Duke Class of 2013 Forum

[soullesswonder]

After a couple hours spent familiarizing myself with the area, I can make the following observations:

1) The Law School itself is just as pretty as I remember it

2) Your life will be a heckuva lot easier with your own set of wheels.

3) There's an endless supply of housing options in the triangle - I must have seen three dozen apartment complexes, none of which looked to be more than a decade old.

Looking forward to watching you wannabe gunners out yourselves...a true master knows to never expose his firing position too early.

[prezidentv8]

2) Your life will be a heckuva lot easier with your own set of wheels.

Told y'all.

[los blancos]

So, who else is going to the DBA event tonight?


Weather did not cooperate today.

[soullesswonder]

Okay, one of two things happened today:

1) one of you guys went all out in your attempts to impersonate a LS gunner

2) we were graced with the presence of an actual gunner so hilariously true to stereotype I am tempted to call him the "ur-gunner"

Noticeably overdressed for the events....check
UG degree from over pretentious Ivy League school....check
A look that seemed about three degrees too intense....check
Rushed to secure a spot dead center of the first row in the main gathering room....check
Used the faculty panel Q&A to "show off" his knowledge of the fact that Brazil uses a civil law system....check
Tried to contribute in the Mock Class and got shot down by the prof....check (not knocking everyone who volunteered in class, but given the pattern above I thought this was relevant)

I heard he saved his best work for the LLM panel, but since I wasn't actually there I'm hoping one of you can give us a play-by-play.
I'm still having a hard time believing this guy wasn't a deliberate flame.

[los blancos]

hahahahahaha soulless, i'm laughing my ass off right now. i was sitting in the row behind him to the right and i had to restrain myself from ranting to everyone else. there was no way in hell this guy was an impersonator, by the way. choice #2 is TITCR. that said, almost everyone i met was pretty cool and down to earth.

what was funny for me was that i was totally into richman's mock and ready to answer anything if he called on me, and then my lack of sleep + coleman's low-key style made me lose attention and when he called on me i gave a lame answer.

i did not manage to out j-dub today. maybe tomorrow.


j-dub, if i haven't found you until noon tomorrow, let's just have a TLS meetup.




i went to the DBA event and hung around for a bit but i got bored and don't feel good to begin with, so i came back to my hotel. anyone else going on the apartment showing thing tomorrow?

[MissCongeniality]

Brazil law gunner made my day/life/weekend. I love this place, though. Thankfully spared from the cold call, phew.

[Jericwithers]

Okay, one of two things happened today:

1) one of you guys went all out in your attempts to impersonate a LS gunner

2) we were graced with the presence of an actual gunner so hilariously true to stereotype I am tempted to call him the "ur-gunner"

Noticeably overdressed for the events....check
UG degree from over pretentious Ivy League school....check
A look that seemed about three degrees too intense....check
Rushed to secure a spot dead center of the first row in the main gathering room....check
Used the faculty panel Q&A to "show off" his knowledge of the fact that Brazil uses a civil law system....check
Tried to contribute in the Mock Class and got shot down by the prof....check (not knocking everyone who volunteered in class, but given the pattern above I thought this was relevant)

I heard he saved his best work for the LLM panel, but since I wasn't actually there I'm hoping one of you can give us a play-by-play.
I'm still having a hard time believing this guy wasn't a deliberate flame.

I am glad someone noticed me.

hahahahahaha soulless, i'm laughing my ass off right now. i was sitting in the row behind him to the right and i had to restrain myself from ranting to everyone else. there was no way in hell this guy was an impersonator, by the way. choice #2 is TITCR. that said, almost everyone i met was pretty cool and down to earth.

what was funny for me was that i was totally into richman's mock and ready to answer anything if he called on me, and then my lack of sleep + coleman's low-key style made me lose attention and when he called on me i gave a lame answer.

i did not manage to out j-dub today. maybe tomorrow.


j-dub, if i haven't found you until noon tomorrow, let's just have a TLS meetup.




i went to the DBA event and hung around for a bit but i got bored and don't feel good to begin with, so i came back to my hotel. anyone else going on the apartment showing thing tomorrow?

I'll be there, I also picked out 4 or 5 places to check out on my own if they dont take us there. The first thing I did today was try to out Thickfreakness, but I made an ass out of myself in the process so I avoided trying it again the rest of the time. I am a much harder to person to out from a crowd of 300 than I thought.

