<p>Do out of state students have a hard time making friends and fitting in socially?
Because UNC is a state school, I am worried about the student dynamics. </p>
<p>Is the school "dominated" by people from NC that come in with tons of their high school buddies and connections to others on campus?</p>
<p>I am from Texas and am a finalist for the Morehead, so I am very seriously considering UNC, even though I would have to turn down my dream school (Stanford - admitted EA). </p>
<p>I would appreciate any thoughts about UNC as an out of state student.</p>
<p>My friend's son had trouble socially first semester. His roommate was not a good match and he felt it was difficult to break in to the NC high school groups. Second semester things got better and he was totally acclimated by the end of freshman year. He definitely would have had an easier time if he had had a better roommate.</p>
<p>Go to Stanford. Really. UNC is a solid school, but being OOS definitely has its disadvantages. I was unlucky freshman year to live on a hall where everyone would leave on the weekends either to go home or commute to other local colleges to visit hometown friends. First semester was horrible for me. Second semester was alright, but I probably don't see many people I befriended last year this year. </p>
<p>If you're really outgoing or want to go Greek, then it might not be a problem for you. I'm sort of outgoing, but I had to adjust to the party culture here and the students in general. I came from a private prep school, and it was an eye opening experience meeting kids from different backgrounds. I spent a lot of weekends alone though. I can't say it was that much fun other than Thursday nights when people actually stayed around campus. It's difficult to make friends when you are by yourself in the beginning and surrounded by others with their best friends from home. If I had one friend from home, my experience may have been totally different. </p>
<p>Stanford is a far better school. I don't know the cost differences, but if you can afford it, go to Sanford, especially if that's your dream school.</p>
<p>I just transferred to Wake Forest. It wasn't that I hated every aspect of the school, although I whined a lot early on to the point where people called me at troll last year, but it was because I really felt as if I was wasting my time there. The friends I had made seemed to be content with reliving what we did freshman year over and over. I could only go to Players Club so much, etc.. I don't know what my journey at Wake will be like, although I have a good friend from Charleston to help, but I do know the administration has been much more helpful as compared to UNC. </p>
<p>I had a TA last semester who spoke little to no English, and when I voiced my concern to the department chair, I was told to stop complaining because UNC couldn't afford to hire any other type of teacher for that position.</p>
<p>Socially, I did rush and received 2 bids from Fraternities, but I did notice many of my rushees had an inside tract because many of the brothers were from the same hometown/high school, which was a disadvantage for me. It did seem less intince compared to other schools, but perhaps is was because they already knew each other.</p>
<p>The point is, Chapel Hill can be a wonderful place if it is the right place for you. The students live and die by the school and do not like it if you speak down on it for whatever reason. They do not care about your problems. You will be just a number. It's twice as hard for us out of staters to get in and twice as hard for us to adjust. It is possible. I knew a lot of out of staters who loved the school, but many of them were the greek/party type, tended to be very liberal and enjoyed doing strange things. I am probably the opposite, conservative, and outgoing but not so much that I will give up everything to fit in. I have a set of standards that I refuse to break. </p>
<p>Only you know what kind of person you are. I'm offering a different perspective as compared to the overwhelming love UNC gets on this site. When people claim they chose UNC over Harvard/Yale, it's probably an exaggeration. It's a good school, but it is still just a flagship state university.</p>
<p>Does UNC have special programs geared towards OOS students so that they can better acclimate to the school? I would think that this is a common problem and the university may have taken steps in at attempt to address it.</p>
<p>i made a post like this and got almost opposite responses. from what i heard, it may be a little bit more difficult for OOS kids, but as long as youre friendly and somewhat outgoing you wont have problems.</p>
<p>as far as my advise on your $$ + UNC vs Stanford predicament, i have a similar situation. I can go to UNC for basically tuition free or i can go to an other, top 15 US News ranked college. I would visit both and try to see if the feel works for you. then weigh money. if you love stanford, go to stanford. if you have a hard time distinguishing a LARGE difference in your feel for each place, got to UNC.</p>
<p>lotta - That is a problem that UNC does not address. While they make a lot of effort to assymilate transfer students into the mold, OOS students have no guidance. There is an OOS Student Association, but their main objective is to coordinate rides to the airport for breaks. You are basically left on your own to make a path.</p>
<p>beignet - it depends who you talk to. As I said, most OOS students are fine here and tend to fit in well. UNC was just such a culture shock to me that I never really fit into the whole lifestyle around here. I went to a small, private HS in Charleston with 81 kids in my graduating class. The largest class I had ever had was 14 people, and I knew everyone in my high school. It was so different to just be a number at UNC, and I really didn't like it. I didn't have home to go back to on the weekends or my best friend right down the street at NC State or East Carolina. Like I said, if you are very outgoing and make friends very easily, then UNC will be fine for you, especially if you are a girl (they tend to make friends faster than guys do). This is just my experience at UNC. Bear in mind I also lived in Granville Towers, which I was told is the most cliquish and in-state dominated area on campus, so that probably has a lot to do with it.</p>
<p>if i go, ill remember not to live their ahduke :).
