<p>People not having heard of UNC in MA reminds me of people here not having heard of Pomona or Stanford. Do you know how many people have never heard of Pomona, CMC, colleges like that, here? Tons and tons. But Pomona is known in California as one of its best colleges.</p>
<p>UNC has a great reputation with employers and grad schools - look at all the outstanding scholarships we're awarded (Rhodes, Purdue, etc). I'll try and find the website a little later. So in terms of prestige absorbed high school friends who aren't aware that there are options outside of the Ivies, sure, maybe they haven't heard of UNC, but trust me, around they country they know full well who we are. Aside from that, once you're here, obviously prestige isn't even discussed, why would we? We just enjoy the fact that we're here.</p>
<p>Eadad's post may have sounded pretty biased but it's nothing I haven't heard a million times from people here who had visited UVA countless times and turned it down. But I'm sure that there are plenty of kids at UVA who turned UNC down and have whatever reasons they have.</p>
<p>People who matter know UNC. As Cloying said UNC has a great reputation with employers and grad schools. Two UNC students will be studying at Cambridge on Churchill Scholarships. UNC is a great school, and even if it doesn't have the same recognition as Harvard, you won't be lacking in opportunity if you go to UNC.</p>
<p>eadad: you sound angry. funny that you should mention that about UVA, whereas the UVA students on the board, ALL OF THEM, say that the pretentiousness is WAY overplayed. Are you a UVA alum, or are you just making estimations based on youtube clips?</p>
<p>UVA has more diversity, that's for sure. Taking 80% from one small state.....wow.</p>
<p>UNC is probably more laid-back, perhaps friendlier. UVA has a nicer campus and more renowned reputation. Either way YOU make YOUR experience.</p>
<p>I definitely felt the pretentious vibe when I visited UVA. It was the only school I visited (and keep in mind that I looked at many private schools like Vandy and Duke) that I really felt that people were unwelcoming and snobby.</p>
<p>But then again, I know a girl that goes there who is one of the most chill people I know and she loves it, so whatever.</p>
<p>I am not angry at all....and have no basis for being angry at/about UVA. In fact I have always thought that UVA especially the Lawn area was one of the prettiest campuses that I have ever seen.</p>
<p>I know plenty of people (friends of both my kids) who attend both schools and actually based my comments on comments made to me by the people who attend UVA....their words/thoughts, not mine.</p>
<p>The comments I made about admission in the late 60s and 70s is based on first hand knowledge of two close friends who between them were admitted to Yale, Stanford, Harvard and Columbia and both were rejected by UVA. We were all OOS. One was Italian Catholic with a VERY Italian surname and the other Jewish. Both were told years later that when going through the process with their own kids that the state of UVA admissions at that time for an OOS student with their last names made their chances next to impossible. I wasn't either of them...one was a HS classmate and the other attended another HS and was a friend of my best friend so the comments have no built-in venom I assure you.</p>
<p>Those of you who have followed my posts for the last four plus years should by now know that I hold no animosity to anyone or any school and only try to cut through much of the rhetoric and hyperbole that often appears here especially when many people on this site are so Ivy and private obsessed.</p>
<p>Lastly, my point about perceived prestige simply was meant to convey that your friends don't have to be happy with your decision, YOU do. As I said earlier, those who truly count like grad and professional schools know what a tough admit UNC is for an OOS student and also know that for anyone OOS who attends UNC probably had other "more elite" choices and decided that UNC was their best fit/option. Nothing more....nothing less.</p>
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As I said earlier, those who truly count like grad and professional schools know what a tough admit UNC is for an OOS student and also know that for anyone OOS who attends UNC probably had other "more elite" choices and decided that UNC was their best fit/option.
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<p>I suspect that graduate and professional schools are a whole lot more concerned with a students record at UNC than with the fact that the student was admitted in the first place, whether IS or OOS.</p>
<p>Since we are in the midst of professional school applications and interviews, I can tell you at each school, one or more of the interviewers (faculty members and administration) has made mention of UNC's tough undergrad admissions for an OOS students and many have asked where else he had been accepted somewhere in their discussion of his undergrad record/experience etc. To be fair it may be because of his Morehead status (which they ALL also recognized) but he said that in all cases being OOS at UNC was something they all recognized as being an attribute or brought added value to his resume.</p>
<p>Good info. I was accepted at UNC and just rejected at UVA as an OOS at both. I thought it would be tougher to get into UNC. Glad to hear all the pros on UNC.</p>
<p>I'm OOS from Illinois. Still haven't decided yet - I have a few more schools left to hear from - but right now, UNC is definitely high on my list. </p>
<p>I had similar concerns about the social scene, but reading the messages on this thread has helped assuage them. And, besides, you make your own happiness :) I think we'll all be okay if we show up and look friendly.</p>
<p>haha this thread is great... the only reason I looked at it was becuase I was wondering what OOS meant.... but as it turns out I happen to be deciding between UNC and UVA right now (OOS at both of them)!</p>
<p>I know a lot of people at UVA and they all love it, their main issue is that classes are sometimes very large and impersonal (particularly for the first couple of years). Does UNC have the same problem?</p>
<p>The issue of class size has been addressed in several other threads with different experiences being illustrated by those posting.</p>
<p>You can have large lecture recitations in some intro classes but that will happen at Ivy league schools as well. Depending on your majors, by the end of sophomore year at the latest you should not have any more big classes</p>
<p>My S is now a senior, entered UNC with 43 AP credits and when I asked him this question last week he told me that in all four years he has had a total of three large classes each with between 100 and 300 in them. He has not had one since sophomore year. In the last two years his classes have been as small as 5 to 7 students but mainly between 10 and 15 students.</p>
<p>I have said this here before but you can make UNC what you want it to be; you may have to work a little to do it but if you want small classes and relationships with professors you can have it. Alternately, if you want bigger classes and the anonymity that comes with that you can have that too. The beauty of a mid sized public university like UVA and UNC is that they have expansive and diverse offerings that can challenge and provide opportunities for anyone, yet they are also far more intimate than the really big publics.</p>
<p>Yes UNC has large classes but coming in with AP credit or SAT credit does help...because you skip a lot of the intro classes...but most state universities will have this issue. They do meet one day a week in recitation in a small class setting with T.A.'s . Mostly introductory classes tend to be big. Impersonal, not so much. The professors are very approachable and have office hours. Even in the biggest classes my D's have said that the professors are interesting and approachable. For any class though particularly the intro classes, there may be some small classes available in off times (not in middle of the day) so keep an eye on it.</p>
<p>Accepted at UNC (with full ride), UGA (full ride), Univ. of Alabama (full ride)Rice (half tuition), Mercer (full tuition), Vanderbilt, and Davidson. After considering them all, I've decided UNC is the place for me. GO HEELS!</p>
<p>I applied to UNC EA and received the OOS Carolina Scholarship. UGA, Mercer, and UA were also EA acceptances. Vanderbilt I heard from today, Davidson last Saturday, and Rice last week. I didn't qualify for financial aid (parents are older and have retirement savings that knocked us out), so I'm glad to get all of the academic scholarships. I wish I could go to at least three of these schools simultaneously! But after a couple of visits to UNC, and after looking at the programs and travel opportunities, it felt more of a fit for me than any of the others, even though they are all terrific schools.</p>
<p>swoopes2 -- Carolina Scholars for Out-of-Staters is full tuition, fees, room and board for four years. UNC also lets you stack National Merit on top of that, so that takes care of books as well.</p>