Ask a Carolina Grad

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
1

<p>Hi Tar Heels and Tar Heel Hopefuls,</p>

<p>This is one of the first times I've logged in in many moons. I didn't realize that I had received several PMs asking what I was up to and what life is like after college. Sorry for the delay! I've dusted off some cobwebs and wanted to make myself available to questions.</p>

<p>A bit of background: I came from in state as a Carolina Scholar and graduated last spring. I'm currently deferring for a year before heading out to California for law school. Meanwhile, I'm self employed as an academic consultant (who saw that one coming?) and serve as a college counselor and life coach to highly at-risk young women in Florida. I live both in Florida and Chapel Hill. Enjoying the best of both worlds. :-)</p>

<p>As for my time at Carolina, I spent a lot of time doing a series of random wonderful things outside of class. I was an Admissions Ambassador for four years and was also very involved with the music scene at Carolina.</p>

<p>Anyway, whether you're a first year or a parent, feel free to ask away. Obviously I am just one person and so my experience is exactly that... only my own. But I'm happy to share the goings on of my graduating class and reminisce. And of course, if you ever need more personal questions answered, shoot me a PM. At this point I'll just give you my email address. I'm also often in the Chapel Hill area, so if anyone wants a tour from a geezer like me I am happy to oblige. Though I haven't walked around campus much at all since I graduated! Just being near it on Franklin makes my heart ache.</p>

2

<p>I’m going to be the one guy who asks you the most obvious question: how hard is it to get into UNC-CH if your an instate student? I have a partial r</p>

3

<p>It’s very difficult to determine without knowing what your ACT/SAT score is. Also, it’s hard to know how much those AP courses matter without knowing how many your school offers. If your school offers 6 APs and you take them all, then that’s great. If your school offers 20 and you take 4, that’ll hurt you.</p>

<p>It’s hard to evaluate that 3.6 unweighted (weighted doesn’t matter) without knowing exactly what the rundown was. If you had all As and then two Cs, for instance, that would be much worse than a few Bs.</p>

<p>Anyway, it seems to me that your GPA is pretty good, your ECs are not very good (“trying” to start a club doesn’t mean anything to me, and being a member of throw away clubs is something that everyone and their brother can do. Perhaps you’ve done more as a club member than most people. If so, that needs to be clear), and you haven’t taken any standardized tests. There’s really no way for me to tell you how you would do without that information.</p>

<p>Good luck. If you have any further questions let me know and I’ll answer them on your own thread.</p>

4

<p>Thanks for the response. Our school offers around 14 AP’s but a lot of them are senior only (eg. AP Physics, AP English, AP Gov) and I’m taking all of them next year, to where I’ll have taken 10 AP classes approx. I’m taking the ACT Tuesday, so that might help some with the tests. The clubs mentioned are basically the only clubs at my school (I go to a fairly new public school, so clubs have yet to be founded). How would it look if I did these three things: Actually start that debate team mentioned, got a law internship, and did college classes at either UNC or Wake Tech for dual enrollment (Most likely wake tech because UNC is 45 minutes away.) Thank you again :)</p>

<p>Edit: I also might be getting into the Boys State Program.</p>

5

<p>How difficult is it to transfer to unc chapel hill having completed my freshman and sophomore year at penn state with a 3.7 gpa and involvement in many clubs. My major is business finance</p>

6

<p>I’m an incoming freshman considering the PWAD major. Would you happen to know anything about it?</p>

7

<p>Since it won’t let me edit my post, I’ve never gotten a C in my life.</p>

8

<p>BUgebs - that’s really hard for me to say, but it sounds like you’re doing well and are active. If you were a freshman, I’d say your high school grades still mattered a great deal. But, with a 3.6, I’d say you have a decent shot. Again, I’m not qualified to really speak to transfer admissions, but I wouldn’t feel like you’re out of the running at all.</p>

9

<p>One of my best friends was a PWAD major. It’s an excellent major in my mind if you’re interested in the courses it offers, and it seems to pair well with many other majors, as well. It’s not too intensive course-load wise. One thing to note is that many PWAD majors are much like Ron Swanson from “Parks and Rec” - I mean that in the best way possible. There are many military/ROTC people involved, which I think is really neat. If you want more information feel free to PM me and I can give you my friend’s information.</p>

10

<p>My sons biggest problem is making a choice between a higher rated private school and Carolina.
Did you know any science majors? Wondering how they felt about their education and opportunies compared to what they might have had at a private school.</p>

11

<p>I have a couple of questions.

