The Duke Survival Guide: A Handbook for Undeterred New Students

Colleges & Universities Duke University
1

Hello Again Everyone,
Seeing as how my last post gathered a lot of traction on here, I decided to write a hopefully useful guide on how to navigate the first few months at Duke for the people I haven’t scared away from the school. It may seem strange to you that I care so much about a bunch of random internet strangers, but I remember feeling the same excitement and apprehension not too long ago myself, and having some guidance from a current student would have helped me have more realistic expectations.

Like my last post, I’ll divide this section again into 2 sections: Before Duke and During Duke. I haven’t finished myself yet, so I’m not qualified to give advice on life after Duke. Some of these things could easily be applied to college in general, but I’ll just speak about my own experience.

Before Duke:

I’ll spend bulk of this post on this part since it’s the most relevant for future students.

  1. Don’t read the summer book.

Unless you really enjoy reading, there’s not really much of a reason to invest so much time reading the long summer reading book that Duke sends everyone. They’ll tell you that the book will provide some kind of insight or important life lesson (usually it’s about race and socioeconomic inequality like on the SAT reading section), but you could honestly just read book reviews or the Wikipedia page and get the same effect in much less time.

There’s also no penalty for not reading the book. The most you’ll do is spend some time “discussing” it with your upperclassmen orientation week mentors who probably skimmed the book themselves. Most freshmen will not have read the book closely enough to have a meaningful discussion either.

Spend what time you left with your family and friends instead. Your family is going to miss you so much more than ever now because for most of your families, it’ll be the first time that you’re leaving home. Imagine taking care of something for 18 years, watching it grow up and struggle to find itself, and being forced to let go somewhat right around the one of the most uncertain times in its time. That’s only an elementary explanation of what your family is probably feeling.

  1. Be mindful of your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Etc. etiquette on Duke groups

I know that you all are excited about your future at Duke, and it’s a good idea to join your class page on Facebook and other social media so that you can learn about upcoming events, figure out important things going on at Duke, and get the contact of someone in your class. With that being said, here are a list of things you should NOT DO on these public pages.

  • DO NOT POST TOO FREQUENTLY o Trust me on this one. The worst thing that you could do is post too much and make people become too familiar with who you are before coming to Duke. Nothing is worse than having people prejudge you based on social media activity before you even get to introduce yourself to them. All of my friends who used to post too much in their class pages have greatly regretted it. You may think that people may not notice, but they do. One example is Countdown Girl a few years ago who would post every single day in her class page the number of days before move-in. People found her quite annoying.
  • DO NOT POST YOUR POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: o Duke is a mostly liberal and non-religious school. Conservative students, and very rarely the religious ones, will be attacked on social media by the Duke hive-mind if they comment or make posts that go against the majority of Duke students’ views.
  • DO NOT TALK POORLY ABOUT OTHER STUDENTS/PROFESSORS/ADMINISTRATORS o This one is a little self-explanatory. Don’t ask things like how easy or mean a certain professor is. Since these pages are public, chances are high that professors and other non-students at Duke will see your post. Obviously, don’t slander other people in a public forum.
  • DO NOT POST CONTENT THAT COULD POTENTIALLY OFFEND SOMEONE o No matter how funny you think something is, it’s never funny enough to risk potentially offending the wrong person. If you have to question whether or not your post could be potentially offensive, chances are that it’s not worth posting publically.
  1. Get good at small talk and having a brief pitch about yourself

Let’s face it. Almost everyone at Duke, except for the rich boarding school kids, is probably coming to Duke without knowing anyone that they are close to. What this means is that you’re probably going to have to make friends, whether that be through Greek life, SLGS, or meeting people in your dorm.

These introductory conversions for freshmen usually revolve around:

  • What dorm you’re in
  • What you want to major in
  • Where are you from
  • What do you like to do
  • Whether or not you’re going to rush

You’ll probably be meeting 100+ people during orientation week, and if you’re lucky, you’ll remember 5 – 10 of them and maybe become friends. It’s a good idea to have some answers to the things above and a brief introduction about yourself so that people will remember who you are if you want to be really social.

For example, which one of these 2 is more memorable?

  • I’m from a small town in Idaho and like to play sports in my free time
  • I’m from a town about 20 minutes outside of Boise and like to play tennis.

Probably the second one. It’s more specific and unique. Try to frame your introduction to people more like the second one. You could also try telling everyone you meet something really weird and different about you, but this could backfire if the other person is easily weirded out.

2
  1. Learn these terms and acronyms

One of the biggest giveaways about being a freshmen is not knowing a few of the common terms that Duke students use. It may be useful to get acquainted with these terms before going to Duke. Some of them were in the first post. This is not an exhaustive list.

