Despite a slight dip in the number of clusters this year, student interest in the Focus program remains steady, partly due to a revised admissions procedure, slight financial upticks and the addition of prominent faculty.
Three hundred freshmen applied—and were accepted—into the Focus program this year, roughly the same number of applicants as last year, said Edna Andrews, faculty director of the Focus program and a professor of linguistics and cultural anthropology.
“Focus accepts almost everyone who applies,” Andrews said. “Why would we want to accept people to Duke and not let them take Duke programs?”
Most of Focus’ students took advantage of the program’s new rolling admission policy, Andrews said. Rolling admissions enabled incoming students to apply as early as February—if they were admitted under Early Decision—and until May.
To ensure that all students had an equal chance of acceptance, at least 50 percent of spots were left for the students admitted during the regular decision cycle, she noted.
“It just allowed people more time,” Andrews said. “You knew about it sooner, so you could apply sooner…. In the old days you’d have a month to apply, and now you have multiple months. I think it’s less stressful for everyone this way, especially the office.”
Three to 4 percent of the students accepted into Focus, however, have already declined the offer, Andrews added, noting that this figure is expected to increase by approximately 10 percent during the drop/add period.
Those who drop during the drop/add period usually do so, Andrews said, due to scheduling conflicts or because they did not get accepted into their first-choice cluster.
And though the overall Focus program saw a similar number of applicants in 2011 as it did last year, the number of applicants to each cluster varied significantly.
The Modeling in Economic and Social Sciences cluster received the most applications this year, but Exploring the Mind is usually the most popular option, Andrews said. Both of these clusters admit 36 people, making them the two largest groups.
“You don’t know what’s going to make someone a success in advance of meeting them,” said David Banks, leader of the MESS cluster and professor of the practice of statistics. “We can’t accept everyone—we want to keep the class size small enough that people are close enough to talk.”
The addition of Dan Ariely, James B. Duke professor of behavioral economics, to the faculty for the MESS cluster may have, for example, encouraged more freshman applicants to MESS.
Five fewer clusters are being offered this year as compared to last year’s 15, Andrews said. Nine are continuations of former clusters, with a new cluster called the Knowledge in the Service of Society.
This fluctuation is a direct and natural result of changes in faculty members’ interest in the program and their research.
“Not everyone gets asked to teach in a Focus program, and when you’re asked it’s a bit of an honor,” Banks said. “You have to teach anyway, so you may as well teach for the Focus Program.”
The recession has prevented clusters from taking international field trips, as some did in the past. In a sign of an improving economy, however, this year’s budget for domestic trips will be a little bit higher than last year’s, said Dean of Academic Affairs Lee Baker.
And the program is taking measures to cut costs but improve the student experience as well, Baker added. There is now, for example, only one vendor—Bon Appetit—for the program’s weekly dinners. Classes and dinners are going to be supplemented, however, by a new mentorship program this year.
“We really expect [the Focus students] to lead and be our intellectual leaders over the course of the four years,” Baker said.
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