Hey everybody! I actually posted something similar to this back in May when I was just finishing up the application process, but I have been in college for a couple months now and I thought I would post again to see if anyone has any questions. So ask me anything about the college application process and I’ll try to answer to the best of my ability!
Just some things about me… I am currently an OOS freshman at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill on a full private scholarship. I was an IB student, so I can answer any questions about IB exams, IB credit, etc. That being said, I also took TONS of AP classes, so I can help with that as well. I applied to 16 colleges in total and I was accepted into 9, waitlisted at 5, and rejected from 2. I also applied for many scholarships (though fewer than the number of colleges I applied to), so I can try to help with questions about that as well.
Let me know what questions you have!
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Anyone is free to ask or answer questions in this thread.
@bksoccer7 I am in the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program (RSLP) which is a full 4 year scholarship program for UNC and Duke students. I am currently undecided on my major. I am definitely pre-med, but I going back and forth between Biology, Psychology, Chemistry, and Health Policy and Management (through the Gillings School of Public Health, which I would have to apply for separately next year). And I absolutely LOVE the environment here. Everyone is so nice and it really feels like a second home. I definitely made the right choice and I would highly recommend applying here to everyone.
I am planning to apply but I’m kinda worried about the political environment there. I come from a very liberal family and am a Democrat. I am also a Muslim. With everything going on right now I’m just curious if UNC students (and Duke students too since they can be considered in the same bubble, right?) think like citizens of NC.
Thank you!!
@dt8050: I think it is fair to say that, as with any large public university, the student body at UNC-CH is going to be generally representative of the population in the State of North Carolina. This means that the students will reflect the broad spectrum of the citizens of North Carolina. I don’t think that the student body is monolithic in political viewpoints. If you are a Muslim and a liberal Democrat, you will find your group there. By the same token, if you were an evangelical Christian and a conservative Republican, you would also find your group there.
I don’t think I would compare the Duke student body with UNC-CH’s. For one thing, you are going to get a lot more OOS students at Duke – it is about 85% out-of-state students compared to UNC having about 85% in-state students, according to College Board’s information. There are a great many of the Duke OOS students who come from the northeast and California; whether you can extrapolate that to inform you about the political environment at Duke, I will leave that to you.
I think that, overall, I would characterize UNC-CH and Chapel Hill/Carrboro as tolerant communities, although you will find outliers of all sorts – just as you would anywhere.
My daughter is an OOS Democrat from a very blue state. She is also a religious minority. The UNC campus and surrounding area is pretty liberal. That being said, you will find a spectrum of political viewpoints. I would describe the area as embracing.
As the other responders have stated, UNC is very tolerant, which is one of the many things I love about this campus. There are groups to join for just about everything. I am also a religious minority and I have found a group here that I can meet with. I have friends from all different religious, ethnic, and racial backgrounds and I love how people just come together here. I would say that UNC is pretty liberal, but there are many conservative students here as well. I know that most schools that you are applying to right now say that every student will find their place, but I can personally vouch for UNC and say that you WILL find your place. I have not personally experienced the atmosphere at Duke, but I do have many friends there as my scholarship is for Duke and UNC students and from what I hear, students there are slightly more conservative, but it still appears to be a very tolerant community. I just love UNC because of how homey it always feels and how family-like the community becomes. If that’s something that you are looking for in a college, I would highly recommend applying to UNC.
What’s it like for the 15% of kids who are not from North Carolina? My kid is looking at lots of schools and this is the only one with such a large in-state population (even larger than our own state university)…are people around on the weekends? Do most people arrive on campus already knowing many people?
Some OOS students (the population is 18% and last year it was 19%) adjust quickly while others may take awhile. Being a state school, it may appear to an OOS student as though everybody knows one another. In reality, you will find kids from the same HS who may hang out together because they know one another- once they meet other students those groups often disperse a bit. Some OOS students are intimidated by groups of kids from the same HS while others are not anxious at all and jump right in.
Yes there are a lot people around on the weekends. It is not a commuter school. You will find some students going home if there is a three day weekend, but there are still many who do not go home. Remember- some parts of NC are 7 hours away. You will find students from all over the state. You will also find students from all over the country as well as from other countries. This will sound strange but for a state school with an 18% OOS population ( 25% including transfer students), the school feels pretty diverse.
@dt8050, @SouthernHope and others, I just wanted to address a couple of points, anecdotally if nothing else. My daughter is from rural NC and there were about seven students from her HS class to attend UNC-CH. She knew maybe 25 people in total at UNC-CH out of 18K undergrads. Other than a friend she has known since pre-school, she rarely saw the rest of the group from our hometown. The bonds that were formed in her first year dorm were the ones that followed her throughout her time at Carolina. In that group were kids from all over the country.
North Carolina has seen a large influx of people from out of state into urban areas for career opportunities. Therefore there are many students who are technically “in state” but who have migrated from other areas of the country (and world). Of my daughter’s friend group, about half of the “North Carolinians” have either moved here recently or are first generation to the state. The overall feel of the student body seems to be much larger than the state.
