Today made it official: I am going to apply (and
get in) to Duke University. In the past, I never would have made such a bold
statement. In fact, I never would have considered applying to any schools
outside of California for college. However, after touring the awe-inspiring
campus of Duke University twice, hearing an abundance of information about it,
and talking to some actual Duke students, it kicked any doubt of applying to
out-of-state universities right out of my mind.
The hotel alarm woke us (Hannah, Yessenia, and
myself) up at 5 o'clock in the morning today. We weren't supposed to meet our
chaperone, Mr. Mannix, and the lone male wolf of our group, Chris, until 6:55
in the hotel lobby, but we needed the time to get ready; three girls plus one
shower and one mirror takes at LEAST an hour and half to get ready.
After we finished getting ready, we headed down to
the lobby to have breakfast with Mr. Mannix and Chris. Once we finished our
biscuit sandwiches, cereal, fruits, and coffee, we hopped in our rental van and
headed for the admissions office at Duke University, where we met with Samuel
Carpenter, the Admissions Officer for Northern California at Duke.
Mr. Carpenter was an interesting character. Usually,
when I hear the words “college admissions officer” I think of a man with cold
beady eyes and pursed lips pressed into a hard line with a stoic face who is
annoyed with high school students constantly pestering him to reveal the
secrets of college admittance. However, Mr. Carpenter was not like that at all;
he was very friendly and warm. He greeted us with a warm smile and a firm
handshake when we met him in a room that was designed like a living room. He
happily answered the many questions each of us threw at him rather thoroughly—including
Yessenia's "How culturally diverse is Duke?" question, for which he
provided a very interesting answer.
He informed us that Duke was diverse in every sense
of the word. Not only does Duke accept students from different parts of the
United States, but also from other countries. In fact, 11% of the population of
Duke are international students. However, Duke is also diverse in terms of the
interests, skills, and abilities of the students who attend this university.
So, really, you can find very different students at each corner of Duke.
I also asked him a question that daunts many high
school applicants: SAT scores. Personally, it is a subject that makes me want
to run in a closet and hide, but Mr. Carpenter lifted my fears. He told me that
there is no “average score” for students who attend Duke, but rather a 25-50-25
system. What this means is that 50% of the students at Duke will score between
certain numbers in each category of the test, but that means 25% scored lower
and 25% scored higher. He stressed the fact that test scores and grades are
things that only tell the school of your test taking abilities and academic
skills, but nothing about who you are; the personal statements are what are
important.
After our meeting with Mr. Carpenter, we attended
an hour and a half long information session about Duke University given by yet
another admissions officer. She talked about how close the professors are to
their students. In fact, one teacher actually plays in the marching band for
the school, and another teacher once asked his students to scream at the top of
their lungs in the auditorium to help alleviate the stress of their first Duke
test. She also spoke about the study abroad program and the various things Duke
students were given the opportunity to do abroad.
Another interesting thing she mentioned was the
certificates program, which is something like a minor program. Basically, what
this program does is that is allows students to develop a deeper understanding
of their major by putting in classes that pertain to their major in a more real
world way. These classes apply everything students learn and focus on in their
majors to the real world, instead of just focusing on the fundamentals. It is a
great program that really helps students succeed in any job pertaining to their
major.
After the information session ended, we
participated in yet another tour of the campus, however this tour was much more
informative and in-depth than the one we had our first day. My forehead
glistened with sweat and my legs ached from all that walking, but it was all
worth it because I got to see the lovely campus of Duke on a more in-depth
level. I learned that Duke is religious, but it practices several religions
rather than just focusing on one. There is even a house dedicated purely to
Islam! I was jubilant when I heard this because no other school I visited
practiced Islam.
The final stop of the tour was inside the Duke
chapel. It was my first time entering a holy building that was not Islamic, and
it was the most beautiful, magnificent piece of architecture I have ever laid
eyes on. It was big and grand and very colorful, with stained-class windows
that depicted all the major stories of the Bible. The images made me curious,
as I was not familiar with their story; it made me want to learn about them.
The beauty and grandeur of the chapel left me breathless.
After the tour ended, we trudged our way through
the heat to our rental van and drove to return it. We then took a shuttle to
the airport and went through the headache that is airport security before we
boarded the plane to Washington DC.
The flight itself was very short, but it felt much
longer to me. Perhaps it felt that way because I had so much flowing through my
mind. I thought about Duke and everything I had learned in my two days in
Durham. I pictured myself there and I tried to pick out one bad thing about it,
but I simply could not find one. It literally has everything a student needs;
it has a center that is like a shopping center where students can buy anything
they need. There are also many restaurants on campus so students never have to
leave to get a bite to eat. I have never seen a university with so many things
to offer its students. Duke University is simply wonderful.
When we arrived at DC we were driven to our hotel
in a big, black SUV. We had only one thing on our minds when we entered our
air-conditioned room: blogging. Just kidding! We had just come from a blazing
hot place with sweat from our bodies falling like Niagara Falls. Naturally, the
first thing on our minds was the pool (but don't worry, blogging was the second
thing).
We swam for about an hour and then readied
ourselves for dinner at Founding Farmers, an organic restaurant that is close
to the White House and recycles its food. We were a little more over-dressed
than a majority of the patrons there, but that did not phase us. We ordered
some delicious foods and spent the night chatting, laughing, and getting to
know our chaperone. We even ended up saving some money on the bill because our
vegan chaperone spotted a sliver of bacon buried within his salad.
 |
|
Our delicious
appetizer at Founding Farmers
|
 |
|
Black Pepper
Chicken Wings
|
 |
|
House Salad
|
 |
|
Stray and Hey
Pasta
|
At the end of the day, we returned to our hotels
via taxi. We then bustled into our hotel room, changed out of our formal attire
into our pajamas, and readied ourselves to begin blogging when Chris knocked on
our door. We let him in and the four of us began to blog about our day
together. There were brief moments of silence where the only sounds were that
of the air conditioner, mutters under breathes, and busy fingers typing
furiously. Occasionally, one of us would break the silence and read our blog
out loud to the other, asking for some advice and changing whatever we felt
needed to be changed.
So far, this is the second night that we all blog
together as a team, and honestly it is my favorite way to end a busy day.
 |
|
Vanderbilt
ladies waiting for our table
|
 |
|
The two Vandy
girls who are terrified of flying
|
 |
|
My view from
the plane
|
 |
|
Outside the
East Wing of the White House
|
