<p>UNC is a great school, but certainly not one for everyone. I was an OOS student who applied to UNC, was accepted, and attended for one year. After my freshmen year, I got out of there as soon as I could. I wish I had never wasted a whole year there. It just wasn't the school for me. So...for anyone who is having doubts or questions - feel free to ask!</p>
<p>What about UNC did you dislike? Did you visit UNC before deciding on it?</p>
<p>I just wonder what prompted you to post that honestly. I mean if you had such a terrible experience there then why come to a forum all about the school?</p>
<p>I'm glad you posted and would like to know what you found you didn't like about UNC.</p>
<p>Yes, I'm considering UNC so it would be helpful if you or any other dissatisfied Heels could elaborate. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>orchid drop. I was accepted and I'm from the Northeast. The fact that I hear that some southerners still call the northern students Yankees is a little scary.</p>
<p>I suppose getting called stupid often because of our accents causes the term "Yankee" to be a southern come-back ... :)</p>
<p>I suppose the Northern stereotying of southerners tends to mitigate us caring about your feelings.</p>
<p>dulce, you're joking, right? You didn't know that? It's one of the reasons I want to get out of the South. And I'm not even a Yankee (worse...I'm a Californian.)</p>
<p>Where's the love?</p>
<p>People at Carolina don't hate on Yankees--those are the State kids :)</p>
<p>or the boston kids... ha</p>
<p>seriously though, what did you dislike about UNC?</p>
<p>well you are in a minority as carolina has a remarkable retention rate from freshman to sophmore year. some 99 percent of freshman return for their sophmroe year....thats more that most universities keep</p>
<p>Hey - </p>
<p>I'm from the north, but it wasn't necessarily the north/south difference that I didn't like. Like I said, most people LOVE UNC, and while there are parts that I liked there, the majority of my experience was not so great. Just off the top of my head, here are some of the reasons I didn't like UNC...</p>
<p>1) I had very few classes that was actually taught by a professor. Granted, I was a freshman, so I accepted the fact that I was going to be taught by some TAs, but the VAST MAJORITY of my classes - even those with mostly sophomore/junior students - were TA taught. If I'm going to be paying this already over-priced OOS tuition, I was at least hoping to have professors teach classes. </p>
<p>2) I took a biology lab that was led by an UNDERGRADUATE SOPHOMORE. Yes, he was younger than half of the students in the class. He was not prepared at all to teach the lab, yet he had full power to grade all of our lab reports and exams. That was very shocking and dissapointing. These academic problems were my main issue. </p>
<p>3) There is nothing to do on the weekends if you don't like to party heavily. I lived in Craige, and there was SERIOUSLY nothing to do except party. On campus events were slim, and Franklin St. is not that exciting. I guess I was hoping for a college town that would be more accomodating to college students. Unfortunatly, there is not much to do at all. </p>
<p>4) As an OOS student, it's very inconvienient to travel. For some reason, the school chooses to close down the dorms BEFORE the last final is over. For some people, like myself, who had to take a 5pm-7pm final on the last day before break - it is certainly NOT helpful for the dorms to close at 6pm. They do let you apply for an extension, but it's a pain and the dorms are obviously deserted. I never understood WHY the dorms are closed before finals are over. Perhaps it's because most people live close by enough to just drive home.</p>
<p>My experience is not in the majority. Like I said, a lot people love it at UNC. I was unlucky and lived in a *<strong><em>ty dorm, with *</em></strong>ty suitemates (although my roomate was great!). As with most large public schools, I felt like a number, and the administration is not very friendly or accommodating. The school spirit is nice though, and it of course has a great reputation. It just wasn't right for me, and I never quite got used to being in the South.</p>
<p>Yeah I've heard bad things about Craige.</p>
<p>I have trouble believing that with around six hundred clubs there isn't anything to do over the weekends if you don't want to party. Even if half of them are inactive. Every time I've visited my brother I've seen a number of things going on around campus, too, which confirms my feeling.</p>
<p>I don't think it's productive or nice to argue with OrchidDrop. He did not fit with UNC and is entitled to his feelings. Maybe he was "wrong" about some things, and maybe some of his bad experiences were his fault, but that isn't really for us to decide, and in the end Orchid didn't feel right anyway, so it's irrelevant. Let's not get sensitive and feel the need to defend UNC.</p>
