I am looking for feedback on East Carolina University. My DD has been accepted. She is interested in their BS Neuroscience program. She is not interested in Greek life and it not big into going to parties. I am concerned that the social life at ECU is geared to those who enjoy partying and/or Greek life. She would be OOS, 2000 miles from home so she will be on campus except for the longer breaks. Does anyone have experience with their kids at ECU? Thoughts? She has also been accepted at Miami Univ and EA at JMU. She is waiting to hear from VT.
Hi, I’m in NC. I don’t have kids at ECU, but I can tell you some vague impressions.
ECU has a pretty good health sciences program and med school. It certainly did have a big reputation as a party school back in the day, but since they added the med school in the 1980s it has become a little more serious.
It is not a super selective school, though. What is your daughter’s GPA? It is a good school for B students in NC, although I’m sure some kids with As go there too and some with Cs. The average GPA of first years according to the Common Data Set is 3.31. “A” students gravitate toward UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State, Appalachian State, UNC-Wilmington and maybe UNC-Charlotte.
By state law, no state university in North Carolina can accept more than 18% of their student body from out of state, so there will be a LOT of NC kids there, but I think ECU does use the whole 18% OOS allotment. Some of the NC publics don’t. So there will be 18% of the student body coming from OOS.
Football is very big at ECU. It’s a big traditional college scene. I think Greek life is popular, but I don’t think it is dominating.
As a town Greenville is fine. It’s a little more conservative than some other college towns. It’s not my favorite part of the state, but it has some things going for it.
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I would agree that the health sciences/nursing program & med school are pretty highly regarded (2 of my daughter’s friends are graduating from the med school - both were UNC-CH undergrads). From an overall (undergraduate) reputation however, given your daughter’s other options, I would lean toward either Miami or VT (I don’t know much about JMU for academics, but have heard that it’s also a bit of a party school).
ETA - I’m guessing if she’s in at Miami, then she probably got into the honors program at ECU? That may make a difference.
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Have you visited yet?
We used to live near by and would go to the area for work. They have some great programs and they do attract their share of out of state students. It is a big enough student body that she would find her people.
Faculty, staff, and students are very nice and helpful.
Greenville, NC is a smallish, sprawling city.
It is very rural 5 minutes out of town. The airport is very small and when we flew out of there a couple of years ago there was a sign on the escalator warning people to use the elevator or stairs if they were not comfortable with using the escalator… the New Bern airport has more flights in and out and is about 35 minutes away.
I have a good friend who went there from the middle of the country because she thought it was at the beach. Note - It is not at the beach.
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Thank you all for your input! We have visited; we were able to spend the night in Greenville last summer and go for a campus tour.
My DD has a 3.75UW / 4.2W gpa. She is looking specifically for a BS Neuroscience program which ECU offers. She is also very interested in a school that provides her with research opportunities which ECU does. She is not interested in Western NC (funny because VT is in the mountains). We looked at UNCW she loved the campus but unfortunately they do not have a Neuroscience program. She opted not to apply to UNC-CH as she knew how few they accepted OOS and she did not think she would be competitive enough. She did not apply for the Honors program. Perhaps she should have.
The size of Greenville does not seem to matter to her. We looked at city based schools like Pitt and she did not like the feel. She is looking to get the full college experience (so no commuter schools) including sporting events and on campus activities/clubs as well as a school that will challenge her.
I was most worried that if ECU is truly more of party school and that is not her scene that she would get there and not like it / fit in.
I am glad to hear that the medical side of the their academics are strong and have a good reputation - this should be a good sign for the Neuroscience program. After completing her BS she is looking to continue her education with the end goal of working in research.
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That is interesting that she loved the UNCW campus and liked Greenville. Definitely not how my D22’s felt about UNCW (she did not visit the ECU campus, but has been through Greenville). But great that your daughter can see herself there.
I think she could probably find some more studious kids there, but I am sure there will be some partying going on too. Your daughter would have a higher GPA than most kids.
Definitely will get the full college experience there with sporting events, etc.
Agree to many opinions here. At the risk of splitting hair:
- Outside of UNCCH and NSCU, the next tier is ECU, UNCC, ASU, UNCW.
- Party school - if you child is not into that, then there are many alternatives from clubs, intramural sports, etc. If you child is in the Honors Program, then that is another circle to connect.
- Having a medical, nursing, PT, and PA programs nearby allows more research/clinical opportunities in the health related fields
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