Duke Class of 2017 Forum

[Serett]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

[lawschool22]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

Which others are you looking at? I'm still trying to figure out if most people will just end up at Pinnacle. Although being a little closer to school might be nice, but I'm sure those are fairly expensive.

[ler2017]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

I just went on what I think was the first tour, not the urban tour but the complexes around Durham. I skipped the urban tour because someone had told me beforehand that those were going to be more expensive, and the 4 that we saw on the bus tour were all out of my price range. I'm paying 700 a month for a one bedroom where I live now so that's my max for Durham, and I've found a lot online that are in the 500-600 dollar range so now I'm narrowing them by features.

But I feel like while we were there, people were saying we needed to lock down housing ASAP because everything's already filled up. But all the complexes I'm calling say I might as well wait until June because they have no idea what their availability will be for August until then.

[yarrow]

As in you know her IRL?

if she's the person i'm thinking of, yeah

[lawschool22]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

I just went on what I think was the first tour, not the urban tour but the complexes around Durham. I skipped the urban tour because someone had told me beforehand that those were going to be more expensive, and the 4 that we saw on the bus tour were all out of my price range. I'm paying 700 a month for a one bedroom where I live now so that's my max for Durham, and I've found a lot online that are in the 500-600 dollar range so now I'm narrowing them by features.

But I feel like while we were there, people were saying we needed to lock down housing ASAP because everything's already filled up. But all the complexes I'm calling say I might as well wait until June because they have no idea what their availability will be for August until then.

I have a feeling that was more of a high-pressure sales situation than the reality. I think finding housing in Durham will not be all that difficult. The students I spoke with said that if you waited until June you will be fine.

[lawschool22]

As in you know her IRL?

if she's the person i'm thinking of, yeah

What's her deal?

[Serett]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

Which others are you looking at? I'm still trying to figure out if most people will just end up at Pinnacle. Although being a little closer to school might be nice, but I'm sure those are fairly expensive.

I am considering Pinnacle and Alexan Garrett, while the main other one I'm interested in is Hawthorne at the View, which is about 4 miles/7 minute from Pinnacle and 6 miles/10 minute from the law school. They have a couple 1 BR varieties, as well as larger apartments, and despite what it lists online at the moment, the leasing office advised me of prices $629/$699 for the smaller 1 BR (classic/renovated) and $649/$749 for the larger 1 BR (classic/renovated). Ideally, I'd like to pay no more than $800 or so per month total for a 1BR (incuding utilities, internet, etc.), so this better fits my price range than those we looked at (barring rent specials, as I feel like I've heard from someone who indicated s/he is only paying $650/month in rent at Pinnacle, but it's worrisome to wait long enough to rely on a rent special). I've never paid more than $550/month in rent and have lived in studios the past couple years, so while I'm looking for a bit of an increase in standard of living and cost, I don't really need something quite as nice/expensive as what we were shown on the tours, again barring a rent special that makes them fall into my range.

Past that, I don't really have a list of others yet, but I plan on and have been using ApartmentRatings.com as a resource. You can search for a zip code, or Durham in general, and order by % recommending. There are a couple of well-reviewed, somewhat cheaper for the value townhomes I also plan to look into (Taylor's Pond--4 miles from the law school and 2 miles from Pinnacle--and Murchinson Apartments among them). My biggest concern is that even with the benefit of reviews, I hate the idea of signing a lease without seeing the place for but also can't really justify spending the money to get back to Durham for this purpose (but maybe I'll feel differently in a few months). Overall, my driving goal for housing is simple: find the nicest place I can within my stated price range without getting too far from everything/everyone else.

I've been checking out apartments in some fashion for the past month or so, and most have some form of availability. Since most people don't sign leases that end around February/March, I agree that I don't see any reason why housing would be scarce or difficult to find come summer, either.

[albs18]

Really upset that I missed ASW....seems like y'all had a good time--so glad to hear!

In other news, my scholarship decision mailed status updated sometime between Saturday and today. Thought that might be helpful for folks still awaiting scholarship offers.

[ler2017]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

I just went on what I think was the first tour, not the urban tour but the complexes around Durham. I skipped the urban tour because someone had told me beforehand that those were going to be more expensive, and the 4 that we saw on the bus tour were all out of my price range. I'm paying 700 a month for a one bedroom where I live now so that's my max for Durham, and I've found a lot online that are in the 500-600 dollar range so now I'm narrowing them by features.

But I feel like while we were there, people were saying we needed to lock down housing ASAP because everything's already filled up. But all the complexes I'm calling say I might as well wait until June because they have no idea what their availability will be for August until then.

I have a feeling that was more of a high-pressure sales situation than the reality. I think finding housing in Durham will not be all that difficult. The students I spoke with said that if you waited until June you will be fine.

Thank God. There was one place I had to roll my eyes at because the manager basically told us they were completely full for the fall, but we should still pay $100 to be on the waitlist to maybe get an apartment if someone does happen to move out.

