<p>would you go here again? pros and cons? students' review (.com) says that barely over 50% would return, out of a hundred something reviewers. why is that?</p>
<p>YES. I would not want to be anywhere else.</p>
<p>I've never heard of students' review and was really surprised when I checked it out. I can honestly tell you I can only think of one person I've met here that didn't like it. We're ranked #12 or 13 for happiest students from the Princeton Review so that's a good sign.</p>
<p>I've got to agree with heathergee. I'm not a student at UNC, but I did get in EA oos, and I've been looking into it a lot. Two of my friends from high school are there now, and I had a chance to stay with them the past few days after Explore Carolina. At UNC, I hardly ever saw anyone by themselves anywhere on campus, in the dining halls, walking to class, or even in the dorms unless they were studying. All of my friends' friends made an effort to get to know me, and even the professors were very welcoming. I sat in on three or four classes without notifying the professors before hand, and they had no problem with it. A couple of the professors even talked to me about chapel hill after the classes were over. This was a huge plus, considering these were random classes, not staged ones like the model class during explore carolina. Talking to all my friend's friends, I had no one complain about UNC, and when I asked them if they knew anyone who was unhappy there, I got a resounding no. The stats you mentioned about student review really suprised me. I don't really know any official transfer statistics, but I'm willing to bet that there are far more students trying to get into UNC than there are students trying to leave. Anyway, I hope that helped a little.</p>
<p>thanks!!! any other opinions?!</p>
<p>Went to Duke today to do a project and coming back to UNC, noticed the EXTREME difference: UNC students are HAPPY! And we're happy about EVERYTHING Carolina.</p>
<p>Um...No. </p>
<p>I'm about 6 weeks away from finishing my first year, and if I had to look back on this time last year...given my choices, UNC was the best pick I could make for my budget and major, but definitely not the best for my happiness. It's probably about the exact opposite of everything I wanted out of a college, and this far in to the year (people keep telling me to give it time, but when is "enough" time?) what I wanted in a school has not changed. </p>
<p>Looking back to senior year, I wish I had accepted positions on a few of those wait lists instead of giving into despair and bitterness. And a free laptop, but that's not important right now. One of the things you have to remember in the end when you're looking over your choices isn't what's cheaper or closer, but what's going to make YOU happy. Debts can always be paid off.</p>
<p>I really, really don't like sports-craziness, gigantic campus, relatively little art scene, college town....hmmm...being OOS at a state school on long weekends when 99% of your friends are in state..., being in the South (I like the extreme cold and grayness LOL). I gave serious thought to transferring, but in the end decided not to do it despite real feelings of not fitting in still lingering. I'm lucky that my department is small enough that I can kind of "retreat" within it. I've decided to see this as a stepping stone and an experience. If I can deal with my feelings of dissatisfaction here, I can handle other obstacles life throws at me later. I just have to make the best of it that I can.</p>
<p>What really irritates me is when I'm around my NC branch of the family and I ALWAYS get the question "Why don't you love it at Carolina?!?!??!?!" because their kids were so happy here, and like it's morally wrong for me not to be obsessed with the school and wear tar heel blue all the time. School spirit is not the most important thing to me (academic strength: yes).</p>
<p>I dislike giving ideas of a school that are completely happy and peppy because the truth is, there are parts about EVERY school that you will find (wherever you go) that you won't like. "The grass isn't always greener on the other side" is probably the best advice I've ever gotten. I don't mean to discourage anyone from attending UNC, by no means, because for some people it IS a good fit, and despite all my feelings, it IS a good school. It's just not right for me, and I can't stress anymore that you should know what will make YOU happy at a school.</p>
<p>Rant concluded. :O</p>
<p>subrideo...hang in there. It is probably especially harder for you as all anyone talks about around here is the NCAA basketball tourney. Focus on your studies, see if you can expand your sphere within your department. What got me through my college experience many moons ago was what graduate student told me in my freshman year at a large top 50 state school..."spend the time you use worrying, and actually do something, things will improve." In other words, many people tend to worry about choices that they made or situations that they are in that it starts to consume too much time that could have been spent on actions. There are no right or wrong decisions, only decisions with different consequences. It is how we react and adapt to the consequences that leads to new choices. </p>
<p>My S will probably be going to UNC in the fall (no final decision yet), but I do know that it is not his #1 choice. I will suggest that he make the very best of his college experience. Find his niche and give it a go.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>How to describe my freshman year...</p>
<p>By no means was it perfect. There were plenty of ups and downs, but in the end I think there were WAY more ups than downs. I wouldn't trade going to Carolina with anything else in the world, and as the end of freshman year looms closer an d closer, I can't imagine life without being in Chapel Hill and surrounded by the amazing people I've gotten to know over the past 8 months. I can't stress enough how amazing the campus us, and how great of a university UNC is. Is it perfect? No, not at all- the long voyage from south campus to north campus, the small arts scene, and the overwhelmingly preppy student population. But what makes Carolina great is, as Eve put it, "It's us--the student body--who make UNC what it is", and I think mostly everyone will eventually find their niche one way or another- I just got lucky that I found mine early as well as being able to expand my group of friends constantly. And plus, there's no better feeling than watching our team kick ass in the NCAA tournament. I think most will agree that CAROLINA BASKETBALL is one of the biggest plus of this campus. Go heels! :D</p>
