The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

I feel a need to say that I am from North Carolina, Charlotte to be exact, but coming to Chapel Hell was like stepping into a different world. A world of superficiality and unadulterated racial tension. The racial tension is not outward, no, not in the South...but it comes in waves. I am African-American and the way that I am looked at (anywhere from genuine curiosity to pure contempt) to the way that I am spoken to (it seems as though a sizeable number of the White students at UNC have never dealt with African-Americans or anyone who did not look/act/think just like them...I just want to spoken to like a person and approaching me with slang and street hand gestures is NOT impressive) to the way that I am often treated (as if I, and every other African-American at this school got in solely because of race) is really getting to my head. I have never felt so disheveled in my life...so out of place. And it's not that I don't think that I can cut it...it's becoming that I don't want to. I don't want to be a part of this plastic world of sugar-coating and condescension. I literally find it impossible to get up everyday because the walk from my dorm to class is like a walk over a mile of hot coals. The distance isn't bad, the hill from South Campus isn't even that bad, but the awkward looks and the way the people always seem very careful in how they treat me...I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE.

Academics here are...I honestly don't know how to describe them. The professors here, if you ever actually get a professor, are half-decent but many of them are condescending to their students and many of them don't really seem to know what they are talking about. The TAs are even worse about talking out of the side of their necks...but they speak so definitively about the subject matter until you ask them a question and that whole facade of knowledge crumbles. The Public Policy Analysis program feels completely disjointed and the intro course, the course in which you learn to put together a true Policy Memo, is ridiculous...the professor also teaches the Capstone course for the major so (somewhat understandably) that is where most of her attention lies. She is able to tell you that your memo is wrong but she can never really tell you what's wrong with it and/or how to fix it. Several other students and myself concluded that as she stopped returning first drafts she must have just stopped reading them. But don't get me wrong about her...I feel as though she was one of the few professors that I had that actually knew what she was talking about but the lack of attention at such a critical point in the Policy Analysis major is ludicrous.

Social Life here...I almost died from laughing at the person who said that all people do here is drink and smoke weed BECAUSE ITS TRUE. The partying made my second semester here fun because the first semester all I could do was sit in my dorm and lament my college choice. But by the end of my third semester I was partying every weekend, sometimes starting Wednesday or Thursday, and I have just recently come to the conclusion that there HAS to be more to life than this.

The town...I HATE CHAPEL HILL. I think that this town really exemplifies what the University stands for. Superficial notions of progressiveness while not doing anything too extreme to disturb the rather high average income of Chapel Hill. The naming of a building after Nelson Mandela and a gathering of socialites (mostly from Chapel Hill) to drink expensive wine and eat cute little finger foods while feeling a sense of accomplishment.

In short, I want to transfer to a University where people are alive. I swear everyone here is overly concerned with grades and future career ambitions and that's fine, but take a little time out to question and live and experience. Everyone here seems so complacent, even the activists who seem like most of what they do is purely for show. AND why are so many activists wearing shemaghs when they know absolutely nothing about the history or cultural significance of them.

I understand that I can not speak for everyone hear because most of my friends LOVE it hear...but this place is just not for me.

AND I MUST NOTE THAT RACIAL DIVERSITY DOES NOT ALWAYS ENTAIL IDEOLOGICAL OR ECONOMIC DIVERSITY. It doesn't matter that there are many races present on campus when so many of them seem so eager to please the majority. Be sure you are choosing this school, AND ANY SCHOOL FOR THAT MATTER, for the right reasons. This school is WAY OVERHYPED and the madness has got to stop.

1st Year Male -- Class 2010

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Individual Value: F

I would like to focus in this comment on telling you guys about the people working for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Not professors or TAs (I was generally satisfied with them with a few exceptions), not students and the surrounding environment (those were quite controversial as well).

Since I am an international student, several times I had to ask for guidance on issues such as employment search, work visas, etc.

The Career Services at UNC are a joke. Career counselors never helped me with anything. Most of the time they were inaccessible to me, and whenever I had a chance to schedule an hour long appointment with them by about two-three weeks in advance, they could not answer my questions and finished with me earlier, not to mention their condescending tone and complete lack of empathy and interest in their job. Whenever I had a questions that had to do with my employment search, people working there just did not know the answer, and these were not super complicated questions that a qualified career services specialist must know, especially at a university that always brags about being so high quality! For example, I asked about my prospects of finding a job sponsored by a work visa in the US. They had to call another office, the office of international students and scholars, where counselors did not know the answer either because it had to do with jobs, a specialty of university career services. I was left without an answer at the end.

One time at the ACADEMIC ADVISOR COULD NOT SPELL WORDS CORRECTLY on a form that I asked her to fill out. The words like "practitioner" and "field." I am an international student, and I know English much better than her!

Another time I called the international students office and asked for one of their employee's advice, and she spoke with such a condescending tone I thought she's going to say that I should just go home to whatever country I came from. She was absolutely unable to help me with my question, she was obviously just trying to get rid of me as soon as possible, like she had better things to do.

For the $38,000 a year that an international student pays to go here - this plays isn't worth it. The service is horrible, the food is nasty, the students are incredibly stupid and close-minded, and the surrounding town is boring and pathetic.

The professors and some TAs are the only good thing about this university. If you really like studying and getting as much as you can from that, you'll be okay. The bottom line though: reconsider going to UNC. You will waste those precious 4 years of your life. Especially if you're an international student.

3rd Year Female -- Class 2012

Campus Aesthetics: A, Surrounding City: F

As a recent graduate of UNC, I'd like to advise everyone not to go to this school. It is a waste of your time and money. As other reviewers have correctly stated, the faculty at UNC are far more interested in their research than teaching -- many seem to regard interaction with undergraduates as a form of punishment. The faculty DO avoid you like the plague -- and what good are office hours if the professor doesn't bother to show up or acts like your presence is a major annoyance? If you go to UNC, be prepared for huge lecture classes (even upper-level ones; as a senior, I still had classes with over 200 people), faculty who don't care about you, an administration that spews propaganda, a ridiculous bureaucracy and a totally lackluster experience. Yes, as someone else said, college shouldn't be about having your hand held. But it also shouldn't be about being treated like dirt by professors who would rather burn American flags than teach.

4th Year Male -- Class 2003

Campus Aesthetics: A-, Education Quality: F