<p>Is UNC a party school? Or are students as serious about academics as they are at the Univ. of Michigan?
I visited Chapel Hill for a second time and loved the warm weather and the beautiful campus. But, I am getting the feeling that it's more of a party school than the Univ. of Michigan.
Do all the smart Carolina students leave the state to attend other schools?</p>
<p>UNC is no more of a party school than Michigan is. You will certainly find some hard core partiers at both schools but they are clearly the minority. UNC has always been known as a place where people work and party hard.</p>
<p>If you visited recently during warm weather I am sure there was more evidence of partying/relaxing as the cabin fever was being relieved. Additionally and simply because of the nice weather you will see more people out and about relaxing and enjoying the weather whereas at Michigan they are inside and not necessarily studying.</p>
<p>In answer to your second question, absolutely not. UNC is a much smaller school than Michigan, much harder to get into if OOS and still the flagship school in North Carolina. It is such an incredible value for in state students offering an incredible education and undergrad experience at a true bargain cost. Because of its small size some in state students fear that they will be surrounded by HS classmates and in essence repeat HS. If you go back through CC archives you will see a number of posts that relate to that unfounded fear that are later withdrawn after the students matriculate and discover that it is big enough to branch out and develop new friendships but small enough to not feel overwhelming.</p>
<p>No, all the "smart Carolina students do not leave the state to attend other schools." Some do, of course; however, many <em>choose</em> UNC-CH. My daughter is extremely bright (proud parent says) and is from NC. She was accepted to a lot of great schools, including Carolina, which ultimately became her top choice. It just had more of everything she wanted in a school. She's a serious student ("serious about academics"), and I think she's found her classes to be really excellent and academically challenging, for the most part. Also, her high school tends to send a lot of kids there every year. While she certainly runs into friends from high school (which doesn't bother her), she has made lots of additional friends from out of state, from across NC, and from other countries. Also, UNC is large enough that there's lots to do, both on-campus and off, that doesn't revolve around drinking or partying. I agree that I think the "hard core partiers" are in the minority.</p>
<p>Of course there is a party scene at UNC, I'm a freshman an I've been to my share of parties, but like the majority of my fellow students, put my studies first. </p>
<p>You aren't going to escape the party scene no matter where you go. My advice, put your studies first but embrace partying on the weekend, because it's a great way to meet people, besides it's not like you'd be doing h/w on a friday night anyway.</p>
<p>any school is, but if u don't go out and celebrate after u beat Duke...maybe u haven't got in the UNC spirit lol</p>
<p>not saying u have to go out and drink, but I'm sure esp around basketball time it gets crazy.</p>
<p>and there will be a party everynight of the week, this is the case at ANY college (except christian/military)...so it depends on what u make of it. Do u want to go to them or study....obviously u should do the latter and save the partying for the weekend.</p>
<p>BUT its there...if u want it, u got it....if not then u don't have to participate.</p>
<p>unc definitely does not have a reputation as a party school...but theres a good balance of academics and partying im sure</p>
<p>To address the smart kids leaving NC issue, this ironically was a concern of mine just a year ago. I live in NC, and didn't have a lot of experience with UNC until my brother went there.</p>
<p>Last year, though, I knew plenty of in state seniors who got into Ivies and other strong private schools who turned them down for UNC. Take my friend B, for instance. She got into Brown, and the Wharton School at U Penn (I might have misnamed that, and if I did, I'm sorry! but do you know what I'm talking about?) She was also a finalist for the Trinity, received the Coca Cola schoalrship, the Toyota Scholarship, the Best Buy Scholarship, and, hey, who knows what else.</p>
<p>But in late April, I still remember one conversation I had with her in particular. She'd just visited everywhere and was discussing with me her thoughts on where to matriculate. She couldn't doubt that Brown has excellent academics (one of her top choices) but she kept going back to the same point. "I feel like UNC has perhaps the same opportunities, with such a friendlier atmosphere..." I myself get somewhat of a warm fuzzy feeling when I think about Brown, but I see where she's coming from.</p>
<p>In the end, she was thrilled to choose UNC and I keep up with her still. She's told me that she hasn't doubted her decision once, and I think that there are plenty of kids from NC in her boat.</p>
<p>Hope that helps! :)</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do all the smart Carolina students leave the state to attend other schools?
[/quote]
50% do. </p>
<p>Compared to certain other schools in the state, Carolina is by no means a party school.</p>
<p>warblersrule: That was written 2 years ago; actually, I think more and more top in-state students are choosing UNC-CH. At least, from what I hear, in-state acceptance seems to be getting tougher, simply because more and more top students are choosing to apply and ultimately attend.</p>
<p>My D was accepted as an out- of -state student and is still in shock!!! She did not imagine she would get into UNC. All the boys at her HS teased her and said "Forget it ..you have to be a top athlete..." Which goes to show that all of our kids should try for the schools they think they would be happy at. North Carolina really impressed us with their schools. We toured Davidson(wait listed) and Elon ( accepted musical theatre) ) and was delighted with all of them . Can anyone from Carolina give me any feedback on the difference in these schools(from personal experience)?</p>
<p>mhappiness, I had a son graduate from Elon and a daughter-in-law from UNC.
