Why a junior is still loving Duke!

Colleges & Universities A-Z Duke University
1

<p>As decisions come in, I want to offer my take on the last couple years of life - undeniably the most memorable, challenging, and life changing.</p>

<p>Some background on what I do around Duke (particularly if you want info on any of these activities):</p>

<p>Major: Public Policy Studies (came here wanting to study acoustics/physics…how one changes!)
Minor: Turkish</p>

<p>Navy ROTC
Duke Symphony Orchestra
Sorority
Club Lacrosse
research assistant
independent research on Turkish politics
Study Abroad - NYU in Prague</p>

<p>Hometown: San Diego, CA</p>

<p>What I personally love about my experience:</p>

<li><p>The feeling of knowing so, so much more than I did in high school. You will learn so much here over the years…and be astounded how much you have grown as a person since your freshman year.</p></li>
<li><p>The PPS major. When you mentally refer back to core courses you took in order to analyze anything from a news article, a discussion in another class, or work you’re doing on an internship, you know they were good. The required internship is a fantastic way to apply concepts you learn to real world situations. They also award stipends and grants for internships and research! Faculty members are not solely ivory tower academics - they’ve worked in politics, non-profits, journalism, you name it. Their experiences help create an educational environment that looks to change the future rather than rely solely on 20/20 hindsight to critique the past.</p></li>
<li><p>The weather. It will have been over 80 degrees 6 out of 8 days this week. There were a couple days of snow here in February. Coming from San Diego, I love the delicious taste of the seasons…and the ability to lord a warm day over my friends snowed in at school up north.</p></li>
<li><p>Duke Basketball. You have something in common with every alum, student, staff, or faculty member - you cheer for Duke or UNC. It’s awesome.</p></li>
<li><p>Wonderful people. The friends I’ve made here are incredible and the collaborative nature of the student body is quite unique. Last year, only 2 weeks into the semester, a girl who I had just met in the class asked if I wanted to get together and go over some readings. Everything from physics, chock full of pre-meds, to PubPol classes, I’ve felt that I could ask anyone in the class for some help. I find that there’s a sentiment of “us against the class” vs. “us against one another.” I mentioned this to my good friend at Harvard, who responded “Wow…that’s definitely not how things work up here. Too many people are obsessed with their rank.”</p></li>
<li><p>Durham. Ok, you might think I’m crazy…but I enjoy Durham. Albeit a car is necessary to fully experience the city, it’s pretty underrated. Whole Foods is right across from East Campus and 9th Street has its fair share of neat places - Francesca’s home made ice cream, the Regulator Bookshop, High Strung (acoustic guitars, violins, mandolins), Mexican, Caribbean, Chinese/Vietnamese food, and even some good places for steak! A block farther you can find some good Indian food and Mongolian Barbecue…and Elmo’s Diner! With some transportation (or carpooling), you can hit up LocoPops (gourmet/amazing popsicles), Bullocks Barbecue (amazing family run restaurant), and Cook-Out (double drive through, 40 milkshakes, open til 4 am…you get the idea)…I could go on forever.</p></li>
<li><p>Little things. Like ePrint. I love the quality of laser printing…add dozens of printers around campus, double-sided, high speed printing, and you get ePrint. Print something from your dorm room, swing by a printer on your way to class, swipe your card, and voila - your document! For free!</p></li>
<li><p>Tailgate. Ok, if there’s one thing I miss from being abroad in the fall, it’s tailgate. Where else can all walks of life, greek, non-greek, athletes, mill about in ridiculous costumes at 9 am on a Saturday? It’s like a cross between Halloween on Franklin Street and Mardi Gras down in New Orleans - a crazy, positive, festive atmosphere. Better yet, tailgaters managed to keep the Administration happy with its execution this fall…so it’s here to stay.</p></li>
<li><p>Recreational facilities. Wilson is fantastic. Huge weight room, lots of cardio machines, flat screen TVs, Quenchers (with smoothies and fresh cut fruit), the pool, basketball courts, indoor track, racquet ball…and included in your tuition/fees. Brodie is smaller, but has a decent, convenient selection of workout opportunities for freshmen. Plus, they’re adding a smoothie place there this summer!</p></li>
<li><p>The Duke Gardens. Beautiful and mere steps away from Main West, families with their children having a picnic, wireless access, and in full bloom as of mid-March. What isn’t there to love…</p></li>
<li><p>Buildings. Sanford, Bostock, Von der Heyden, Perkins, West Campus, East Campus…and even the science buildings (…PPS major, I only see them from the outside). I still find the views down Chapel Drive towards the Duke Chapel and towards Baldwin Auditorium down the East Quad as beautiful as when I was a freshman. Neo-Gothic, Georgian, and new buildings that blend with the old…Duke has managed to really do it right.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>What would make Duke better:</p>

