Duke University Top Questions

As diverse as they come, when it comes to interests, ethnicity, nationality. I love how you can find someone who is completely different from you and yet you still connect with them on some level. It's amazing and appreciated

For the most part I don't feel that race is that big of an issue here except when it comes to the social groups unless your a floater like me and go aout talking to anyone. At times i felt that some girls take a look at me and as soon as they see that I am black they put in the back of their mind any type of personal relationship they could have with them. On the same note I guess you can say for every girl that looks upon you for the way you look their is another one who wants to get to know you even more. I believe some lines are set by money but a majority are not.

Very diverse and well rounded. I think its great!

I think I've touched on a lot of this stuff already, but even so, there is diversity here, but there is also self-segregation. Greek life is huge, and somewhat divisive in some ways. There is a huge divide between the black frats/sororities and the white frats/sororities. But I think if you go beyond the surface a little, you'll see that social relationships are not that simple and most people have friends and acquaintances from/in many different social spheres. I think that some students would feel out of place, but there seems to be a niche for everyone here. People are really from all over. Of course there are a lot from the south, a lot from the northeast, and a lot from the west coast, but I've met people from all over. My roommate is from Bombay and lives in Ghana. People come to Duke with a lot to offer. The money here is obvious, but not everyone's wealthy. Future careers are a big thing, but it's not something I encounter in terms of people bragging about how much they'll one day earn--more like worrying about their job prospects coming out of college with a liberal arts degree, or worrying about trying to get into med/law/business school, or worrying about internships and resumes and all of that. Duke is competitive but not viciously. People aren't out to win against one another, and I've never found that people hide their insecurities or anxieties about the future.

The types of people that go to Duke are very diverse - although if I wanted to generalize, I'd say there are a fair number of preppy types, slightly liberal student body, students are into athletics, and it's more of a northern school despite being located in the south. Going Greek is fairly popular, but most people don't. I'm independent, but also have friends in the Greek system. It's easy to find other people with similar interests and, while Durham is not the greatest city, there's plenty enough to find to do. I think almost every person would be able to find their niche at Duke. The only person that I might say to look elsewhere is somebody who is really artsy/hippie type and wants to focus on that as a career. Duke isn't particularly known for the arts, and artsy type people don't come here as often (although Chapel Hill is known for its great music scene). The vast majority of people at Duke love it, and couldn't dream of being anywhere else. Speaking of racial integration, I think it's pretty standard as everywhere else. I personally have tons of Asian friends (I'm white), although that is perhaps because Asians are disproportionately in my classes in engineering. I also have a fair numbers of hispanic friends, and only 1-2 African American friends. Not sure why this is, but I think that's pretty standard at Duke for some reason (also it could be because there are not as many African Americans in engineering). The black community is extremely close-knit and tight, and they have a couple events a year that everybody attends. The girls are generally pretty attractive and there are a ridiculously small number of overweight individuals at Duke - people care about their health, their looks, and work out (some people work out too hard and care about their looks too much).

When I come home from breaks, my high school friends joke about how I'm Duke-obsessed, how they must have brainwashed me. Honestly, Duke's just that great.

As I said earlier, the students are the best part of Duke. Residential life is amazing: I always have my best friends living within walking distance. Some of my best times here have been the completely spontaneous late night talks in my dorm, which make me realize how important it is for all Duke students to live on campus for at least 3 years. Duke is made up of all sorts of different kinds of people, so everyone can find a group to fit in with. Students do tend to self-segregate, however, whether it be based on money, race, etc. Duke students are goal-oriented: we all want to do well and achieve great things in our lives. This is the reason why we chose to come to Duke. Despite this desire to achieve, people are not fixated with how much money they will earn. We just want to do the best we can, so we can achieve whatever our goals may be. I have friends who are interested in global health and aspire to become doctors who can save lives in developing countries, as well as friends who want to go to business school and one day own their own company.

Most duke students seem to be from New York, or the south. Be prepared to have money, and flaunt it.

I think that students of lower socio-economic status would feel out of place at Duke, and in general Duke, like most of society, seems to be relatively self-segregating, particularly by class (more so than by race). Most Duke students are from North Carolina, or the Northeast, particularly New York and New Jersey, and are generally upper middle class if not just wealthy. Students are predominantly left-leaning in terms of politics.

Duke's rigorous academics and high tuition attract a population of high achievers; to get here and stay here does take hard work. Many students are from the East Coast, with some Californians and a lot of international students thrown in for good measure. Racial diversity does seem to be greater than the school gets credit for, but socio-economic diversity is more limited and self-segregation— a ubiquitous Duke-ism— creates rather impermeable social boundaries. About forty percent of students join greek organizations their freshman year, and though it creates further social divisions, a lot of people (myself included) credit their frat or sorority membership for their strongest friendships. The stereotypes listed above are visible to various extents, and fraternity brothers rarely fraternize with Asian nerds, but the school is only so big and people generally get to know one another cross-culturally through classes, organizations, and freshman dorms. Individuals tend to be defined by their affiliation, however, and whatever status that entails. More recently, there has been a lot of conversation around what it means to be a woman on Duke's conformity-ridden campus. There is an oft-referenced image of the "Duke girl" parked on a treadmill until she finishes her reading— a telling description of the pressures young women face and the ideal of "effortless perfection" they hold themselves to. What does lend an atmosphere of diversity to Duke is the broad range of interests and skills among its students, and the passion they have for whatever they do. Having a campus full of go-getters means that start-up businesses, organizations, and publications are common, and there is a lot of activism in a plethora of forms. Politically, the student body seems more conservative than the college population at large (there has been uproar over a too-liberal faculty) but representation is actually pretty balanced, and in my experience is mostly based on geographic background. Since the school newspaper is read universally, students are probably more aware of what goes on at Duke than outside of it, which increases the sense of the "bubble." Even so, everyone is pretty politically and socially informed, with a propensity to discuss election politics or China's economic progress in the same sentence as their drink order.