The pros and cons of HPU.

Colleges and Universities A-Z High Point University
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<p>Hello, I am an international student, who is currently a senior in a private high school in California. I applied to tier 1 universities such as, University of Michigan, UNC, UVA, USC, and some more; however, I was rejected by all of them. I realized that my academic reports were not strong enough. So I applied to High Point University and some other rolling admission universities. My plan was to attend HPU(I am admitted, and my personal counselor and I are going to have a meeting May 13th, Sunday for my scholarship meeting); however, I saw this article couple days back while researching for the pros and cons. I was greatly discouraged by the reviews, and was close to changing my mind. That being said, now I just read this thread, I don't know what to do anymore. I read a lot about HPU's greek life and stuck-up rich white kids who go there. I also read that greek life basically runs the nightlife and rudimentary social life in HPU. I am a Korean, who is from a middle class family. My family won't have much problem for my tuition, but I am definitely not a rich Asian guy.</p>

<p>Furthermore, if I decide to attend HPU for 2 years, then transfer to UNC, which was one of my first-choice universities, will it be possible?</p>

<p>I am top 25% of my class, 3.86 uw gpa, and sat score of 1730. I speak Mandarin, Korean, Spanish, English, and a little bit of French. I am planning on majoring in Psychology and communication. I would also like to attend a prestigious law school after my undergraduate.</p>

<p>I know this is a very long comment lol; however, some positive comments and advices would be very helpful. Thank you very much!</p>

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<p>Hello, it’s not clear from your post whether you were admitted or wait-listed to any school other than High Point. If not, I suppose you could enroll there for a year and see how it goes. But I am curious as to why you applied there in the first place, as it has a totally different profile from the large, prestigious state universities that you preferred. With your GPA and other qualifications, there are LOTS of terrific other schools that you could have gotten into, that probably would have been a better match for your professional goals. When we visited High Point, I was concerned by the apparent lack of focus on academics. When I asked how many of their graduates go on to law school and medical school, they said something vague like, “eventually 40% of our grads go on to further studies.” That is ridiculous … in any school that claims to have a prelaw and premed program, the advisers know how many students are getting admitted each year. I suspect they didn’t want to say because the numbers are pitifully low. Also they claimed to have an international relations program, but the admissions counselor couldn’t tell us anything about it and claimed that the information brochure for the major was “temporarily out of stock.” Good grief. In fairness, I did get the impression that the business program at High Point is quite good, but apart from that I think you could get much better academics elsewhere. However, it sounds like High Point is your only option, unless you want to take a year off. If you could find a “gap year” program, maybe doing some kind of work related to your goals, and then reapply next year to some better schools, you might come out ahead in the end.</p>

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<p>In response to cmscribe, the link to any information regarding High Point University’s International Relations program can simply be found here: [International</a> Relations at High Point University](<a href=“http://inr.highpoint.edu/]International”>http://inr.highpoint.edu/)</p>

<p>In addition, as far as academics are concerned, there are very few universities with access to the state of the art technology that High Point University provides its students with access to. As with any school in the country, certain academic programs are stronger than others, as some may be newer and lack the reputation of an older, more established academic program. </p>

<p>Vicxtorxkim, you sound like a very well-rounded, intelligent human being. Although it isn’t clear that you have been accepted to HPU or not, I can assure you that the school is not crawling with white, wealthy, “greek” students. Again, as with any university, there are students representing all levels of the economic scale. Many of the students are paying their own way at HPU. However, greek like is in no way, shape or form pressed at HPU. Granted, it is a great way to meet new people, but there are hundreds of things to do on campus, at any time, and there seems to be a serious misconception that at High Point University, those who aren’t greek do not have a social life. That is absolutely false.</p>

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<p>Hello! Thank you for your comment. It is much appreciated. To answer your question, I do have other options; however, since I was rejected by most of my first-choice earlier this year, the option currently available to me are the universities/colleges with rolling admission. They are also with less prestige and respected academically. Moreover, I was rejected by all of my top tier choices, and because of my family reasons, I didn’t apply to any safety schools. So even with my current above-average academic grades, I don’t actually have that many options.</p>

<p>So that being said, should I consider High Point University? (I got accepted to HPU) Or Should I apply to some other universities with rolling admission/june 1st deadline? I would like to have a fun social life; however, I am most concerned about academic programs, since I am trying to transfer to UNC after two years. More importantly, HPU and UNC are within the range geographically, which is easier to transfer the credits and courses right?</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

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<p>Hello, I don’t think going to HPU or another school in North Carolina will necessarily improve your chances of getting into UNC. The key thing is to find a school with good academics and work hard to get the best grades possible. It’s a shame you didn’t have any safety schools; frankly I’m surprised your high school counselor didn’t give you more guidance. Maybe they could sit down with you and look at your options.</p>

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<p>As much as I love HPU, my advice to you is to go to a UNC branch school like Charlottle, Greensboro, or Pembroke. I’m not sure they have rolling admissions, but it would be worth checking into. </p>

<p>Private schools are not your best option if you already know you are going to transfer. They are too expensive to use as your “go-between” school. HPU is not exactly a place students use to get into bigger schools. Students come here for very specific reasons and for the facilities, technology, small school, ect. </p>

<p>You really should talk to a counselor at one of the UNC branch schools to talk about a transfer track.</p>

