<p>I saw a thread about this for another University, and would appreciate the perspective of existing students and parents about Duke.
Most of the posts focus on "How can I get in?" assuming it is the best possible place to attend. What are the things about Duke that students don't like? When is Duke not the right choice for a student who gets accepted?</p>
<p>I am not a current student at duke, but if my sisters complaining is any indication, one of the freshmen calculus classes is supposedly hell (she’s a current sophomore)</p>
<p>Durham not being a good college town. The nightlife isn’t great and unless your into the whole frat party scene, you wont have much to do. Apart from shooters, which is fun but sleazy, there are no clubs anyone goes to.</p>
<p>Nothing. Simple as that. Duke is Eden.</p>
<p>I took a visit from the Pacific northwest to Duke about a month or so ago. The campus is nice, a lot like Princeton’s (in fact, I had dinner with my dad with Rob Calderbank and his wife, for those of you who know who he is, and he talked about that). But I hated Durham. Ostensibly, it seemed boring, lacks personality, and I can’t really think of what I’d ever want to do there besides see minor league baseball games. But the barbeque (the Q-shack was great) and other food has it rated highly among foodies, apparently. </p>
<p>Compare this to LA, where food isn’t the only redeeming quality, and you’ve got one bland place to spend four years.</p>
<p>While I’d agree that Durham isn’t the greatest city, there are so many activities and groups to get involved in on campus that you shouldn’t be bored for a second during your four years. If you are bored, you’d probably get bored elsewhere as well. There’s enough going on to fill 48 hours in a 24-hour day really. Durham isn’t NYC, but at least there are ample restaurants/malls/bars etc. within driving distance (I’d agree that having access to a car makes a big difference; I didn’t, but had friends who did which was sufficient. Taking cabs is relatively easy too, but can add up). Durham is not in the middle of nowhere like Dartmouth or something. </p>
<p>And you don’t have to be 21 to get into bars like you would in a major city (just don’t get a wristband to purchase alcohol) since all the establishments cater to the college crowd. Oftentimes, colleges in major cities have parties on campus (or at off campus houses) anyways since basically only seniors can get into bars. At least at Duke even freshmen can get in to all the bars/clubs, so while the choices may be more limited, they’re open to everybody. Durham also has a surprisingly large number of nice restaurants if you know where to find them. I’d personally take the amazing beautiful sprawling campus while sacrificing the town a bit. But, yes, if being in a city like NYC, Boston, San Fran, DC is important to you, than Durham leaves a lot to be desired obviously. But schools in those cities usually sacrifice other things like vast lawns and scientific/athletic facilities.</p>
<p>larry.moneta.</p>
<p>Bumping! Hoping this will help me (and others) cope with rejection… :/</p>
<p>The shallowness of some of the students here.</p>
<p>I’ve heard about frats and sororities dominating the social scene, and subsequently, answers with varying degrees of resentment or euphoria. Kids that I’ve asked have said it’s there, but you don’t have to be a part of it in order to have fun. Other reviews online have been much more extreme by saying “don’t come here if you don’t want to drink.”
What’s the truth, really?</p>
<p>Like other commenters have noted, it’s hard to find a big thorn for Duke, but if I had to pick from my experience, I would say that as a freshman pre-med, I did not really like living on East Campus and having to wait for the bus to West Campus for my morning science lectures. The bus stop can get really crowded because a lot of freshmen rush to lectures at the last minute, creating a bottleneck in the morning.
(Note this isn’t an issue for ever freshman though because a lot of freshman choose to take first-year classes that are offered on East campus).</p>
<p>Since I was a freshman however, the administration has tried to improve that by increasing bus frequency, buying buses with more space inside, and changing a bus that runs on a “super-fast” path meaning it does not stop between it’s commute from East and West (cutting the 15 minute trip to about 5). That last improvement I think would have helped a lot.</p>
<p>Two comments made by my S’s teacher is one, the cockroaches and two, a comment made as he and a friend were out in town “Look ma, there’s a China-man”. It’s been about 8 years since that incident, but it may still indicate the Durham culture.</p>
<p>AtlanticCoastDoc, they have also put in new “Mega Busses” that are twice as large and are more environmentally friendly, putting less strain on the bus stop. The administration has been working to improve the bus system quite a lot recently.</p>
<p>In response to the social scene question, I’d say the former is true.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman this year and although the frat/soro system and parties are there if you want them, you definitely don’t have to drink or go to their parties to have fun. Duke definitely is work hard/play hard but the frat scene doesn’t dominate socially. But, if you’re into that, a lot of parties here are “open” so you don’t have to be invited or a member of the greek system to go to them and it won’t be weird if you just show up.</p>
<p>Basically, Duke is a BLAST. I read the online s*** about duke before I came (it’s dominated by the greek system, it’s full of ******s, etc. etc.) and it really freaked me out, but it’s just not true. We have a greek system, but it’s not that big (20% guys, 40% girls) and it doesn’t dominate the social scene. There are a TON of parties, and a TON of other stuff to do on friday and saturday nights.</p>