Tiana Horn graduated from Duke University this year with a degree in public policy and a job that she created for herself.
Horn, from Deltona, Florida, co-founded a hair-care product business during her time at Duke, where she embraced the university’s entrepreneurship program, which gives students everything from access to alumni mentors in the professional world to funding to develop their own products or services.
One Duke alumna who mentored Horn taught her important business foundations like how to purchase bar codes and the best ways to approach retail buyers to get into stores.
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Like many of the 6,600 undergraduates who attend the private university in Durham, Horn has high academic and professional ambitions and has taken advantage of some of the wide range of opportunities available to Duke students. “Everyone has big dreams here,” and that can be “really inspiring,” says Jennifer Alspach, a 2017 earth and ocean sciences graduate from Yuma, Arizona.
Alspach, who is going on to pursue a Ph.D. in atmospheric science at the University of Alaska–Fairbanks, spent a summer volunteering on a wetland conservation project along the Colorado River and completed an independent study about Arctic sea ice and cloud interactions.
Duke is one of the most selective universities in country, with only about 11 percent of freshman applicants earning a spot for the class of 2020. The university offers some 49 majors as well as several dozen minors and certificate programs.
Most undergraduates study in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, which has a traditional liberal arts curriculum. Students can also enroll in the Pratt School of Engineering, which has bachelor’s degree programs in biomedical, civil, environmental, mechanical, and electrical and computer engineering. Undergrads enjoy generally small classes thanks to the 6-1 student-faculty ratio.
[Explore the top-ranked engineering programs for undergraduates.]
Duke’s 8,470-acre campus is filled with Gothic-style buildings, including the prominent Duke Chapel and stately Perkins Library.
Academics are rigorous and the atmosphere can be intense, students say, but the university has a number of resources and support systems to help. For instance, a new wellness center on campus offers a one-stop shop for student health needs, including mental health counseling, sexual health education and meditation, among other services.
About 85 percent of undergrads come from outside North Carolina, and about 10 percent are international students. Roughly half of Duke’s class of 2020 are minority students, and nearly 1 in 10 are the first in their families to go to college.
Horn, last year’s president of the Black Student Alliance, says that Duke does a pretty good job of enrolling a diverse population by working with minority- and advocacy-focused student organizations to recruit and support undergrads through campus events and cultural centers.
Students must live on campus for at least three years. About a third of undergrads participate in Greek life. When they aren’t hanging out together on campus, many students explore the lively Durham community. They can check out theater performances at the Durham Performing Arts Center or seek an internship at one of the many businesses located in nearby Research Triangle Park, a hub for science, health and tech.
Duke’s undergrads turn out in droves to support their Division I teams. That support reaches a fever pitch for men’s basketball when the five-time NCAA champion Blue Devils make their annual run at the Final Four.
During a visit last winter, hundreds of students had been camping outside for several weeks in front of Cameron Indoor Stadium, the school’s basketball venue in Krzyzewskiville — named after famed men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski — for a chance at prime tickets to an upcoming game against Duke’s perennial nearby rival, the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill.
More From the North Carolina College Road Trip:
— University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill
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This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Colleges 2018” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.
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North Carolina College Road Trip: Duke University originally appeared on usnews.com
