Five Questions with … Caroline Duke ’17

Caroline Duke ’17 loves to crunch numbers.

As a mathematics and statistics major interested in data analysis, her future career will inevitably be dotted with decimal points.

The number that mattered to her most before coming to Carleton? Two.

“I played two sports — volleyball and softball — throughout high school, and I wanted to do both in college,” Duke says. “That’s one of the big things that made Carleton so attractive. It had the academics, but I also could keep playing sports.”

Whether lifting weights in the morning, practicing in the afternoon, or traveling to games throughout the week, playing varsity sports requires discipline and structure. Embracing that finely-tuned schedule — even if it keeps her at the library, playing catch-up, most nights — has given her college experience added purpose, Duke says.

“There’s always a concern that sports is going to be so time consuming that it’ll affect your academics. But I’ve found that athletics and academics actually feed off each other,” she says. “You grow in both areas at the same time, and because of the way your life is scheduled, it keeps you focused on what you need to do.”

• Caroline Duke ’17, Evanston, Illinois
• Major: Mathematics and statistics
• Campus involvement: Varsity volleyball and softball, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), Title IX Visioning Team, Green Dot Committee
• Favorite spot at Carleton: “I love to fish in Lyman Lakes. There’s also a path from the Rec Center to the townhouses that I call the ‘introvert path.’ It’s very quiet, not a lot of people. It’s just you and the plants.”
• Fun fact: Caroline has interned with UnitedHealth Group (Minneapolis) and Health Data and Management Solutions (Chicago).

1. How does playing sports influence your Carleton routine?

“Athletes and non-athletes are actually pretty similar here. Everyone that I’ve talked to chose Carleton for its academics first, so we’re the same in that area. For students who aren’t on athletics teams, they have other interests outside the classroom that keep them busy. The time crunch is probably similar. Everyone has to have their thing.

“It also depends on when sports are in-season. I’m back on campus a month early for volleyball, which is cool because it’s just the fall sports teams, and then international students will arrive. So we get to hang out and have some time for fun before school even starts. It was really nice to have that as a freshman, to experience living on my own for awhile before everyone else arrived.”

2. What challenges you at Carleton?

“Definitely academics. Ten weeks is so short, but you learn so much. I knew Carls were going to be smart, and I knew it would be tough, but I was still surprised at how difficult and time consuming academic life would be. But it’s always thought provoking. I don’t have a lot of busy work. I never finish something and say, ‘Oh, that was clearly not worth it.’”

3. How has the liberal arts model fit with your academic interests?

“It took some time to get used to classes during my freshman and sophomore years, classes that I didn’t initially feel as passionate about. Now I’m taking the classes I love—statistics, economics, psychology. I definitely feel a difference. But now I look back on some of the classes that I questioned—perhaps thought, ‘Wait, why am I taking this?’—and I’m thankful for the liberal arts experience. I can come at problems from so many different angles now. I feel much more prepared to see the bigger picture and how everything fits together.”

4. What has surprised you at Carleton?

“Everyone here is so driven. We work incredibly hard on academics. So it still surprises me to know that people have time for other passions. That’s one of my favorite things at Carleton. You can meet someone in the classroom and see one side of them, then you’ll experience this whole other side away from the classroom. That drive is there in both ways. It really makes the campus experience incredibly diverse.

“I’m always amazed by the professors here, as well. They’re so brilliant, yet they’re just wearing jeans and a T-shirt. That’s a fun surprise, to know that they’re so smart yet so modest. It makes you feel more comfortable.”

5. What advice would you give to someone who is considering Carleton?

“Spend some time getting to know yourself before the college search. No one is going to know exactly what school is the absolute right fit. It’s always going to be your best guess. So you have to know a few things in advance. Ask yourself: ‘Who am I? Who do I want to be? What do I value? Do I talk a lot in class? Do I want to talk a lot with my professors? Do I want to roll into a big lecture hall and listen? Do I want a wide range of skills and narrow them later in life? Do I want to get into the workforce right away with very specific training?’ Because it’s all fine. But be honest about what you want and be intentional with your decision.”