<p>Warning: This is pretty long-winded and I really don't expect you to read through all of it, but it's just a few things I've realized during my time here and wanted to share :) I also accidentally posted this under the general threads. </p>
<p>Hi! I'd like to start off by stating that even though I'm a freshman at Duke, my heart's still beating as rapidly as if I were a high school senior waiting for my college decisions like you guys are right now. I NEVER, repeat, NEVER post on websites because I prefer to be an observer, but I love Duke enough that I've finally been provoked to write this in order to share a little bit of my experience here with those of you who want to know some of the positive experiences that one freshman has had here so far. </p>
<p>I love Duke. I could talk about Duke for days and still not get tired about it, because the past few months here have been some, if not the, best months of my life. This is somewhat ironic, because I remember firmly deciding that I'd never go to a southern school and really not liking the campus tour because it was pouring rain and miserable on the day that I visited. On top of that, I wasn't fond of the tour guide (all really lame reasons, I know). I've also never cared about sports before, so its stellar athletic programs were a bit of a moot point with me. However, I knew about Duke's top-notch academics and that was a big enough draw for me. </p>
<p>Despite this, I had my heart set on another school since the summer of 9th grade, so I didn't give other schools too much thought. However, when I was deferred (and absolutely mind-numbingly distraught. Repeat, mind-numbingly.), I suddenly dove into the brochures and websites of the other schools that I was applying to, in order to learn as much about them as I could, quickly. It was then that I REALLY started learning about Duke. How its daily newspaper is year after year, the recipient of numerous national awards/ considered one of the top collegiate papers in the nation. How all the freshmen live on the same slightly isolated campus together so that they can bond as a grade (it's been incredible) before moving to the main campus. How even those who come to Duke, extremely passive about sports, end up being the first in line to the basketball games every other week with ever increasing enthusiasm (I have a friend who's been on a national magazine cover with Kyle Singler because of it). How there are around 400 student organizations run here. How you can do DukeEngage or FOCUS from your first year here. How Lupe Fiasco, Chiddy Bang and Ludacris are all performing here this year. How there is so much darn school spirit! Among many, many more.</p>
<p>Sure, you'll find people who don't like here. You'll find them at every school. However, especially during first semester, I was really hard pressed to find anyone who was anything but really happy here (this admittedly changes a bit as the year progresses and classes get harder, but that's just how it goes). Sure, Duke gets ripped on for its basketball teams by other schools (they're just jealous :P Plus the basketball players are really nice), or even called "******y" by a certain men's magazine (GQ), but that doesn't really hold for the entire student population. On the whole, most of the people that I've met here are all extremely smart, surprisingly modest about their talents, and friendly (yes, for every 30 great people I meet, there are maybe 5 that disprove this). Then again, I've only been here for a year, so maybe I'm just naive. </p>
<p>Head's up though: classes are hard. Despite coming from a very competitive high school, I've still had a difficult time adjusting to second semester. Despite this, for me, the classroom atmosphere has been generally very collaborative. Classes are hard, but the people are on the whole really helpful (I've NEVER heard of people sabotaging others to get ahead in classes). In fact, you'll often get people who'll just walk up to you, ask if you're in a certain class with them, and whether you'd like to study together sometime during the week. </p>
<p>In retrospect, I'm kind of amused by how stuck I was on my initial dream school. While I had spent over four years of my life extremely dedicated to academics and becoming what I thought was the "perfect applicant" (this is NOT recommended, but sadly a lot of us do it anyway =/), I'm really glad that I was deferred from my initial dream school so that I could get a chance to apply to Duke during RD! Now, I'd easily choose Duke over it in a heartbeat :P In fact, I just realized that after four years of being stuck on my old dream school, this is the first time that I've even thought about it in nearly a year. From practically giving up my life for work, I've become someone with a very active social life who can still keep up with work and have a good time. </p>
<p>I'm mainly writing this because it was college confidential that actually helped me a bit in deciding between my schools. I had applied to 14 and gotten into 10, so it was the winnowing down process that was the hard part. Going through the boards for each school, I noticed that while students generally liked their schools, the people who wrote on Duke's board LOVED Duke (this goes the same for alumni that I talked to). </p>
<p>I'm sure that there are many people out there who will disagree with me or point out the flaws that I haven't dissected, but on the whole, while I've had some hard times here, in general, it's been a great experience so far. I'm not saying life's perfect here. It's not. And there are still a number of flaws I could point out, but that's not the point of this post. The point of this post is to just highlight some of the good things that ccers might not know about here. </p>
<p>Best of luck with your college decisions! Wherever you go, Duke or not, I'm sure you'll be amazing :)</p>
<p>P.S. I now love basketball.</p>
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