I have a good friend whose d. is presently a soph. at Davidson. I can't speak to music dept or musical theatre as none were in that major. As far as the feedback from the kids here goes:</p>
<p>Elon--small classes, individualized advising, friendly student body, not very diversified student body, many from OOS (particularly northeast and florida it seemed), small town around college is oriented towards the school, convenient to Greensboro, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham, active Greek presence (but did not seem overbearing or exclusive).</p>
<p>Davidson--again small classes, individual attention, rigorous academics, very small campus, convenient to Charlotte, probably more "serious" than Elon </p>
<p>UNC--some very large classes (mostly in intro courses), some courses taught by TAs, larger campus, more diversified student body (economically and racially), less OOS students (than above schools), wonderful "college" town, more activities offered (due to size difference), less Greek presence (than Elon--not sure about Davidson), more class offerings, Div I ACC sports</p>
<p>Those are the things I could think of off the top of my head. Feel free to PM me if you think I could answer any specific questions.</p>
<p>i heard that all the Dukies come over to UNC to party because there's not much going on at Duke, is this true?</p>
<p>I don't know about "all the Dukies", but Franklin St. is a popular place for bars and special celebrations--post games, Halloween, etc. I know that many Duke, State, UNCG and Elon students will make the short drive over on occasion. Not sure how often it runs but there is also a bus between Duke and UNC.</p>
<p>Trophy_boys: Yes, I've heard that same thing from current Tarheels and Duke students, but many also head over to Duke/Durham for a change in their social scene. You'll never see a Duke student in Chapel Hill after a loss to Carolina though...:-)</p>
<p>unless he is a robertson scholar :)</p>
<p>lol smart kids..</p>
<p>trophy</p>
<p>I've never heard my son say anything about anyone heading to Duke/Durham to go out unless they are visiting a friend because there isn't much going on and he describes Durham as "sketchy." On the other hand he sees people he knows at Duke in Chapel Hill all the time.</p>
<p>mhappiness</p>
<p>Elon is an up and comer and was a school we wanted our D to look at but she dismissed it because it was too small for her liking. It really focuses on engaged learning which is a benefit of its size. It is certainly not considered in the same peer group as UNC and the overall student body will have a somewhat lower academic profile than what she would encounter at UNC or Davidson. My D's best friend since 4 years of age was accepted into their musical theater program last year but decided to go elsewhere. We actually got her interested in the school.</p>
<p>If your D has AP credits she will be able to bypass a large number of those bigger intro classes at UNC. Davidson is very preppy, with a strong Greek influence and is somewhat isolated. One interesting thing there is that inculded in room and board is laundry and dry cleaning service..... talk about not being in the real world!!...LOL.</p>
<p>
"All" is a gross exaggeration. Personally, I only go over to UNC for I-I courses and occasionally to visit the Ackland.</p>
<p>
Of those three, I personally like Davidson the best. I live 15 minutes from Davidson, and that was about the only thing that kept me from going there. It's a fantastic school that's constantly getting better (Elon is too). Professors are enthusiastic, students are THE friendliest I've met, the town is wonderful (women bake cookies for students during exam week!), the honor code is treated so seriously that students can take exams in their free time and bicycles are left around campus for general use, laundry is free (they do it for you), the campus is beautiful, and research opportunities are more plentiful than students (literally). The elimination of loans is a great bargain for those on financial aid. :)</p>
<p>Agree with eadad...my d went to Duke on the TTA in search of one of her Duke friends and vowed never to do it again. 'Sketchy' is a very good word. ;)</p>
<p>ldmom: She should just take the Robertson bus, which runs quite frequently up until 11:00 pm, I think. Durham actually offers a lot of interesting and fun things to do; you just have to know where to go. We got great seats a few weeks ago and saw Madeleine Peyroux at the Carolina Theatre downtown there. Lots of art going on, too.</p>
<p>Sooo, I live in Durham at the moment and yes, the town is very Sketchy! The Robertson bus goes directly to Duke campus so it's less scary to ride but the town itself is still a shady place. Although I'm at a boarding school and there are rules about walking off campus in pairs or more, I wouldn't walk off alone if you paid me to; a girl on my hall walked off campus alone to go to a piano lesson and she has lived in the area her whole life so she didn't think a thing of it until she got mugged.</p>
<p>So yeah.... I prefer Franklin Street!</p>