Congratulations, freshmen! You have completed your first full week of college. No, shockingly, we do not count Orientation Week as the first week of school. Go figure.
Heed our (collective non-freshmen) warning: school matters, grades are real and you're here to do something other than to disregard wenches and acquire currency.
Classes:
Remember those things that your parents told you to go to when you got to college? They exist and they should be taken seriously. College is hard. But, it’s not as hard as you think.
Go to class, do the homework.
Where did I acquire this profound piece of advice, you ask? Every teacher since first grade. They mean what they say. Even in a lecture class, coming every day makes you a familiar face, and being a familiar face goes a long way. Also, very few classes at Duke are taught by people who DON’T want their students to do well. Show your willingness to work and the professors will help you all they can.
Make use of TAs. They are paid to do what they’re doing (usually) and actually love the subject. They’re much closer to our age and understand how to sparknotes any lesson, even the most esoteric. Office hours are worth it.
When signing up for classes, check out the professor on Rate My Professor and his evaluations on ACES. Go to CourseRank, and find out what other people said about that class. If the syllabus is online, check that out first too. The more you find out in advance, the better prepared you are to make a good schedule. Trust me, you don’t want to be surprised halfway through the semester.
Learn about Trinity and Pratt graduation requirements. We may not have a core curriculum, but you can’t get by just taking underwater basket-weaving, as pragmatic as that is.
STINF, short term illness notification form. Can get you out of any class, any time. Beware, it has been known to develop dependency in the user and has terrible long term side effects like a failing grade and rectal bleeding. Be wary and try not to use it too often.
Before you start complaining, remember high school when you were in anywhere from five to eight classes every day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. College is not that bad.
Homework:
Perkins, 24/7. ‘Nuff said.
No but really, don’t fool yourself. You will not be getting work done in your dorm. You friends are too cool and drunk people too common in places like that. Lilly has excellent cubicles, and Perkins is beautiful with comfy chairs and a variety of nooks to tuck yourself away in.
Study group? Go to the link at the bottom of Perkins. There are great rooms with cool technology and free board space to diagram or doodle.
For people who don’t like dead quiet, I suggest the Alpine Bagel or Alpine Atrium because they smell delicious, play bumpin’ music and are conveniently located next to coffee.
Career Center:
Go, use it. It will help you make a sick resume and keep you updated about the jobs on and off campus during the semester and over the summer. No, it is not too early. You will be competing for these things against the smartest people you know, the rest of Duke. Also, you never know when a resume comes in handy.
Buses:
Never leave yourself with less than fifteen minutes to get from campus to campus. Murphy’s Law prevails. When you need a bus, it will unfailingly be late.
C1: Goes from East Campus to West Campus and vice versa via Campus Drive and is the most common bus.
C2: Goes through central campus and takes about ten minutes longer to get from East to West Campus. Before you complain, remember that one day you could very well be living on central campus.
C1 Express: goes straight from East to West and vice versa with no stops in the middle.
C1 Smith: Does not take that long and will get you to East. Yes, it’s a long name and no one really gets off at the bus at Smith, but the extra stop only adds about a minute to the ride.
These buses do not run all hours of the night. For that, we have Safe Rides: 919-684-7233. They are free, prompt and nice people. They will take you anywhere you need to go on or in the vicinity of Duke campus when the buses are not running.
Clubs:
Do them. Whether its sports, music, theater or academic organizations, get involved with something. Take advantage of everything that Duke has to offer because doing something like competing on a sports team or writing for a daily publication are much harder to pick up outside of school. Also, some of the coolest job and internship opportunities come from the clubs you join.
And...welcome to Duke!
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