I may have been spoiled by the experience moving into my current apartment though. I spent a few weeks touring different complexes in the city then when I settled on one it was only 4 days from when I applied for a lease to when I actually moved in, and my apartment is swell. Hoping the patron saint of real estate is on my side in Durham too.

[lawschool22]

I may have been spoiled by the experience moving into my current apartment though. I spent a few weeks touring different complexes in the city then when I settled on one it was only 4 days from when I applied for a lease to when I actually moved in, and my apartment is swell. Hoping the patron saint of real estate is on my side in Durham too.

I think of all the T14 Durham will be one of the easiest real estate markets to navigate.

[ler2017]

Past that, I don't really have a list of others yet, but I plan on and have been using ApartmentRatings.com as a resource. You can search for a zip code, or Durham in general, and order by % recommending. There are a couple of well-reviewed, somewhat cheaper for the value townhomes I also plan to look into (Taylor's Pond--4 miles from the law school and 2 miles from Pinnacle--and Murchinson Apartments among them). My biggest concern is that even with the benefit of reviews, I hate the idea of signing a lease without seeing the place for but also can't really justify spending the money to get back to Durham for this purpose (but maybe I'll feel differently in a few months). Overall, my driving goal for housing is simple: find the nicest place I can within my stated price range without getting too far from everything/everyone else.

I've been checking out apartments in some fashion for the past month or so, and most have some form of availability. Since most people don't sign leases that end around February/March, I agree that I don't see any reason why housing would be scarce or difficult to find come summer, either.

In addition to ApartmentRatings I've had a bit of luck with ApartmentGuide.com too. That site lets you narrow by specs like rent, features, # of bedrooms/bathrooms, so when I've gone apartment hunting in the past I've used AG to make a list then cross-referenced with AR and other sites like Yelp for reviews. Review sites do tend to skew negative though in my experience, so unless it has like a 0-20% recommend rate on AR I usually still give it a chance and try to see it in person before dismissing it.

I'm just looking for a 1 BR place with washer/dryer connections that isn't infested with 7 breeds of cockroach. And also doesn't smell. That's a dealbreaker for me.

[Serett]

Past that, I don't really have a list of others yet, but I plan on and have been using ApartmentRatings.com as a resource. You can search for a zip code, or Durham in general, and order by % recommending. There are a couple of well-reviewed, somewhat cheaper for the value townhomes I also plan to look into (Taylor's Pond--4 miles from the law school and 2 miles from Pinnacle--and Murchinson Apartments among them). My biggest concern is that even with the benefit of reviews, I hate the idea of signing a lease without seeing the place for but also can't really justify spending the money to get back to Durham for this purpose (but maybe I'll feel differently in a few months). Overall, my driving goal for housing is simple: find the nicest place I can within my stated price range without getting too far from everything/everyone else.

I've been checking out apartments in some fashion for the past month or so, and most have some form of availability. Since most people don't sign leases that end around February/March, I agree that I don't see any reason why housing would be scarce or difficult to find come summer, either.

In addition to ApartmentRatings I've had a bit of luck with ApartmentGuide.com too. That site lets you narrow by specs like rent, features, # of bedrooms/bathrooms, so when I've gone apartment hunting in the past I've used AG to make a list then cross-referenced with AR and other sites like Yelp for reviews. Review sites do tend to skew negative though in my experience, so unless it has like a 0-20% recommend rate on AR I usually still give it a chance and try to see it in person before dismissing it.

I'm just looking for a 1 BR place with washer/dryer connections that isn't infested with 7 breeds of cockroach. And also doesn't smell. That's a dealbreaker for me.

Heh, seconded. I'm not sure if I've posted it in here or not yet, but padmapper.com is also great to scroll around the area and see a wide variety of listings. It's just a Google Maps interface that pulls listings from around the web which one can also sort by rent range, bedrooms, etc.

[lastsamurai]

Withdrew today, but it was a tough one to let go. Duke seems like a really great place to be. Hoping my money ends up with one of you guys! Checking out

[lawschool22]

Withdrew today, but it was a tough one to let go. Duke seems like a really great place to be. Hoping my money ends up with one of you guys! Checking out

Good luck with your decision buddy! Glad you're one step closer...

[neprep]

Withdrew today, but it was a tough one to let go. Duke seems like a really great place to be. Hoping my money ends up with one of you guys! Checking out

Same here.

Good luck everyone!

[mjr.don]

I can't find it now, but I think I remember someone saying that admissions said they won't start negotiating until early-mid April. Was that this thread?

Also, when negotiating should we email Dean Hoye directly? Or Mark Hill?

[drawstring]

I can't find it now, but I think I remember someone saying that admissions said they won't start negotiating until early-mid April. Was that this thread?

It's in here and I said it.

[ler2017]

I can't find it now, but I think I remember someone saying that admissions said they won't start negotiating until early-mid April. Was that this thread?

It's in here and I said it.

