<p>I've posted this question in the Duke forum, but I'd really like to have parental information. If this is an inappropriate topic for the Parents' Forum because it restricted to one university, I apologize and humbly accept the thread being removed from this forum!</p>
<p>That disclaimer over, here goes:</p>
<p>Our freshman Pratt-engineering-school son is tenting. What can you share with me about this? I know only the very basic facts and little else.</p>
<p>Thanks very much for any information, anecdotes, etc. you care to share!</p>
<p>There was an article in our local paper about the Duke students filing a complaint about Carolina students (who hold some kind of scholarship where they take classes at both campuses) tenting for tickets for the Duke/Carolina game. I guess last year Carolina students got tickets and wore their shirts in the Duke section and quite a ruckus resulted. However, article said that scholarship awarded same privileges to these students as "full time Duke campus" students. They really take basketball seriously here!!!</p>
<p>My sister snuck me into the student section of an ASU game, where our rivals, UofA came and played. There were 3 UofA (bright red tshirts amidst golden ones) students in the student section, and they were BEATEN UP, it was mostly scuffling and ripped tshirts, but still pretty scary cause I was 4 people away or so. I guess the moral: Dont go in the student section of your rival school...</p>
<p>don't they have plugs where the kids tent so they can plug in their computers? And if not, I'm sure the area is at least on WiFi. I'm sure it's an awesome time.</p>
<p>... except Duke just lost to Georgia Tech, the tenting might not have been as worth it.</p>
<p>My son is a Duke student who tented last year as a freshman. He felt he had to do this ONCE <em>lol</em> in order to avail himself of the full "Duke Experience." Frankly, it's a mess, particularly for freshmen who are on the East Campus and have to shuttle back to their dorms.</p>
<p>Typically the kids get into groups of about 12 to tent. There are very specific rules re: what constitutes a "legal" tent. For example, the tent has to have x number of people in it during the day (at all times) and x number at night. The kids will usually work out a schedule in which they spend 3 nights in the tent and then one night back in the dorm as a break (with the other kids covering). Kids have a basic schedule for their "nights off."</p>
<p>I think that the number of kids who has to be in the tent during the day is very low...maybe even one. So, the kids who tent together create a schedule which revolves around everyone's classes. People come by from time to time to make sure the tent is "legal" with regard to number of occupants.</p>
<p>It is <em>VERY</em> noisy out there at night, as you can well imagine, so the tenting students get very little sleep. </p>
<p>Last year, the weather was a BEAR....son's tent got flooded, and he wound up sleeping in a huge pool of water! Ugh.</p>
<p>My son is not tenting again this year, but he's glad that he did it once. </p>
<p>mkm: Yes, those are the Robertson Scholars. Robertsons are students at Duke and at Carolina, and both are considered full time students at the opposite campus. They switch campuses the spring of their sophomore year, so that the Duke students live at Carolina, and the Carolina students live at Duke. They can take classes at either campus, anytime, but at the sophomore campus switch, they do so full-time. At any rate, the Duke student gov't didn't like that the Carolina Robertsons attended this particular game last year, and when Carolina won, these students stripped off their outer Duke t-shirts to show their true blue Carolina colors! I suspect the DSG wouldn't have been so immature and silly with this decision, had the outcome of that game been different. Now I think bad karma is coming to them, what with their recent loss(es).</p>
<p>My son tented last year as a freshman and had a great time. It is a great bonding experience. He is setting up his tent in about 2 weeks. There are some people that set up before the end of winter break. Be sure to have a good warm sleeping bag and a blue tarp in case of wet ground. The area is all wifi. You should definately try it at least once!</p>
<p>I tented legitimately as a freshman, and had luck on my side since cold weather grace was called the majority of the nights I was expected to sleep outside. Last year when we "white tented" stupidly for the wake forest game (set up tent a week before the game-- everyone only spends 1 night outside) grace was called for my night as well. In any case, it's definitely a "freshman" thing and I'll never ever do it again.</p>
<p>Why? It's cold. it's time consuming. one weak link can screw you over. my tent freshman year was filled with over dramatic characters -- now I'm only friends with like 3 or 4 out of 12 of them. some people have amazing tenting stories, and while i certainly have some funny anecdotes, but in general, tenting is an experience that i didn't particularly like, although i did LOVE the 2 games i got to go to as a result. in any case, my tent had carpeting left over from a friend's basement, and we bought a $30 love seat from goodwill to put in it -- a lot of bball players dropped by, and we were on the cover of a bunch of local newspapers. </p>
<p>my advice: stay healthy, don't pick fights, don't step out of line with people in your tent, find time to do school work.</p>
<p>My D, who is a grad student there, rented a RV with 11 others while they had the campout last month for bball tickets. They had a blast. To top it all, 7 people from her group were fortunate enough to get the season tickets so everyone will have a chance to attend some of the games.</p>