  1. What major do you recommend to take if i want to go on to medical school? please don’t tell me whatever i like. everybody tells me that. please tell me what some medical grads took as a major and minor. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>how much more does it cost to live in granville than south campus, including unlimited food plan for both? </p></li>
<li><p>what is the korean community like over there?</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Please answer these questions with a lot of descriptions and details because I’m really curious and anxious.
Thanks alot.</p>

12

<p>Helpfulmommy:</p>

<p>It really depends on the private school’s financial aid package as well as which private school you’re talking about. For undergrad ITE your number one concern should be debt upon graduation. Carolina offers an outstanding education at a great price. I graduated with my BS and know many, many science majors. For Bio and Chem majors, Carolina is extremely difficult, but it seems like it’s been rewarding to my friends graduating with those majors. I’ve had several friends go off to med school, and others start working in labs. In my mind, the most important part of Carolina’s education for science undergrads is the opportunity for lab work. It’s all over the place. If you’re comparing it to a small teaching college then that certainly won’t be an option. If your son is considering med school then I would highly recommend against taking on debt at his undergrad institution. Med schools care about a lot of things, but undergrad prestige really is not one of them. Same goes for law school. Other grad school programs might be different, but really I don’t think so. If you’re comparing Carolina and another T30 school, Carolina will give you just as much of a bump as anywhere else. Maybe Ivies would be more helpful, but not really.</p>

<p>ndrwum - I can certainly tell you’re anxious. I’ll give you as much detail as I have time for, but I’m running off to work!</p>

<ol>
<li> The people who are telling you “whatever you like” aren’t doing it because it’s the easy response. Welcome to a world where there is no set path. I understand it’s hard to wrap your mind around that, but I knew too many people who majored in Chemistry because it was the “pre-med” major, and then were rejected from med school for a number of reasons… and then I had friends who had majored in Psychology, minored in music, and went on to great schools.</li>
</ol>

<p>The reason people say this is because 1. they’re right and 2. you shouldn’t major in something just because it’s what you’re supposed to do. You won’t perform as well as the people who enjoy it and you’re frankly wasting your life living it for someone else’s expectations which frankly don’t even exist.</p>

<p>Anyway, the standard pre-med majors are Chemistry and Biology. I loved the Bio course I took; I placed out of my chem requirements so can’t speak to that. Having just looked up some of my friends who are at UNC, Wake, and UVA for med school, it looks like they were all Chemistry majors with random minors except for one, who was a Nutrition major. So there you go, my gunnery friend! Buckle up and get ready for some titrations. I will warn you, though, that med schools are not big fans of people coming straight out of undergrad, and the people I know who were accepted to medical school straight out were all heavily involved with service in the community.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I have no idea. I’m not a fan of Granville, though I understand its temptations. Better to get yourself on North Campus where you’ll encounter more diversity, in my mind. Also, don’t get the unlimited food plan. No one in the history of the unlimited food plan has ever used it. Get 100 meals. Even if you use all of yours, you will have many friends with 80 extra meals near the end of the semester eager to swipe you in. As a senior during finals, I used to walk over to Lenoir and wait for about 30 seconds before asking a first year to swipe me in. They always happily obliged! And yes, I know that the math doesn’t work! You would think I am so, so wrong, and that I must have starved myself… trust me, I did not! Of all the advice I give, this is the most sound: you will never use all of the unlimited food plan.</p></li>
<li><p>The Asian community in general is so vibrant. As you probably know coming from NC, this state has a big Korean population and it’s definitely present at Carolina. There are plenty of clubs related to various Asian interests. I do wish the Asian Studies department had more Korean activity, though it certainly had its fair share. I was a Chinese major so I’m not totally in the know about how the language department is for Korean, but one of my best friends is Korean and she was really active. If you’re religious as well I know that there is a huge group of Korean Presbyterians who go to church together and are really involved with each other. That same group goes out a lot and has a lot of fun.</p></li>
</ol>