Brazil law gunner made my day/life/weekend. I love this place, though. Thankfully spared from the cold call, phew.

I was sitting right next to the girl who got cold called right at the beginning of contracts. Neither of us had read, and before class we discussed my certainty of the probability of us getting called on being too small to worry about. Needless to say I was very nervous when he said 'you in the blue shirt' and pointed right at me. Luckily fate has bad aim and hit the person in a blue shirt right next to me.

[thickfreakness]

Senor Withers, you did successfully out me, but you did so this morning before I'd had any coffee, so I probably seemed confused and/or disinterested.

"Yale Prick" (which, coincidentally, is the only thing I wrote in my note-taking thingy) in the bow-tie was funny, but the only thing funnier was imagining how he'll do during OCI. (Oh my god I have good grades and can't get a job HOW CAN THIS BE)

This place is kicking so much ass right now. However, I left my checkbook and all the financial aid stuff at home so I can't deposit yet. Also, I met a guy at the bar tonight who graduated from my high school 9 years before I graduated (and I'm not a straight from UG person, either).

Any other attempts to out me are welcomed and encouraged. I'll be at the law school tomorrow for breakfast, then going on the campus tour, then the apartment thingy, then who knows. Leaving Sunday. My name is alliterative and I'm what you might call a hot-head.

[4815162342]

Actually sat next to the "gunner" at lunch. Not a bad guy, really. More socially awkward than anything.

[Jericwithers]

Actually sat next to the "gunner" at lunch. Not a bad guy, really. More socially awkward than anything.

$5 bet that he actually is the gunner.

I tried to find you today blancos, but I failed. The tours split up too fast.

EDIT: Also just had the best philly cheese steak in my life. Amazing, thank you Durham!

[thickfreakness]

Actually sat next to the "gunner" at lunch. Not a bad guy, really. More socially awkward than anything.

We were probably a bit too harsh on him. I suppose some people get anxious, intimidated, or whatever at these sorts of events and maybe it was just a sort of awkward reaction to that situation. If he's here next fall (and I'm here next fall, which is about 90% certain right now), then I'll definitely try to meet him again. Also, this weekend has been absolutely incredible. I went to the gardens today and walked around--it was absolutely amazing.

[Jericwithers]

Actually sat next to the "gunner" at lunch. Not a bad guy, really. More socially awkward than anything.

We were probably a bit too harsh on him. I suppose some people get anxious, intimidated, or whatever at these sorts of events and maybe it was just a sort of awkward reaction to that situation. If he's here next fall (and I'm here next fall, which is about 90% certain right now), then I'll definitely try to meet him again. Also, this weekend has been absolutely incredible. I went to the gardens today and walked around--it was absolutely amazing.

Agreed gardens was nice, and the chapel was cool too. Glad to see that your percent chance of coming increased. Was the financial aid office soothing and gentle with you? Gleam any general tips?

[Herb Watchfell]

Also, this weekend has been absolutely incredible. I went to the gardens today and walked around--it was absolutely amazing.

--ImageRemoved--

[thickfreakness]

Actually sat next to the "gunner" at lunch. Not a bad guy, really. More socially awkward than anything.

We were probably a bit too harsh on him. I suppose some people get anxious, intimidated, or whatever at these sorts of events and maybe it was just a sort of awkward reaction to that situation. If he's here next fall (and I'm here next fall, which is about 90% certain right now), then I'll definitely try to meet him again. Also, this weekend has been absolutely incredible. I went to the gardens today and walked around--it was absolutely amazing.

Agreed gardens was nice, and the chapel was cool too. Glad to see that your percent chance of coming increased. Was the financial aid office soothing and gentle with you? Gleam any general tips?

Not particularly. I just talked about budgeting, repayment schedules both during and after school, and things like that. It was informative but not a ton of information that you couldn't get from reading the website carefully. Still, it was nice to meet someone who is in control of the loan operations at the school and get a feel for how I would interact with the office once enrolled.

[Jericwithers]

It was informative but not a ton of information that you couldn't get from reading the website carefully. Still, it was nice to meet someone who is in control of the loan operations at the school and get a feel for how I would interact with the office once enrolled.

The line was too long for me, but I assume that isn't indicative of how it will be if enrolled.

Anyone else kind of worried that Duke might over-enroll this year? That was a lot of people at the ASD, and that wasn't even half of everyone accepted. 230ish isn't bad, but 200 has a much better feel to it.

