I see a lot of discussion about how some UNC’s are good for specific majors, or lack in certain areas. This is usually revolved around engineering or music.
I really want to go into Geography, not only for GIS but also just because I enjoy the subject . I know a lot of UNC’s offer it, but which one would be the best experience?
Chances are, it’s probably UNC Chapel Hill right? The problem is that school is so hard to get into, I don’t think I quite make the cut. I’ve been looking at Appalachian State University and other UNC campuses, and I think I could get into most of them.
It looks like six public schools in NC (besides UNC-Chapel Hill) offer bachelor’s degrees in geography. They are probably all decent.
The schools with the most resources are probably UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Greensboro, because they are the only ones (again, besides Chapel Hill) that offer geography PhDs. Charlotte appears to issue particularly large numbers of bachelor’s degrees in geography (even more than Chapel Hill).
UNC-Wilmington and Fayetteville State probably have the fewest resources. They only issue bachelor’s degrees, and only in relatively small numbers.
App State and East Carolina are probably in between. They issue both bachelor’s and master’s degrees, but no PhDs.
You might research the websites and course catalogs for each school to compare the offerings and the numbers of full-time faculty. You might find that the larger programs have interesting options that are not available at smaller ones. Or you might find that even the smaller programs cover everything that you need.
If you are in-state, you should visit the schools of interest and see where you feel comfortable. Geographically, there are significant differences between, say, Appalachian State and UNC-Willmington.
I wouldn’t necessarily assume that because a college offers a certain level of degree that they have more or less resources than a school without the degree in that field. First, it depends on what we define as resources, and whether we are talking about departmental-specific or just general resources. Second, in geography there may be PhDs offered in related fields that are not called geography but provide the aspiring undergraduate geography student just ask many. But, more importantly, more resources doesn’t necessarily mean better or higher-quality resources. I wouldn’t say, for example, that East Carolina is necessarily a better place than UNCW for an aspiring geography major.
@Corbett um, we’re a master’s university. So we don’t only offer bachelor’s degrees. Google is the world’s friend.
OP, only 1/3 of the classes you take in college will pertain to your major. You should probably make your decision based on overall academic strength as opposed to solely the school’s strength in your intended major (which even may change a time or two). In terms of overall academic quality, App State and UNC Wilmington are by far the best univs that have been suggested to you, then Charlotte followed by Greensboro. East Carolina is a little behind Greensboro, and Fayetteville State is by far the weakest.
@LBad96 It’s not clear which university you are talking about. If you mean UNC-Wilmington or Fayetteville State, then yes, they do have master’s programs – but they only offer the bachelor’s degree in geography. The UNC Program and Degree Finder is your friend. http://www.northcarolina.edu/apps/programs/index.php
@juillet That’s true, just as a larger school isn’t necessarily better than a smaller school. But they are differences to be aware of.
The bottom line here is that there is no obvious candidate for “best public university for geography in North Carolina besides Chapel Hill”, so the OP is going to have to do some research to determine the best choice for him/her. We can start by noting that there are a limited number of options, and that there appear to be some significant differences in terms of things like program size and degree level.
For example, UNC-Wilmington issued 9 bachelor’s degrees in geography in 2015-16; they do not offer master’s or doctorates in this field. For comparison, UNC-Charlotte issued 27 bachelor’s degrees in geography, plus 9 master’s and 5 doctorates. Those seem like noteworthy differences.
The differences do not necessarily make Charlotte “better”, but they are certainly points to consider if one is comparing the two programs. It wouldn’t be surprising, for example, to find that the Charlotte dept. has more faculty and offers more specialized coursework. On the other hand, it wouldn’t be surprising to find that the Wilmington dept. pays particular attention to its undergraduates and provides more opportunities for them to be involved in faculty research. These are the sorts of points that the OP might want to look for.
This is another factor worth considering. However, the OP is probably an NC resident, and probably already has some understanding of the schools’ general reputations. The OP was looking for thoughts on geography programs specifically.
@LBad96 Sorry, missed it. For some reason, collegeconfidential avatar images don’t show up on my Win10 PC (regardless of which browser I use). I just get a white box containing a name and a broken image icon.
So I fired up my MacBook just to see your avatar. It’s very nice. Athletic logos may also be a factor that needs to be considered here, and Wilmington appears to be a top contender on this basis. ECU’s is creepy.
Thank you for the help everyone. I was mainly looking to see if one university had a great reputation for it, much similar to how some have great reputations for law or finance. Does that make sense?
I will follow the advice of looking into the degrees themselves, as well as what each school has available in terms of what they offer as well as what the surrounding areas have to offer. Appreciate all the help!