13

<p>ndrwum are you Korean or Korean-American? That might make a difference.</p>

<p>cloying I know we’ve had our differences, but it’s very nice of you to make this thread.</p>

14

<p>keepittoyourself - ideological differences don’t bother me! I’m only peeved at trolls and silly out of state elitism at this point. I think forum readers don’t understand that what they read on here is not representative simply because there are probably only 10 current students who actually post, so the sample size is just all off… so I always make an effort to try and represent the general experience as best I can. I’m okay with people playing the devil’s advocate, though sometimes forum readers don’t really realize that that’s what’s happening. Anyway, hope your senior year is shaping up well. My only advice is to do senior bar golf. :-)</p>

15

<p>Regard to my EC’s being weak or so, those are, to be frank, the only clubs my school offers. It’s a fairly new, yet run down, school. I got nominated to go to Governors School, but ultimately did not get in. I’m also trying to get into Boys State, since I know the President of the program. Will Boys State, along with my background, help me with my chances?</p>

16

<p>UNCTilDeath:</p>

<p>I understand. The high school I went to originally had three clubs when I got there. But, with that, there’s a lot of opportunity for leadership. Carolina might keep that in mind, but limited experience in clubs is just that… doesn’t matter if your school has three or thirty.</p>

<p>Boy’s State sounds great. Don’t worry about Governor’s School. Just try to spend your time in a meaningful way to you.</p>

17

<p>Hi! I was accepted through Early Action, and I really wanted to know your opinions on dorms.</p>

<p>I’ve heard about Granville Towers; what do you think about those?
And which dorms would you recommend and not recommend?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

18

<p>I wouldn’t recommend living in Granville Towers. You have a meal plan that’s separate from on-campus housing, and you’re basically sequestered from other freshman on campus. I’m a sophomore living there now, and I don’t like it at all; I lived in Hinton James freshman year, and I felt much more connected. </p>

<p>Keep in mind that Granville Towers is private, so their marketing is misleading and intended to make it seem like an awesome place. The only plus is that you can have a car :P</p>

19

<p>Hi Colombiana,</p>

<p>Congrats on your acceptance!!</p>

<p>Granville Towers… it seems like people’s experience there is very hit or miss. My take on it was always that it was way too Greek/way too party for me. The location is awesome, that’s pretty hard to argue with, though you’ll be even farther from your South Campus buddies than you would be if you lived up on North. But, you can have a car, and you can have a single.</p>

<p>If you don’t want to live on South and you’re excited at having a roommate and want to have a stereotypical Carolina experience, go for North. I loooved living in the Kenan community. At no point did I ever feel like I was missing out on the freshman experience. Kenan, Cobb, and North Campus Upper Quad (is that the one with Old West? Crap I’ve forgotten if it’s upper or lower…) are the best.</p>

<p>On the other side of things… many of my friends who lived in Ehaus and Craige would not have traded their experiences for anything. I think HJ is probably the worst down there because it is the farthest. The people who complained the most had to hike it up from HJ. Granted, there isn’t a big difference at all, but HJ did seem to be the dingiest. </p>

<p>All of this is to say that you’re not really going to go wrong. If you live up North you’ll have bigger rooms and be closer to classes. That’s what I preferred. If you live down South, you can walk out on the balcony and watch people playing basketball at three in the morning. They’re both great options. Hope this helps, and feel free to ask more question if you have them.</p>

20

<p>Can you find out if there will be invites sent out to a second scholarship day in late March for those accepted in RD? If so, do we know when those will be issued?</p>