<p>jbruner17: With your current attitude, I think you would absolutely hate it at UNC (and everyone would probably hate you). Frankly, I think they might not like you at an Ivy, either. I'm actually surprised you bothered posting this little "dilemma." What was the point again? </p>
<p>Have no idea what your background is, other than your transfer credits, but good luck with all your aspirations. Maybe an Ivy can "polish" you up--you know--to prepare you for when you get to be a big shot on the national political scene (speaking of uphill battles). ;) Yeah . . . good luck with that, by the way.</p>
<p>doctorb: You . . . oh, never mind. It's just not worth arguing with you.</p>
<p>jbruner: I forgot to ask. What is your own "special hook?" I know it's not diplomacy, so what is it? I'm dying to know.</p>
<p>doctorb: After re-reading your post, I will just add that there are a huge number of students/people out there-- all over the place-- that don't have a "prayer of getting in" an Ivy-- just look at the numbers they reject every year. Of course, there are also plenty who don't even apply, or turn them down to go elsewhere. As far as the "intellectual experience" of Dartmouth . . . isn't that the school after which the Animal House movies were patterned, based on the writer's experiences in a frat there?</p>
<p>Wow, relax! I didn't mean to be undiplomatic..I suppose I should work on that.</p>
<p>I was just a little worried that people who moved at a much slower pace than me in school were getting into UNC on mainly academic merit. </p>
<p>Rereading what I said, I didn't come off correctly at all. I don't look down on people who move slower, or don't go to college, or whatever. I'm not SOCIALLY worried about the student body. I don't restrict myself to friends who are suitably intelligent or something else ridiculous like that. I have lots of friends at UNC and I LOVE the social scene there! I was just worried that the general student body might make some of the classes move more slowly than I'd prefer.</p>
<p>lol...jbruner...you are too funny. Don't worry... I think the UNC classes would clip along just fine for you. </p>
<p>But you may want to work on the social skill thing if your "dream job would be either the head of a huge VC/Private Equity firm or Large Corporation, or very high national political office". </p>
<p>I have to think someone who comes on to a forum and goes out on a limb with uninformed, unresearched, incorrect and insulting remarks about a university and its students & faculty probably doesn't have the EQ for such lofty goals.</p>
<p>Yeah, I definitely regret what I said just from reading it, and seeing your and jack's comments made it a double ouch.
If I had to pick my biggest weakness, it would be that I put my foot in my mouth all the time.</p>
<p>I'm not a mean-spirited person though, and I don't look down on other people! I promise!</p>
<p>My peer group has always been pretty diverse, and I like it that way. I don't want to go to a college surrounded by my identical clones. </p>
<p>Carolina would probably be a different experience than an Ivy where every student living on the campus was an intellectual ace. However, Carolina has it's share of brilliant people and since i'll be mostly taking 300 and 400 level classes I'm sure Carolina won't cause me to flip out and go "RARR I AM SURROUNDED BY MORONS" at any point in time.</p>
<p>I agree...that's not gonna happen. Mainly because UNC is not your typical state university...it's very selective for instate as well as out of state candidates. But also, because not every kid at every Ivy is an 'intellectual ace'. This I know for a fact....lol! </p>
<p>One thing that is important for all prospective college students to realize is this...Ivy (or any highly selective) does not equal success in life. It's a great accomplishment, for most, to gain admission to a highly selective school.... but translating this accomplishment into a profoundly successful 'real world' life requires much, much more than a diploma from the 'right' school. People who make a big impact in this world have it in them to do so whether they attend a tier 3 state school or Harvard. They just intuitively know how to make things happen. So...in addition to worrying about admissions to the right school, try worrying about tapping into that internal 'it' factor as well.</p>
<p>Haha, that post should be sent to all CCers.</p>
<p>I think I'd be happy at Chapel Hill for sure. I just made this thread to weigh the hypothetical pros and cons if the time where I have to decide between Chapel Hill and one of those elite schools ever comes.</p>
<p>At this point, I'd choose Chapel Hill over most of the Ivies, ranking it behind only </p>
<p>Of those, 2 and 3 are reaches and 1 and 4 are slight reaches, whereas Carolina is somewhat of a safety. Going to Carolina is a real possibility for me and I would by no means have a problem with going there.</p>
<p>Princeton, Dartmouth, and UNC are all totally different schools. I visited the latter two extensively during visit days, along with other schools. Oxford I've never visited, same with Stanford.</p>
<p>For what its worth, I'd choose Ivies over UNC (sort of did).</p>
<p>I wanted a large school with many strong liberal arts departments (Especially Econ and Philosophy) that doesn't go through New England winters. Princeton, Stanford, UNC.</p>
<p>Dartmouth is small, but it's very appealing to me based on numbers, personal information from friends and teachers, and my own vague impression. If I get accepted, I'll go visit it.</p>
<p>Oxford is the most appealing academically because my three biggest interests are Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, and their most prestigious major is Joint Honors in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. It'd also be more of a positive than a negative to me to leave the country. Also, my stats are more appealing to the metric Oxford uses than to what an American college would use, with my low point being course grades/class rank/unweighted GPA and my high point being SAT/AP exam scores. I do speech and debate on the national circuit, so I think a big emphasis on an interview would help me out.</p>
<p>One of my biggest positives with Oxford is this:
I get to graduate in 3 years but so does everyone else! I want to have a fun college experience and not rush though, but I also don't want to pay massive tuition over four years and wait a long time to start working.</p>
<p>jbruner, I take that back, you have good reasons for applying to all three. I actually liked Oxford too, but of course its in England so I couldn't go lol. Why not looking at Duke (around same size as Dartmouth, liberal arts schools, warm weather).</p>
<p>Duke doesn't treat it's undergrads very well from what I've heard. Also, they allow a maximum of only TWELVE outside credit hours upon admission. I have more than that at Stanford and Harvard from my Junior year alone. It's very expensive, and it doesn't have an undergraduate philosophy major.</p>
<p>Despite all this, it's a strong school and easier to get into than an Ivy, so I'll probably apply and hope they offer money. They've given great aid even to families with similar incomes to mine.</p>
<p>However, I'd rather go to Carolina because I'd have a ton of credit hours so I could double major, minor, and still take any random thing I found interesting.
For example, I've always wanted to speak arabic but I don't at all. I'd probably have a hard time fitting that into all my existing interests at Duke.</p>
<p>jbrun, Philosophy is a great major at Duke. Its not any more expensive than other schools on your list aside from Carolina. Stanford, Harvard, Duke, Dartmouth, etc. all give only give 2-4 classes worth of credit for AP. </p>
<p>Dartmouth and Duke were my two favorite schools that I got into after thoroughly examining them, so I think that they are pretty similar and both pretty awesome. Also, in terms of how strong its students are and how difficult it is to get in, its about on par with Dartmouth, so you might as well apply.</p>
<p>And of course, Duke (like most elite and pre-professional schools) is an I-bank training ground so it fits there.</p>
<p>I could've sworn the catalogue given to me by the Duke representative said Philosophy was only an undergraduate minor......</p>
<p>I do know for a fact that Stanford and Harvard have more liberal AP policies than Duke. Especially Harvard, whose advance standing program allows students to skip freshmen year entirely (and I have the requirements for this.)</p>
<p>I'm aware that Duke is as expensive as some of those other schools, but it's a guaranteed four years and i was under the impression they didn't have as deep pockets as Ivies.</p>
<p>I like the campus and I know some really cool students there, so I'll go ahead and apply.</p>