Skip to content

First Year Students

Registration

Step 2: First-Year Questions

phone: 919-660-5996 | email: pratt-advising@duke.edu | pratt.duke.edu/undergrad/students/first-year

Next, you will respond to several questions that ask you to reflect on your academic and personal interests and goals. Your responses will allow your academic dean and 360 Coach (faculty advisor) to begin learning about what is important to you. Answer the questions thoughtfully, but don’t worry about writing to impress. 

Select First Year Questionnaire under the Academics section to access the questions. The First-Year Questions must be completed prior to your registration date. First-Year questions will be available in Duke Hub beginning Monday, June 5, 2023. 

Once you complete the questions, the hold will be removed from your record, and you will not be able to edit your responses. If you are unable to view the First-Year questions, please contact the Registrar’s Office at registrar@duke.edu. Any questions pertaining to the content of the questionnaire should be directed to pratt-advising@duke.edu. 

Helpful Hints:

Please limit your responses to 250 words or less. Save each page when you are finished. Remember that if you don’t perform any action in DukeHub for 20 minutes you will be logged out and will lose any unsaved work. You may find it helpful to write your responses in a text editor and paste them into DukeHub when you are finished. 

Below is a list of programs of study available to you as an engineering undergraduate at Duke. Please indicate at least three, and up to five areas in which you are most interested and then explain why. For instance, your interests might have developed as the result of high school courses, jobs, volunteer experiences, family background or travel. By completing this step, you are not committing to a major; you may identify many new interests at Duke and pursue a course of study quite different from what you are choosing here. If you are uncertain about your intended major, you may select “Undecided- Engineering.” For more information, visit: 

Majors
Biomedical (BME)bme.duke.edu/undergrad/curriculum
Civil (CE)cee.duke.edu/undergrad/bse-ce-degree-planning
Electrical & Computer (ECE)ece.duke.edu/undergrad/bse-degree-planning
Environmental (EnvE)cee.duke.edu/undergrad/bse-enve-degree-planning
Mechanical (ME)mems.duke.edu/undergrad/bse-degree-planning
Undecidedpratt.duke.edu/undergrad/students/first-year

Your goals may range from establishing a sound foundation in engineering to exploring additional areas in the liberal arts. You might want to develop a better knowledge of the people and cultures of the world or be interested in service learning, arts performance, research or entrepreneurship. 

You may wish to mention expertise or an experience, such as summer research, living and studying abroad or an athletic endeavor. You may discuss special skills such as foreign languages, photography or music. Or, you may note strengths in areas such as writing, problem-solving, leadership, communication or teaching. 

Understanding your challenges is as important as understanding your strengths. For instance, you may feel confident about your analytical skills, but not about your writing abilities. Or, you may think that you are good at reading and writing, but worry about time management or study skills. 

If you were to do what your heart desired, what might you choose to do or become? 

You can share any language background that you have here. Is English your native language? Have you formally studied a language other than English? Is there any other information you would like to share about your language experience? 

Pratt students are NOT REQUIRED to satisfy a foreign language requirement. However, if you wish to continue in a foreign language or explore a new language, those courses can count toward your engineering degree requirements. 

You are encouraged to take advantage of the rich array of languages available at Duke that you might not have had the opportunity to study in your high school. You may, of course, also continue studying a language you studied in high school, or a language you have been exposed to in your home or during an extended stay in a foreign country. 

  • I plan to take courses in engineering and also pursue a career in engineering 
  • I am undecided and keeping my options open 
  • I plan to take courses and also pursue a career in the arts and humanities (e.g., music, English, art, art history, drama) 
  • I plan to take courses and also pursue a career in the quantitative or natural sciences (e.g., math, biology, chemistry) 
  • I plan to take courses and also pursue a career in the social sciences (e.g., public policy, political science, psychology, or sociology) 
  • I plan to pursue a career in education 
  • I plan to pursue a career in business and/or finance 
  • I plan to pursue a career in law 
  • I plan to pursue a career in a health profession (e.g., medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, etc.) 
  • Other