Details

• United States of America
• MASIMC-17
• Graduate
• WS 2025
• Time spent at the partner university: 4 months

1. Preparation

The application process is pretty straight forward and I wouldn't even want to talk to much about it. I believe it is important to keep it personal, and think about what the first preference (university) means to you, or what you expect! Definitely make sure to use all your 7 options in the ranking, but of course only with schools you would be happy to end up at! In preparation it definitely does help a lot to talk to the ones that have had the pleasure of spending some time at this school! Just reach out to them, usually they are happy to help and also with certainty have the best advise/insights.

2. Accommodation

Most of the prior exchange students from WU stayed at the same place, which is where I got my accommodation from too (again, talk to your predecessors). Since the reports where quite ok and the price definitely is the best you will find, I quickly took the option too which helped to make the process quite comfortable. But also talking to other exchange students, the process at duke/in durham is well structured. I stayed at a private home that is rented by two former duke employees, north of campus. While again, the price was unbeatable and the housing was quite ok, the majority of Fuqua students (both regular and exchange) stay around ninth street or north-east of campus. These regions are also better connected by duke transportation and hence more convenient to reach from campus. Which is why I would probably say, if a little more expensive is doable, I would recommend these areas, and or also reaching out to other exchange students from other schools to partner up. This usually allows for cheaper rent and also makes everyday life a lot easier, as one can share Ubers etc when doing stuff together.

3. Academic life at host university

Duke is an incredible school and comes along with a perfectly equipped campus. You will find everything you need for basically all areas of life (sport, academics, food, etc). The school Gym is massiv, both the fuqua library as well as the duke libraries provide sufficient spots to study and work, the broadhead center offers a great variety of food for affordable prices and the duke transportations covers large areas of Durham for comfortable commute. Courses at Fuqua, and Duke in general, are based on a lot of group work and you will find Discussions happening a lot during class. Which is why I find it very important to get to know your fellow students, otherwise one might end up in a group that leaves a lot of the work for yourself. Generally Professors are very much approachable and I would definitely recommend using these openness. I myself also took the chance of talking to some of my professors after the semester, and they where happy to connect and offered valuable advice both for a master thesis as well as a future career/life.

5. Every day life in the host country

Public Transport is available, but don't expect to much. As in most places in the US the network is limited ans usually used by the less fortunate parts of the population, which can create one or the other uncomfortable situation. Now I used it quite regularly due to my housing location, but I probably wouldn't recommend girls to use it alone in the dark. Otherwise, I would consider Durham to be rather safe and I never encountered any problems. Durham Police as well as Duke police is quite visible and in case of any problems the university and authorities reach out quickly! There is honestly not too much to do in Durham itself. There is one single club everyone goes to on Fridays and Saturdays, but you couldn't compare it to what we are used to in Europe. Otherwise Downtown is growing and there are a few nice places to eat/ grab a drink. But Duke does make up for a lot. Duke Gardens is a wonderful place to relax and the campus itself is beautiful. There are hundreds of clubs both at Fuqua and for all of Duke (you can also get in contact wit the undergrads clubs) which events happening everyday. Also bigger organisations from the university offer regular events and experiences and the offerings concerning sports are massive (no reason to be lazy on the couch ;) ). So I can definitely only recommend to dive into the event space and participate in as much as possible! And something that is worth mentioning separately, use the opportunity to see the sport teams of Duke! Duke Basketball is the best you will find in the US, and the experience at Cameron Indoor Stadium is incredible, but also take the chance to stop by the other sports, like American Football, Football, Volleyball, etc.!

6. Testimonial

My experience at Duke was a once in a lifetime opportunity which I don't want to ever miss. I was lucky to have an incredible group of exchange students that made my stay so much better, that Duke itself can provide and I can only wish for everyone to have the same! The Academics provide a different view into several topics and help to further build ones future profile, I got to meet people from all over the world and learned a lot about different cultures. I got to experience the US, the US college life and a time that I will never forget! Please don't use this statement for marketing material!