Duke

It's been a while. A long time, actually, since I was last here, sitting on my bed, with a blank text box to fill with my thoughts. I've been moving fast: flying/driving places, organizing/attending events, meeting with/talking to people, eating/drinking deliciousnesses. And I never took the time to look around me to understand where I was. I didn't take pictures, I didn't write words--

But now I'm back and there's a lot to say. Sorry if it's a bit disorganized.

On Thursday, I met up with Ani Mohan and Kushal Seetharam at IAD, to catch a flight to Durham, North Carolina. I've been to Duke before, twice actually, once just to tour and once for a math competition. So I've seen its copycat Gothic aesthetic and its pleasant Southern atmosphere. While there, I took note of the students' andante walking pace and the way they dressed--a 50/50 compromise between comfort and fashion. When I was deciding which colleges to apply to, Duke epitomized the nice-but-not-glamorous college lifestyle, so I put it on my list about halfway between "extremely desirable" and "mundanely adequate."

Somehow, though, Duke's Office of Undergrad Scholars and Fellows (OUSF) managed to change my perception of Duke entirely. The full ride package that they dangled in front of me included not only money, but also unparalleled access to professors and a six-week trip to Oxford. Even more so than Chicago, with its "Life of the Mind" marketing scheme, Duke's A.B. Duke Scholarship offered a diverse intellectual forum full of students who were successful and driven but also creative and fascinating--in fact, most of my conversations with prefrosh and current Duke students ended up being either academic or philosophical in nature. The current Duke students that I talked to also portrayed the university as a limitless source of opportunity and support. The professors that I met impressed me and inspired me, with both their research and their dedication to teaching. And it didn't hurt that Duke more or less treated their scholarship finalists like royalty.

At Duke, I attended my first party with alcohol. When I entered the crowded room, I noted the multitude of bright red plastic cups and the smell of beer. A couple of bottles of vodka shared a counter top with sprite and coke, and twelve-packs of Pabst Blue Ribbon completed the picture. I was thirsty, so I took a cup, filled it with Sprite, and proceeded to play PG-13-rated never-have-I-ever with a bunch of other prefrosh.

At Duke, I also conversed with gay guys for the first time. Though TJ does have a GSA social group, I've never really talked to them much, so I was curious about what gay guys were really like and how their experiences differed from that of normal teenage males.

The first gay guy that I met at Duke was blatantly effeminate and overly concerned about fabulousness. He loved theater and wore scarves; he flourished his hands frequently and took offense whenever he perceived even slightest bit of homophobic sentiment. In short, he fit the stereotype that I had previously adopted. But the next few guys that I met were totally different. One was an extremely talented student of genomics and although he was obviously gay, was much more toned down about it. Another always seemed to have his arms around two female students, and I definitely thought he was straight at first.

Actually, about half the male finalists for the scholarship were homosexual or bisexual (whereas all the females were hetero). I think I'm supposed to believe that it was coincidence, but I'm not sure I believe in coincidences. Perhaps the current A.B. Scholars, many of whom are gay, unintentionally favored gay applicants while they were reviewing applications?

At any rate, by the end of the weekend, I had decided that Duke+fullride was just as awesome as Harvard/Princeton/Stanford. Throughout the weekend, I kept on telling myself, "Once you visit Columbia, Harvard, and Princeton, you'll probably fall in love with them too." But it was hard to reason with myself. I fell for Duke hard. And the craziest thing is, I don't even know if they'll offer me the scholarship, and I won't know until Thursday. Not getting the scholarship, though, won't change the fact that my weekend at Duke was, basically, freaking awesome.

=]