Any chances they'll offer a higher amount without me negotiating with them? I haven't received scholarship info yet from the comparable schools that I was accepted to, and I'm going to be withdrawing my applications/declining acceptance to those schools anyway like tomorrow so I highly doubt they'll bother offering money. The scholarship I got from Duke was pretty good so if it's all I get I'll take it, but I don't want to embarrass myself trying to negotiate when I don't have anything concrete to bring to the table. It'd make me happy if I just got an email one day after enough people withdraw offering me a few thousand more.

[Wolverine1614]

Just an FYI, but the financial aid counselor at ASW told me to email the general financial aid office for scholarship negotiations.

[racrfish]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

Which others are you looking at? I'm still trying to figure out if most people will just end up at Pinnacle. Although being a little closer to school might be nice, but I'm sure those are fairly expensive.

The majority end up at Pinnacle. Second most popular is probably Heights at Lasalle.

The ones closer to campus are not more expensive -- they are way sketchier and less safe. Just not a good part of town. A lot of students live in those (Belmont etc) but they generally get bad reviews.

Heights at Lasalle is probably the nicest you can get closest to campus. Otherwise, Pinnacle or Alexan Garrett are the ones to go with.

[Serett]

I can't find it now, but I think I remember someone saying that admissions said they won't start negotiating until early-mid April. Was that this thread?

It's in here and I said it.

Any chances they'll offer a higher amount without me negotiating with them? I haven't received scholarship info yet from the comparable schools that I was accepted to, and I'm going to be withdrawing my applications/declining acceptance to those schools anyway like tomorrow so I highly doubt they'll bother offering money. The scholarship I got from Duke was pretty good so if it's all I get I'll take it, but I don't want to embarrass myself trying to negotiate when I don't have anything concrete to bring to the table. It'd make me happy if I just got an email one day after enough people withdraw offering me a few thousand more.

I'd say the chance of that happening is anywhere from 0% to 000.00~%, with a robust correlation between one's respect for significant figures and the number of 0s present.

[ler2017]

I can't find it now, but I think I remember someone saying that admissions said they won't start negotiating until early-mid April. Was that this thread?

It's in here and I said it.

Any chances they'll offer a higher amount without me negotiating with them? I haven't received scholarship info yet from the comparable schools that I was accepted to, and I'm going to be withdrawing my applications/declining acceptance to those schools anyway like tomorrow so I highly doubt they'll bother offering money. The scholarship I got from Duke was pretty good so if it's all I get I'll take it, but I don't want to embarrass myself trying to negotiate when I don't have anything concrete to bring to the table. It'd make me happy if I just got an email one day after enough people withdraw offering me a few thousand more.

I'd say the chance of that happening is anywhere from 0% to 000.00~%, with a robust correlation between one's respect for significant figures and the number of 0s present.

Hmm...sounds like my odds are pretty good then!

[jasper09]

Just sent in my deposit today after this weekend's open house! Duke was already my first choice but I waited until after the open house to commit just in case.

Now I'm making calls to apartment complexes in the area. Those apartments on the tour were crazy expensive compared to a lot of others in Durham, I'm not particularly sure why we just saw those. At one point even our bus driver was telling us about more affordable places that would have been more useful to show us. Even their waiting list fees were ridiculous.

Did you go on both tours, or just the first? The second apartment tour's buildings were all another couple hundred dollars more expensive per month than the first. There are definitely some cheaper options in Durham, though, and while they're not quite as outright luxurious as the ones we were shown, they tend to look pretty good and some have comparably positive reviews.

Which others are you looking at? I'm still trying to figure out if most people will just end up at Pinnacle. Although being a little closer to school might be nice, but I'm sure those are fairly expensive.

The majority end up at Pinnacle. Second most popular is probably Heights at Lasalle.

The ones closer to campus are not more expensive -- they are way sketchier and less safe. Just not a good part of town. A lot of students live in those (Belmont etc) but they generally get bad reviews.

Heights at Lasalle is probably the nicest you can get closest to campus. Otherwise, Pinnacle or Alexan Garrett are the ones to go with.

So, probably not ending up at Duke, but since it was my UG, I'll weigh in with my $.02 on the housing. The places close to campus (i.e. Belmont, Partners, and even West Village off East Campus) are filled to the brim with undergrad kids. They're nice apartments in terms of space and proximity to campus, but everyone knows the gate code to Belmont, and Partners and West Village aren't gated (unless something's changed since I was there). My senior year I lived in Partners above the lacrosse team. I don't think I need to talk about how awful it was- so loud on the weekends, or honestly, from Wednesday through Saturday. I don't think that was just because I lived above the lacrosse team- all of my friends in the complex said the same about their neighbors. It's fine if you like to party, but it's particularly irritating if you want to do work when others might prefer more social activities. Loved the apartment itself (and the price especially...not sure what it is now, but when I was there, the 3-bedroom was $1750), hated the neighbors.

[gta]

Duke, give me more money and I promise I will be in Durham for three years... For real...

[ler2017]

Any students who have already sent in your commitment? Do they notify you when it's received or do you just watch your bank account for the check to be cashed? I'm watching UPS tracking but I'm waiting until they've officially received it with no hiccups to consider it a done deal.