Duke University Top Questions

most students at school are very anxious and stressed a lot of the time. This is normal but there is i think a greater academic weight and pressure is at duke than the average institution. I think that because of this many students are caught up with academic performance rather than sincere learning. Not all students though.

The selfishness of people. Everyone is wrapped up in themselves and what they're doing, so they tend not to care about anyone else around them. The workload is hard, and it's easy to get put down by a grade, but it's still competitive and you still are fighting to even do better than your friends.

At times, the undergraduate culture at Duke shows elements of "entitlement." Students tend to come from privileged backgrounds and are very successful in academics and often other areas of life, and once in the "Duke bubble" many students seem to lose perspective. This can lead to behavior that seems at times to show a lack of respect for other individuals.

everything is expensive, tution, meal plan, rooming, food options, parking, ext

There are not many places off-campus to socialize, so parties on campus tend to involve a lot of alcohol and binge-drinking.

The freshmen dining hall, otherwise known as Marketplace is one of the worst things. I really cannot complain about much in regards to Duke, so I will attack the Marketplace, where all freshmen go to dine. It fails to provide healthy foods that appear appetizing. Most students go in there and choose to eat pizza, cereal or french fries. The salad bar is sub par and there is not much variety in the foods offered either.

Not enough creative/artistic expression. Everyone is very professional and career-oriented, so individual expression is stifled to a degree. I also get the feeling that the arts community is very small, or underground.

The diversified opportunities that were presented did not always translate well with the student body itself. There were often racial discrimination issues and concerns that were present on and off the campus. The most notable and famous one, of course, was the Duke lacrosse scandal. However, there were many other similar issues that were not highlighted in the news like that particular issue was.

The 'worst' part about Duke is getting there and realizing that you're no longer at the top of your class, like you were in high school. It deflates your pride and challenges the way you think about yourself, but if you can get over yourself this isn't a problem at all -- unless you need really high grades. The university is intimidating and challenging, like the best and 'worst' things in life.

There is a depressing need for effortless perfection and conformity to strong unrealistic archetypes of people in power, especially among woman. One initiative survey indicated that entering freshman woman have more self confidence in both their academic pursuits and social life than exiting senior girls. The disheartening fact stems from the proverbial ?Duke bubble? that can often leave students cut off from the real world, while focusing on trivial matters related only to college settings. When students are not able to achieve the high expectations they place on themselves, self- deprecation is born from even the most minuscule of setbacks.

The worst thing about my school is the financial burden it puts on my family.

too much work makes for unhealthy students

There is too much academic pressure.

Drinking on the weekends and at almost every event.

The anti intellectualism created by the fraternity/party hard culture. People act dumber than they are.

Professors don't care about you

too many BME requirements

The culture of excessive drinking and greek life/party scene. Additionally, the housing situation from sophomore year upwards is divisive and dissolves cohesive and organic community that was found as freshmen on the freshmen campus.

The amount of work is sometimes overwhelming but that is mostly because I am an engineer.