[Herb Watchfell]

Anyone else kind of worried that Duke might over-enroll this year? That was a lot of people at the ASD, and that wasn't even half of everyone accepted. 230ish isn't bad, but 200 has a much better feel to it.

ZOMG elitizm!

[los blancos]

Actually sat next to the "gunner" at lunch. Not a bad guy, really. More socially awkward than anything.

$5 bet that he actually is the gunner.

I tried to find you today blancos, but I failed. The tours split up too fast.

Yeah, they did. Oh well, next fall then.


Am I the only one who was kind of thrilled with how nice everyone was? Professors, admissions staff, current students, prospective students... the whole bunch. I didn't meet a single person I didn't like talking to.

[pumpkincrepes]

hiii guys. i think i speak on behalf of most of the students here when i say that we were all really excited to meet you all and hope you had a good time slash come hang out with us next year.

to those of you we dragged away out to shooters after the dba event. . . i promise that during the week we are a group of at least fairly intelligent human beings

and if you've got any questions about duke in the meantime, don't hesitate to toss me a message.

[los blancos]

It was informative but not a ton of information that you couldn't get from reading the website carefully. Still, it was nice to meet someone who is in control of the loan operations at the school and get a feel for how I would interact with the office once enrolled.

The line was too long for me, but I assume that isn't indicative of how it will be if enrolled.

Anyone else kind of worried that Duke might over-enroll this year? That was a lot of people at the ASD, and that wasn't even half of everyone accepted. 230ish isn't bad, but 200 has a much better feel to it.

I basically spent half of ASW talking to Mark Hill. He told me he wasn't too concerned about over-enrolling, but qualified himself by saying that he didn't think they would last year, either (and they did, but then again everyone overenrolled). I think a lot of people are going to get into schools off of WLs in general this year, and he sort of corroborated that opinion. He said he felt that a lot of schools were probably being extra cautious and will end up using their WLs to fill their classes.

As for financial aid, I got to talk directly to Dean Hoye about them potentially matching my UT scholly (or upping their offer). He said they don't have a matching program but that they also don't want money to be the sole factor getting in someone's way from going to Duke. Especially this early, they don't seem to be very willing to negotiate money, which completely makes sense. I got the feeling that if I eventually want to commit to Duke, they might be receptive to getting a little closer to UT $$.


My final impression is that Duke's campus (and the triangle in general) is kind of bipolar. When I first got in and saw the area and buildings, it felt super-new and made Chicago feel underdeveloped. With more time, though, you see more of the old south showing beneath the cracks. Overall, though, I liked the setting. I'm still a little apprehensive about going to school outside of a big city (which kind of surprises me, because I went to a rural State U for my freshman year and it never really got to me), but honestly I was very impressed with the school and the kind of people it attracts. Most people seemed to have an outright disdain gunning and competition, and that + small class size made it feel really tight-knit. I even met a guy who is probably going to turn down Columbia for Duke in part because he hated the atmosphere at CLS.

I didn't manage to glean too much information as far as placement, but the general vibe I'm getting is that median is not a bad place to be as long as you've got an otherwise decent resume and you can interview. I met a 2L who had a biglaw gig in DC and she actually straight-up told me that she was probably only slightly over median. Another student told me that the small class size can really help you break into uncommon markets because alumni will pull for you.

Overall, I'm fairly confident that if I can find a decent unpaid CA gig for 1L summer, the degree is portable enough to get a big firm job in CA. I was also slightly perplexed by how many people I met who, like me, are interested in the DOJ.

It's nice how easy flying to my hometown from RDU is (I'm typing this in the air), too.

[Herb Watchfell]

It was informative but not a ton of information that you couldn't get from reading the website carefully. Still, it was nice to meet someone who is in control of the loan operations at the school and get a feel for how I would interact with the office once enrolled.

The line was too long for me, but I assume that isn't indicative of how it will be if enrolled.

Anyone else kind of worried that Duke might over-enroll this year? That was a lot of people at the ASD, and that wasn't even half of everyone accepted. 230ish isn't bad, but 200 has a much better feel to it.

I basically spent half of ASW talking to Mark Hill. He told me he wasn't too concerned about over-enrolling, but qualified himself by saying that he didn't think they would last year, either (and they did, but then again everyone overenrolled). I think a lot of people are going to get into schools off of WLs in general this year, and he sort of corroborated that opinion. He said he felt that a lot of schools were probably being extra cautious and will end up using their WLs to fill their classes.

