<p>I'm going on a college road trip this spring break, and my first stop is Duke. I've never been on a guided tour of a university (except Stanford, but I was a freshmen and didn't go to the information session or anything) and would like to get suggestions on what I should do. What things should I look for? What questions should I ask? Where should I visit?</p>
<p>This will likely be the only time I visit Duke because I live in California and we don't have the money for many plane tickets, so I need to visit to make a lasting impression and really help me get a feel for what Duke is all about.</p>
<p>If it makes a difference, our spring break is from March 23 - 31.</p>
<p>I did this same thing last year over my spring break, and I have to say that Duke was unprepared for the numbers of students visiting at that time (which seems odd, since EVERYONE always visits over spring break). They only had three tour guides available for over 150 students (and all the ones I talked to had preregistered, as I did), so we had 55 people in our tour group and the guide asked at the beginning “Who is interested in engineering?” and no one was. Finally one girl sort of half raised her hand and said “maybe” and the guide focused the ENTIRE tour on engineering. It was, unfortunately, the worst tour I have ever been on and did not show off Duke in any good way at all. She was also just not a good tour guide – you couldn’t hear her, she didn’t know the answers to many questions, and seemed to really not want to be there. However, the admission session before the tour was very well done and the video was extremely cute.</p>
<p>So my advice would be to (1) try to tour earliest in the day so that if you get a bad tour, maybe you can sneak into a later one and (2) find out if anyone you know has a friend or a kid or a cousin’s cousin’s sister’s boyfriend on campus and see if they can give you a REAL tour.</p>
<p>As far as questions – what are you interested in? Research the school on the website and that should lead you to want to know other things. Don’t ask things that you can easily find out (like “Do you offer x major?” or “What’s the guy:girl ratio?”).</p>
<p>Good luck – it really is a fantastic school, but lots of us were put off by the tour. What other schools are you looking at on that trip?</p>
<p>I already registered for a tour at 9 AM on March 25. I don’t think I know anyone at Duke unfortunately…in my area in California most everyone and their mothers have been in the same place their whole lives and went to state schools or community colleges. </p>
<p>Oh, and the other universities we are visiting are Princeton, Yale, Columbia and <em>possibly</em> Harvard. I don’t really like Columbia all that much, but I wanted an excuse to go to NYC :P</p>
<p>I always enjoy talking to students during random encounters around campus. I believe they provide more candid responses than tour guides. I have also found it helpful to call ahead to a department in which you might major and ask if a representative might be able to spend a few minutes with you.</p>
<p>Duke’s tour will only take you around West Campus. Get on a bus after your tour so that you will be able to walk around East Campus. This is where all the freshmen live, so you migth want to plan to eat lunch on East Campus.</p>
<p>We visited over Spring Break last year as well and had a similar experience to artemis. Our tour guide was better that his, but our Information Session was terrible - the adcom had just graduated the year before and treated the session as her own personal “This is What I Did for the Past Four Years” slide show. The Information Session was Standing Room Only and the tour groups were enormous. Arrive early or else parking will be impossible.</p>
<p>@rmidad - you didn’t get the basketball slide show? That’s too bad – I did an obscene number of campus visits and it was the third best slide show/admissions presentation of all the ones I saw (yes, I got bored and rated them, although my dad thinks it was the best). The worst tour, though, hands down. I agree about the standing room only and parking – we got there half an hour early and got seats, but anyone coming in as little as ten minutes early didn’t. Ours wasn’t the first one of the day, though.</p>
<p>Always try to have lunch on campus when you can! Not only does it let you check out the food and the atmosphere, but also you can usually chat with students.</p>
<p>My Columbia tour guide was pretty bad too (she said, “Um. . .” “like” every other word, but at least she could answer questions and was trying hard, and I actually really liked the tour overall), but that was a long time ago too.</p>
<p>Certainly take the our and attend the information session. Also, see if you can get a few minutes with an AO. Beyond that, go to the studnet center at Duke and observe students for a bit. Make sure you see the buildings that house classes of interest to you. Check out a few of the food options. Go to east campus as well where frosh spend most of their first year. Visit the gardens. And perhaps most importantly go downtown and see Durham. All of that can be done in a full day and should give you a better idea if Duke is the place for you.</p>
<p>Contrary to what these people will have you believe, most of the tour guides at Duke are good. I actually had the best experience at Duke when I visited in terms of tour and info session as opposed to other colleges, such as Penn, Columbia, Princeton, etc. If you do happen to get a bad tour guide, though, I would agree that you should take some time to ask students about certain aspects of campus life. Just make sure we don’t like we’re in a hurry to get somewhere, or we might not be so nice ;)</p>
<p>As a current student, I’ll tell you some of our “must see” attractions. Definitely check out the inside of the chapel - tour groups don’t go inside, but it’s absolutely stunning. Take a peek at the Link (lower level of Perkins Library). Some tours go in there if they’re small, but over spring break, groups will probably be large so chances are you won’t get in there. Definitely hit up the Bryan Center for a bit. Tours go in there, but it’s very quick and you don’t get to explore at all. Also, there’s a store in there for all your Duke apparel/knickknacks/random souvenir needs in the BC. Try and eat in one of the campus eateries - NOT one of the chain restaurants. If you’re on West, try the Great Hall, The Loop, or the Dillo. You should also definitely stop by Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Hall of Fame. Even if you’re not a basketball fan, it’s a must see attraction. If you came a little bit earlier, you would be able to see Krzyzewskiville and all its tent city glory, but sadly we’ll be all packed up by then. You can still see the sign, though! Also make sure to hit up the Duke gardens (absolutely beautiful), and take a trip to East campus. East is where the freshmen live, so you’ll probably want to see that. If you’re up for it, try eating at the Marketplace on East - it’s where all freshmen have to eat as part of the meal plan.</p>