<p>Most of you know my opinions of the school. Overall, yes, it has improved, but weekends here at Granville consist of watching the friends I have made go visit their friends either at home or at NC State. I also echo a lot of the things subrideo talks about, but I feel Chapel Hill is a one trick pony and after a week here, I got tired of it. I do believe most of the students are happy though, most of the students here had their entire family attend UNC, so they are truly Tar Heel born and Tar Heel bread. I am not and I will not be a Tar Heel dead. I have applied to transfer out, but my struggles in these humongous classes have hurt me. The place is very impersonal if you are OOS and don't join a frat, and it lacks any kind of community outside of the one you arrive here with from your hometown in NC. It seems like being a girl really helps if you are OOS. You get into parties, you meet all new girls and such. Being a guy and OOS is much harder. Parties are relatively exclusive to get into and the guys are just interesting in getting all the girls and hanging with their boys from back home. In short, I should've gone to any school but here.</p>
<p>I disagree ahduke...living in Granville as an OOS guy probably really hurt you. All the OOS guys I know have fun without pledging...</p>
<p>this is a good thread. thanks for all the honest testimony.</p>
<p>I'm OOS male from the north, seem to have a lot in common with subrideo. I applied though mainly for the practical benefits (hopes for a scholarship (hope not granted), cheap tuition) and without any real love or intention to go, and aas I have gotten other offers, I am certain at this point I will not be going.</p>
<p>I think the reason UNC is perceived as such a happy campus is because the people who thrive here tend to have the enthusiastic-happy go lucky-carefree-ditsy-partying personality, and so it is in their nature to express their happiness loudly. i could be wrong</p>
<p>^^^^^ And because 86% of the students here grew up around the campus, had family attend, and watched Carolina basketball since they could see. I'm sure I'd be happy too if this was the school I grew up around since I was a little baby and wore Carolina blue t shirts as I was learning to walk. I didn't, so I am hardly happy here.</p>
<p>I grew up in Greensboro, and honestly didn't know anything about basketball until maybe two years ago. I also, I'll admit, wanted nothing to do with UNC growing up. I got the idea from my oldest brother that it was filled with mediocre in state students, and just wanted to get out of the state in general.</p>
<p>Then my oldest brother went off to Dartmouth and the weather started eating away at his soul. My middle brother went to UNC with a negative attitude - he had wanted to go to U Denver, and hated the people at his high school and felt like UNC would just be a bigger version of that.</p>
<p>When my brother started at UNC, he was ready to dislike it. He entered with plans to transfer. But in Hojo he met people that he still hangs out with to this day - and Eve, too. He fell in love with the people and the classes he took and Carolina found its way into his heart, just like it has for other people I've met here. Meanwhile, I was confused. How could anyone like a school with a bunch of in staters who couldn't get in anywhere better?</p>
<p>Even y high school was hell bent on keeping us away form Carolina. When I told my revered AP US teacher I got into Carolina he told me to come back to him when I got into a "real" school. I can't pretend that that didn't hurt. Still, I visited. Keep in mind, I had visited around ten schools myself, along with all the schools my older brothers had visited, but had put off visiting Carolina because I just wasn't interested. And, as you probably saw coming, I loved it. The people, surprise, were actually very smart, but what I found was that they were more humble about it. In conversation they sounded less intelligent than say the tour guides at Yale, but when you actually ask a Carolina student what they're doing over their summers and what they want to do when they graduate you'll always be impressed. The campus is and was also the second most beautiful I've ever seen, second only to Stanford in my eyes.</p>
<p>It really came down to me between GW's biggest scholarship and their honors program and UNC's Carolina Scholar's award and honors program. I pretty much made my decision based on the fact that GW, even with their biggest scholarship, is incredibly expensive, and I'd only have to pay room and board here at UNC. Also, despite the fact that D.C. is one of my favorite places in the world, when I visited in February the weather was a little too harsh for me. I'm a huge baby about wind, and my face was going numb and my ears were stinging like mad, and I just couldn't see myself doing that for over a month at a time, despite how much I loved the urban campus. To be honest, that was all my decision really came down to. Sounds a little simplistic, but I'm not really ashamed.</p>
<p>Thing is, is if I could decide again, I'd come here nine times out of ten, but for different reasons. Well, the cost and the location are big, but I actually came to like Carolina for what I thought would be detriments - the size, and the fact that it's public. As I've said a million times on here, the BEST THING about Carolina is how many people there are here. What are you interested in? SOMEONE ELSE HERE HAS THAT INTEREST, TOO! And there might even be a club already founded for it! If I subscribed to every single listserv of every single club here, I would, I kid you not, get hundreds of emails a day of events to go to. I'm probably only on seven listservs and get somewhere around 15 emails on basic information and events around campus. It's actually kind of overwhelming - I'm so scared that I'll graduate and only penetrate a tenth of all that I want to do here.</p>
