<p>I hear that many of the students attending Duquesne live in the Pittsburgh area and that there is a larger commuter population than most residential campuses. Is this true? Is the campus quiet and does it empty out on weekends because students are close to home? If a student is from eastern Pennsylvania (4 1/2 hr drive), will they be one of the few left on campus?</p>
<p>I know the threads are light on the Duqesne forum, but this school seems like a descent fit for me. Can anyone help me with feedback on the questions I posted?</p>
<p>We live near Pittsburgh, and my sophomore daughter lives on campus. The majority of her classmates are from Western PA, but she has also met lots of students from other parts of PA and from other states (including California, New York and Ohio). She’s also made friends with kids from other countries like Germany, China and the Netherlands. </p>
<p>She said that there are always some kids who stay in cliques with one or two high school friends, but feels that they’re in the minority. My D feels that the majority of students at Duquesne are really friendly and open to making new friends. She also recommends checking out Greek life there. Not only do they have a lot of activities all the time, but she said that there’s enough variety in the “personalities” of each sorority or fraternity to guarantee that it’s possible to find a group of compatible people. </p>
<p>She only comes home once a month now because there are things to do. I’ve dropped her off on weekends and have observed that the campus is much quieter, but not dead.</p>
<p>Thank you Neonzeus! I think getting involved with clubs/organizations will be important. Overall, how does your daughter like Duquesne? What would she say are the best and worst things about her experience?</p>
<p>She is very happy with her choice (personally, I would have been happier if she had gone to a large public university with a lot more options but she picked Duquesne for its medical majors like nursing, physician’s assistant and pharmacy). She says the best things are the friendliness of the students, the fact that her teachers have been very supportive, class sizes are good, the dorms are nicer than the dorms of the public schools I wanted her to attend :-(, and it’s close enough to downtown that she can walk there if she wants to go shopping or to an event in the cultural district. She’s gone to Penguins games on some sort of freebie or low-discount ticket deal for college students, and says it’s no big deal to get to Pitt, the South Side, the shopping area at Homestead and elsewhere. A lot of kids have cars, either because they’re local or because they are from out-of-town. Parking is expensive and sometimes hard to find though. </p>
<p>Worst things are the cafeteria food, the elevators in her current dorm, and her advisor. She says the students have to be very proactive if they want anything that is nonstandard, like a double major or minor, since she felt her advisor was oblivious. She is ok with the Catholic school dorm stuff like no overnights and single sex dorms, which would have driven my other kids crazy. She says that there are a lot of wealthy kids with the whole Coach bag, trips to Europe etc., but that they aren’t generally snobby about it. She doesn’t like that there aren’t a lot more stores and places to eat either right on campus or close to campus (she likes to shop sigh). She doesn’t like that you have to buy a bus pass for Duq, but the Pitt kids get theirs for free. </p>
<p>I like the weekly email that I get from the school with all of the weekly on campus activities, so I can flag stuff for her. I like hearing my kid’s enthusiasm about her classes. She is really enjoying many of them, far more than high school. </p>
<p>I don’t like hearing about the underage drinking that takes place, but my older kids tell me it’s inevitable. I also don’t like hearing that kids go off campus with their friends. It worries me, even though she’s assured me that they stay in groups. Then again, she’s my youngest.</p>