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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You pretty much have to create your own satisfaction, if you're not enjoying what you are doing, you will not enjoy what is around you either.
I've said it before, if you want attention, you better seek it out. Join clubs to meet people. There is not animosity among in-state and out-of-state. According to responses on here it seemed that most of the out-of-state students looked down upon the education of in-state students. I had an out-of-state student ask me what I made on a paper in English class after he told me he made a B+, and when I said A, he said that was what he made too, and said a B+ because he didn't want me to feel bad.
Athletics is a huge part of the UNC identity but you don't have to be a fan to take in what the school offers. Go check out a play put on by the drama department, join dance marathon, watch an acapella group.
It is true that most out-of-state students would most likely out perform the in-state students. The out-of-state students that come to UNC are designated the cream of the crop and UNC is very selective as to who they accept in that regard.
There are definitely cliques. I am a minority who happened to socialize mostly with the majority. If you want to have a good life after graduation, start making your connections now. This is one thing that I regret I did not do. Life isn't just about the degree. As one of my professors said, "It's not what you know, or who you know. It's who knows you!" This is true no matter what school you go to. It also helps if you don't spend all of your undergrad just enjoying the moment but also planning out the future and having a direction.
I recommend that any serious student find some way to get into seminar level classes as soon as possible. Either AP out or take some college courses somewhere else. The difference between the upper level courses and large freshman/sophomore courses is vast. I only found the great UNC my junior and senior year. I kept on looking for aid to transfer to University of Chicago (a very serious school) my first two years. I was shocked at the lack of academic intensity. Luckily, I found it when I got into high undergraduate/ graduate classes.
It helps to know what you want to do before you start-remember, you want to get into those upper level classes as soon as possible. Smaller and more expensive private colleges might give you a better search experience if you are undecided. But you have to pay!
Unless you are sure that you are stopping at a BA or BS or you want to be a businessman in North Carolina, don't join a fraternity. Although there are some good students in frats, I found them to be very Southern and somewhat anti-intellectual. Remember, I took a lot of math, statistics, economics, and physics classes and it seemed to me that the frat guys were either not in these classes or were filling out the low end of the curve. On the other hand, the rare smart frat guys I met had impressive resumes.
My guess is that statistically, the frats don't look mediocre since so many people leave. I remember at matriculation-"look to your left, look to your right, one of you will be gone." The frat guys are probably happier and they stay (I wrote my honors thesis on sample selection bias).
Strangely, I didn't find the same thing for sororities, so if you are a serious student and female, go for it.
I taught at the University of Virginia and in comparison I noticed three big differences: 1) the top students were slightly better at UNC while the average student at UVA was better and 2) students crammed much harder at UNC toward to the end of the semester and played more the rest of the time (this may be related to 1) and 3) UNC if far more liberal than UVA.
As an aside, if you are a good crammer either by nature or due to poor habits, you will like it here better than other places. But this also may account for the 1/3 drop-out rate.
People are more modest here. Really. It is part of the fabric. My twin brother went to Duke and it was different, especially if you were poor. The women I met did not care that I came from a broke single mom family and lived in a trailer out near Chapel Hill Airport. My brother (on scholarship) at Duke had a country mouse feeling the whole time he was at Duke.
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