The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Carolina is an incredible institution. Academically, professors will challenge you and expect you to spend time learning the material outside of class. This is not a campus where you will be spoon feed the material - your lectures will be different than the readings which will be supplemental. Many will view the social seen as elitist or greek dominated - that is only if you allow it. There is a group for everyone at Carolina and by senior year all of the campus seems to know everyone. You have to step outside of your comfort shell and get involved. In-state students seem to have an advantage from Charlotte and Raleigh since they know so many coming in; however, they often can let this hinder them by only ever getting to know the same people. Loved my experience and will recommend it to everyone.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

I was looking up reviews of different schools on here and I noticed that there were some overwhelmingly negative comments posted. I decided to look up UNC Chapel Hill since I graduated from the school, just out of curiosity. I noticed that many of the negative reviews posted refer to specific universities in comparison to Carolina (the REAL Carolina BTW), talk about racial tension on campus, and refer to the school as a waste of money because professors are arrogant and so are the students.

First of all, as an African American male, UNC is one of the most liberal places you could hope for, and in no way is there unspoken racial tension to the degree that other reviewers are stating. Secondly, the professors and students are NOT arrogant, but are rather proud to be part of an institution with so much history and Prestige. I now live in South Florida where there are plenty of strong schools such as UF, FSU, UCF, USF, Miami, etc., and when I mention that I attended UNC people always comment on how great of a school it is. If that doesn't tell you something, then I don't know how else to explain to you that the University is top quality.

My major was Psychology, I completed my MS in Mental Health Counseling, and I am now pursuing a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Any person I have come into contact with professionally and academically has been impressed by my background, and especially that I graduated from UNC. It is a difficult school to perform well academically because the courses are challenging and large class sizes do make it difficult for those who need individual attention. However, if you are that type of student, then you should attend a smaller school or choose to NOT take the 300 person lecture class at 8AM and take smaller classes. Those of us who have a UNC-Chapel HIll diploma on the wall will tell you that it is an amazing university with state of the art technology, excellent campus living, and if we could go back, we would in a heartbeat.

With that being said, this review is not from a "fake" student, my name is in the bell tower with all of my classmates. If you are a fan of another university, write a positive review about your school and stop posting false statements about this one. And Duke, although it is a wonderful school, still holds it's position as the thing I hate most lol. Rah Rah Carolina!Gzaz

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

The reason I decided to review the University of North Carolina on this website is because it seems that only the very few people who had a bad time at Carolina voice their opinions and subsequently misrepresent this amazing institution. I applied to and was accepted to the University of Virgina, Wake Forest University, and Northwestern, and given the opportunity to decide where to go again, I would never waste the money to go to any of the other universities; not to say they aren't great schools. In a nutshell, the academic experience I've encountered at UNC is the hardest I've faced in my life. Not only do you have a large array of classes to choose from and majors to pursue, but each class, with the exception of a few, is extremely diffucult. Teachers do not hand out A's and students are forced to perform well from their first semester to be able to compete for acceptance into the various nationally-renowned undergraduate schools (i.e Business, Public Health, Journalism). For those reviewers who complained about being just another student, I am not really sure how or where they requested administrative help, but I have never had a problem with contacting who I need to or being pointed in the right direction. I've been able to have phone conversations with the Deans of certain schools/departments, arranged by an informal email. For those of you worried about rankings and reputations, the reality of such publictions is that rankings are never accurate as they are not specific to the individual; one's experience is subjective, personal. UNC-Chapel Hill is and has been considered one of the top 5 public institutions in the nation. Kiplinger's rated Carolina as the #1 educational value in the nation two years running and people include UNC in the category referred to as the "Public Ivies." One of the few reasons why public schools like UVA are 'ranked' higher than UNC is because we still only accept around 18% of all out-of-state applicants, whereas Virginia accepts around 35%. Our professional and graduate schools are amongst the highest ranked in the nation (i.e. the School of Medicine in #5 in primary care). I cannot say more about the quality of this university. The school's appeal does not end at its academic prowless. From sports to Greek life to student-run organizations, there is no limit to the things one can do here. The school provides an extensive selection of intramurel sports at all competitive levels, movie showings, music performances, and anything else you could imagine. There are over 20 IFC fraternities, 8 Pan-hellenic sororites, several historically African-American fraternities, and countless other themed greek organizations. The proximity of the town of Chapel Hill is another characteristic that most other schools do not share. Famed Franklin Street provides a convenient break from campus and also offers a large selection of restuarants and activities. And though they rant and rave about how great their school is, Duke students can be found in Chapel Hill almost any day of the week. From August to May, there is always a sports team to watch and attending abasketball game in the Dean Dome is an experience like no other. Finally, being such a liberal town in a conservative state offers many different viewpoints on current politics. I could go on forever about how great UNC is, but ultimately, one's college experience is what they make of it. I have been nothing but thrilled with my career at Chapel Hill so far and its unfortunate that other reviewers did not. The University of North Carolina deserves to be considered (and has proven to me to be) one of the best schools in the nation.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2006

Education Quality: A+, Individual Value: B+