The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
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The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill - Comments and Student Experiences | |||||||||||||||||||
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There is great music and culture, good times, and lots of smart people. There are lots of distractions and things not related to higher learning per se. There are great teachers and terrible ones focused on their research.
The program I started in, chemistry, was a zoo full of pre-meds who wanted the grades over all else. Switching to the earth sciences was great because the department was much smaller and full of wonderful teachers and students.
There were lots of bad grad student teachers. That hasn't changed. There are lots of fun people and a vibrant life outside of class. It takes a very focused student to do well and graduate on time.
It wouldn't hurt to plan to take a year off in the middle of your student career and just live around the town. this holds true at UNC as well as some of the other great lifestyle schools like Colorado-Boulder, UVM, Texas, U of Colorado and many others. One woman I knew was 28 and still an undergrad. She had a steady job at Tijuana Fats (a great Mexican restaurant now long-gone), and she just picked-and-chose classes that really interested her.
She wasn't the only one doing that....
If you want pure education, this is only one of many things that UNC offers. There are definitely other schools that would be better. Pick a crappy town with long gray winters, or a crucible of super learning.
But my wife went to Harvard and she has lots of regrets regarding the social life there, so it goes both ways.
One thing to consider: UNC has long semesters (or at least it did back in the late 70's). I found it hard to stay focused on classes that lasted 17 weeks. If you do too, think about a school with shorter terms, such as a quarter or trimester system, or Colorado College with its one-class at a time style.
I took a few classes at Duke and NC State (intermural scheduling was available then, but I'm not sure if it still is). Duke was exceptional, but then I cherry-picked really well-reviewed classes and teachers.
If you are open to developing your own curriculum, you can follow the best teachers at UNC and get an amazing open-minded education. Some of my best (and smartest) friends did that and they were very happy and inspired their entire four (or five) years.
If you're locked into a particular program such as journalism or chemistry, you may end up feeling like a body in the great digestive system of state-run higher education. That is probably true at any big college/university.
If you're a very serious academic, consider going to a school that really focuses on what you love most and is small enough to give you the saturation you want.UNC was a great, great experience for me, and an amazing value at the time. I would gladly have passed on the foreign-language and disrespectful grad student teachers in the big classes (like organic chemistry, calculus and English), but what great memories!
The thing I like the most is the school pride. Everyone who goes to UNC loves it here, and bleeds Carolina blue. We are incredible at almost every sport, and the student support shows greatly. Football and basketball season at Carolina are amazing, especially basketball. Football games always bring Saturday tailgates. Carolina basketball has so much tradition and is one of the most storied programs in college basketball. Basketball games are incredible and March Madness is always epic. With all this going for us, it is easy to see why there is something so special about this school and why everyone is proud to be a TarHeel.
Academically, I cannot speak for the liberal arts because they are not my interests. However, the science and math departments have been tremendous. Professors are very easily accessible and with the exception of a few bad ones, they have all been amazing. Carolina's reputation in these fields has helped me so much with employers and I've managed to secure great internships the last two summers almost solely because of our reputation. You will have to work and sometimes it can be frustrating, but that comes with studying any science or math-based discipline.Academics, sports, social life, student pride, and a great campus. Carolina has it all. Few schools parallel the overall college experience that UNC can provide. Do the right thing. Become a TarHeel and join the family! I feel bad for you if you don't.
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