Duke University

No dating, just hooking up. I was looking for something a bit more old-fashioned. The harsh stance on alcohol has pushed the parties off campus and into surrounding neighborhoods; freshmen tend to get intoxicated before leaving dorms and the campus has been described as more lackluster than in my days there. (I still live in Durham, btw.)

All freshmen are now housed on East Campus about a mile from West and the rest of the students. This is to encourage class unity and bigger giving to the university later. I considered my freshman year mixed with upperclassmen a big plus and feel the current plan is like extending high school another year.

On a more positive note, my brother and I, my husband and his 2 siblings all attended there and found it an excellent base education for our future endeavors...none of us are working in our fields of major, even though we all also have graduate degrees! The hype about Durham being unsafe is just that. No one should leave his laptop open in a library carols and expect it to be there when he returns. Most campus criminals are oppotunists and students here living in a bubble are easy prey...Durham's crime rates are higher than some surrounding areas but it hasn't made me move yet!

All in all, the sports are great, you can find "Hogwarts" in many areas on campus, readers will fall in love with Perkins Library, the Duke Gardens are beautiful, sometimes it snows (yes, and Durham sometimes doesn't get all roads passable and electricity restored for over a week--but that's Durham and that's another story altogether), and, finally, if you attend Duke, you are allowed to someday wed in Duke Chapel!

4th Year Female -- Class 1982

Campus Aesthetics: B+, Education Quality: F

I advise students to approach their faculty -- be open to disagreement, exploration, and a genuine search for knowledge. Don't wait for opportunities to find you. Find your passion and beat the bushes for your own opportunities.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

I am a duke alum, Duke parent '04, and alumni recruiter. I keep in touch with the kids whom I've interviewed and have been on campus many times in recent years. A few comments keep popping up when I talk to my son and the other kids -- First, amazing profs who are very accessible, but there are a few profs who are famous researchers, but not good teachers -- you can avoid them if you ask around! Second, gorgeous surroundings - the Chapel, the Duke Forest, the Gardens; Third, the facilitities -- state of the art sports and labs; Fourth, amazingly insane school spirit -- if you really can't stand sports, don't go there. Fifth, complaints about the city of Durham -- it isn't Boston (but at least it's better than New Haven!) -- more like Providence. There's plenty to do on campus, though. I have never heard a complaint from my son or any of the other kids about a lack of things to do. Sixth, racial friendliness, but segregation. My son's roommates Freshman year were minority, they came up smiling and had their pictures taken with him at Graduation, but he said he had rarely seen them since Freshman year except to say hi in passing. They were always with their minority friends. Seventh, low level of political activity -- kids claim this is because they are just too busy with classwork. Eight, a general feeling of progress and exciting growth on campus that definitely seems to be lacking at other top schools. Duke consistently ranks in the top 5 or 6 schools in the country, right behind H,Y,P.... but everyone acts as if they have yet begun to grow and develop. There is construction all around for new buildings, labs, research centers. New ideas and initiatives are encouraged by the administration... Everyone wants to try for more, higher, better, stronger, deeper... it is an exciting place to be. My younger son and I have visited over thirty campuses, but he is grumbling more and more as I force him to travel because he has already decided that he will apply early admit to Duke. If he does, and gets in, I will have no complaints!

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000