Duke Status-Centric Culture

ring_of_fire_1
Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:28:49 +0000

People on here are too quick to jump to conclusions. I’m in a so-called “top” frat and I’m not really a pretentious social climber. People just judge me unfairly because I go out a lot to socialize, am in a certain fraternity and get with some marginally attractive girls(it is Duke after all).

I’m a senior now and I could care less about the college social scene. All the chill people in the school just kind of hang out together and affiliations don’t really matter. It’s only freshman and sophomores that really care about “social climbing” or whatever.

To the OP, Duke won’t fundamentally change who you are. If you were an alpha male in high school, then you will be a popular kid here and hang out with others like you. If you were a nerd in HS, you will find a plethora of other nerds to associate with. If you were somewhere in between, then you will basically fit in with nearly the entire school.

Lucky for you, this isn’t high school so there isn’t a social hierarchy. A good amount of Duke kids have no desire to even go out and party. So, it would be stupid to compare someone who cares about partying a lot with someone who doesn’t. The “cool” kids don’t even care about the more studious anti-social kids, so it’s not like anybody is getting made fun of or mocked or anything. Yeah, if you’re not active in the "scene, then you won’t get an invitation to the good fraternity parties. However, chances are that you’re not the type of person that would enjoy those sort of events anyway.

Duke is a wonderful school. I got a great education, had a great social life, had access to incredible resources and now have a terrific job lined up. Most people here are very, very happy.