  • Standard Drink o Alcohol content equal to one beer. One glass of wine (5 ounces) is a standard drink and so is 1.5 ounces (1 shot) of hard alcohol. Many new drinkers don’t know this and get dangerously drunk because of it.
  • Handle: o 1.75 Liter container of hard alcohol. Named after the grip that is used to hold them
  • Fifth: o 1/5 of a gallon container of hard alcohol.
  • Shooter’s: o The most common club/bar that Duke students go to. It’s located off East Campus to the left of Papa John’s. You can get in with your Duke ID (it may be mandatory now since the owner banned UNC students for causing too much trouble), and there is a $5 entry fee (also called cover charge). They’ll mark your hands with sharpie to designate your under 21 status. If you drink and have the mark on your hand, you’ll get kicked out immediately. I’m uncertain about how strict they are with fake IDs. It’s a very grimy place, and people make Snapchat stories from the balcony a lot. Dancing in the cage and riding the mechanical bull are also very freshman things to do.
  • WNS: o Wednesday Night Shooter’s
  • T-reqs: o The distributional requirements you’ll have to fulfill in addition to major requirements in order to graduate if you’re in Trinity. The online website should give you a good explanation
  • Darty o Day party. Involves lots of day drinking on Central Campus usually and girls taking pictures in front of American flags.
  • FDOC o First Day of Class
  • LDOC o Last Day of Class
  • Orientation Week o Your first week at Duke from move-in until FDOC. It’s filled with a lot of welcoming events, free food, and mandatory conversations with people you probably don’t want to talk to. A lot people will try to hook up with freshman at Shooter’s during Orientation Week.
  • FAC o First-Year Advisory Counselor. Upperclassmen that help you move in and are forced to have conversations with you and 3 other freshman about Duke 3-4 times during Orientation Week. They’re usually people in Greek life who use it as a chance to move in early and get freshman interested in their organization. A lot of freshman try to hook up with their FAC.
  • Durhamie o Term used by Duke students to designate minorities who live in Durham and are not affiliated with the university. Has connotations of being sketchy.
  • 9th Street o The road behind Whole Foods where there’s a few shops and restaurants
  • SLG o Selective Living Group. Group of usually co-ed students who live together and have member fees to throw parties. Usually seen as the alternative to Greek life but are just as cliquey and competitive. See my other thread.
  • Devine’s o An alternative bar that people go out to at Duke on Thursdays usually. It is located on Main Street and has more of a laid back feel to it than Shooter’s. Cover charge is $10 for underage stuents.
  • Marketplace o Freshman dining hall
  • HUMP o Hit up Marketplace
  • Social Sciences o The second building on the right from the West Bus Stop and facing the Chapel. People mix this building and the one below often
  • Sociology/Psychology o The third building on the right form the West Bus Stop and facing the Chapel. You have to climb the stairs to get to this one or go underneath it. The acronyms for these two buildings are very similar, so be careful.
  • C1/C2/C3 o C1: Bus goes from East to West. o C2: Bus goes East, Central, and then West o C3: Bus goes from East campus to Science Drive o Get the Transloc app for the bus routes. It’s not the greatest app, but it’s the best we have.
  1. Clothing

For all you people who are from colder areas, you may be surprised that Duke does get fairly cold during the cooler months. It usually doesn’t get colder than 20 degrees Fahrenheit though (without wind chill). It usually also doesn’t get hotter than 80 Fahrenheit before the summer.

For those of you who want to join social organizations, you may want to bring some items that match the following popular party themes:

  • Summer
  • Hawaiian
  • Candy
  • Prison
  • Oktoberfest
  • Pirates
  • Cowboys/Country
  • Goth
  • Halloween
  • Southern
  • Prep School
  • Formal and Semi-Formal
  • Winter
  • Toga
  1. Pre-orientation Programs

A lot of these are fun for the majority of students I’ve met. I honestly don’t know too much about each program individually, but I imagine that each student should select one based on interest and fit. They’re a good way to meet people before starting college. P-Waves has a reputation of having the most physically attractive people on campus (this isn’t surprising since you have to provide them a social media account of yourself when applying for staff) and P-Wild has a reputation for being full of crazy outdoorsy kids.

