Blog: Student Life at Duke Sanford

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Grace Ryan, MPP:

The cohort leaning on one another has been such an important aspect of my time here. If I was existing in a silo, I would be in the trenches alone, but instead I'm in the trenches with Paige and my fellow cohort members. I think there is a lot of credit to be given to the cohort, but there's also a lot of credit to admissions. They worked really hard trying to set us up for success by giving us whole days to just socialize with one another, and I think we kind of took that and ran with it and really have manifested a very open and collaborative environment. That makes school that much easier when you are free to ask questions, free to be embarrassing, free to make mistakes. That kind of a community is pretty integral to feeling like you belong here at Sanford, and I can 100% say I feel like I belong here.

Vivien La Torre, MIDP:

The MIDP is a small cohort, and we basically are all international students, so we kind of stick together and go through the same things. Especially because we are mid-career students, you can find that there's this huge stop and we’re coming back to study, but Sanford actually makes it easier. Having Dean [Storelli], for example, who is a professor you can go to and ask him a thousand times to read the same paper and give edits. And Mitch [Moste] is always smiling—no matter where you meet him, he's going to be smiling. Sanford will always have your back. The other thing is that there will be faculty members who will always open their doors to just talk. Because moving from another state can be difficult, moving from another country and moving with a whole family—that's a different thing.

Melissa Monge, MIDP:

The community is my favorite part of my experience here. We do little rituals like after econ class, we cross the street and go get free coffee at another building and catch up and just talk about what's worrying us. I feel like there are a lot of people that you start identifying with that you can go talk to or cry to—I've done that a lot. I'm here with my three boys and my husband, so that has also been another level of adjustment, and that community has been a key part of making this experience a reality. Many of my friends have really been there for me.

Paige Allen, MPP:

I came straight from undergrad, which was something I was initially really nervous about—not coming into the program with any full-time work experience. I knew what my tight-knit undergraduate community experience had been like, and I wasn't sure how that would translate in a graduate school landscape, but everyone is extremely welcoming. You’re put into a situation right away in your policy analysis courses—your first year as an MPP student—you will also be working with a group during at least one of the semesters, potentially two, putting together a client report. That’s something that you work on throughout the entire semester, so it's not just a segment or part of the class. It's really integrated into the curriculum as a whole.

In terms of taking some of the other core classes like your economics and statistics course series, a lot of that study time ends up being in a collaborative setting. There are lots of opportunities to connect with second-years who know the ropes and conduct review sessions. There are ample opportunities for office hours, and you often end up doing your assignments for those classes together. I would say overall at Sanford, everyone wants everyone to succeed. We're all kind of each other's champions and cheerleaders in the background, and that's one of the things that I really love about being here.

Samantha Burton, MPP:

I think the collaboration in this program is one of my favorite aspects and something that is just so true to the nature of the program. In particular, what comes to mind are the Quant classes—so statistics and econ. If you do find yourself getting your MPP here, you will certainly have some problem sets to do. Working on those with classmates has been really helpful because it allows everyone to learn from one another in a really beautiful way. That’s also what it's like in the workplace—you’re leaning on your co-workers and you're working together to do things. There's this common area in Sanford and we're all there all the time helping each other out. It’s not just something that you'll hear people say—it really does happen. I think that's a testament to the culture of Sanford. If you're looking for a place that is collaborative, Sanford certainly has that at the core of its being.

Jesse Davis, MPP:

I was about two years removed from undergrad when I came to Sanford, so heading into graduate-level statistics and econ, I was pretty lost a couple of times. I was struggling, so I went to tutoring hours, but I also met up with friends after class to go over the material and hopefully get something from them that I might have missed. That was really beneficial, as was hearing from other members of the cohort about internship opportunities and other ways to be involved at Sanford.

