<p>aardvark - many undergrad schools seem to have undergone tremendous grade inflation in the 1990s-2000s. I have a lot of high school friends who go to school back in FL and their premed classes are curved extremely generously (60-70%ish = B, 70-80%ish = A). If you get a 60% in a Duke premed class, be prepared to get a grade in the D-C range. I think that Duke premed classes have not undergone the same kind of inflation that are found at some other places. I had the opportunity to talk to several higher ups, including the deans (e.g. Scheirer, et al.) here at Duke and an admissions director at UF, and the consensus has been that its safe to add on .2-.3 to your Duke GPA when looking at the schools matriculant averages. That has been verified from talking to some of my Duke friends who got into great programs with grades less than reported averages.</p>
<p>goblue- I did focus so one of my alps was a lit course on cultural evolution. the other class was Eng90AS - readings in genre, which i recommend. Its a great survey course of literature that is less writing intensive than most. It will also give you a W credit which is great. I had Surin for the lit course and Kennedy for the Eng90 course.</p>
<p>jessy09 - thats a really individual by individual kind of thing. Personally, I’m not a big spender and since I’m on FA, I was also able to get a work study job for my whole 3 years here which helped. If I were to ballpark an estimate, I would say that books will run you between 400-500 dollars depending on which courses you take per semester. The intro courses and core courses will cost more since there are most always required texts that can get pricey (e.g. Bio 118, 119, Chem 151, 152, Physics 53, 54, Math 103, etc.) I’ve found that as I moved into higher level classes, theres been less emphasis on textbook reading and more on reading primary literature, which is free since Duke spends a tremendous amount of money on access to e-journals. For eample, the last semester 2 semesters I bought maybe only $100 worth of textbooks in all. In terms of transportation, I fly into South FL for winter break and spring break, sometimes over thanksgiving break too. Each round trip is about $200-300 depending on how early I purchase a ticket. I dont have a car so that wasnt a cost. I think if you are flying into a much bigger city (e.g. NY, DC, Philly) the cost is cheaper since RDU is kinda a more regional airport despite being “international” I know ppl who got a flight home to philly for $45 at the right times. Freshman year, I think it would be safe to estimate about $2000-2500 for personal expenses on the conservative side (e.g. no car, etc.) That is b/c you will have a fixed meal plan which is great since you dont have to worry about what and where youre going to eat everyday, and it saves a lot of $. For upperclassmen, I’d venture to say that cost has been a little more for me since you dont have a mean plan per se and cost is more variable. Food is def. the biggest expense.</p>