  1. Things to bring/not bring to Duke

Do Bring

  • Fan
    o When I was a freshman, some dorms didn’t have air conditioning, so the first few and last few months were brutal. I believe they have given every freshman dorm air conditioning now, but it’s a good idea to bring one just in case.
  • Shower Catty
    o Helps you organize toiletries and helps you make less noise when waking up in the morning, so you won’t wake up your roommate.
  • Shower Shoes:
    o College bathroom floors are filthy. You don’t want your bare feet going anywhere near them.
  • Alarm Clock
    o It’s easy to turn off a phone alarm and fall right back asleep. Having a physical alarm clock will help you get out of bed and act as a backup alarm
  • Mini Lamp
    o If you want to do work while your roommate is sleeping, this is a good idea.
  • Extension Cords
    o There’s around 2-4 outlets in each room. Having more is very useful for other electronics.
  • Tupperware
    o The freshman meal plan sucks. You’re probably gonna have to take food with you to go from Marketplace to eat later. Bring some Tupperware and a backpack for this purpose.
    Don’t Bring
  • Microwave
    o Most dorms have one in their common room
  • Giant TV
    o The surfaces in your room will not be big enough to accommodate it.
  • Lots of condoms

    o If you’re a guy, you probably won’t be hooking up as much as you think unless you’re really good looking or rich. Plus, you can get free condoms on campus.
  • Too many school supplies
    o You can buy these at places within walking distance of East Campus. All you really need are notebooks, a folders, pencils, and blue and black pen (some professors won’t let you take exams in pencil). Highlighters and erasers can be useful too.
    Up to you
  • Minifridge
    o If you like to store a lot of drinks and leftover food, it may be a good idea. Otherwise, it’s not really worth it
  • Video games
    o You probably won’t play as much as you think, and other people will probably not want to play with you as much as you think unless you have a FIFA game, a Super Smash game, or 2K game.
  • Locks
    o Some people have locks because they don’t trust their roommate
  • Decorations
    o They may look nice, but they also take up valuable space in the car your parents are probably dropping you off in.
3

During Duke:

This section will probably be a bit shorter since I talked about it a little in my last post, and some of these things you probably just have to learn first-hand.

  1. Move in

When your family pulls up to your freshmen dorm, you’ll hear the loud screams of FACs in their bright neon colored uniforms. They will then swarm your car and proceed to help you carry most of your things to your dorm room. The organization is then left to you. It’s a good idea to come as early as possible so you can claim the side of the room that you want.

As you move throughout the dorm, you’ll see other students moving in as well. Since everyone’s busy, it might not be a good idea to have deep, meaningful conversations with them, but it wouldn’t hurt to introduce yourself a little bit.

If one of your relatives insist on carrying something in for you, let them do so unless they are physically unable to. They’re probably still feeling sad about you leaving and helping you move in is the last thing they want to help you with before they leave. If you’ve ever helped a good friend move, you might be able to relate since you try to be as helpful as you can, even though it hurts.

  1. Orientation Week

First and foremost, figure out which events are mandatory. You can get into a lot of trouble or other things like registration could be stalled if you don’t comply.

After figuring out what you actually have to go to, look at the optional events and figure out which ones you’d like to go to. Try to talk to some people in your dorm and invite them to these events with you to get to know them better. After all, they’re also nervous freshman who are scared of not making any friends, and chances are, they’d appreciate someone initiating conversation with them. It may be hard to figure out who you jive with during Orientation Week since everyone tries to be fake and friendly. Again, the key is to try to be the initiator since everyone else is equally as nervous.

Of course, there will be some open parties during Orientation Week. If this up your ally, you’re in luck because fraternities will try to attract potential members with promises of girls, alcohol, and parties, and sororities will try to attract potential members with promises of sisterhood and parties with certain “cool” fraternities. This may sound fun, but finding out about these parties may not be as easy as you think. If you read my first post, you’ll know that a certain demographic of students is usually targeted for these organizations. If you aren’t a part of this demographic, you’ll have to learn about these parties by talking to as many upperclassmen and other freshmen as much as possible. I highly recommend going to these parties with a group of friends since you probably will be going somewhere you may not be familiar or comfortable with, and having people to watch your back is a good idea.

  1. Classes

Once classes start rolling around, things will become less exciting and the issues I mentioned in my first post will start manifesting. In any class you take, be sure to pay attention and take good notes. It may take you a few lectures to figure out the style of notes that you like to take. If you ever feel like you starting to struggle, be sure to get help from either teaching assistants or the professor. I know that professors can be intimidating, but they too were in your shoes at some point, and someone helped them unlock their passion for the subject that they are teaching. If you get a bad professor, you will just have to use outside resources or tutors in order to do well. It’s an unfortunate part of college that almost everyone experiences.

At the end of a course, when doing course evaluations, don’t ever rate any class less than “Moderate” for difficulty because professors may be pressured to make their courses more difficult for future students if they or their department feel like students aren’t taking their courses seriously or are having too easy of a time.

