Student Profile
Jeff
- Class: Freshman
- Major: Engineering
- Gender: M
- High School: Winter Park High School
- Transfer Student: N
Big Picture
Small private feel... good for knowing people, bad for branching out socially. The freshman campus (East Campus) is boring and everything goes on on West Campus. Academics are pretty tough -which is good because you're paying out your***to be there. I guess you're paying to have the Duke degree. Off campus is scary. Durham seems very sketchy and a Duke grad student was shot and killed in his apartment by a local with no connection to the victim. Stay on campus or leave only with friends. Students get robbed a lot. No one seems to care -it's all very hush hush.
Academic Life
Smaller classes with challenging academics. Some of my first year classes were taught by researchers who didn't seem to care about teaching -it was a requirement for them. Others actually seemed like I should have been paying the money to be there. Not sure if that's just a result of larger freshman lectures though. Students are very competitive and have very intellectual conversations outside of class. I major in Biomedical Engineering and the courses seem interesting and hands-on. My teacher for the course however was clearly brilliant but didn't give a *** about the course itself. He was preoccupied with his research. The education at Duke is probably above average, but it is more the Duke name that gets you in the door, rather than the education itself.
Student Body
Small. A lot of white kids and asian kids. Probably more preppy than not. The student body is very Greek driven, with "popular" kids being in the good frats and sororities, and no one giving much concern to other people. Most people seem conservative despite the fact that it is a liberal arts school (must come with the money). A strange Korean population exists that seems to display open distaste for American culture and stick to themselves and their work.
The Best Things
The degree
The Worst Things
Akward social scene