<li><p>Short term car rental and/or shuttles to Southpoint/Target/Wal-Mart. A day time Safe Ride. A Safe Ride that picks up off campus. (Safe Ride is a Duke van service that operates at night, picks up people on campus, and drops people off between 10 pm and 7 am anywhere in the Duke vicinity - key phrase being drops off, not picks up). That would have been lovely during my car-less freshman year.</p></li>
<li><p>More grants for research in the liberal arts during the semester/summer. </p></li>
<li><p>Transportation to Raleigh Downtown area.</p></li>
<li><p>Better campus calendar (that’s a platform of a number of DSG candidates).</p></li>
<li><p>I’d say sophomore year housing, but it’s changed a lot for the better since linking (which ended after my year). Now it’s a lot more flexible!</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Phew - sorry if that was an overwhelming amount of information. Don’t hesitate to PM me with any questions about anything!</p>

2

<p>My son also loves Duke for many of the reasons you stated. Of my four children, he is the only one to have truly enjoyed every aspect of his college life, and he has squeezed more activities into his first year than I did my whole undergraduate/graduate experience - music group, intramurals, selective living group, business frat, tenting and painting himself blue and white for basketball games, and so on.</p>

3

<p>I'm trying to decide if Duke's right for me, and that was really helpful. Thanks so much!</p>

4

<p>Thanks! That's a really helpful post and makes me feel even better about my decision to go to Duke (although there weren't too many to begin with). How did you like Prague, by the way?</p>

5

<p>I loved the program that I did - the city was great and it was fun being with a bunch of NYU students! Different and fun people! It's also a great jumping off point for travel - transportation is cheap and you have the time!</p>

6

<p>woa lex! thanks!! I now really really want to go ! (it doesn't matter if I have to pay 180k for my undergraduate education!!) I'm going anyways!!!!!</p>

7

<p>Thanks for posting that. And for mentioning Cookout!</p>

<p>
[quote]
Duke Basketball. You have something in common with every alum, student, staff, or faculty member - you cheer for Duke or UNC. It's awesome.

[/quote]

Wait...there are people who cheer for UNC? Not that I'd ever be a UNC fan <em>cough</em></p>

8

<p>
[quote]
Wait...there are people who cheer for UNC?

[/quote]

Mostly staff. Some of the Marketplace employees are particularly vocal about their allegiance. :rolleyes:</p>

9

<p>Wow, this was an awesome post! I'm visiting Duke next week at Duke Up Close and at first I was a bit hesitant because I didn't think that I would actually really want to go there (that sounds horrible, sorry), but just reading this made me incredibly excited about next week and DEFINITELY moved Duke wayyy up on my list!</p>

10

<p>i'm also interested in joining the duke symphony orchestra at duke so i was wondering how difficult it is for non-music majors to get into the violin section? do you audition for a spot?</p>

11

<p>Auditions are held at the beginning of the year, right before classes start. There'll be more precise info posted on the music department's website over the summer. The overwhelming majority of musicians are non-majors, so that's not an issue - engineers, liberal arts majors, all sorts of students play in the orchestra. If you've been playing for awhile and have a strong desire to keep playing, you'll likely get in. However, more and more people audition each year, so I'm not sure what it will be like this fall.</p>

<p>And yeah, I'm mostly talking about the staff when I mention people cheering for UNC - there's more of a diverse allegiance, making for some great "discussions" about basketball.</p>

12

<p>For all of you incoming freshmen, take a look at the pre-orientation programs. My son is a current freshman and he did the backpacking one and LOVED it. He is not an outdoorsy person at all, but had such a great time that he is planning to be a staff member for the program this summer. You will get to know a lot of people before you step foot on campus</p>

13

<p>What skill level of violin would they be looking at for non-music majors? I just did the Bruch Violin Concerto, which I'd hope is more than good enough, unless the symphony orchestra is some sort of uber-orchestra or something.</p>

14

<p>I'm sure you're more than qualified - you'd probably have a good shot at the first violins. As another point of interest for musicians, Joe Robinson is our Artist in Residence. He was formerly the principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic...and recently retired to his native North Carolina. Along with teaching courses like "The Art of Performance," he frequently holds masterclasses, coaches ensembles, and has even headed sectionals for winds and brass. Plus, he hooked a friend of mine up with an internship at the NY Phil this summer - he's a great guy!</p>