Duke Status-Centric Culture

Senator_Noodles
Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:20:42 +0000

I already gave me two cents on this issue, but you still seem to be worried so I’ll try and elaborate…Keep in mind that this is ALL MY OPINION - yes, there will be many who will disagree with what I’m about to say. It is simply my take on how/why this culture starts and how prevalent it really is.

Essentially, this “social-status culture” exists. No one is trying to deny it. Tyler09, this is where Duke’s reputation of having a “social-status culture” comes from - simply from the fact that it exists. However, as we’ve all been trying to tell you, it’s definitely avoidable and you can still have fun despite it.

I think the main reason this culture exists is because Duke does have some vain and self-important kids. The majority are not like that, but many are. In addition, Duke supposedly has the biggest party scene of the “top” schools (and after what I’ve seen of many Ivies’ parties, I would agree with this statement). Put these things together, and you get a bunch of kids who try and “heighten” their status by hooking up and trying to impress.

Now add in Duke’s unique freshman experience where all the freshmen live on East. I, and most of the people I know, have found that freshmen year (especially 1st semester) everyone tends to hang out with the people in their dorm and do what those around them do. I don’t think most colleges are as dorm-oriented as Duke is. This means a lot of kids who don’t necessarily want to be in the “social-status culture” get sucked into it early on via their peers. Some, like Mondo, realize they don’t want to be where they are and extricate themselves. Others sort of give in and maybe even start liking it. For some reason, certain dorms seem to have more of these culture-obsessed people than other dorms and so those who don’t want to be a part of this culture but are placed in those dorms have a harder time. My freshman year, I was lucky enough to be in a dorm with a bunch of people who worked hard during the week, and all they wanted on weekends was to have fun - none of this social-climbing crap. So we’d go out on weekends and have fun, but I never had to put up with this culture from my friends.

Essentially, what I’m trying to say is that yes, this culture exists. We all know that. However, it does NOT mean that you will “miss out” on stuff at Duke if you aren’t into this culture. Most of the people here, I would argue, don’t really want to be a part of this culture and so you can definitely find people who are like you. You guys seem to be more aware of what you might find at Duke than most of the incoming freshmen are (certainly more aware than I ever was) and so even if you are placed in a dorm where this culture is highly emphasized, you definitely will be able to escape it. Hope this helps some…