We didn’t know much about Duke University when my daughter decided to go there last year.
This much I knew – It was within 6-7 hours drive, the weather and architecture would be great, there was even a Duke Garden, a double major in Math and Theater was not discouraged, maybe even encouraged, its fraternity culture was possibly being replaced by a more inclusive culture, sports had a fan following with students queuing up tenting for tickets, that first-year students lived on a separate east campus, its dining was considered good, and that there were no obvious red flags on diversity and LGBTQ issues – though being a selective private college its admission hoops and culture were probably much more accessible to the privileged sections of the society despite its need-blind admission policy and generous FA that met 100% need.
But how these tidbits of information would add up, what was even more relevant than the above that made a huge difference to her first-year experience, we only found out as the year went by.
As her year started what I thought was a great thing (first year living separately on the east campus so that they can bond) began to look to me as being a hurdle – they had to take buses mornings, afternoons, and evenings to get to most of the departments which were in the west campus. While the bus rides were short and frequency was good, still one had to factor 30 mins for each trip.
But my daughter was undaunted and didn’t mind it at all. It didn’t matter to her. But I dont think any additional bonding was there either, with the rest of the incoming class just because they lived separately on the east campus.
As for the teaching and classes, she loved everyone of them. What I did not expect was that the professors whether they be in the math major courses or theater courses or gen ed requirement courses were all accessible, both during extensive office hours and even outside of those, most of her classes were small, everyone took teaching seriously – it wasnt as if undergrads were getting some step-parently treatment by faculty who would be more focused on graduate students and research – I was pleasantly surprised that the undergrad teaching was so good.
Yes some (not majority) of the courses were being taught by post docs (or younger faculty not on tenure), but most such courses also had experienced profs teaching some of the sections as well, and students could chose their sections to intesect with faculty they wanted within the constraints of the rest of their time table. And the younger faculty also did a very good job teaching, as did the experienced ones.
The courses (including math major ones) were challenging, and while my daughter availed mainly of help from office hours of the professors, there were other resources for help as well, such as student run help centers for some math courses. Surprisingly I found that she wasn’t discussing much with her friends on courses and assignments and not studying together with anyone (or maybe she was and I didnt know) but she was participating in classes asking questions etc (as she also did in high school).
She is not that interested in sports but the Duke spirit rubbed off her. I saw her rooting for Duke and having an animated exchange with a UNC fan in a baskeball game that took place when she was visiting us.
Her interests are in theater and there were number of plays on campus in the semester that she could see – with a modest ticket price of $10.
She even auditioned for a role in a mainstage play – and on the final round of auditions there were 4 people being seriously considered for the part she got – and had a very challenging rehersal schedule that took most evenings of her second semester, and 6 ticketed performances of the play over two weeks. She also participated in a stand up comedy performance that had a huge audience and no rehersals.
The Duke dining to me on the East Campus’s first year dining place seemed average, but I only sampled a few things. She found it to be just fine. For lunches in first year (and in subsequent years for all meals) the dining service is via private vendors on West campus and food points – not like a canteen or a dininig facility. Its more like eating out every meal in a mall. So I am not sure how it’d be but she is fine with it as there are a diversity of vendors catering to different tastes and needs.
Coming back to academics, Duke University appears to give wings to the idea of giving research opportunities to undergrads in all the fields or departments. I was surprised by the extent of this fervor, and it starts from the very first year. This summer she is doing a 8 week DoMath research program with a group of other undergrads and a math faculty member. This group research activity is designed for undergrads after their freshman and sopohomore years, in the senior year the research opportunities are more one-on-one with faculty memners.
I dont know how useful this activity/opportunity will be, and also how challenging it will be as the topics in math are abstract and high level, but she is looking forward to a fun summer.
Another thing Duke did to increase bonding among freshmen is to have focus programs (consisting of 2 and a half courses) in a braod/general area of interest, unrelated to the Major(s), in the first semester of first year. The idea being that these will be small size classes and students in a particular focus program can get to know each other and their faculty well. While she enjoyed the focus program classes I am not sure if she made any lasting friends.
Duke’s in campus housing with all first year on east campus meant that her first year roommate would be a randomly assigned female freshman too. They do have to fill out a questionairre that helps Duke make a good match for a roommate. My daughter and her roommate got along very well, and have decided to be roomates also in the second/somphomore year.
Duke also had a parents facebook page going for all the entering class that was very active and helpful. Parents could post questions, concerns, suggestions and anecdotes. Other parents could respond. Duke also assigned a couple of faculty members who regularly responded on behalf of Duke to parental queries.
With her rehersals for the play she participated in, and a couple of other activities, she didnt have much time for other clubs and activities. She plans to do more clubbing in the first semester of second year and she actively has set aside time for that.
Being within a 6-7 hour driving distance did help. We made a few trips and spent some time with her, especially in the first semester and first half of second semester, when we thought she needed some parental support.
Am writing the above to share some experience of Duke so interested applicants in future years have a more detailed idea of how the first year experience has been for my daughter (it is a parent’s perspective of course that I am posting).