Duke University

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College guides written by students for students.

Duke University Students
Tell It Like It Is
Those who are familiar with Duke most often have been touched by its greatest emissary: basketball. "Duke? You don't look tall enough to play basketball!" Yeah, that one wears on you after a while. These people should be informed that there is, in fact, life outside of March Madness.

Academic Life: "The professors are, for the most part, amazing. They know their subjects inside and out but, better yet, they are willing to help you understand (piece by piece) what they know. The classes don't just skim over things, but rather, they make you go in depth and have you learn things that you just wouldn't learn in a standard lecture."

Greek Life: "Greek life here is actually fine. I never thought I'd get involved in it, but I'm very glad I did. There are no closed parties (except for formals and semi-formals), and there's no such thing as a guest list for frat parties. I don't feel like it dominates the social scene because you don't rush until second semester."

Local Atmosphere: "There are two colleges near Durham. One is 15 minutes away in Chapel Hill (UNC), and the other is 20 minutes away in Raleigh (NC State). There's also a cool museum in Raleigh. There's plenty to do in and around campus."

But you can't ignore basketball! These are the things you need to learn to fit in:
* Cameron Crazies What Duke students morph into once they enter Cameron Indoor Stadium.
* K-Ville Krzyzewski-ville, the village of tents created by avid students camping out for Duke basketball tickets.
* Tent Check There are random tent checks for thosewho do tent for games, to make sure everyone's there (the killers are the 2 a.m. tent checks when everyone stumbles into the bitter cold in their pajamas).
* Walk-up Line The line of people who didn't camp out for the basketball games.
* Grace When the temperature dips below freezing in K-Ville, campers are granted "grace" and allowed to head back home for the rest of the night.
Find out if Duke truly has something for you, straight from the students' mouths.

Visiting campus isn't enough.

Read our Duke University insider's guide and discover what it feels like to be on campus for 4 years.

Discover if Duke is Right For You.

The Boston Globe

The prospective college student's antidote to the Princeton Review doldrums.

Admitting I go to Duke is sometimes hard—not because I'm ashamed of my school, but because I'm aware of the many naïve people who seem to have no idea what a great university it is. Many know it's in the East, but it's a rare person who can place it in North Carolina. Those who are familiar with Duke most often have been touched by its greatest emissary: basketball. "Duke? You don't look tall enough to play basketball!" Yeah, that one wears on you after a while. These people should be informed that (at Duke) there is, in fact, life outside of March, and not every Duke student affiliates him or herself with the Cameron Crazies. I must admit, though, that I have come to love joining everyone in the dorm commons room for all the away games. A note to readers: prior to enrolling at Duke University, I never sat through a whole basketball game.