Duke Status-Centric Culture

Senator_Noodles
Sat, 03 Jan 2009 23:11:52 +0000

To you pre-frosh - an online discussion forum is NOT the best place to get an idea of how rude or not rude an entire student body is…You’re going to have to visit Duke and meet many current students for that. =)

In fact, I knew NOTHING about Duke when I first visited (this was after getting in). I stayed with a then-freshman, talked to a bunch of other people who were then freshmen plus a bunch of pre-frosh like me who were visiting, went to several info sessions, and by the end of it was in love with Duke. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming that I was amazed. During orientation and the first several weeks of classes last year, I was still in awe of how much nicer everyone at Duke seemed to be than at home (and I’m from the Midwest, an area that’s supposed to have a lot of friendly people).

Even now, after realizing the superficiality of many people at Duke, I would still say the same thing - that the majority of the student body is quite nice. Yeah, I’ve run into plenty of people who are arrogant and rude and I wouldn’t want to be friends with them. But you’re going to get those people anywhere, especially at any top-10 college.

I’m not entirely sure where Duke’s reputation for arrogance comes from - I think it might be that if you do try and join the social-climbing culture you were talking about, you’re going to run into a lot of nastiness. I know of some events that if you’re invited to them, it’s supposed to say a lot about your standing socially. As someone who really doesn’t really want to immerse herself in that, I don’t run into it (you have to try to be invited to those events). Maybe it’s because I don’t interact with that part of Duke, but the Duke I know consists of a bunch of smart, fun, basketball-obsessed =), and very nice people.

I can definitely understand your worries though - I spent a good part of the summer before freshman year wondering if I’d made the right choice, that maybe the people I saw during admit weekend were only a select group and the rest of the school was extremely social-status-obsessed and not at all like me. For me, that did not turn out to be true (thankfully). For you guys - why don’t you apply? If you get in and think you might be interested in attending, go stay with some freshmen during Blue Devil Days (Duke admit weekend) and see how it goes. You really shouldn’t just take my, or any other person’s, word for it. Instead, go see for yourself. Talk to many more people than you have. Maybe go to a few parties. See what YOU think. It’s good to ask for opinions, like you’re doing now, but ultimately you need to go see for yourself if it’s really a big worry.