Warning Duke Graduate Housing

[Tobias]

Dear fellow international Graduate Students,

if you are moving to Durham, DO NOT consider living in the graduate-housing-apartments. A lot of the apartments have not been renovated in years, which resulted in severe hygiene-violations of the kitchens and cancer-causing mold in the bathrooms. I have lived there for a year and can only say: WARNING. You will get a "real" place somewhere else, also for much cheaper.

Tobi

[ANDS!]

. . .Or, if possible scope out the place first yourself and seek out opinions from more than one individual who has lived there.

[mtlve]

I think Duke had a very small number of "graduate student housing", but no one lived in them. Most international students lived in housing next to campus. There are some nice new housing units there, but they are expensive. This area of campus is relatively dangerous though (do not walk home alone at night). Most international students tried to get a car and moved it onto campus when parking was free. I recommend trying to get a car and moving away from campus ASAP. There are a lot of decent apartments 10-20min drive from Duke. SW Durham is a good area to look, but I would see the place in person or rely on current students to suggest places. Northern Durham had some decent places too. Every other block in durham tends to be a bad neighborhood, so you have to be careful and use your common sense.

I lived there for a few years, and I did not see anything too bad personally. You just have to be careful there. Living away from campus will decrease the odds of one being a victim of a crime.

[ohgoodness]

I think Duke had a very small number of "graduate student housing", but no one lived in them. Most international students lived in housing next to campus. There are some nice new housing units there, but they are expensive. This area of campus is relatively dangerous though (do not walk home alone at night). Most international students tried to get a car and moved it onto campus when parking was free. I recommend trying to get a car and moving away from campus ASAP. There are a lot of decent apartments 10-20min drive from Duke. SW Durham is a good area to look, but I would see the place in person or rely on current students to suggest places. Northern Durham had some decent places too. Every other block in durham tends to be a bad neighborhood, so you have to be careful and use your common sense.

I lived there for a few years, and I did not see anything too bad personally. You just have to be careful there. Living away from campus will decrease the odds of one being a victim of a crime.

 

What does bad neighborhood in this context mean?  Durham is a different place than Chapel Hill but I've heard a number of people saying that it is awesome and safe if you like the working class traditions. 

 

I am sorry for asking this but graduate students tend to be a select population and a bad neighborhood can have so many different meanings depending on what one is used to.   For example -  I lived in Saskatoon, SK, and was told by "Canadians" (i.e. non first nations) that I should stay away from the west side since it was dangerous etc etc etc. The real reason was that these were either poor (proper working class) neighborhoods which often had high concentrations of First Nations populations.   I tend to tell people moving to Stockholm, or anywhere else that I've lived, that there are places where it would be unwise to walk home alone after dark but I usually just say this without any real knowledge of it. Hearsay goes along way. 

[mtlve]

What does bad neighborhood in this context mean?  Durham is a different place than Chapel Hill but I've heard a number of people saying that it is awesome and safe if you like the working class traditions. 

 

I am sorry for asking this but graduate students tend to be a select population and a bad neighborhood can have so many different meanings depending on what one is used to.   For example -  I lived in Saskatoon, SK, and was told by "Canadians" (i.e. non first nations) that I should stay away from the west side since it was dangerous etc etc etc. The real reason was that these were either poor (proper working class) neighborhoods which often had high concentrations of First Nations populations.   I tend to tell people moving to Stockholm, or anywhere else that I've lived, that there are places where it would be unwise to walk home alone after dark but I usually just say this without any real knowledge of it. Hearsay goes along way. 

Duke and Durham historically have bad relations. Durham was mainly a Tobacco manufacturing city and was a fairly poor area. Duke is a rich kids school. This is claimed to be the reason behind the crime. Some people in the community will come by and target people in the Duke area. We probably heard about 2-5 armed robbery reports in this area/month. Most of the time it was people doing stuff that common sense suggests one should avoid (e.g like walking home alone at 2am in a bad area. There were even some drive by shootings at the hospital. There have been strings of more crime: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/2332198/

If you use common sense, then Durham really is not too bad. It helps if you live in more safe area. I lived there for several years and I did not see anything myself. I used common sense and moved my car to center of campus before it was dark and tried to not walk in areas that I should not after dark. You do have to be careful in that city in general. If you make a wrong turn, you can end up in very bad looking areas. You just need to use common sense and treat Durham like you would any large city (even though it is only a medium sized city)

Durham and Chapel Hill are close to each other, but Chapel Hill is a safe area. I had friends there and they were always scared to come to Durham. Durham has a bad reputation. Chapel Hill is college town, and people love that area. Most of the students there live in neighboring areas like Cary. They have a better public transit system I believe. If I remember right, parking was bad at UNC, so people like to use public transit there. It has been awhile since I interviewed at UNC, so I could be wrong about parking there. UNC is one of the best public schools in the US, so it would be a good place to get a degree from. Raleigh is not too bad either.

In general this whole area is a pretty nice area to live. They have small, medium and large cities. You can live in the type of place that you prefer to live, and go visit the other types when you want. Raleigh and Durham sprawl and do not have the big city feel (e.g. a downtown, skyscrapers, etc). There are a lot of 2 lane roads surrounded by trees and an occasional business or home. Durham at least has a lot of parks and trails for people to use. You are also two hours from the NC coast (good beaches) and three hours from Asheville and mountains.

Edited February 5, 2013 by mtlve

[ohgoodness]

Thanks.  I see your point and feel like you are describing any city/neighborhood/township that is not a guarded haven for certain demographics. I am not sure why you did link to a story from 2008 tho? 

 

Appreciate the update! 

[mtlve]

On 2/5/2013 at 9:08 AM, ohgoodness said:

Thanks.  I see your point and feel like you are describing any city/neighborhood/township that is not a guarded haven for certain demographics. I am not sure why you did link to a story from 2008 tho? 

 

Appreciate the update! 

The article described a larger wave that happened next to campus around the time I was there. It resulted in a Duke graduate student being murdered in the apartments next to campus. The suspect ~1 month later murdered the student body president at UNC and made national news (much more rare to hear about this stuff in Chapel Hill). This was a more famous crime wave a few years, but crime is a regular problem in that same area where international students live.

I have also lived in a city that is near the top 10 for murder rates, so I am used to big cities with lots of crime. I would not call Durham an average US city in regards to crime. I am in a city now that is probably over 10x the size of Durham, and I have heard about fewer major crimes here in a year than I did in a typical month in Durham. I would not dismiss it as an average city in regards to crime. However, it is not something to stress about like many people do there. If you are cautious it is probably fine. There are definitely schools in more dangerous areas (Hopkins medical campus, WashU, etc)

Anyways, enough of this tangent...

[epsilon]

^^ Just FYI, 3 chapel hill students have died so far this academic year. It's safe, but really no place with more wealthy kids who get too drunk is safe enough... Durham does have more crime than Chapel Hill, but I would imagine the reason you hear about less crime now in the city you are is precisely because it is a big city. Durham is a smaller community, hence you hear more about whats going on.

Edited March 4, 2013 by epsilon