Is Duke worth it?

I’ve recently been thinking quite a bit about whether or not a Duke education really is worth the quarter-million-dollar price tag. What truly is the value of a college education? Would I be better off saving that money and doing something else with my time? Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and famous entrepreneur, wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times in 2011, “College Doesn’t Create Success,” where he argued that the economic value of a college education for most Americans was vastly lower than the escalating cost of a college degree. Thiel earned a college degree from Stanford University, but he now promotes his fervent belief in the limitation of college through his Thiel Foundation. The foundation sponsors “Thiel Fellows” who are each provided with $100,000 to launch their own startup as long as they forgo or drop out of college.

This ideology challenges the value of the traditional college education and perhaps rightly so. Many of the hailed innovators of our time like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are famous for dropping out of school to pursue their dreams. Still, college remains an integral part of the American dream, and as a tuition-paying student who is worried about wasting the prime of my life and my parent’s resources, I couldn’t help but to reflect on what the value of my Duke education was.

Of course the questioning of why I was at Duke coincided with a rough, Perkins-filled weekend. It was one of those weekends where somehow all the exams and papers lined up to create a perfect storm of frantic studying. Or maybe I was still rattled from the devastating referee call on our Saturday football game. Either way, I found myself wondering what the Duke experience was really all about.

At first I thought about my classes. I’ve only been here three semesters, but I’ve learned from some really talented professors about a whole range of topics I probably wouldn’t have if I hadn’t come to Duke. I’ve learned about income and balance sheets, Neanderthals, Python programming, racial segregation in Durham’s schools and how sodium plays a crucial role in the firing of neurons. The sheer amount of information and types of material I have covered is incredible. The fact that I have two and a half years to continue this education is even better. Then I thought about the unprecedented access to information databases and relatively easy access to get hands on experiences in research opportunities. It was pretty clear that Duke has a lot to offer.

But the more I thought about it, I realized that the reason I chose Duke and the reason I came to college isn’t just for the classes or ability to get involved. I believe that my four years here are about more than all of my classes and research experiences. When I took a study break from Perkins and went on a walk with one of my friends, we started chatting about what I was studying, which launched into a much more interesting conversation when we discovered a connection between what she was learning and I was learning in different classes.

The truth is that the most meaningful parts of Duke probably exist outside of the classroom. We talk, discuss, dissect and fumble around the world trying to make sense of everything that is being thrown at us. Part of the academic stress is by design; by the time we graduate, many Duke students have the analytical skills to succeed in the “real world.” Part of it is that, when you put thoughtful, driven people together and give them tremendous resources, beautiful things can happen.

I plan on being a little more thoughtful about how I approach my time at Duke. The truth is that talks and discussions all over this campus are just as meaningful, if not more meaningful, to our growth and development. I know that I’ll make a point of taking a workshop on web design offered at the library or going to a concert in the Duke Performance series. I’ll be less scared of falling on my face and more cognizant of the life-long relationships that Duke fosters.

If you go to Duke, you’re obviously pretty serious about going to college. But keep in mind that Duke is a lot more that the obvious classes, the formal majors and minors and the structured research opportunities that get marketed to us on brochures back when we applied. Duke is the network of Blue Devils that we’re all deeply connected to. Duke is an incubator, so thrive.

Shruti Rao is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs on alternate Tuesdays.