What is Duke known for?

TheBlueDevil
Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:25:27 +0000

I feel like you’re attacking this question from the entirely wrong perspective. Don’t look for the world to inform you. Rather, I would challenge you to inform the world. Spend the time researching, visiting the campus, and approaching alumni and current students personally. By simply posting on this forum, you are addressing a wide audience with a plethora of different experiences and a myriad of varying ideas. Some will be accurate; others will not; and still others will be way out of left field. Ergo, I would ask you to step forward and take the Bull (City) by the horns and find for yourself what you think Duke is.

If you do this, then you may surprise yourself and realize that not only is Duke known for athletic excellence, elite academia, a unique student body, phenomenal research opportunities and scientific resources, and a huge web of international opportunities, but Duke students are behaving exactly as you are. They act with intense curiosity and a will to learn more and explore beyond the horizons.

What I can tell you for certitude is what Duke is NOT known for. We are not known for being socially repressive, as students often form the greatest friendships of their lives at Duke–friendships that constitute more than someone in your study group. Friendships that pique your interest while expanding you as a person and pushing you to your potential.

Duke is not known for following the grain. Whether it be a BME major or a PoliSci major or anything between, students from Duke are always following interesting and less traveled paths in life. By giving students everything they need to succeed, Duke allows its alumni the optimal opportunity to not only take what they learn and apply it to the world but to change the world for the better.

Finally, Duke is not known for being boring. These will be the best four years of your life, I assure you. There is no shame in admitting that because even if you end up making billions and billions of dollars and retiring at 30, spending the rest of your life skiing in the Alps or surfing in Malibu, there will never be another time in your life where so many individuals are so drastically bent on self-improvement and sharing themselves and their experience with others. Duke is an incredibly dynamic place; I’d like to ask you to get to know us better!