<p>I definitely still play...I'm in the orchestra right now playing principal and we've played some interesting lit - from pop stuff early on, then enigma variations, walton viola concerto, and vaughn williams no.5....and next semester is awesome - pictures, new world symphony, glinka's ruslan and ludilla. we rehearse twice a week, mondays and wednesdays from 7-9. That and I take lessons (about 360 bucks a semester, unless you major/minor).</p>
<p>I also play club lacrosse and I'm a member of outing club and club golf, which are more like opportunities to be involved as much as you want. There's really less time in college than you think, so it's not as easy to be involved in a million things, or at least as much as you may want to be. You have to pick and choose what things you can be passionate about and what things you can just do for fun. if you want to do community service, it actually is a component of nrotc (albeit only 3 hours). and check out the dolphin at nrotc.duke.edu if you want a feel for what it's like. </p>
<p>likewise, i picked up my nrotc scholarship the summer before - good plan. and it felt good signing the paperwork yesterday....that authorized the 15,000 for my tuition last semester. the best possible "work-study", if you ask me.</p>
<p>oh, i watched the mich state game - it was AMAZING and i was doing all that crazy stuff the crazies were doing in the stands. (ah, 4 more days)</p>
<p>lex, do you know how hard it is for a violinist to get into the symphony orchestra? I've been playing for 8 years (since 4th), but quit school orchestra in 8th grade. I've been part of an outside orchestra for almost 6 years and have taken private lessons for 7. i don't think i'm outstanding like the people who make all-state, but i think i'm pretty good as a first violinist. how good are the people who play in orchestra? i really want to make it if i get into duke. :/</p>
<p>if you've played for that long, you'll probably make it with no problem. i know a number of seniors who are graduating, so that'll open up spot. it's a great orchestra, but i say that taking into account the fact that a) we aren't music majors and don't practice 8 hours a day and b) we don't rehearse a ton. if you've had that much experience, you're likely in good shape.</p>
<p>ok that sounds about right - i don't practice a whole lot either, but i can play the music. how are auditions though? is it really competitive? how many people usually try out for violin, do you know? thanks !! :)</p>
<p>"As I heard someone say "It's like high school, you have every sort of person....except here they're all smart."</p>
<p>So so true. When you walk around Duke, everyone is so...normal. It really looks like a typical American high school. And then you remember, yeah, everyone is really smart. Ex: One of the guys that sits next to me in poli sci was mentioned in Brodhead's convocation speech. He has a patent - created a tool to aid in spinal surgery. No one really brags, you just find out random stuff like this throughout the semester. Pretty cool.</p>
<p>auditions are during the first week of classes. the teachers for the instrument are there as well as the orchestra conductor...it's laid back. consequently....the best audition i've given. i really don't remember the numbers for violin...but i can tell you there's a bit of dropoff by the the back on the violin II section. so if you've been that serious, don't worry about it. i was freaking out about making it into the orchestra too....but that all worked out. and yeah, frequently rehearsal is the only time you get to play each week...at least in my experience....and that of our principal horn. that being said, i'm practicing as much as i can during this month off to get my endurance back for pictures....</p>
<p>and yeah, i don't consider everyone being down to earth as some horrible lack of intellectualism. likewise, i love finding out awesome things about people...by chance. not by having it shoved in my face.</p>
<p>I don't know lex...I'm beginning to get a complex every time I hear the smart people quotation.</p>
<p>I'm applying to Duke RD, and it's my first choice out of all the colleges I'm applying to. But the thing is I haven't invented my own tool to help spinal surgery or found a cure for AIDS when I was just 12...etc etc I haven't done all these things...and I'm not sure that I'll feel comfortable with geniuses all around me..what do you think?</p>
<p>Also..I don't know how the admissions people actually expect all of us to be prodigies....maybe they don't..but you don't see people getting into Duke without something extraordinary about them.</p>
<p>yea, i agree with you <em>nt</em>. I dont know what it is, but everyone you hear about that gets into duke has some insane attribute like deworming thousands of impoverished Sudanese children while saving the rainforests of Brazil. The only people I know that have got in without any things like this are either dual citizens or kids that got recruited for teams at Duke. Does anyone fairly normal, get in? Is there anyone who is just your typical smart, diverse, well-rounded white suburban male?</p>
<p>I haven't done anything obviously special (and that's not modesty either). You don't expect Christopher Guttentag to say, "And there's one student who took 4 APs Senior Year, got a 1490 on his SAT, and volunteered for over 50 hours during high school!" do you? He's going to want to point out something unusual, something amazing, something impressive. This sounds rather contrived, but everyone has done something pretty amazing, it's just that sometimes it's not a tangible action.</p>
<p>i was a white girl who was well-rounded. that was it. i don't believe i did anything unique....they just seem to look for passion. luckily that showed through in my recs/essays. while some people need that special "hook" of a patent, there's a lot of us at duke who just loved what we did...</p>
<p>and i sight read a movement of enigma variations....in F...but you violinists don't transpose....so...once again. can't help you sepecifically there.</p>