UNC honors vs. Dartmouth

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
1

<p>I am an out-of-stater (Virginia) considering UNC (where I would be in the Honors program) and Dartmouth. I love both schools, and it's extremely difficult to choose.</p>

<p>Dartmouth pros: Completely undergrad focused, small, lots of study abroad opportunities, small classes, really motivated and intelligent peers, Ivy league prestige
Dartmouth cons: cold, expensive, I would be one of many with my aspirations and ambitions, far away</p>

<p>UNC pros: close to home, great town, honors status, cheaper, small classes (?- does the honors program have smaller classes?), many motivated and intelligent peers
UNC cons: bigger, 82% in-state student body, not as prestigious</p>

<p>I would really appreciate any and all advice you all have to offer. I love them both a lot and it's realllly hard to choose.</p>

2

<p>Two good choices. Honors classes are small and are usually discussion-based. You can't take all your classes honors of course, and you will still have at least a few big lectures (although, this is probably true at Dartmouth too). </p>

<p>I would say the main difference between UNC and Dartmouth is sheer size. UNC is a lot bigger, with a lot more going on, more student organizations, activities, etc. I think you'll find that it just has a more vibrant atmosphere in general. UNC also will probably seem more laid back compared to the more academically intense atmosphere of Dartmouth. </p>

<p>As you've said Chapel Hill has a lot better weather than Hanover and there's much more to do as well.</p>

3

<p>I went to a very cold, snowy U. back in the 1980's. I've always told my kids: "there are many great places to get a college education without freezing!!!!"
Some people enjoy the cold and snow but I didn't; as a southern girl, the cold weather for so much of the year was a burden. As for your decision, in pros you mention Dart's study abroad program, however you didn't mention UNC's TOP rated study abroad program in UNC's pro's. The Honor's program itself, also offers some very good study abroad opps. and most of the honor's kids my d has talked with said that they were able to go without any additional cost. My d has already made her decision and will be a UNC freshman in Honors this fall; she visited UNC a few weeks ago and spent the night with an honors student. She had a great time. She is an in-state student but was seeking a lot of diversity and was thrilled to discover so many super intelligent, interesting and friendly oos' as well as top notch very diverse in-state students in the honors program. She too is very intelligent and ambitious with several great college offers to choose from. She feels like she is getting the best of both worlds at UNC, the advantages of a great large U. plus honors program offers small U type classes with diverse, ivy league quality students. As competitive as UNC has become you will find top notch students throughout the U.<br>
Have you visited and/or talked with any honors students at UNC? If not I highly recommend at least emailing or calling the honors program office and they will get an honor's student with similar interests as your's to call and/or email you. The communication and the overnight visit with people already in honors at UNC was a big help for my d in making her final decision. Best Wishes!</p>

4

<p>I attended Dartmouth and my brother goes to UNC. I've probably spent a month of my life on the UNC campus. UNC is an AWESOME school, but it is a state school (albeit one of the best). You have to seek out opportunities wheras at Dartmouth things are thrown on you. For example, at Dartmouth grants are everywhere and most students know how to access them. If you want $10K for your thesis research, its not hard to find an commonplace. If you want to fly to Florida for a conference at Dartmouth its much easier to get this. If you want to do study abroad, 2/3 of Dartmouth students do one so you'll likely do it too. </p>

<p>My brother loves UNC and I've loved it too. But if you ask him I think he'd easily say that you'll get much more out of Dartmouth. Dartmouth excels and differentiates itself even among the Ivies, the undergrad focus is absolutely incredible.</p>

5

<p>I don't know anything about Dartmouth, except I went up there once to go skiiing-- about 30 years ago. I still talk about it to this day, and refer to it as "the time I went skiing up near Dartmouth and nearly froze to death." My family is sick of hearing that story, but that has got to be one of the coldest places on earth. I thought I'd never get warm again. </p>

<p>And then there are the people out there who believe that no Ivy is worth it-- the money or otherwise--unless it's HYP. Seriously. </p>

<p>In answer to your question about the UNC honors classes-- yes, they are small. As someone else mentioned, the study abroad opportunities are pretty amazing at UNC, where study abroad is encouraged, and the range of places to do so seems to be growing. Oh, and I'm 99.9% positive you will find equally "motivated and intelligent peers" at UNC, too. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

