Meet our Mentors | Hunter’s journey to Duke

We interviewed one of our many incredible Mentors, Hunter, who graduated from Duke in 2021. Read on to see how Hunter navigated college applications and four years at Duke!

Hunter, thanks for sitting down with us. Let’s start with the basics. Can you share where you went to college, when you graduated, and what you studied?

I went to Duke University and graduated in 2021. My degree says I studied public policy, but I also studied economics and engineering. I had what I think is a very common experience for college, which is I went in thinking I’d study one thing and came out with something completely different.

I want to flash back to junior and senior year of high school and your application process. Did you apply anywhere early, whether that’s Early Action (EA), Restrictive Early Action (REA), Early Decision (ED), or something else?

No early decisions. I really didn’t want to make a commitment to any school at the time. I did apply Restrictive Early Action to MIT, but wound up getting deferred.

And then over the course of the whole application process, early and regular, where else did you wind up applying?

In addition to MIT, I applied to a collection of UCs: Berkeley, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and UCLA. I also applied to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Harvey Mudd, Stanford. Then I applied to University of Minnesota, Carnegie Mellon, U Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and, of course, Duke.

I’m from California, so there are a lot of California schools in there. And then I was applying thinking I’d be a biomedical engineer, so I was looking for great biomedical engineering schools elsewhere.

Did you apply to any specific university scholarship programs?

I didn’t apply to any specific scholarship things. Looking back, I just didn’t know about those. That’s something I wish I’d known about. I did apply to a few Honors Programs. But definitely didn’t have the right education on scholarship programs.\

At Duke, there’s something called the Robertson Scholars Program. I didn’t know that program. Pretty much all of the students I knew who were in the Robertson Scholars Program were from North Carolina. I didn’t even know about it until I met my first Robertson Scholar.

So you ultimately got into a bunch of schools. How’d you decide on Duke?

It really came down to the way the campus felt. When I applied, I hadn’t yet visited the majority of the schools I applied to. After I got into a few schools, I went on a bunch of tours. Ultimately, none of them captured my excitement and interest the way Duke did.

Would you suggest that people visit after, instead of before, getting in?

I did visit a few California schools before getting in. I think if you’re having a hard time deciding to apply, then it can help to visit. But visiting schools that I’d actually gotten into made it so much easier to make a decision.

I’d say visit some schools that are easy to visit to get yourself excited about applying and to get a sense of college in general. But the visits are much more impactful after. One thing people think is there’s an advantage to visiting before because it might help you with your application. But hey, I hadn’t visited Duke and got in! In fact, if I had been adamant on visiting each school before I applied, I wouldn’t have visited Duke, so I wouldn’t have applied!

What was the best thing about Duke?

For Duke specifically, it felt like there was a very strong sense of community identity and school spirit. It really feels like, when you interact with people who went to Duke, there’s really a sense of common experience. It was the only campus I visited where everyone was in the gear of the college. People are proud of the basketball team, people are proud of the academics. And definitely the experience is enhanced by the excitement around basketball.

There’s a real togetherness and pride to be where you are.

And how about your least favorite things about Duke?

This is something that felt like a big deal as a Freshman and Sophomore, but then wound up no big deal by Junior and Senior year.

So, Duke has two different kinds of selective living groups. One set are traditional Greek-life. The other set are non-Greek-life selective living groups. Most of the “rushing” happens Freshman spring.

This can be really exciting for some people and a major part of campus life. For others, especially if you don’t want to be a part of them or don’t wind up getting into one of these, since they are selective, it can feel like campus gets a little split. Again, this is especially prevalent Freshman and Sophomore year.

It’s just something to be aware of.

What have you heard since graduating that you’ve realized are unique things about Duke?

I’m not sure how unique this is, but I have definitely felt the strength of the alumni network after graduating.

As an example, my first job post-grad, there was one other Duke grad in a pretty large office. He was quite senior. He wound up reaching out to me when I started, I wound up working quite closely with him, and we were both genuinely excited about that connection. It does really feel like Duke alums want to help out other Duke alums.

Moving on to more general college reflections, what do you think you’ve learned about college since you graduated?

The single biggest thing I’ve learned is where you went to college matters the least. It is so much more important to embrace the opportunities where you are.

It’s true that having some school names on a resume might help you get a first interview or something like that. But it’s become so obviously clear to me that what actually matters is who you become and how you navigate the world after you graduate.

Any regrets about your college application process, decision-making process, or how you approached college? What’s that one thing you always tell high schoolers about college?

My biggest regret was going into college committed with a specific path for my future. I applied to schools based on the major I thought I wanted to do. All of my classes my first year were classes for that major. I didn’t give myself the space to explore new classes, new majors, new ideas early in college.

I wound up getting there by Junior and Senior year. But I definitely missed out on opportunities early in college.

Finally, what made you decide to be a Cohort Mentor?

For me, I went through the college process, and so much of it I had to figure out for myself. There’s so much I learned in that process and even after. I look back and think if someone had just told me a few of those things, I would’ve gone into college with different expectations, and in a very good way. Selfishly, I want to help students like me get into college and have the best possible time. Cohort is about getting into school, sure, but I view it much more as about helping students really succeed.

It’s simple to apply to school and get into school. It’s a complicated process, yes. But it’s really about finding the steps and following steps. The real challenge is making the most of the process and the most of what comes after.

Thank you, Hunter. It’s been great learning about your journey at Duke. Thanks for your time