<p>I think Orchiddrop was pretty tactful. He didn't say that his points were true for everyone. Cloying, you are right, there ARE a lot of things to do at UNC. And I have a hard time believing that Franklin Street is "boring." But, that is the impression Orchiddrop got, and he is entitled to it.</p>
<p>Please don't misconstrue my tone as argumentative. I did not say what I said to belittle the original poster, but because it was also the way I felt. For people who live far away for Chapel Hill and aren't able to visit, these sorts of threads can make or break a school. Though OrchidDrop's other points, in my mind, were completely valid, I have had a different experience than he or she has. I don't think it's fair to kids who can't visit to not present them with a few realities of the same place. I'm sorry if I have offended you, or the original poster, by doing so, as that certainly was not my intention.</p>
<p>I would like to hear present students' experiences with TAs, class sizes and professor availability. My son is considering a transfer to UNC from a school where there are no TAs (except in labs), very small classes, easy availability of prof office hours. These are the things he loves about his present school---what he doesn't like is the social scene--totally Greek. Is he going to have to give up the one to get away from the other?</p>
<p>There is something underlying in orchid's comments that are driving them that don't completely add up. I'll agree that UNC is NOT for everyone, just like Amherst or Dartmouth or Pomona or U of Chicago are not for everyone. But, on the other hand, at UNC the negative comments seem to be far outweighed by the positives. </p>
<p>I know of one person last year on CC from Florida who got to UNC and then wished that they had gone to Miami so they transferred. I happen to know the parents of his former roommate and know that the person was unhappy almost from day one which could have led to him never really try to have a good experience or fit in as well.</p>
<p>I'm suprised that as an OOS student, given the highly competitive nature of admissions, that orchid had the experience with TAs that he/she stated. The fact IS that many if not most OOS students (as well as many in state students) enter UNC with a good number of AP credits, which places them through those entry level classes which are a fact of life at many schools-even Ivies. If you truly want to avoid any contact with a TA, choose a very small liberal arts college but understand going in that the overall undergraduate experience wil also be much different.</p>
<p>I've stated before that my now junior son has had ZERO classes "taught" by a TA and that in fact freshman year, his advanced calculus class was only 55 students and taught by a full professor while his best friend at Penn (Ivy not PSU), taking the same class was one of 300 taught by a non-English speaking TA.</p>
<p>He has had one or two grad asst TA's run a lab section of a hard science class and lead a discussion group in a very popular elective but he also said that the person who led that group was more engaging and a better "teacher" than some tenured prof who might be teaching an undergrad class because he/she had to as a requirement of their position which he has heard from a number of his friends at Yale and other places. In fact, his former HS classmates at Harvard have had far more exposure to TAs in their first two year than he has had.</p>
<p>He was asked by the head of a department to TA for him this year and it was a highly competitive process. He doesn't grade papers or exams and functions to lead discussions in a small group setting. Interestingly this professor insists that the TAs regularly rotate among the discussion groups so that his students can get differing viewpoints and be exposed to the whole of students he has selected to assist him.</p>
<p>I'm not the only person on CC who has regularly commented on the fact that there is far more to do at UNC that isn't solely focused on parties and drinking as is the case at many schools so I am really puzzeled by the comments about "nothing to do." </p>
<p>If anyone on the UNC threads needs information about life at UNC and in Chapel Hill there are plenty of regular posters who are current students and parents of current students. I am certain that they will give you honest answers to your concerns.</p>
<p>Sorry, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but I had to laugh at the comments fearing that being from the north brands you as a "yankee." This might be the case at somewhere in the "deep south" like Ole Miss, Alabama or even Tennessee, but at UNC, this couldn't be further from the truth. UNC and Chapel Hill are the most liberal spots in North Carolina and given the fact that the state has had such tremendous growth, especially in the research triangle, that the number of transplanted northerners who now reside in North Carolina not only greatly impacts the overall diversity of the state but also impacts the backgrounds of many of the in-state students as well who were born and often spent much of their lives somewhere else before their family was transferred to North Carolina.</p>