<p>I am a NC resident and I was accepted to both UNC Chapel Hill and Case Western( With a big scholarship so that the price of the two schools are basically the same) and I can't decide between the two. I don't like Carolina because of the sports focus. There are few things I hate more than sports, one being cars, which the research triangle area has in abundance. I like that Chapel Hill has, of course, excellent academics, specifically it has good humanities. I am going to be an international studies major and I worry that Case doesn't have a very good program/department.
So any thoughts/suggestions would be much appreciated.
Also, I don't like the social atmosphere at Carolina (visited twice) but I've never been to Case before. Are people social? I don't want to be in a place where everybody stays inside all the time and does nothing but study and play video games. **************.com makes Case seem really boring, but I have a feeling only disgruntled/unhappy people post there.</p>
<p>Have you received your financial aid packages yet? How much in loans? Is the Case scholarship guaranteed for 4 years? Prices equal, I’d take UNC over Case Western. </p>
<p>IMO UNC and Case are roughly equivalent in many aspects but Carolina is definitely stronger in the humanities. Case is known for more science-tech disciplines but I’m not sure what programs in particular are well regarded. </p>
<p>I never had a car at UNC and never needed one. Chapel Hill is very different from the Research Triangle because it’s a college town with a well developed bus system. </p>
<p>I’m far from the biggest sports fan and didn’t care in high school (I still don’t follow football or basketball at the college or professional level). But I will say I’m a convert to Carolina athletics. Two of my favorite moments as a recent graduate were 1) our win over Duke in Cameron Indoor at an alumni bar in Philly (I felt like I was back in Chapel Hill), and 2) getting ‘He’s-Not-Here’ blue cups at another alumni bar in D.C. Don’t write off the sports culture just yet. </p>
<p>Also I know people obnoxiously wax poetic about their flagship’s college town, but I love Chapel Hill/Carrboro.</p>
<p>You should definitely visit Case before making your decision. Case was on D’s list and we did the overnight admitted student’s weekend. You will get a real sense of the school from that. </p>
<p>The plus side of Case is the size (good individual attention), the sciences, access to great music -CIM shares the CWRU campus and Severance Hall (home of the Cleveland Orchestra) is adjacent to the campus, excellent resources, great athletic center, more service oriented Greek life than what UNC has. The students were all very friendly and helpful. The winters are rough so I imagine that one would spend more time inside than at UNC. The videogame crowd is probably bigger at Case (as would be at any school with a lot of engineers). However, from D’s experience, there were a lot of neat kids in the dorm she visited in and none of the girls were “videowidows”. </p>
<p>The down side is the city. The nearby neighborhoods were a bit on the rough side and Cleveland has been hit pretty hard by outsourcing of jobs and the recession. I have read in several places that Case is almost identical to Carnegie Mellon in course offering/feel and would be more competitive if it were in a better city. </p>
<p>D was also admitted to UNC but did not care to go there having grown up in Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill is a great college town, however. She ended up at another small great college in the midwest. Her school (Grinnell) actually ended up cheaper than UNC would have been for two years (brother in college and FAFSA split) and about 5K more for the two years he was still in HS. UNC’s 20K+ a year estimate is, in my opinion, fairly accurate and maybe a little low. Once you are off campus for your junior and senior years, things can get expensive. Case is a residential college and you would have the same housing and food costs all four years (if I remember correctly, Case yearly increases scholarships as there are college expense increases). </p>
<p>D preferred Case to UNC and had she not has Grinnell and Oberlin in the picture would probably have gone with Case. She was a musician who majored in neuroscience/psychology though so her interests were different. Again, I recommend a visit. It is not too far from NC. We flew in and drove to the campus. Case will also pick up kids at the airport if you want to save $$ and go solo (D did this with Oberlin).</p>
<p>Either way, you have two great choices! I think overall it will be which feels best to you.</p>
<p>If you did not like a school when you visited, you are not going to grow into it. I would still recommend visiting Case, because you should love wherever you go.</p>
<p>You seem to have a lot of resentment towards UNC. Some of that can be addressed (no car needed, interest in athletics can grow), but, be honest with yourself. If you don’t want to go to UNC, you just don’t want to go. Do you have other options outside of Case Western and UNC? The two schools seem very different. Cleveland… it is worth a visit.</p>