in most courses. With the sciences and maths, from my experience most classes curve to a B, B-. So you can kind of gauge how you're standing throughout the semester...it's sometimes hard to get an A unless you're well above average throughout the semester, from my experiences.</p>
<p>So, math and science majors generally have lower GPA's than humanities majors, but that's definitely because of how the courses are graded.</p>
<p>Another note is that if you are a humanities major and don't want to take a math or science for fear of ruining your GPA, but you need a grad credit, classes like Stat 10, Compsci 1, and lower level bio classes/EOS classes are great because they're graded, well, on a very easy scale. </p>
<ol>
<li>Coursework and Homework (in terms of time etc.., I looked on last years thread but most were talking on behalf of Pratt, not Trinity)</li>
</ol>
<p>Some people say for every hour you're in class you have 3 hours of work. This may be so for some classes, BUT from my experiences this also varies. There are classes I get by with doing NOTHING in and still get A's, and there are classes that take over my life and I get C's. It really depends on what you're good at, how the class is graded, yada yada. BUT on an average day I probably put in 4 hours of work a night. I try and focus on 1 class for atleast a half hour, hour everyday depending on what's going on and all, and that has served me well. </p>
<p>The important thing is to learn time management because when it comes down to it, that's what determines how much work you have. If you never do any reading until the night before a test and never start a paper until the day before it's due it's going to seem like you have a lot more work than you actually do. Space things out, keep on top of your reading, and you'll find that virtually any courseload can be bearable and you'll still have time to enjoy yourself.</p>
<ol>
<li>Scheduling (good or bad i guess, also in terms of trinity if u can, the last thread was almost all Pratt)</li>
</ol>
<p>Well, when I was a science major I was in lab just about all day 3 days a week which was miserable. I had class until 5:30 every friday. It SUCKED. Plus I had 8:30s too. Ugh. I mean, there are ways around it but if you're a science major labs/recitations add a lot more classtime.</p>
<p>As a humanities major, my days go 8:30-1pm, with the exception of 1 day a week. I have no friday classes. AND I'm overloading. It's a beautiful thing. I mean, half my humanities friends have 4 day weeks, some have off Tu/Th...it's crazy. You'll find that if you're strict humanities with no labs/discussions you're rolling around in free time.</p>
<p>General rule of thumb...engineers have it the worst...then science majors/people with labs and recitations...then humanities</p>
<p>
[quote]
1. Grades, especially grade deflation (is it hard to keep a good GPA at Duke)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Duke is not easy. Prepare to work hard to get a good GPA. Prepare to have to withdraw from courses. Prepare to be surprised. In college, it's less about who's smartest and more about who works the hardest. That's just how it is, especially at Duke, where everyone is so damn smart. Time management is really important. If you've got that down, then good grades will not be a problem.</p>
<p>It can be a difficult adjustment when you combine the academics with Duke's especially fun social scene. Personally, I wish Duke would do something like MIT does for first-semester freshmen (i.e., make all courses pass/fail).</p>
<p>
[quote]
2. Coursework and Homework (in terms of time etc.., I looked on last years thread but most were talking on behalf of Pratt, not Trinity)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Coursework is what you make of it. Remember, you can loosen up once you're out of high school. Take whatever classes you want. If everyone's talking about FOCUS, look into it, but don't feel pressured to do a FOCUS unless you are truly interested in the courses in a particular cluster and you think you would like the program. In general, feel free to explore whatever programs and classes you think you might be interested in. Don't feel pressured to take the highest level courses possible, or