The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Unc needs to grow up--rather than spewing propaganda and trying to convince
people that they're a good university, they should work on actually BEING a
good university. most of the faculty avoid students like the plague and seem to
have little interest in teaching. sure it's cheap to go here, but remember--youget what you pay for...

1st Year Male -- Class 2006

Surrounding City: D, Education Quality: F

I graduated from UNC three years ago -- and I really wish I hadn't gone there. I can't speak for other departments, but my experience in the History department was absolutely dreadful. In general, the professors there aren't interested in undergraduate students. Most of the classes are huge impersonal lecture halls. I was a senior before I had a class under 50 people. When I did try to talk to professors, they were by and large extremely rude and condescending. It was such a disheartening experience that I considered transferring several times. The school is a vast machine with a huge bureaucracy that is maddening to navigate. UNC exists for professors -- it is a place for them to publish, to get tenure, to hold conferences, etc. UNC does not exist for its students. It is a horrendous place at which to be an undergraduate it you want a high-quality, personal education. Maybe things have changed since I went there, but I doubt it. It has probably gotten worse.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

UNC is okay for a large public university, I suppose. But I cannot recommend it to anyone. Undergraduates simply do not get enough personal attention: classes are way too huge, teaching assistants do way too much teaching, and too many classes just reflect the professors' arcane and sometimes bizarre research interests. The school's main priorities are producing PhDs and cranking out books and journal articles. Undergraduate education is a very distant third -- when it's even considered at all. Also, the school seems to be determined to become the Berkeley of the East, and ideas which do not toe the leftist line are stifled. Professors just assume that everyone shares their radical worldview. If you want a good graduate education, UNC may well be the place to go. But going here as an undergrad is simply a bad idea -- don't buy all the hype about this place! Go to a small school that focuses on undergraduates, and actually learn something!

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000