Visit to Durham --> =_=

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>Okay before anyone goes and things Durham is a ****-hole, it’s really not. As a p-frosh, you really don’t get to see that much of Durham, which is unfortunate. I love being a Durham resident. And, OP and lazypolarbears, I’m also from SF. The city, to be exact, so I have a very similar perspective.</p>

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<p>1) Coming from the bay, you should know that Stanford is not in SF. It’s as isolate from anything as a campus could get. If you have friends there, you’ll know that everyone needs a car to get anywhere, which actually really sucks. A lot. People stay on campus.</p>

<p>2) Durham has an incredible restaurant scene (I think coming from SF, this gives me opinion a little validity…). It is also very artsy/sing-y/dance-y. There are so many plays, shows, concerts, and performances going on at the Carolina Ballet, Carolina Theater, Durham Performing Arts Center, etcetc that you’ll be really wishing you could go to the all, but can’t cause you’re so busy. There’s a lot of culture here in Durham, and I wish SF had that. Durham can kind of be characterized as a smaller, KINDER version of SF. God, how I have come to love southern hospitality haha. </p>

<p>3) Duke is definitely not rural, or anything close to it. With a population of approximately 300,000 people (and growing) it’s very suburban.</p>

<p>4) Durham:</p>

<h1>1 Place to Live and Work (Employment Review)</h1>

<h1>1 Best City for Jobs (Forbes)</h1>

<h1>2 Best Area to Start a Business (Forbes)</h1>

<h1>4 City for Entrepreneurs & Small Business</h1>

<p>(National Policy Research Council)
Top Ten Hubs for Creative Class (Fast Company)
Top 5 Towns Where People Most Love to Eat (Food & Wine)</p>

<h1>1 Best Cities for Education (Forbes)</h1>

<h1>1 Boomtown in America (Business 2.0)</h1>

<h1>2 Healthiest City for Women (American Health for Women)</h1>

<h1>2 Best Green Cities (Country Home)</h1>

<h1>3 Most Enlightened City (Utne Reader)</h1>

<p>5) I think this is a really, really important point. If Duke were in a big city like NYC, it wouldn’t be Duke. I agree with frenchhorngirl, and this is a LARGE reason why I eventually didn’t choose to go to Columbia. If Duke were in a large city, there wouldn’t be the campus community and school pride that there is. At Columbia, people leave campus to go and explore the city rather than stay on campus sometimes and meet new people and foster a community; Columbians have told me that you’re not really attached to Columbia, and definitely do not have anywhere near the same sense of amazing, powerful school spirit that Duke has. The campus, the spirit, and the pride are what DEFINE Duke - it makes the place as happy as it is. And to be honest, I’ve never looked back. I love my school, and I love this unique, indescribable pride and love that you feel on campus. I wouldn’t trade it for an opportunity to live in a city for four years for anything. </p>

<p>6) When you graduate, go to the big city that you want. That’s what I’m planning on doing - I’m enjoying my years here at Duke in Durham, soaking in the community, and then planning to go to medical school in SF, LA, or NYC. </p>

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<p>Anyway, I hope all that helps anyone who is concerned about Durham. Durham is a great place, and it really grows on you as you go through the years as well. :)</p>

<p>BTW, lazypolarbears, Durham >> Ithaca haha. Ithaca has like, what, only 30,000 people? If you’re from the Bay, Ithaca will make you feel sleepy. And plus, Durham weather is the closest and best you’re gonna get compared to CA :)</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t go overboard with the Forbes rankings. The Raleigh-Durham area may be #1 for jobs, but most people who have a choice live in Raleigh, Cary, or Apex rather than Durham. Durham is the least desirable city in the triangle to live in and is one of the least desirable cities in the state to live in. I’m not trying to be overly negative, but that’s just the reality. Most NC residents and locals have a bad opinion of Durham.</p>

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<p>Cuse0507, I agree, having been there more than once and knowing someone in the area. The Research Triangle may be a great area to live and work in, but I think, if anything, Durham is at the low end of the spectrum in terms of living and working and is only really considered in the rankings because of its association with the Triangle. The rankings don’t mean much when you’ve been there and seen the reality. I acknowledge that everyone’s opinion will be different on this topic. However nothing I have seen in Raleigh/Durham has really impressed me, coming from a bigger city (DC). It’s a different area, much more suburban–and if that’s what you want, go for it. Just don’t expect loads of opportunities when it comes to recreation. Just my opinion. I agree that I don’t think the area will be so much of a factor considering the amount of work you will have at Duke. My dad went to Duke, and not surprisingly did not chose to stay in the area…</p>

