<p>I need help on deciding if Focus is a good idea. I have a few questions for students who have been through the Focus experience. What year are you now, and what do you think of your experience. Was it beneficial? What do you think of the instructors of your courses? If you went on to major in a science, did the Focus experience really give you connections for future research? How did the seminars help you? I hope to go to medical school and was wondering if Focus is a good idea for pre-med. I got into the Game 2 Know cluster. If anyone has any information, I would greatly appreciate it.</p>
<p>I'm a Pratt '09 student, and while Modern Middle East was interesting, it was largely useless for me as an engineer. I learned little I couldn'tve taught myself reading a history book on the region, and ended up behind in my engineering requirements as a results (relatively so). I don't know if that will be the case for the cluster you've been admitted to. Future research? You don't really need connections for that, find a professor working on what you're interested in and email him/her about what you're interested in and see what happens. The vast majority will help you whether or not they already know you. Instructors were no better or worse than the instructors you'd get ouside of FOCUS. Seminars are OK, but I'm not a personal fan. Plenty of pre-meds have taken FOCUS. Do it if you're interested, just like with anything else... but it's not much as a means to an end.</p>
<p>I am a 2009er parent whose S was not premed or engineering...(undecided still) and was the kind of person who seriously considered a couple of admissions to very fine smaller colleges. He loved FOCUS..it was sort of like getting all the greatest things about Duke--diversity in student body, high school spirit, good sports scene, generous cultural programming...and one first semester of a more intimate school more along the lines of a Davidson or an Amherst. His FOCUS is not offered next year, but he was absolutely blown away by all the lectures in his FOCUS program, remains very fond of his FOCUS faculty, and he was glad to knock off his writing requirement in an atmosphere that was interdisciplinary. His tour guide when he was in your shoes did do research later with a FOCUS prof, although Joe's comments above are quite fair..profs at Duke routinely assist in research proposals if you initiate. There are Mellon grant people who are there to really help with writing and rewrites (if you get a draft done early enough to get an apt.) and my S really liked the discussions (so much better than his HS memories) and made sort of instant friends with his FOCUS cohorts. He liked the fact that all his FOCUS mates were in his dorm but they were deliberately not roommates so it was not claustrophobic to see them frequently. Some discussions included intimate meals in a pass fail setting with lectures that included many of the FOCUS profs including those he did not have an actual class with..you get two FOCUS courses, writing and discussion I think. You will interact with the students in the other courses in your FOCUS some. I know not everyone loved it as much as my S did but he has an engineering friend who thought Exploring the Mind was priceless and at least three premeds I met in his FOCUS track that also loved the program. If the idea of learning with 20 people or so is your ideal way to learn, consider FOCUS. Duke does have some large lecture intro courses that are rather impersonal and unavoidable. However, that is not to say that you won't find other ways to get small classes at Duke anyway..you can locate them regardless. It is not uncommon for a Duke student to try to double major, get a certificate etc and want to overload later or do a summer session to get all credits required.</p>
<p>I did FOCUS this past year, and I probably wouldn't do it again. It's not that I had a horrible experience, it's just that Duke offers so many different classes that I feel I could have taken a wider variety of classes. Instead of having 3 classes focused on Ancient Greece, I probably would have felt my interest in the subject satisfied with just one. As a whole, I think FOCUS is a bit overrated though your particular FOCUS will shape your experience. </p>
<p>Game2Know has not been offered before, but I think someone mentioned Betsy Verhoeven (formerly Gwyn) is your writing instructor. She is absolutely outstanding - one of my favorite teachers this past year. Ironically, she just got her Ph.D. last year but teaches like a veteran. The following is a GUESS not fact - you may be placed in Alspaugh dorm because I know the FOCUS I was in is offered on a biannual basis so it won't be around this year. I've heard before that FOCUS mainstays (Ex. Mind, Visions, Genetics, etc.) stay in the same dorms, but I never found out whether that was true or not. </p>
<p>With all that being said, FOCUS is particularly good if you are from a very small school or community (I was not). One of my friends said that the small environment really helped her adjust easily to the larger college environment. Thus, in this case, it was great for her. </p>
<p>As far as future research, FOCUS could be helpful because you will get to know the faculty very well. Thus, they can be great resources for recommendations as well as a place to try and gain entry into a field.</p>
<p>Concerning pre-med, it won't be a problem unless you're Pratt then it takes a lot of careful planning. Many of my friends in the program are pre-med. You will definitely want to start on your chemistry using your elective (Chem 21 or 23 usually otherwise Organic).</p>
<p>Focus with premed isn't an issue, since you do have that one free course and if you're premed, it's some chemistry course. A lot of people in my focus back in the day (Modern America) did that.</p>
<p>Like a lot of these respondents, I too would not do Focus again. I loved the residential component and the small classes (I will always remember how we made this giant poster in preparation for a poli sci midterm late at night in our pajamas. Someone still has this poster... and we all got above 90s on the exam), but I was sort of let down by things. There are tons of fascinating courses at Duke that I couldn't take because of Focus, though, with hindsight, I realize that the chance of me enrolling in those classes because of super late freshman registration windows would be slim anyway-- so I did get to take classes I at least thought sounded cool.</p>
<p>I liked my FOCUS (especially since it counts for my one of majors lol). Remember that every freshman is required to take Writing 20 and a freshman seminar, so you really only "lose" one class. I took organic chemistry at the same time as FOCUS with little conflict between the two.</p>
<p>How are the professors and what is the course load? Is there more work in Focus than outside of Focus? About how many Pratt students do Focus?</p>
<p>The professors are usually some of Duke's finest. One of my profs was on the history channel one day, and another is apparently quite an intellectual celebrity (he's head of the classics dept) - he translated some of the texts we were actually reading for class.</p>
<p>The amount of work varies extraordinarily by the FOCUS cluster and even sometimes the classes within the focus. I remember hearing that Forging Social Ideals had to write something like a 50 page term paper (and it apparently wasn't even for the writing class), but I was never required to do anything like that for my cluster. My writing term paper was something like 20 pages or so and mine was longer than most. One thing you can expect in FOCUS much more so than in regular classes is an increased amount of reading and writing. I did not have a single multiple choice exam - all of my grades were essay-type tests or papers.</p>
<p>Not many Pratt students do FOCUS - however, some do. I know of at least one that was in my FOCUS.</p>
<p>Yup - my roommate was in FSI and had to write that 50 page paper. </p>
<p>I didn't do FOCUS, but my opinion from what I've seen/heard about it is that it's a ton of work during the semester, but a lot of grade inflation at the end. I don't know much about a lot of the FOCUSes, so I hope I don't offend anyone, but basically everyone I spoke to that did FOCUS told me that they thought it was a lot of work but somehow at the end they all wound up with straight A's. So, yeah - there's that.</p>
<p>Having done FOCUS, I would agree that generally everyone gets grades in the A/A-/B+ range. However, there was one prof in my FOCUS who was hardcore against grade inflation. He definitely gave some C's.</p>