UNC-CH is certainly more diverse than most all of the other UNC member institutions. Chapel Hill is generally more liberal leaning and accepting/tolerant than almost any other place in the state. As mentioned above, there are plenty of folks from all socioeconomic, religious and political backgrounds so there is a place for everyone.
My best advice is to visit and get feel for Chapel Hill and the other places you are considering. You will find the place you are most comfortable with.
@SouthernHope As I previously stated, I am OOS, so I can definitely speak to your question. I’m still a first-semester freshman, so I’m still adjusting slightly, but overall, I don’t feel that it has affected me too much. It was definitely difficult for the first couple weeks because most people stayed within their comfort zones, which meant sticking close to the people they already knew. I was the only person from my high school to come to UNC, so I knew absolutely no one before I arrived. That being said, once clubs and other activities started up, things became much easier. My scholarship program was great because most of us were OOS and ended up not knowing anyone, so we became really close. Also, one of the clubs that I joined is somewhat small (~30-40 people) and is a tight nit community, so that really helped me meet people that were interested in similar things to me. But as smack28752 said, the best way to meet people, in my opinion, is through the dorms. UNC places the vast majority of freshman into a handful of dorms, so your student would most likely be in a dorm full of other freshmen. All of the dorms have lounge spaces and I’m not sure about the other halls, but people hang out in almost all of the lounges in my dorm. So, I just went up to a random lounge, introduced myself, and ended up finding some of my closest friends. The instate students open up after the first couple weeks too and everyone mixes really well. I know that this was something I was worried about as well, but it really isn’t a problem at all. Students just have to be willing to put themselves out there and meet new people, but that goes for instate and OOS students.
Did you apply to Duke as well? As an in-state applicant, I applied to both Duke and UNC and I am having trouble deciding which I should attend in the fall. If you applied to Duke, why did you choose UNC? If you didn’t, what do you love about UNC (specific to you) that would help me make my decision?
I visited both (twice each actually hahah, I live in the area) but I love both and can’t make a decision. That’s why I was asking- I wanted to hear a personal account from a student.
I am a parent but will tell you our experience. We visited Duke twice- Duke is obviously an outstanding school but my daughter did not like it. She did not like the campus, felt the students looked “unhappy,” and both times felt that the school lacked energy. This is just her opinion and does not mean others will have the same impression- like I said Duke is obviously an excellent school- but clearly not for her. What made her take it off her list was the “Why Duke” essay. She could not answer the question!
Contrast this with UNC. My daughter loves the energy, passionate student body, amazing opportunities, the fact that the town and community are both so closely tied to the school, etc.
They are both good choices. Hopefully you will have some clarity in the coming weeks. What sealed the deal for me was the collaborative, non competitive feel at UNC.
I remember UNC being a little bit more bubbly and energetic (maybe that’s because the Duke students were sleep deprived haha), but thanks for bringing this to my attention! Good luck to your daughter this coming year!
The students at Duke could be sleep deprived- which is another reason why my “Type A” student would not be happy there. She needed balance in order to maintain her sanity- we ruled out quite a few schools. I asked her about the caliber of students at UNC, their study habits etc. She told me that she currently attends school with some of the smartest people she has ever met. She says that they do study hard, but they also find the time to do other things on campus. Her key word was “balance.” This does not mean that Duke students do not have balance- i am sure they do.
I took a tour of the UNC campus geared towards families- not students. We were told that students typically apply to both Duke and UNC and when they visit both schools, it is pretty common to have one school jump out at them over the other- many feel that the differences are very obvious. Some prefer Duke, while others prefer UNC- and many times the choice is clear. You do not seem to have that, which makes it harder.
You live close enough to visit again if you need to. Good luck- you have two wonderful options and will not go wrong with either.
@emmalini Sorry for my late response! My reasons for choosing UNC were actually very similar to those of twogirls’ D. I visited both schools for the first time at the beginning of my junior year of high school (which was when my obsession with UNC started haha) and I really did not like Duke at all. I was drawn to it initially because of its great academics, but I visited the campus and I felt like the environment was kind of stiff, almost like you could just feel the competition in the air. I visited UNC the next day and I had the exact opposite reaction. The students were so energetic and it really seemed like a super friendly place to be.
I ended up not applying to Duke at all because I had promised myself at the beginning of the application process that I would not waste my time applying for schools that I already knew I did not like. I ended up not coming to North Carolina again until Finalist Weekend for my scholarship when they had tours of both UNC and Duke and those tours really reaffirmed that I had made the right choice in not applying to Duke because I didn’t love it the second time around either.
I think it really comes down to what you are looking for in a school though. I am a pretty competitive person, but I really thrive in an environment where the competition isn’t as, I guess, blatant, for lack of a better word. I love collaborating with my peers and not having to worry about if I am giving away too much information, if my friends are going to go behind my back, etc. If that sounds like you, I think you will love UNC. But one of my best friends from high school ended up at Duke and he tells me that Duke has a lot of Type A students, but he still loves it there, even though he is not necessarily that competitive. My decision was very easy because one school just stuck out, but if that’s not the case for you, my best advice for you would be to see if you could talk to some Duke and UNC students and ask about their experiences and go from there.