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<p>And while you’re at it - take a look at the Duke University police website for special events on and near campus:</p>

<p>[Duke</a> Police: News Archive](<a href=“http://www.duke.edu/police/news_stats/past_news/index.php]Duke”>http://www.duke.edu/police/news_stats/past_news/index.php)</p>

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<p>All I’m saying is that as a student, there are opportunities for you to have fun and not die. Cuse0507 you will always go on and on about how UNC is better cause Durham is horrible, but that’s not true. If you hate it so much, don’t work here.</p>

<p>Durham is not as bad as some people make it out to be. Yeah, it’s not like the most amazing place ever, but it’s a town that grows on you. And as a Duke student, you’re a Durham resident. It’s your home.</p>

<p>And singersmom, if you’ll notice, there are only 7 events in the year 2010. For a suburban city, that’s not toooo shabby. Yes, the random shooting outside Duke hospital was unnerving, but if you ask most Duke students, they’ll tell you that the rarely feel unsafe on campus. There are a lot of precautions put in place to ensure that students feel safe.</p>

<p>Including the police department, there is <a href=“http://emergency.duke.edu/[/url]”>http://emergency.duke.edu/&lt;/a&gt; and <a href=“http://www.duke.edu/police/services/vanrides.php[/url]”>http://www.duke.edu/police/services/vanrides.php&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Look at the police logs from areas such as New Haven and Morningside Heights/Harlem (near Columbia) if you want to see what it’s like to go to college in a city. There are advantages, but definite disadvantages to a city campus. Certainly, Durham has questionable areas, but in general, campus and the surrounding areas are safe. In my time in Durham (I lived there for a number of years), I never had any problems with feeling unsafe. I cannot say that for other places I have lived, where I would routinely hear gunshots outside late at night.</p>

<p>Undergraduates are usually so immersed in campus life that the surrounding area is not all that important. John117, I promise you won’t be bored. I have known people who have gone to college in major cities and rarely went off campus.</p>

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<p>True, but SF is 45 minutes away from Stanford. What is 45 minutes away from Duke?</p>

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<p>Is this a joke?</p>

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<p>And you criticize the Revealed Preference rankings for being “flawed.”</p>

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<p>If Durham is such “a great place, and it really grows on you,” why leave??</p>

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<p>No, my claim that Durham is a smaller, similar SF is not a joke. SF is known for food, so is Durham. SF is very liberal, so is Durham. Durham is smaller, but has a southern hospitality that SF lacks. People in the west can be major *******s, and I didn’t realize how much soutern hospitality actually means until I got here.</p>

<p>Also, if you notice, the Raleigh-Durham area is one of the top places people stay. It does grow on students. Also, people leave because firms such as finance firms are not in NC, so we have to go to NYC or LA. That’s why people leave.</p>

<p>Also, 20 min from Durham are Raleigh and Chapel Hill. They are great places.</p>

<p>And lastly, yes, the Revealed Preference is a joke and flawed. Most people agree unless their school is favored. I agree that those rankings don’t mean much for Durham, but it does illustrate that Durham has it’s positives.</p>

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<p>Yes, it certainly is. You’re actually trying to convince people that Durham is a greater cultural destination than SF. This is what you said word-for-word: “There’s a lot of culture here in Durham, and I wish SF had that.” Seriously??</p>

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<p>What “southern hospitality” are you talking about? The town-gown relations between Duke and Durham are tenuous, to say the very least.</p>

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<p>You didn’t answer my question. I asked: why are YOU leaving?? If the Research Triangle is such a “great place,” why are you planning to go to med school in SF, LA or NYC? Why not go to Duke or UNC med?</p>

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<p>By car.</p>

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<p>Why is the RP study a “joke”? What methodological issues do you have with it? Better yet, have you even read the NBER paper? No ranking is perfect, obviously, but I am really finding it hard to take you seriously when you dismiss the (albeit controversial) academic work of Harvard, Stanford and Yale economists, but flaunt the WSJ feeder school study, which is essentially a hack job by newspaper reporters who clearly have no training whatsoever in statistical analysis, let alone (social) scientific protocol. This is a one-time survey, mind you, that has never been replicated. Among other things, it relies on “student face books” (!!) and excludes, for example, Stanford law and business schools. It seems as if the “credibility” of a ranking in your eyes is entirely dependent on whether Duke performs well or poorly.</p>

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<p>At least we agree on something.</p>

