UNC Honors Program vs. Duke (pre-Med)

<p>Well, I'm considering both and I can't decide whether its worth the money to go to Duke, especially since the honors program at UNC will provide some of the perks that come along with going to Duke. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>You really want Carolina people to weigh in on this with Duke?</p>

<p>lol thats why i posted in both duke and unc forums</p>

<p>UNC honors program is the better deal...I am biased because I will be attending Carolina and am just in general a fan...however, the unc honors program is just as prestigous as duke, just as good an education, with more perks as it is honors but for a much lower cost. If you were deciding between Duke and UNC (with no honors) i would say Duke, but since you were accepted into honors which is a great accomplishment, you should go with UNC</p>

<p>yea i figured that unc honors program would be just as "presitigious" as duke...thank you kkeefe</p>

<p>besides you would have much better basketball to watch next year at UNC ;^)</p>

<p>Kkeefe: My S has been accepted in the Honors program at UNC. Could you expand on some of the "perks" that entails. Thanks.</p>

<p>LEDad: Here's the info from the website, which you've probably already seen; if not, this can tell you a little more about the honors program:
<a href="http://www.honors.unc.edu/honors.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.honors.unc.edu/honors.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>UNC chooses 200 freshman every year to go into honors; the classes are small, seminar-style, and cover a lot of discipines. They are fairly rigorous, I gather. Since they're self-selective, the students who are in these classes really want to be in them, so--of course-- lots of engagement and discussion going on. I think the only downside (from my daughter's perspective) is that she sometimes found it difficult to fit in the honors classes she wanted, simply because there were often other courses she needed, and the timing wasn't always quite right to fit in the honors courses she preferred. It's a great and worthwhile program, though. Again, I think the biggest advantages are the small class sizes, excellent faculty, and the quality of the student body within those classes. That said, many of the regular (non-honors) classes are equally impressive, in both quality of faculty and students as well--especially once a student gets into higher level classes. (Just relayed information here and second hand knowledge . . . hope it helps. )</p>

<p>LEDad</p>

<p>One other BIG benefit is the ability to request an honors roommate which also usually results in placement in one of the newer and nicer dorms. I would highly recommend your S taking advantage of this perk. These are the directional dorms like Craige North, Ehringhaus South as well as Horton (formerly Hinton James North) and Hardin (formerly Morrison South).They are suite style with two rooms sharing a bath and the rooms are quite large by comparison to many others.</p>

<p>Duke is a much better "brand name" school than UNC no matter what the perks you get there. It depends what you want to do, if whatever you want to pursue after college weighs your undergraduate institution highly then Duke is a much better choice.</p>

<p>UNC honors is comparable to an ivy league education. and while (as stoneimmaculate said) duke does have a good "brand name," UNC does as well.</p>

<p>i have a friend that goes to duke, and is pre-med is well. and what it basically comes down to is this:</p>

<p>it doesn't really matter if you go to a brand name school or not. if you make C's throughout your entire school career at duke, it's going to be harder to get in to a med school than if you make B's at carolina, or A's at NC State.</p>

<p>Clearly, the schools are almost equal in academics. is it really worth extra thousands of dollars to go to a slightly better name brand school? i'd rather put that money towards med-school.</p>

<p>furthermore, i'm pretty sure honors courses are curved in that, if you make ~88/87, it's counted as an A (or, i guess, A-). not too big of a help, but it'll definitely help. that's just what i've heard, and i'm not 100% sure. just osmething to think about.</p>

<p>I didn't get accepted in the honors program u all r talking about.Does that mean I can never join the program?</p>

<p>Sunnyrain: You can apply for honors, either in your second semester freshman year, or just before your sophomore year (can't remember which). Check out that link provided in a post above, and that should tell you.</p>

<p>not true about honors curve being an A (or A-) 87 or 88 would be a B+</p>

<p>My son is transferring to UNC this fall as a junior. The way I understand honors is that if you are not accepted into program upon entrance as a freshman, you can still take honors classes as space available.</p>

<p>I'm sure that the "honors" classes are not weighted--agree with eadad.</p>

<p>That's correct; honors courses are not weighted, and--yes--you can take courses if you're not in the honors program, though space is probably fairly limited.</p>