<p>Plus, I like that a lot of people chose to came here for financial reasons. It shows to me that these kids have a grasp on the meaning of money to their parents, and have a more realistic outlook on things. A lot of the kids I meet here take most of their responsibilities in their hands and don't depend on their parents for as many things as the friends of my brother who went to Dartmouth. That's a big deal to me. I like that people in the middle class are well represented here, too. The whole not being able to get into better schools thing was also a surprise. In my closest friend group (and only one of them is out of state), they turned down Duke, UVA, Georgetown, State's design school, the Fashion Institute of Technology (a big deal, I promise), Davidson, and I can't even remember where else. I obviously didn't go out looking for impressive people, they almost all live on my hall. I can't say that I turned down anything too phenomenal, but I did make a choice to come here, and am glad that I did.</p>
<p>I know what people mean when they say that the arts scene isn't strong here, but I do have to disagree. It just takes a bit to find it. The two years before I came here I took all my classes at Guilford College, which is a small Quaker liberal arts school in Greensboro. I'll be honest, I wish there were more people here who walked around barefoot and didn't shave their legs, etc. But those people do exist, I'm finding them! They hang out in Carrboro! I've also met a lot of people who are similar to me in terms of not really being the first person you think of when you think "preppy" at our radio station, WXYC, which I started working for this semester. I've also noticed that for whatever reason a lot of the upperclassmen seem more my type and less homogeneous - maybe that's because they feel more comfortable in their own skins, or maybe it's because college admissions, with their rising selectivity, are going more towards numbers and less for character, but that almost seems counterintuitive and is just a theory. I think it's the former.</p>
<p>Point being - I really don't think that everyone here was brainwashed into loving UNC. I certainly wasn't, and I met a lot of people here like me. People here are humble, and have hidden talents. My friends are all here to help each other do well - not to drag each other down. I totally understand subrideo and where he or she is coming from, but I think this time next year, or at least I hope, that you'll feel differently!</p>
<p>I can't say that I gush Carolina blue out of my eyes, but that's because I'm a highly critical person. It takes a long time for things to grow on me. I can say with certainty though that I know I'm at the right place - I'm at the school of the people!</p>
<p>I didn't write this to try and negate people saying that they were leaving, but I do hope that people reading this thread will actually visit. Never base your opinion of a school based off of a small sample group, and I'm including myself here. Visiting is the most important thing you can do during this time. Far more vital than reading statistics. Subridio definitely doesn't sound like a whiner, so their opinion is valuable, as is everyone else's! Visit, talk to students here, and talk to alumni.</p>
<p>The reason Duke might not be happy right now is because Duke is out of the tournament...UNC is probably going to win their bracket and may be the national championship :)</p>
<p>Oh I'm sure people enjoy it here. I guess since I went to a rich, conservative, elite private school in a wealthy district of Charleston, I got hit with culture shock when I came to UNC and experienced a whole new side of life. Some people resented me. My suite mates, who came from a small town, said I was arrogant because I try to dress nicely. Some people down the hall from me told me they hated rich people and would love to see my family have to give up all our money to the government. I had plenty of issues when I first came here. While I have been able to make some friends here on my floor, they still leave to visit their hometown and high school pals every weekend and I am left wasting away in my dorm. In that respect, I don't see things changing.</p>
<p>I also can't say meeting people that don't bathe and have hairy legs would make me happier, but, like I said, to each his own. Just take my experience as part of the puzzle here. I'm sure I'm in the huge minority, but it looks like some people have had a similar experience. It appears I am not the kind of student that thrives in UNC. I need a smaller school with a more conservative student body for sure. However, if I do stay at UNC, I'll for sure join the fraternity I received a bid from in order to attain some sort of social life.</p>
<p>ahduke99,
maybe you have a difficulty in assimilating into the group or perhaps finding people just like you. Indeed, not everyone is the same! There are tons of people that can share your interests and ideas but perhaps you didn't try and give it a chance to start looking and mingling with others.</p>
<p>DANNY,</p>
<p>with all due respect, my first few weeks here I did try to assimilate into groups. I am not GREAT at that as I am tremendously outspoken and have trouble just going along with other people's groups, but no one reached back when I tried to reach out. The clubs I joined had relatively small groups and many of them were just groups of friends who all joined together. I feel like I did what I could, and experiences at other colleges like Wake Forest were much more successful. Granted, it may have helped that I had a good friends there, but still.</p>
<p>possible transfer to somewhere else...maybe?</p>
<p>Yes. I have good friends at Wake Forest, and it was my first choice last year. Sadly, I got wait listed, so I am trying again. Perfect size, more conservative, and a more out of state leaning student body.</p>
<p>hairy legs? Is that a pet peeve or something?</p>