to concentrate in certain pre-decided fields. That's a recipe for disaster. Trust me, you'll get more respect, a higher GPA, and peace of mind if you choose to take an appropriate course and excel in it, rather than taking Math 9000 your first semester because it sounds like a good idea. I'm telling you this because it will really impact your homework load. Pretty much every class at Duke assigns a good deal of work, and grades don't come easy, unless you specifically search out the "easy courses." (Which by the way is not shameful at all, if you just need to fulfill some requirements.) If you take courses you are interested in, it won't be as hard to get it all done.</p>
<p>
[quote]
3. Scheduling (good or bad i guess, also in terms of trinity if u can, the last thread was almost all Pratt)
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is the one thing I'd change about Duke if I could. Scheduling for Pratt students sucks. I'm in Trinity and my schedule is great, just like loveduke describes. I don't have class every day of the week and I don't have early-morning classes. I find that Arts & Sciences students at Duke (aka Trinity) have pretty easy class schedules compared to Arts & Sciences students at other colleges. The reason is that Duke does scheduling simply based on credits, not credit-hours. Everyone generally takes 4 courses at a time (1 credit per course = 4 credits per semester), and depending on whether those are Trinity or Pratt courses, that can add up to 10 hours of class per week or closer to 20. 4 classes ends up being a lot of classtime for Pratt kids, whose classes also include lab or recitation sections that add on hours but count for the same credits as a 2-hour-a-week Trinity course. You can see why Pratt students end up with insanely worse schedules. So it's good to be a Trinity student. You can boast to all your friends at other schools (or to your Pratt neighbor) who are taking 14 hours a week that you're barely taking 10. Just don't forget that it's not all peachy. Everyone has homework. Trinity kids, prepare to write plenty of papers. Time management is your friend. Do NOT put off work.</p>
<p>College is a lot harder than high school and, unlike high school, you can no longer get straight A's by putting in little to no work. All of your peers are going to be pretty smart. The competition is not going to be easy. </p>
<p>Grades
Math/science classes are curved to B-
Humanities classes usually have much higher average grades. (with the exception of economics, that's a toughie).
Do all the recommended work. It is highly recommended, trust me.
First semester freshman year can be tough. You need to learn time management and you need to study for tests. If you go to college thinking that it is going to be a four-year party, you will be surprised (especially if you are taking a lot of math/science classes your first semester). I almost wish I didn't wear out the social scene so much first semester and studied a little more for tests. </p>
<p>RANT: A little thing that bugs me about math/science classes is that there aren't enough multiple choice tests. The AP tests placed a strong emphasis on multiple choice and these were things that a person could do well without doing much work and simply having an intuitive understanding of the concepts. I 5'ed Chemistry, Physics, and Calculus AB/BC because of the wonderful multiple choice. I got an average grade in Math 32 (went up nicely from below average though, so I plan on 103). and pretty below average grade in Chem 151, multiple choice... none at all unless you want to count WHICH OF THESE TWENTY ORGANIC COMPOUNDS CAN BE USED TO SYNTHESIZE AN ALCOHOL PRODUCT??? as multiple choice. Plan to try out intro Physics next year, don't know how I will do, two things I won't do are procrastinate and party the night before a midterm.</p>
<p>Coursework and Homework
Some of the classes will seem 'easy' and 'laidback' for that there is no homework but in return there are difficult tests. This was what my organic chemistry class was like. There were 'suggested problems' and going to recitation was optional. I kept putting off doing the problems because there were other stuff I preferred to do, nothing that important though of course.