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<p>At the end of the day, it seems to me, the biggest indictment of the WSJ study is that it only looked at how many students from an undergraduate institution were enrolled at the so-called “top 5” med, law and business schools, not how many of its students actually applied and were ultimately accepted.</p>

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<p>Not sure I buy into the whole southern hospitality idea in North Carolina. You find nasty and nice people anywhere. Lots of northern-state folks have migrated down to North Carolina due to its increasing development (and it has a ways to go), job opportunities, and lower cost of living.</p>

<p>The whole idea of this thread, I believe, is that everyone needs to find their niche or be willing to adjust to a new area. You can’t compare two areas critically, because there is cultural/infrastructural deviation in any state. It’s okay to like one area more than another (in this case, SF over NC, etc.).</p>

<p>Are you going to school more for an education or for its surrounding area?</p>

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<p>You’ll find plenty of southern hospitality in North Carolina. Maybe not in Durham (or maybe so), but definitely in other parts of the state. Outside of the triangle, North Carolina is still very southern.</p>

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<p>eatsalot - so has saferides improved that much? Not from what I hear from students on campus. </p>

<p>This is from 2008 - but if you check the Duke Chronicle archives you will find many of the same comments:</p>

<p>[Duke</a> University student writes opinion letter to armed Durham residents - 1/24/08 - Raleigh News - abc11.com](<a href=“http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=5912435]Duke”>http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=5912435)</p>

<p>It has become apparent that lately some of you have been catching on to this phenomenal economic opportunity. Forgive me if I am not completely updated on the official statistics, but I think we are up to one murder, three robberies and 18 car break-ins… in the last week.</p>

<p>Lastly, due to our inept and unreliable SafeRides program, students often find themselves stuck walking alone from off-campus houses and venues. Most of these students have been drinking. It’s not rocket science. Grab and go, baby.</p>

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<p>That op/ed piece was written with a dose of sarcasm, and not meant to be taken as factual. It’s also two years old. The point, however, is well-taken - college students everywhere are seen as easy targets for criminals. Students living off-campus should be especially cautious. Durham has crime just like any other city, and the stats show that it is overall similar to other US cities of comparable size ( I posted these on another thread).</p>

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<p>[Durham</a> police chief’s car hit by gunfire :: WRAL.com](<a href=“Durham police chief's car hit by gunfire”>Durham police chief's car hit by gunfire)</p>

<p>I was driving down 15/501 towards Durham around 2 pm this afternoon when several Durham PD vehicles passed me, lights and sirens going, speeding towards downtown. I’d have to assume that it was connected to the shooting and the police chief. Scary thing is this was right in downtown Durham, during the middle of the day. Two cars driving down the road shooting at each other, with the police chief caught in the crossfire.</p>

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<p>Your constant attempts at bashing Durham are quite ridiculous. One evnt and you jump on the opportunity to thwart prospective students from
Durham to Chapel Hill…</p>

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<p>I don’t know eatsalot - do you even know anyone who has been a victim of crime in Durham? What about the freshman walking from West Campus to East near the bridge and was held up at gunpoint in Fall 2009?</p>

<p>There is crime and prospective students need to be aware of it. </p>

<p>Currently I am a post graduate student at a major university in a major metropolitan area with a population 10 times that of Durham. Guess what - there has never been an armed robbery with a gun on my campus.</p>

<p>So, it’s wise for students to be aware to make a well informed decision. If there is crime they need to know about it so they can be prepared when it happens to them or their friends.</p>

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<p>I agree with the above. Duke may not be in the best part of town, and I don’t think it’s bashing a school if someone wants to bring that to light for prospective students. However, I would imagine that the campus area itself feels plenty safe, and it’s just an issue with the outskirts.</p>

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<p>I’m not the one bringing Chapel Hill into the discussion. I’ve stated before that I like Duke as a school and I like Duke students-they’re great people. As a NC native, however, I’m just attempting to speak the truth about Durham. No one is saying that Duke is a dangerous school; it is simply that Durham as a city leaves much to be desired, and plenty of Dukies will tell you that (they’ve said the same thing to me). No harm in saying this. Duke is still a great school, and Duke students still have fun. Just don’t come into the place having these high expectations about Durham.</p>

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<p>Duke itself is safe, which is the point.</p>

<p>Also, let’s put it this way. I work with Durham EMS. I feel like my experiences give me a little more validity, as I’m going to have a better perspective of crime in this city than most people. While Durham has crime, it is no where near as bad as you like to make it out to be. Ask a Duke student if they feel unsafe on campus, and they’ll tell you no. That’s what matters.</p>