6

<p>Lol, it can be cold up there but most people bundle up. As for the HYP or nothing camp, I completely disagree. In face I would argue given the grad placement and quality of recruiters that there is not that much difference between HYP and the other Ivies. Dartmouth excels at everything undergrad, I even saw a strong difference between my first college (Columbia) and Dartmouth.</p>

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<p>slipper: I'm not in that camp myself, but I thought I'd offer it up as one more issue the OP can consider. </p>

<p>That I didn't have the right winter gear for skiiing up there 30 years ago is quite possible, but I have to say, I have never been anywhere that cold-- before or since. Southerners just have thin blood, I think. We're not made to handle the cold. ;)</p>

8

<p>haha very true Jack.. I was in North Carolina this past week and it was 70 degrees. Needless to say my Texan self was freeeezing!</p>

9

<p>One other thing to consider is the Dartmouth Plan, which is based on a quarter system rather than semesters. You start MUCH later in the year and also finish much later which makes getting summer jobs more challenging if that is important to you especially based on the added cost of attendance. Additionally, you MUST stay on campus for the summer quarter your sophomore year which eliminates one opportunity for income.</p>

<p>My S really liked Dartmouth when we were in the process. Hanover is a really quaint town and perhaps the quintessential New England college town. It is very remote, very cold in the winter and it snowed on commencement several years ago. The day we visited it was 98 and there is NO air conditioning. The quarter plan finally was enough for him to drop it down his list. He has several classmates at Dartmouth and a number of boys from his school are there as well, because of that I can tell you for certain that the social scene at Dartmouth is far more dependent on alcohol than at UNC and unless you are really an outdoor person, the winter activities are very limited.</p>

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<p>how much will you be paying at each?</p>

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<p>I don't think you can beat the study abroad opportunities at UNC. Once again, UNC-CH's study abroad program was ranked #1 among public universities with over 300 study abroad programs in more than 70 countries. Also, one advantage of the UNC study abroad program for oos students: The tuition and living expenses for study abroad semesters are approximately equal to that of in-state tuition, room and board.</p>

12

<p>I have one brother who was an '05 at Dartmouth, and one who's an '08 at UNC.</p>

<p>I would not encourage anyone to go to Dartmouth. The caliber of students at Ivy Leagues just isn't what it's cracked up to be. It wasn't difficult for my brother to find interesting people at Dartmouth, but certainly not all of them were into their studies. He encountered a number of people who said things like, "Well, I'm into my Ivy, and I'm graduating. Who cares about my GPA?" and did virtually nothing but party for four years. I'm not blind enough to think that Chapel Hill doesn't have its fair share of partiers, but I do think it's a little silly when people assume Ivies are filled with nothing but genius activists. I'm not saying the original poster said this, at all, so please don't misconstrue me there! :)</p>

<p>Also, the weather isn't something to take lightly. The Cold isn't the only problem in New Hampshire. It's also quite dark. My brother, along with a lot of his classmates, became depressed every winter at Dartmouth just because of the lack of sunshine, the wind, and the cold. Hanover certainly is a beautiful town in the summer. Sadly, that's not when the majority of your courses will take place.</p>

<p>The final con is the D Plan. This was my brother's least favorite element of his time at Dartmouth. I'm not really knowledgeable about what the D Plan entails, but I know my brother hated it because he was isolated from the friends he made his freshman semester. I wish I could remember more about it.</p>

<p>At the end of the day, my brother was a little happy at Dartmouth and didn't have trouble finding a job in computer science, but many of his friends are still struggling to find work (especially the ones with English degrees) two years out of college. He has plenty of nice things to say about Dartmouth, but he always says that if he could go back and do it over again, he'd go to Stanford.</p>

<p>Chapel Hill does not have the feeling of a public school in terms of its opportunities. It has the number one public study abroad program in the country, has plenty of money to aid students with their research (at Scholarship Day they went on for a long time about the plethora of grants they give out), and its facilities are constantly being renovated. At the same time, it has what I love about public schools - socioeconomic diversity, and the kids there are generally humble and energetic.</p>

<p>I don't mean to diminish your acceptance into Dartmouth, because it does have fantastic opportunities and it's, as you know, very difficult to get in to. And if you do choose to go to Dartmouth, I'm sure you'll find wonderful people there and somehow deal with the winters. Maybe you'll take up snowboarding and become the next Sean White. Anything can happen!</p>