Hi Everyone - I have found CC extremely helpful and appreciate everyone’s insight into the process. My question is specifically regarding the top public universities in the U.S. Based on US News, the top 5 would be Michigan, Berkeley, UVA, UCLA, and UNC-Chapel Hill. I hope to apply to all of these schools. From what I have read on the site, it seems like people outside of North Carolina never put UNC Chapel-Hill on the same tier as the other 4, even though several metrics would indicate UNC is indeed elite. They have a top 11 NIH research funding program, a few #1 schools (public health, pharmacy, etc), a top 10 UG business school and a top 20 MBA program, not to mention incredible sports, history, alumni, and a beautiful campus. Why do people constantly say for certain that the other 4 are more prestigious than UNC? Perhaps this is just me, but I was genuinely curious.
If someone posts acceptance rates, yield and four year undergrad rates for these schools, it may help this discussion.
They also had fake classes for 30 years to keep athletes eligible. Legal fees we’re close to 20 million.
Now they have spent 18 million on legal fees fighting reverse discrimination in admissions.
I am in state and would nor consider them equal to the other 4 schools.
Partly, people tend to associate prestige with selectivity factors. In the examples of the schools you named, they vary when compared across colleges nationally from about 37th for UCB – through 42nd for UM, 56th for UVa and 74th for UCLA – to 88th for UNC, at least when considered by narrow measures at the time of this analysis:
https://amp.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
Since this seems to comport with what you’ve heard, the perception of UNC may arise from an objective basis.
You can find the public school admit rates and SAT scores here… scroll down to #41.
I’m very curious about this question too, as I go to UNC and didn’t realize there was some kind of bias on CC. It seems to me that most people place UNC on par with UVA, as they’re very similar.
As Greymeer’s link shows, UNC has a lower acceptance rate than Michigan and UVA, and a higher avg SAT score than UCLA… so clearly this supposed CC perception can’t stem from objective measures of selectivity.
However, Greymeer’s research is accurate, but not comprehensive. For example, by ACT score profiles, UCLA (29-34) registers a notch higher than UNC (28-33).
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Los+Angeles&s=all&pg=3&id=110662#admsns
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=North+Carolina&s=all&id=199120#admsns
UNC’s latest ACT scores for the class of 2022 are 29-33, so only slightly different from UCLA.
https://admissions.unc.edu/apply/class-profile-2/
In any case, most people don’t tend to judge schools by minute differences in SAT/ACT scores. If that were the case, it’d be easy to say that, for instance, Colorado School of Mines is more prestigious than UC Berkeley (according to Greymeer’s data).
That’s why I’m wondering where this impression came from… or honestly if it even exists. I don’t think I’ve heard of people – on CC or elsewhere – claiming, for instance, that UVA is more prestigious than UNC. Maybe I just haven’t been on here enough though.
I think people are splitting hairs here. Could one be a little more prestigious? Of course. Does it matter? No. If you are strong enough to get into all of these schools, then you should be driven enough to take advantage of everything that is offered… and you will succeed. Your success depends on you. A slightly lower or higher ACT score, ranking, etc…won’t matter.
All of these schools are looked at favorably where I live, btw.
Out of state UNC is actually harder to get into than out of state UCLA/Cal due to the cap of only 18% for OOS. Certain disciplines at the graduate level will be very different in strength between them, but if someone is OOS applying to them probably non-academic factors as an undergrad should be the determinant. UNC is historically the cheapest option of those and is often named best value for kiplinger’s ratings. I think they all are great and cost, geography, weather probably influence choice most between those. (or pre-registration benefits like regents at Berkeley). And if one can afford the application fee and the ultimate cost of attending, applying EA to schools like UNC or the others is a wise idea for everyone. In general OOS applicants that get into UNC will also get into one of the T25 privates too.
Also, the acceptance rate of 24% last year (class of 2022) is a blend of both in state and out of state. (in state is almost 50%) whereas out of state is closer to 10%
From your posts it seems like you went to Duke and are generally not a fan of UNC (naturally!)…btw Duke just paid 112 million for fake research to get funding.
@Torrchase From your posts it seems like you went to Duke and are generally not a fan of UNC (naturally!)…btw Duke just paid 112 million for fake research to get funding.
The Academic Ranking of World Universities (China) , the Center for World University Rankings (United Arab Emirates) , the QS World University Rankings (Britain) , the Reuters World’s Top 100 Innovative Universities (Britain) , the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (Britain) , and the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Global Universities Rankings (USA) ------- ALL of the above rank UNC-Chapel Hill significantly HIGHER than the University of Virginia (UVA).
UNC offers a considerably larger number of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in a wider array of areas of study than UVA.
UNC has a lower acceptance rate than UVA.
UNC has considerably lower tuition than UVA, both in-state and out-of-state.
For the OP, all of these are outstanding schools that are probably more similar than different. UNC / UVA are quite smaller and will likely feel more intimate than the others, but are still large universities. You seem to be focused on rankings and prestige. Although it’s fine to include that in your filter, other things are equally or more important, like:
location, size, your area of study, resources (class size / availability, funding, alumni network, etc.), school culture.
One school that generally gets left out of this discussion because it’s far more like a LAC is W&M. If it offers and is strong in your major, you’d be hard pressed to get a better education (anywhere). Now that would be an interesting comparison from a “fit” perspective. Many in VA think about which bucket they belong, UVA or W&M, as both are excellent but would entice a different individual.
I find these discussions kinda silly. Even though my kids at Michigan (rah, rah,), your going to get an excellent education at any of these schools. Don’t really hear many say they can’t get a job after graduating one of these schools.
UVA and UNC are peer schools. Whether one is ranked higher here or there is meaningless. I do agree about W&M…it’s an outstanding public school that feels more like an LAC.
I agree that these discussions are silly.