Duquesne Other Major

Some people think that all Duquesne students are rich and that the girls are all blonde and ditzy.

To some extent, because there are a lot of fortunate people at Duquesne from PA and there are a lot of pretty girls but there are a lot of people that go to Duquesne because they recieved a lot of scholarship money or have a lot of loans, like me. There are a lot of average students as well.

I love Duquesne and coming here was the best decision I have ever made. My favorite things at Duquesne are the small inner-city campus without the busy city feel. The campus is beautiful with tons of fountains, brick roads and grassy areas for laying out when its warm. I love Pittsburgh too and there are a ton of colleges here as well. University of Pittsburgh and CMU are both about 6 minutes away from Duquesne's campus. Duquesne is located downtown near everything you would need in walking distance. Pittsburgh is full of beautiful water and the Springs are amazing. I love Duquesne's size because it is big enough to meet a wide variety of people but small enough to see someone you know wherever you go on campus. It is also very easy to get to know people within your major because a lot of the programs keep low numbers purposely, like mine. Duquesne staff is friendly and knowledgeable about everything. There is a lot of school pride, but the sports pride isn't as big as it should be, but as the Basketball program is getting better the pride is getting better as well. My favorite thing at Duquesne is Greek Life. It is not stereotypical at all and is very community service-oriented. I have met hundreds of people through Greek Life and it is such a loving environment. Its very easy to get involved at Duquesne which is amazing because it makes you a well-rounded individual and helps you meet people easily. It is sometimes difficult to make friends at Duquesne in the beginning so make yourself as busy as possible. I would advise against Honors College housing as a Freshman, because it secluded me from other people and made it more difficult to meet people.

I love my classes at Duquesne. I am a science major so my classes have always been very competitive but in a healthy manner. My general science classes as a freshman were pretty big- maybe 150 students, but since then my classes have been decreasing in size. My Science classes have become more specialized and classes are usually 20-35 students. Labs are very small as well with 20 or less students. I am in the Honors College and love the core classes as they are a little bit more challenging and interesting. My classes in the Honors college range from 8 students to about 25, with most around 17 students. If you are in the Honors College you get to schedule early and I have always gotten the classes I wanted! I took Race Relations in America this semester which is probably the most unique class I personally have taken. I am a Forensic Science major and my program is very specialized and most classes are chosen for you. Duquesne's Science programs are amazing and I am graduating in 5 years with an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Biology and a Masters in Forensic Science and Law. Duquesne has very specialized programs that are competitive to get into and competitive once you make it in as well. 50% of my major has dropped out of the program, but Forensics is an extreme instance because it has becoming more difficult in order to stay among the top schools. Everyone I know at Duquesne loves their programs or if they don't they find one which they love! It is common for people to change their major in college in general and Duquesne makes it fairly easy, most people still graduate on time. I have met very intelligent people at Duquesne, but there are people that don't have very intelligent conversations outside of class as well. Duquesne as a whole has fair academic requirements with a pretty high acceptance rate, but individual programs vary and are more difficult. For example, many programs require students to keep at 3.0 GPA. Dean's List is 3.5 GPA here as well.

Duquesne is definitely not a very diverse place in many ways, but it isn't stiffling. The majority of students are caucasian of similar economic backgrounds, but there is some diversity. Politics are not very big at Duquesne as it is a more conservative and religious atmosphere. However, do not let that deter you- I am very liberal and non-religious and it is not an issue at all. People are fairly diverse once you get to know them, but I would say more people are conservative than not. Duquesne is very volunteer-oriented and everyone for the most part is extremely friendly. It is an amazing atmosphere- people always hold open doors for you and hold elevators as well.

Greek Life at Duquesne is smaller than other campuses but it is an amazing place to meet friends. Currently there are 7 sororities and 8 fraternities on campus, and it is easy to find a place where you fit in because they are all very different. I have been on the dance team for 4 years and we cheer for Basketball games. The basketball games during the week are getting to be very popular and its a lot of fun. There are constantly comedians, movies shown, speakers, etc. on campus which are very popular. People at Duquesne like being involved and busy. Many people date other people at Duquesne-- many of my friends have boyfriends and girlfriends. People within Greek Life usually date each other as well. However, not everyone is taken obviously. The partying at Duquesne is definitely not crazy but it does exist. Sometimes people who are sophomores and not yet 21 complain about things not happening on weekends but Greek Life is a great way to fix that! Also, when you do turn 21, Pittsburgh has the most bars on one street out of any city in the US! The bar scene is definitely crazy here. Also, if people at Duquesne do not have parties, there's always parties at Pitt or at CMU, though I don't personally like them. Many people do because they have much larger campuses and large fraternity parties.

The rules seem very strict at Duquesne on paper, but once arriving you find things are not written in stone. Duquesne likes to uphold a reputation to parents and others as a very classy and value-based University, which it is, but it is not stiffling. There's plenty to do, plenty of people who drink, some people that don't drink, etc.