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Vivien La Torre, MIDP:

One of the things that actually helps a lot is that there are classes for everyone. Basically, if you have any interest, you might find it in Sanford, and if you don't find it here, you'll definitely find it at Duke. We can take classes with other faculty and you will get to meet each other in those classes. You start building the community there, and basically all the events apart from classes are for both cohorts, so you get to meet a lot of people from both programs.

Mackenzie Philips:

Through your tuition you get free access to the gyms, and Sanford is right next to the West Campus gym, so it's less than a three-minute walk, which is really great. They have workout classes, and our students are active in intramural leagues. Also, if you're interested in the arts, Duke Arts in the Co-Lab offers free workshops all the time to students that are either no cost or low cost.

Melissa Monge, MPP

Sanford is very well located. It's really close to the gym, it’s really close to CAPS (Counseling and Psychological Services), even the dentist, and an amazing room where you have massage chairs. You can go there and put on essential oils and just relax in between classes like in a little forest that’s really close to Sanford. That’s something I've really taken advantage of.

Grace Ryan, MPP

I come from the Twin Cities, a metro area of around eight million people, so Durham is significantly smaller than what I'm used to. But I do not have a car—I have an e-bike—so the size of Durham, a city of 300,000-plus people, is actually pretty beneficial to me. I can easily bike to Whole Foods or use a grocery app to get groceries delivered, so there are a couple of different options. There are a few state parks around... I would say I move throughout downtown, Ninth Street, campus, Chapel Hill with the cohort. We are all together all the time. We like each other enough to continue to hang out outside of school, and it makes adventuring through Durham, Chapel Hill, and the Triangle really, really fun. There are a couple dive bars and other bars that we like to go to that are Sanford traditions, but we’ll also try out new things. For example, I got invited to go bird watching with a dual degree student and I'm so excited—there's lots to do here.

The tansportation infrastructure is not great; there definitely can be improvements. But if you are trying to find housing, living right next to East Campus or West Campus, the C1 (which goes between East and West Campus—that's where Sanford is) or the Lancaster or Swift buses are going to be your best bet. Duke's website or asking a current student is the best place to start if you’re looking for this information.

Paige Allen, MPP

I really took a leap of faith because I had never been to Durham until orientation week, so I didn't really know what I was getting into, and my first thought was that there are a lot of trees—like a lot more trees than I've ever seen in my life—but I really came to love it. I think it's a beautiful, refreshing change of pace to be here. The people are very “Midwestern friendly” here, I like to say, so that has reminded me of home and that's been really wonderful.

It's definitely better to live closer to campus if you don't have a car. I did not have a car last semester and I do now, but I'm a little bit further out in South Durham. A lot of people, at least within the MPP program, end up living together, so you're able to connect early on and find roommates off of DukeList, a marketplace open to the Duke community—that's how I met my roommate and it was wonderful.

Vivien La Torre, MIDP

Coming from outside the States, it's a bit different. I did get a car because I was really used to having a car back home. I park in the Science Drive Garage where you have to buy a parking ticket for the year. After hours and on Saturdays and Sundays, you can park basically everywhere on Duke’s campus. Most of us have the same schedule or are around the same hours, so you will always find someone who will give you a ride if there's bad weather and you don't have a car, or you can use a scooter if you want. If you live near East Campus, you have almost all supermarkets nearby, and you can bike or walk.

Jesse Davis, MPP

Another option for housing is potentially joining Duke's residence staff as a Resident Assistant in either an East or West Campus residence hall or getting a graduate residence position. Residence Hall staff positions mean you'll have free on-campus housing. These positions also come with food points that can be used on campus.

Samantha Burton, MPP

Grad school is very time-consuming and it is a lot of work. You don't have to be afraid of that, but just knowing that coming in is important. That was a surprising readjustment coming from working a more traditional 9 to 5, but being at Duke has been so much fun. I think for all of the work that we put in and the long days, the proximity to so many amazing, fun sporting events and restaurants and the like in this area just make the fun moments really, really fun—and I think I wasn't anticipating having so much fun being here.