TIP

TIP is Duke University's Talent Identification Program, giving nerds the times of their lives since 1980. Middle and high schoolers from around the southeast of the United States are selected to take the SAT/ACT, and according to their scores they are invited to attend a summer studies class. On occasion, there have been TIPsters not from the American South. Like all great things in the world, it began as an experiment. Rumour has it that there is still an experiment in TIP known as the control group.

But really, TIP is much more than that. TIP is where you learn lessons you'll actually use, where you be who you want to be without worrying about what other people think, where you meet friends that you'll have for a lifetime. TIPsters understand each other, and friendships formed at TIP transcend the superficiality of most relationships and become the strongest bonds in the world. Not only are they the closest friendships a person can make, but the people you meet at TIP will probably be the future leaders of the free world. A wise TIPster once called the Fortune 500 List "the TIP yearbook."

It is often known lovingly as 'nerd camp', due to the way students are admitted and their overall personalities.

TIPsters are extraordinarily good at keeping in touch, keeping MySpaces, Xangas and Livejournals to inform one another of their antics as well as sending mass emails that actually have subjects.

Additionally, there is a large network of TIP groups on Facebook.

Recently, tipsters have been keeping up with each other through social media platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, iMessage, and mass group messages through the app known as GroupMe. The most popular Instagram account for tipsters is @tipsters_for_life, run by the amazing Louanne Hood and co-managed by Abby Hollmann and Wright Coffman

Though it is impossible to articulate love for TiP, here are some good tries:

TIP is where you learn to say "I love you" and really mean it. There is no place on earth like it, and it should be at least 49 weeks longer.

Basically... Well, TiP is Magic.

"TIP is like Jesus. Whenever two or more TIPsters are gathered, TIP is there!"-Maria Cox

"The privileges of a lifetime, is going to TIP..."

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth... he also created geniuses, later known to mankind as TIPsters."- Naomi A

"Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened"-Charlie Hutto (Edit: as much as Charlie knows and says everything, this is a quotation from Dr. Seuss... Don't steal Seuss' words mister..)

"If life was an ice cream sandwich, TiP would be the ice cream sandwich"-Clayton Delp

"The purpose of our lives is to be happy... at TIP."

"TiP is life. TiP is love. TiP is ECSTASY" <3

"God/ Divine being of your choice/ mysterious being/ whatever concept you believe in loves TIPsters the most. TIP is the new Eden and god/ " " put the only people on earth who deserve it there."

"Shoelaces may fade but friendships last forever"

"Once a TIPster, always a TIPster."

"Where there are neon lanyards, you can find a home"

"A year is 49 weeks of waiting for 3 weeks of TIP"

"Tip is the kind of program that you can meet a fellow tipster that didint go to the same campus or take the same classes and stil sit down and have a conversations about the traditons and experiences"

" I left my home to live with strangers, I left my family to go home."

"TIP is like a big plate of beef brisket; you have to share it with everyone."

"If life gives you lemons, go to Tip." -Conrad

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard" -A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

"I'm home, but maybe it's not home, SWEET, home. Maybe that's at TIP." -William Gordon, Rick Astley

"TIP is love, TIP is life."