Duke University Top Questions

No. Duke has a need-blind admissions policy. It also covers 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of demonstrated need-based aid. Most of the kids I know are on aid or scholarships and are paying less than if they were going to a state college.

Most students are hard-workers and are ambitious. However, the individual stereotypes are almost always wrong. Everyone at Duke seems to have done something very different and neat. Like the sorority girl who spends a summer working in free clinics in rural Guatemala. Or the nerd who can win any game of beer pong you throw at him. Or the athlete who is also a published poet. These are all kids I know, and this is not a localized incident.

there are more partiers, jocks and preprofessionals here than at many other Ivy calibre schools, but the majority of kids still aren't like that. We're not as rowdy as a state school. And arrogant is just a lie. People are way more down to earth here, I feel.

not completely. You will find some of these guys at Duke, but its not hard to steer away from them and find your niche with a cool group of people.

I do believe that my school is the Ivy of the South - people back at home often mistake Duke for one of the Ivy league schools. People from all over the country choose to come here because of the school's great academic reputation. Duke is only somewhat liberal. It also does not have great diversity - although African Americans make up 11{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the population, there is not that much integration among students. There is not a great representation of Hispanic students here, either.

Partially accurate, in that a large majority of the popular wears pastel polos with popped collars and will end up going to med school. However, there is also a good number of iconoclasts at Duke. We have pierced hippies, homosexuals, and Environmental science majors too. But they all party.

yes and no. it has its southern flair, but mostly the "good stuff" about the South, like hospitality and a laid-back attitude. the school is definitely country-clubish and laments that it's not an Ivy League school. The student body is quite conservative. The mainstream can be overpowering. But the faculty are uber-liberal and progressive. So there's a weird mismatch between students and faculty.

For the most part, yes, that has been my experience.

Sometimes

1) yes and no, duke students are really intelligent but i think people generally love duke for duke and not because they couldn't get into some ivy league. in some cases people even chose duke over one of the ivy leagues. 2) dukies are all closet nerds but that makes them cool, people like to party too and not study all the time, but people who do not party as much are just as cool in my opinion. some people do not think this way 3) a lot of duke students have money, a lot also do not, there is some truth because it is a private school and more expensive but its not completely true 4) there is a lot of debate on this issue and i think duke students have made a lot of effort to change this. on some level i think there is some truth to this stereotype 5) very few people at duke plays lacrosse or were on the lacrosse team. 6) i think there are some really pretty girls here and some really awesome girls that if you meet them will blow you away with their personality but i do believe at times there is a little bit of a high school type thing where certain "pretty" girls are deemed to be in the "cool" crowd and therefore take on a certain social persona 7) this is a term that has been thrown around all four years i have been here and i have no idea what it means. i have had a girlfriend for 2 and a half years here and it has been really fun. i also dont know how this "hookup culture" doesn't exist at all other places or why it is necessarily bad

they all apply to particular groups on campus, but not to campus as a whole

Mostly, yes. However, there are many people outside the stereotypes.

For the most part. Not for me.

Yes, 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}

yes

To a degree

Yeah, there are a lot of snobs, but Duke's culture fosters it.

somewhat, in the frat scene

On average the degree to which Duke students are preppy might be more than other schools, but there is a dynamic community with students from all backgrounds. Duke students are smart.

No, but they have roots in the truth.