Did anyone attend the admitted student day on March 3? We are planning to attend tomorrow and are wondering what to expect. Unfortunately, it appears that it will be cold and rainy! Thanks!
@Cargo54
How was it? We are planning to attend on April 15th. Like the school, but torn on if the Computer Science Program at UNC is the best option for DS.
We attended on March 24th. We were totally underwhelmed. I have been to a few of these with my older son, and this was hands down the worst. There was no presentation that tied the whole thing together. The panel (Poly Sci, Public Policy and Economics) was not well prepared (the Econ Prof was by far the best). No specific information was provided, just a lot of “aren’t we great” type of comments. I asked very specific questions about academic advising and the students were more helpful than the faculty. We had a horrible tour guide who didn’t answer a single question, with any actual information, and wouldn’t have spoken for most of the tour if I had not asked a dozen questions. She tried to take us into one building, but it was locked, so she gave up. We had to jump on a tour with another guide and go on a second tour. We gave up around 2 and left. Loved Chapel Hill itself though. And I’m sure the actual academics are great. We just really never got a sense of the school as a whole because it was so disjointed.
I would give the event 3 of 5 stars. Our tour was the best part of the day for us. The tours had been trimmed down from the typical 90 minutes to 50 minutes so we didn’t enter any buildings. But, our tour guide was bright, engaging, personable, and sincere. She gave everyone her email and left the impression that she would gladly respond to questions. The psychology academic session was good. There was a pretty cool video (although much of the student content was from graduate not undergraduate students), a presentation by a psychology faculty member and Q and A with undergrad students. My only negative from that session was a pretty competitive vibe that didn’t sit well with my daughter. The academic and club fairs in the student union would have been good except that there were far too many people for the space making conversation nearly impossible. I’m sure one section must have violated the fire code and made my family, with our strong sense of personal space, uncomfortable. The housing session was the weakest. The housing director had difficulty answering even the simplest questions directly. And the three-student panel was all male – my daughter was not impressed with that. The study abroad session was quite good. The study abroad director was well versed in her job and the students did a very good job describing their experiences. Negatives – they badly needed a mike and the study abroad process seemed a bit lean on one-on-one support when on the UNC campus doing the planning pieces. A number of folks we spoke to at the event and afterwards have a similar view. UNC is so popular and almost universally acclaimed that they just don’t have to try that hard at these events. I had hoped that my daughter would love it or hate it. Unfortunately, it was “pretty good” so she’s still sweating her final decision.
@Cargo54 Please do not let admitted student day make your decision of UNC. I will tell you when my family toured UNC as a prospective school my son did not get a good vibe. So we went back for another visit. We are instate so that was easy for us. On the second visit he got a totally different vibe. I will tell you UNC is amazing. The faculty cares, administration is wonderful and your daughter will absolutely love her experience there. My son is a Junior and my daughter has an application to transfer there in the fall. We still waiting on those decisions. Good luck to your daughter, I am sure she will pick the right decision for her.
As a current student deciding, I’ll admit this event really turned me off. Knowing how renowned UNC is, I was really discouraged by this admitted students day and felt as if it was a waste of a whole flight and hotel room to travel to Chapel Hill. I was seated in an auditorium for an about 5 minute video to just see students saying welcome then had to walk out in the cold to another location a few blocks away. At the Public Health session, similar to another poster’s comment, I felt there was a deep competitive “sink or swim” atmosphere in the Gillings School of Public Health. They mentioned how some students who chose a particular track that we’re interested in medicine had to take summer courses and how they heavily pushed students to take “parallel paths” in case they couldn’t get into the Public Health Program. Didn’t get a sense of support and advising in this program and am honestly now reconsidering my major and pre-professional track. After, I attended the study abroad session which was pretty nice, especially hearing from the students who had gone. After that it essentially went downhill for me. The “model room” was a cramped space where no one entertained my questions. The academic and club fairs were FLOODED with people at every turn and I could not even gauge the full spectrum of clubs and organizations present. My tour was also underwhelming and quite rushed with no buildings visited. I got a good scholarship to attend here, but I didn’t get that “vibe” that this was my future home and did not get that feeling that a student should have that “this is the place to be.” Am seriously looking into other offers. Although they may be more expensive, maybe it would’ve been different. I’m still planning on reaching out to current students to see if I can get a different perspective; however, needless to say I was not impressed and rather detracted by the admitted students day.
@Pastpower and @Cargo54 It is nice to hear that our experience wasn’t unique. We didn’t get the intense competition feel at the info session, but we did hear it a lot in terms of overall opportunities. So, for example, when a question came up about internships, we heard that 5 or 6 students received an internship. Given the size of the Program, that was pretty discouraging. Perhaps real facts differ and the speakers were being too casual, but it left a bad impression. Our tour guide said she wasn’t going to cover housing because it would covered at the open house in the dorm. But as others have noted, there was no information at the single open room unless you were able to corner one of the students, which we weren’t. The student union was crazy busy, and we got the impression that all services would be like that. My older son attend University of South Carolina Columbia so I have seen how a large school can put on a presentation, and still make you feel like you are part of a small community.
I am glad that we made the drive. It certainly made choices easier.
Looking back, I also was not impressed with admitted students day. I was impressed with the scholarship day (which I believe is no longer done).
If you have unanswered questions, I would email the school directly. I have almost always gotten an answer or a referral to the right person to ask. They have always tried to be helpful. Really surprised me given the size of the school.
You can also post question here. There are always a few students who try to answer question. There are also a few parents.
Well…I’m not expecting much from April 15th, after reading how Saturday went. We went on a general tour & information session (for computer science) last Spring & though my son liked the feel of the school (loves older architecture) we were left with very little information about Computer science and why their program would be better than going elsewhere…came away with the thought of it’s Chapel Hill, of course you want to go here…but no real evidence of why. We’re still planning to attend on the 15th, before making a final decision.
We’re headed on the 15th, as well, and not expecting much. The info tour we attended last spring was nothing short of a disaster- Right after the NCAA win, they seemed to be trying hard to make themselves seem like THE party school, no idea why! But students have a very different story to tell, on how great and challenging the courses are. Just assume it’ll be bad, I guess.