The tour started with the center point of the West campus, the Duke Chapel. There were weddings going on there all day so we didn't go inside, but it was very similar to Princeton's chapel in size and design. In fact, most of the West campus seemed to be patterned after Princeton. Duke began as a Methodist University but gave up its religious affiliation long ago. One legacy in its charter, though, is that if the University erects a building that exceeds the Chapel in height, the University's endowment will be forfeited.
In the middle of all the Gothic, even inside it and adjoining it, is some soaring contemporary, like this new cafe tucked off the main reading room of the main library.
Princeton? Duke? Yale? Hard to tell. The East campus, which was not shown on the tour, was not nearly as nicely done...in fact, one could say that the freshman class is kind of dumped over there to live in secondary buildings until they move up and are allowed to join the upperclassmen, for living quarters at least.
We've seen a mixed bag of old and new classrooms throughout the trip, but none more modern than this lecture hall which was completely wired for students with computers including electrical outlet pop-ups in the tables.
The quads were quiet and beautiful.
And the upperclass dorms were arranged in enclosed quads, almost like residential colleges except that the frats and sororities inhabit the dorms as well; there are no separate frat houses.
The athletic facilities are adjacent to campus, including Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the Dooookies play basketball.
Josh was very happy standing on the court. Even took a virtual free throw from the line.
Our tour guide said that Duke was rated second overall for student food options, and we saw some signs of that like this smoothie and coffee bar. Maybe because it was a Saturday in summer, but our food options at the student center were limited to McDonald's; unfortunately the Armadillo was closed.
Also adjacent to campus are the stunningly beautiful Sarah Duke Gardens, which features large lawns to sunbathe on, ringed by formal gardens. There's also Duke Forest, a huge preserve with biking and running trails. Good deal.
We finished up back at Admissions, which was worth a picture itself.
The University of North Carolina was 30 minutes away in Chapel Hill. They didn't offer tours on Saturday, but we went anyway to get a t-shirt from Michael Jordan-land and to at least take a quick look around. Stopped at the bookstore and got a map while we bought the shirt, then went off on foot for a few quads worth of buildings. The Bell Tower is a focal point, sitting between the classrooms buildings and the athletic facilities.
The architecture was mostly undistinguished red-brick Georgian, looked like from the early 20th century...almost as if a series of elementary school buildings were arranged around each other. There were some nice surprises, though, like the original Library...
...and a few nicely weathered brick buildings.
The drinking fountain at the bottom of one of the main quads is featured in just about every piece of promotional material the University publishes.
This part of campus was very nice. And just in case you forget you're in the South, there's a memorial to the soldiers who fell for the Confederacy...the inscription remarks on the Great War of 1861-1865...and on the soldier's canteen, the letters C.S.A.
Back at the car a family from Virginia asked us for directions to the Dean Smith Center where North Carolina plays basketball, so we decided to try to take a look too. The doors were locked but we ended up chatting with the family for a few minutes, very interesting. The father was retired Army, with a son at West Point and a daughter who was vacillating between Navy, Air Force, and regular colleges. She was at Duke earlier today like we were...Josh is going to meet all kinds of new people if he ends up at one of these places.
And with that, we were done. Seven campuses on this trip, 1500 miles of driving...it was all quite enough. Came back to the hotel, rested and blogged, going out to dinner soon, then back to pack. Our flight is late morning tomorrow, and we've received our first class upgrades again. Should get lunch on board, but I wouldn't be surprised if we sleep right through it. So now the fun part of the college search is over, all the visiting...and now for the hard part...the evaluating, the essays, and then the decisions. Josh, it's all yours...go for it.
