Decision time

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

<p>Okay, so I was accepted OOS to UNC-CH and they're offering me excellent financial aid. I've ruled out Madison and USC because of their sucky finaid offers. Still waiting on Northwestern finaid but I'm not getting my hopes up. </p>

<p>So it looks like I'll be attending UNC come fall.</p>

<p>A couple questions:</p>

<p>1) I've heard there's a lot of construction going on on campus. Is it really all that hideous/annoying?</p>

<p>2) I'm half asian. Never really travelled to the south much unless you count Maryland. How is the diversity? Do you encounter much racism? Are the students generally open-minded? Friendly?</p>

<p>3) Is UNC a good undergrad option if you want to get into prestigious grad schools such as Harvard, Yale, etc.? How good is its reputation? Having done a lot of research I know that it's a good school, but how is it seen by others?</p>

2

<p>I can only answer the first question. Yes. Construction is ALWAYS going on - and I guess that's a good thing. And it CAN be annoying. Depends on what's being done & where it is.</p>

3

<p>When did u receive your financial aid? i'm still waiting to hear from them so if you could tell me that i would really appreciate it.</p>

<p>Sorry that i can't answer your questions bout, b/c i have never visited it yet.</p>

4

<p>1) o yea, there's a lot of construction everywhere, but you get used to it, its all part of this huge "master plan", when its done the campus is going to look so different. but really you get used to it and the big parts of the construction now are in north campus by veneble, south campus by dean dome (soon also morrison), north campus by some dorms, and north campus by Phillips (its a math building). the only part of construction that bothered me was noise cause i live by ramshead and that was just finished. but walking around campus and going to class is rarely affected by campus, i wouldn't let construction on campus be a thing that should affect ur decision on coming to carolina because it really is no big deal.</p>

<p>2) UNC is a liberal campus, as one person put it, carolina is a blue island in a red sea that is north carolina. the campus is pretty open minded and there are a lot of asian or half asian or part asian students here. I wouldn't say there is any real racism here, this is the south but not the deep south. Students are very friendly here and you make friends quickly.</p>

<p>3) UNC is a very good undergrad school, one of the best in the country and it is very well known. It made US Weekly for best education for your buck. I would say carolina ranks in there amoung the top most prestigous public universities in the country. We are known for our excellent pre-med, pre-law, journalism, and the one of best business schools around. Some of our alumni includes NC senator Burr, NC Gov Mike Easley, former VP canidate John Edwards (he only went to law school here but he works here part-time now), Michael Jordan, Andy Griffith, James Polk, Thomas Wolfe, first NC governer Gov. Aycock, former Supreme Court Justice Judege James Williams Press, President Ford, George HW Bush came here for flight school, many more governers senators congressmen, nobel prize winners, pulitzer prize winners, an academy award winning actress, and many many more. and i think that guy from Hardball mentioned he went to carolina during the 2004 democratic convention.</p>

<p>I hope you decide to come to carolina, its a great education for a bargain even for OOS and if you got a good amount of financial aid then thats even gonna make it better. good luck on making your decision and I hope you choose to be a tarheel.</p>

5

<p>unccadet has done a great job of answering you questions but I just wanted to add to the dicussion of point #2. As mentioned above, people are very welcoming of other cultures, and the cultural (as well as intellectual, racial, political, religious etc.) diversity is one of this campus's strong points. I am 100% caucasian, but some of my best friends are Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, Korean, African-American, Bengali, Slovakian, Jewish, etc. (yes I know some are religious and others are ethnic). But you get the idea, and people of all different backgrounds get along. One of my really good Muslim friends spends time almost every weekend at the campus Hillel house. I happen to write for the South Asian Students Association (Sangam)'s magazine, and I am planning on being on their executive board next year. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of the cultural mixing that goes on here. It is one of my favorite parts of going to school here, and I hope you will join us next year!</p>

6

<p>lilybbloom: COtarheel and unccadet08 have offered great information and insights on some other threads here, too, so check those out. But also.. just in terms of the area (in addition to UNC itself), it is culturally diverse, with 2 other major universities nearby, as well as the Research Triangle Park. And, as Cotarheel says, people welcome the cultural diversity.</p>

7

<p>Thanks to all of you for the info. Carolina is looking better and better :) It all depends on Northwestern's aid now but I really like the idea of graduating debt-free and I was happy to see that UNC is meeting my full financial need in grants. The administration seems to be on the ball, too, unlike the other schools I applied to. </p>

<p>Hardheadedchild, I called the financial aid office to see if they had sent it and they told me my aid over the phone. Granted, I said I was going on vacation so maybe they made an exception for me, but you should try it.</p>