But yes i can imagine it being a shock. you definatly sound like you would have had a better transition into a small liberal arts college (not necessarily would it be a good fit in the long run). I think if youre going to go to UNC, you hvae to know that from OOS its going to be more of a challenge to fit in than at a smaller, more geographically diverse school.</p>
<p>but still, i have yet to learn if this is going to turn me off to UNC in comparison to other schools i have yet to hear back from (brown, penn, duke...)</p>
<p>Yep. If you do end up going to UNC, avoid Granville Towers. I lived there because the on-campus dorms were horrendous, but I hear that the freshman experience is much better there in the long run. Granville tends to be students who come in with all their high school friends and they all go Greek, or kids who want to avoid people and not make friends. </p>
<p>I may have pledged one of the frats fall semester, but I felt like I had enough on my plate as it was adjusting to life there. By the time spring rolled around, I kind of felt like I needed to be elsewhere. I would've left last year if Wake hadn't fumbled my credits, which delayed me a semester. I will say I met a lot of OOS kids in the frats and rushing. I believe that is where most of them end up going to find friends, because it is difficult to break through those HS friendship bonds on your own. </p>
<p>I recommend you visit each school and try to get a feel for it. I visited it after I was accepted and actually felt like I wasn't a fit even before I came to Chapel Hill. I just ended up coming because I didn't want to go to Boston College, BU, or Clemson and I got waitlisted at Vandy and Wake (not sure how I got WL at Wake and in UNC OOS). You'll probably know if you like it just by taking a campus tour. </p>
<p>I will warn you that the campus tours are nice, but they only show you a fraction of the campus, so I came away thinking it was much smaller than it actually is. They never mentioned the freshman area and the 20 minute walk/bus ride from the dorms to the actual quad.</p>
<p>Dude what? I don't know a single person that transferred out. Well, except one guy whose athletic coach changed schools, but that doesn't really count. Out of all the OOSers I'm friends with, I think I know 2 that are in frats/sororities. You do not need to (although it is fine to choose to) go Greek to find friends. I recommend going to the OOS Social held during the first week of classes: I met some of my best friends there. Also, don't be afraid to join organizations. The club sports team as well as another student organization I joined have also introduced me to some awesome people.</p>
<p>Maybe all the OOS people I know are dynamic and outgoing. But I seriously don't know anyone that has transferred out other than that athlete.</p>
<p>I have to agree with heathergee. I'm OOS, and I have had no problems with making friends. First semester, I didn't make as many friends as I would have liked to, but that was because PHYS 116 owned my soul.</p>
<p>But once you get to UNC, people get to know you for you, not by where you're from. I was talking to a friend of my girlfriend the other day about what she had done over break, and found out that she had gone back home... to Malaysia. This was a girl I had known all semester, and I just now got around to asking where she was from. Fitting in at UNC being OOS is not a big deal at all.</p>