After his graduation from Whittier in 1934, Nixon received a full scholarship to attend Duke University School of Law. The school was new and sought to attract top students by offering scholarships. It paid high salaries to its professors, many of whom had national or international reputations. The number of scholarships was greatly reduced for second- and third-year students, forcing recipients into intense competition.
Nixon not only kept his scholarship but was elected president of the Duke Bar Association, inducted into the Order of the Coif, and graduated third in his class in June 1937.
Source: Wikipedia
My uncle was VERY smart (dirt poor to owning a large chain of banks in Florida) and he said Nixon was much smarter than he was. He was in that clique with Bebe Rebozo that vacationed with Nixon in Key Biscayne.