As for financial aid, I got to talk directly to Dean Hoye about them potentially matching my UT scholly (or upping their offer). He said they don't have a matching program but that they also don't want money to be the sole factor getting in someone's way from going to Duke. Especially this early, they don't seem to be very willing to negotiate money, which completely makes sense. I got the feeling that if I eventually want to commit to Duke, they might be receptive to getting a little closer to UT $$.


My final impression is that Duke's campus (and the triangle in general) is kind of bipolar. When I first got in and saw the area and buildings, it felt super-new and made Chicago feel underdeveloped. With more time, though, you see more of the old south showing beneath the cracks. Overall, though, I liked the setting. I'm still a little apprehensive about going to school outside of a big city (which kind of surprises me, because I went to a rural State U for my freshman year and it never really got to me), but honestly I was very impressed with the school and the kind of people it attracts. Most people seemed to have an outright disdain gunning and competition, and that + small class size made it feel really tight-knit. I even met a guy who is probably going to turn down Columbia for Duke in part because he hated the atmosphere at CLS.

I didn't manage to glean too much information as far as placement, but the general vibe I'm getting is that median is not a bad place to be as long as you've got an otherwise decent resume and you can interview. I met a 2L who had a biglaw gig in DC and she actually straight-up told me that she was probably only slightly over median. Another student told me that the small class size can really help you break into uncommon markets because alumni will pull for you.

Overall, I'm fairly confident that if I can find a decent unpaid CA gig for 1L summer, the degree is portable enough to get a big firm job in CA. I was also slightly perplexed by how many people I met who, like me, are interested in the DOJ.

It's nice how easy flying to my hometown from RDU is (I'm typing this in the air), too.

Sounds like DUSOL is a great fit for you. I'm really happy for you!

[los blancos]

Sounds like DUSOL is a great fit for you. I'm really happy for you!

Haha I (never) know if you're being facetious, but thanks - I'm happy with it. That said, I got the strange recurring feeling that it wasn't going to be my destination next year, even though I logically think it's by far the most likely. Maybe I've got a surprise acceptance coming soon from a reach.

[Jericwithers]

Sounds like DUSOL is a great fit for you. I'm really happy for you!

Haha I (never) know if you're being facetious, but thanks - I'm happy with it. That said, I got the strange recurring feeling that it wasn't going to be my destination next year, even though I logically think it's by far the most likely. Maybe I've got a surprise acceptance coming soon from a reach.

I kind of understanding what you mean by that, but I know the 5 schools I got left won't really come calling. I enjoyed the school, but I agree that the area is a bit bipolar. I think the southwest-ish area is all new and the north and east are old. I liked Pinnacle Ridge though (and its price) and I think I am going there tomorrow to talk about signing up. It's more than I would like to pay, but for 1L year I don't think a price can be put on comfort and good grades. There were a some tiny things that stopped the school from being perfect, but I am excited to go.

I bought my first Duke t-shirt today Now if only they can win 3 more basketball games...

[los blancos]

I kind of understanding what you mean by that, but I know the 5 schools I got left won't really come calling

Yeah, my 'reaches' would've been closer to targets had I gotten one more question right on the LSAT, so I'm still holding out hope. I might still take the June LSAT.

[someones alt]

I haven't read through all of the responses yet, but before I type up any kind of review all I can say is

Which one of you knows about Brazilian law?

I didn't meet anyone from TLS. Wilco concert blew my mind. So much awesome stuff in Durham/Chapel Hill. Went to two concerts, ate at Coopers and Allen and Sons, had fried green tomatoes, six bars, met a lot of great people at Duke Undergrad and UNC.

The only thing I found annoying was people were TOO friendly at times. The second day at lunch I was hungover and sleep deprived and wanted to eat alone and barely made it thirty seconds without 5 people joining me at my table and having me introduce myself. I guess its not necessarily a bad thing, and I know everyone was nervous and wanted to meet each other, but some of you Dukies need to better understand social cues.

Overall it was an awesome experience. Loved the campus/faculty as well.

So any TLS-ers can remember me if I did meet you, I asked the question in the student panel about how the recession may have impacted the atmosphere of collegiality.

[DallasCowboy]

I'm glad everybody liked it! I wish I could have witnessed Brazil Boy but the beach was calling. Did they give out any free stuff?