  1. Pressure/Feelings of Inadequacy

Everyone at Duke at some point feels like they are inferior to their peers. Even the person in your freshman hall who seems to have all these amazing accomplishments has thought about how they got accepted alongside you and your other talented classmates. Don’t ever feel like you’re not good enough for Duke. At the end of the day, you’re there to better yourself and build a better future, and everyone gets there differently.

  1. Finding internships and Study Abroad

You probably won’t get an internship after your freshman year unless you find a software engineering one or have some good connections. Companies usually want to hire students with a bit more academic experience. With that being said, PLEASE DO NOT GO TO THE CAREER FAIR OR ANY RECRUITING EVENT AS A FRESHMAN WHEN THE EVENT IS NOT TARGETED AT FRESHMAN. Upperclassmen need these internships and full-time jobs badly, and freshman tend to ask really dumb questions and take up recruiters’ time during the events since half of them aren’t really sure what they want to do yet and don’t do proper preparation. Trust me. When you become an upperclassman, you’ll absolutely hate the annoying freshman who ask questions like “Why do you work for this company?” and get told 10 minutes later, after asking more pointless questions, that the company isn’t hiring freshman interns.

Instead of worrying about internships your freshman year, try to study abroad or do DukeEngage if you can. If you’re on financial aid, the school will cover a large portion of the trip (sometimes even all of it). Traveling to another part of the world while taking easy classes that can fulfill your T-reqs is a lot more fun of a summer than going back to your summer job. Plus, after your freshman year, you’ll always be constantly pressured to have an internship or something similar lined up for the summer, so enjoy the free time while it lasts.

Closing Comments:

I hope everything above has helped you get a basic understanding of some things to expect your first few months of school. Although I personally dislike Duke, I hope any future student reading this will learn to love it. I hope this post was a bit more light-hearted and fun to counterbalance the more negative thread I posted. Good luck again to everyone.

4

Thanks @DukeObserver for taking the time to post this. But it’s better to just live your life rather than following some specific rules that should govern how your experience at Duke or any college should be. Duke pre-frosh are not robots and they shouldn’t be expected to style their lives this way. Besides, mistakes are important for growth and even they follow all your rules, they cannot avoid them for 4 years.

5

Very nice post. Thanks for sharing.

6

Very nice post. I’d like to add the following as well to the Freshman class:

  • GO OUT. Don't think you'll have plenty of time to do that later. It doesn't get better than fall semester freshman year. By properly going out, you could set yourself up nicely by finding the right groups and moving with them. As a freshman, I'd look at going out Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It also doesn't mean you should be drinking every single night. Going out is a skill, and a very fun thing to do. No one talks about going out as a skill, because its something that comes naturally or maybe you're not into it. But going out the best way to make relationships and friendships at Duke.
  • Learn how to network and connect with people. DO NOT ask what dorm you're from. DO NOT ask what classes you're talking and DO NOT ask which state you're from, etc. Basically, don't ask boring common questions that you'd ask anyone you'd meet in the first 3 weeks or so because almost everyone does this. Learn to make genuine connections and have genuine interactions. You can practice by taking up a SOCIAL job over summer that forces you to interact with all sorts of people. Or volunteer.
  • Learn how to properly engage with the opposite sex. Especially in Shooters and parties. Trust me, you'll appreciate it and if done properly, you can alleviate a lot of stress with this skill. Go to some high school parties or raves or concerts 18+ before starting fall semester to get an idea. Most likely many Duke students will lose their virginities/get into their first relationships here. You may even meet your wife/husband. So don't be shy around the opposite sex!
  • Always OFFER VALUE to anyone you meet, especially the upperclassmen. They will remember and help back when need be.

Remember, self confidence, positivity, and calibration will get you very far at Duke. You will be happier. As a graduate, I wish someone told me these things.

7

@DukeObserver HUMP? Is this really what the freshman are saying these days? I’m in awe.

Seconding @StressedMew, going out is important. It doesn’t have to be to parties or Shooters, but just hang out with some people and GET OUTSIDE OF YOUR ROOM. Especially when that homesickness kicks in, surrounding yourself with friends/acquaintances can help to distract you from those tough feelings.

8

@DukeObserver Thanks so much for this. Everything I’ve read online has portrayed Duke in a purely positive light, but I’m confident that any school (even somewhere as wonderful as Duke) has its flaws. I’ll take your advice to heart next year as a freshman :slight_smile:

9

@lhw1998 Probably the most mature response I’ve read on these threads.

10

Very interesting guide :slight_smile: I think I’ve learned a few things…and I say this as a rising senior at Duke LOL.