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<p>Thank you guys for the productive advices, much appreciated. @Cmscribe, for your first comment, you were talking about taking a year off, then reapply as 2013 fall semester freshman. I was thinking about that today, and thought it has some potentials. Since now I don’t have that many options, and with my grades, I could enter much better schools next year. Furthermore, I am a male, and in Korea, males have to attend one of the military branches for at least a year before a certain age. So after the summer, if I decide to join the army, since it’s a MUST, then next year after my army duty is done, you think I can reapply as a freshman to those universities+ my safety schools in 2013? </p>

<p>My original plan was to enter a university here, then after a year or two, take a year off, then join the army in Korea and return back to the university. So what do you think about my “join army then return and reapply plan”?</p>

<p>@camdisco24, your advices are very very appreciated, although I have some questions. I am assuming that you were or a HPU student. I went on to UNC transfer website, and HPU, Hope College(my other option of “go-between” private school) along with other colleges/universities were on <a href=“https://www.unc.edu/sis/adm/xfereq.html[/url]”>An opportunity to make a difference - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When I clicked on HPU, most of the classes were transferable and labeled clearly as external courses to internal courses, which indicate that there have been students who transferred from HPU to UNC before. Moreover, I just checked those three UNC branch schools, and they are all available; however, I thought it was better to excel in a school with all As, if not most, when transferring? So if HPU’s academic system isn’t particularly challenging, wouldn’t that help me for my transcript when I transfer? Same applies for Hope College, although Hope College has a more respected academic reputation. Or do you still think it’s better to attend one of those three UNC branch schools then transfer, since they are all part of UNC system. Finally, please read the question that I asked earlier @cmscribe about my “army plan”, whether it might work out or not.</p>

<p>Thank you guys so much. I can’t depict enough appreciation with my words. Please help me and answer my concerns ASAP, and thank you guys once again :)</p>

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<p>I think you have the wrong idea about HPU’s academic reputation. Don’t expect to just come here and get A’s effortlessly… No matter which college you choose, you’re going to have to work hard to get those A’s my friend. College isn’t a walk in the park like high school. HPU isn’t some community college where you can show up and get A’s and go about your life. This is a liberal arts institution where you will be challenged. We have plenty of students with just as good or better statistics than you. </p>

<p>My original point was not to suggest that credits at HPU would not transfer, I’m sure you would have little issue with that. Big picture here… Private schools are expensive. For most students the private school environment is what they want and it’s where they’ll be successful. It’s fairly rare to find students using private schools as go-between options unless there is a specific program involved. That being said, why not go to a significantly less expensive state school and transfer with much less financial burden? If you’re not worried about money at all, HPU will be just fine for you… </p>

<p>You’re army plan should work out if you inform whichever school you’re attending about your situation.</p>

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<p>I’m a little surprised by the advice that you shouldn’t transfer from private to public, have never heard that before. We have friends whose son transferred from HPU to Virginia Tech and is doing great … also another friend who transferred to Chapel Hill from Ithaca College which is a private school in NY state, also doing well. out of curiosity I just looked at HPU’s stats and the 6 year graduation rate is only 56 percent, so it seems like an awful lot of students don’t finish up there …</p>

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<p>Hello, Camdisco24! Haha, that’s not what I meant about HPU’s academeic reputation :stuck_out_tongue: Of course it takes hard work to excel in ANY universities, including HPU. I am just saying that, from an enormous amount of student reviews, that it is not very well-known for its academic education, and of course that, I have never been to HPU, so all my known information are from online sources. My apologies if my comment offended you :P</p>

<p>Furthermore, I also got accepted to other state universities, such as Penn State. I am also sure that if I apply to UNC branch schools, I will get accepted; however, will the transfer process be easier?</p>

<p>Money is not the very concern of our family, but we are not rich either lol We are just like any middle-class families.</p>

<p>Finally, I have three routes available to me right now.

  1. HPU then UNC. (After working my ass off to get my As)
  2. UNC branch schools then UNC. (Also after working my ass off to get As)
  3. Penn State University Park then just go to a tier 1 graduate school (Of course, working my ass off, besides from just having fun)</p>

<p>Which would be the best? THANK YOU once again!!! :))))))</p>

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<p>Hey it’s says on Princeton review that UNC-Charlotte has a regular app deadline of 07/01. Does that mean the window for applying is still open for the OP? Ik it doesn’t say rolling admissions but it could just be a very late regular decision deadline.</p>

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<p>The best way is to go on their websites, and go to Admission section for the details. It is also the safest way. Moreover, for like US News and some other websites had some false information.</p>

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<p>cmscribe… I’m not saying that he “shouldn’t” or that he won’t be successful if he goes to HPU… I’m simply saying that it more expensive to go to a private school when the state schools can get you to the same place for a fraction of the price. As someone who has to pay for the majority of college myself, this does not seem to make FINANCIAL sense. Just an opinion. </p>

<p>Vicxtorxkim. You have good options in front of you. It really is going to come down to personal preference. Penn State is a very good school, but if you REALLY want to go to UNC I would say option 1 or 2 is the best bet to get you there. Option 2 would be cheaper… option 1 would allow you to go the private school route, which is totally up to you. It sounds like you are determined and ready to work hard, so no matter where you go, you will be successful.</p>

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<p>Thank ALL of you guys so much. I cannot describe my appreciation once again!!!</p>

<p>With the plan of 2+2 of penn state, I might go to a cheaper penn state campus then move on to the main campus, and eventually to a very prestigious grade school.</p>

<p>Thank you guys once again.</p>