A lot of the humanities classes are paper-focused and have no exams. My advice would be to not put off the paper till the last minute. It makes it a less enjoyable experience and you will likely get a worse grade on the paper. College professors are much more sharp than your typical high school teachers. They will be able to tell what was simply a 'last-minute effort powdered with fluff and they won't grade you nicely, if the fluff is only a mediocre component of your argument.</p>
<p>Scheduling
It is extremely tough to get a 'good schedule' when you have lab classes, which is true all the time for engineers. I am in Trinity and was able to get a schedule this semester with class only on MWF. But I have some classes, which I would have originally laughed about being easy/moderately easy (Math 103, Econ 51). But spending some time in college can change a person... if you a pre-med or engineer, I would say that you should work hard at trying to get all your work done and have a little fun too to keep yourself from going crazy.</p>
<p>For those who were accepted to Duke two weeks ago, congratulations, especially since Duke is your first choice school! There are many things to love about Duke and my advice would be not to expect anything. College is going to bring about many changes and one should go with the flow and stay optimistic to have a fun college experience.</p>
<p>(Mondo- you'll find intro physics (53, 54) generally has more multiple choice questions...with Mcnairy we had 10 MC and 3 short answers on each test...not sure about the other professors but you may luck out)</p>
<p>I once had a 50 question pure True/False midterm in BME 83. That's about as multiple choice as you can get, seeing as how you have a 50% chance of getting a question right. For my BME 153 class, all tests were done on the computer on blackboard, half of it was multiple choice. The tests were still mad hard though. We also had multiple choice components on our chem 151 exams but then again, our tests were easy.</p>
<p><a href="or%20to%20your%20Pratt%20neighbor">quote</a> who are taking 14 hours a week
[/quote]
</p>
<p>HAH! As a freshman engineer I had 19 credit hours last semester and 17 this spring. And its pretty much the norm.</p>
<p>DUKE IS HHHHHAAAARRRDDDD. I also think I procrastinated a lot as well, but I definitely didn't slack off totally... For some reason, my friends @ Penn, Berk, UCLA, Gtown, etc. don't seem to be having as hard of time as I was (and in high school, i was ranked all above them) but that might just have been my poor study habits or the classes i was taking.</p>
<p>honestly, i'd recommend for you to take easy courses your first semester. i f-ed up my first semester big time by taking many of the weeder, premed classes even though i wasn't sure i was premed. it's funny because at duke, i took math 103 (which is calc III) and i found out many students in 103 had already taken calc III @ a summer program/local university etc. so they already had an advantage. this is true with some of my friends who started out in 31 (many of the students had already taken calc), etc. etc. so definitely don't think just because you've taken a class before and you're retaking it at duke, it'll be easy. far from the truth.</p>
<p>i also don't think there are very many easy classes... even in a women's studies class i was taking, it wasn't easy to get an A on a paper just because the TA was so fickle. </p>
<p>but really, bottom line is: you need to work hard. you need to work your ass off. and i wish i didn't worry so much about partying/social scene first semester because my grades definitely showed it. :(</p>
<p>
RANT: A little thing that bugs me about math/science classes is that there aren't enough multiple choice tests.
</p>
<p>RANT RESPONSE: Very little of significance in math, science, or engineering is multiple (limited) choice; and for those things that are, those choices have to come generally from inside your brain rather than some external source :) AB, BS, and BSE degrees are much more about understanding process and synthesis than mere identification anyway.</p>
<p>Maybe it's just me, but I actually like having non-multiple choice tests. I'm pretty sure that without partial credit by showing my work, I would have failed nearly all of my econ classes.</p>
<p>are u an econ major? ^^</p>
<p>And I regularly have over 20 hours each semester. (I think I've gotten up to around 24) Engineering is hard!</p>
<p>Oh and on the multiple choice thing: there is a reason that most science and engineering courses don't have multiple choice factor highly into your grade. Multiple choice is about identification. These degrees are supposed to train you to use this knowledge not just know it when you see it. When you get a job they aren't going to hand you four choices and one of them is right. You have to solve problems and apply knowledge. (though I know the feeling of wanting more mc, I love mc. I just also know that I learn more without it)</p>
<p>Sirgecko, you are right about mc tests. They're easier to study for, and easier to ace, despite the lack of partial credit, because you can cram for them...but I advise any incoming Dukie to expect very little of that. If you have to solve problems or explain things on tests, you absolutely must keep up all semester to be able to know your stuff. You simply can't depend on cramming, and you certainly can't pass tests by the seat of your pants. That's going to teach you the material better and develop your work ethic. Anyway, people at Duke are so smart AND hardworking that any mc tests would have ridiculously tough curves.</p>
<p>To Twinkletoes:</p>
<p>Yes, I am an Econ major, though not a very good one.</p>