<p>I'm from virginia--I've visited both UVA and UNC and I can't decide which one will be better for me! Price isn't a factor because we (my twin sister and I) got aid from UNC that brings the cost down to UVA's...I spent a weekend at UVA with a friend last month and had fun, naturally, but the Greek life was really intense (there was an underlying feeling of high school rules and regulations in social situations). I know that campus is 30% greek and I don't know if I like that. I know UNC's is not as large...also I'm interested in journalism and UNC has a great journalism program. But UVA also has a great paper--I'm not sure which experience would be more beneficial. A lot of people tell me that North Carolina people are nicer than NOVA kids...but does it just matter what group of friends you hang out with? What is there to do in Chapel Hill? Charlottesville has a lot going on, but it isn't a city or anything. If anyone else had trouble deciding between two schools like these--your feedback would be great! Thanks!</p>
<p>For journalism, I would recommend UNC. UNC’s student paper, The Daily Tar Heel, is consistently rated as one of the best student-run papers in the nation. Also, Chapel Hill is a better college town and is located close to two major cities-Raleigh and Durham-in the fastest growing area in the country. There is always stuff to do in and around UNC, and I think the school spirit is much better at UNC as well.</p>
<p>UNC’s J-School is definitely better than that of UVA, not to mention the DTH.
Another factor that you should take into consideration is athletics.
In UVA you will never expect your men’s basketball team to take the Final Four as something granted.</p>
<p>Bump (10 char)</p>
<p>i dont even think that UVA has a journalism program, so if that is what you wanna do why not go to one that is Nationally recognized for how good their journalism school and newspaper are.
I think it would look alot better if you are looking for a job in journalism or going to a grad. j-school to graduate with a Journalism degree from Chapel hill, rather than a english degree from UVA</p>
<p>Wow–if you’re a journalism major this shouldn’t even be a question. Carolina’s J-school is fabulous (ranked in the top three in the country consistently), and the Daily Tar Heel wins national awards on a regular basis. Our professors in the journalism school flat-out tell us that our resumes float to the top of the pile just for having UNC-Chapel Hill on them. </p>
<p>If you have any specific questions about journalism, feel free to ask on here or PM me–I’m a journalism major, and I’ve taken several courses so far.</p>
<p>These schools are both really outstanding. </p>
<p>My daughter is deciding between these 2 schools and we recently visited both. I went to graduate business school at UVA and my undergrad was in engineering which has an impact on my view.</p>
<p>UNC has a great feel and has a really well laid out campus. Great red brick buildings with lots of open spaces. Its very hilly.The state is spending large sums to expand and improve the facilities and there is quite a bit of construction going on. Being a bit farther south it is definitely a few degrees warmer than UVA. It has a really great mix of restaurants, shops and stores downtown. With over 80% of the students coming from North Carolina, it definitely has a southern feel. Academically, the school attracts the best and the brightest but my sense is the student body is not as high caliber or accomplished as at UVA, but not dramatically so. Depending on the student, that may not be completely negative. Part of my view of lesser caliber is that the undergrad engineer program has less than 50 students. It’s hard for me to take a school to seriously that doesn’t have a significant engineering track for students. Apparently engineering is farmed out to the other NC schools.</p>
<p>The UVA campus has the same stately red brick buildings and is also generally warm and pleasant. The downtown corner is convenient for food and bar hopping but is fairly small. There are a number of very nice shopping centers close by with greater variety of shopping options. A car definitely helps. While there is definitely a southern feel to UVA, it is less so since many of the students are from densely populated Northern Virginia which is more of a melting pot. With 15-20% of students enrolled as engineers, the school has a different social and academic feel. My bias is that UVA is an ever so slightly better academic value. The undergraduate business school is extremely well regarded. A big plus for me is when you tell people you graduated from UVA, you don’t have to tell them what campus. ;-).</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>
My experience, usually, has been that when I tell people I go to UNC, is that it’s understood that it’s UNC-Chapel Hill. Generally, when people around here are talking about a branch campus, the city/location is denoted at the end (UNCG=UNC-Greensboro, UNCC=UNC-Charlotte, etc.). If you say “UNC”, most people assume that it’s UNC-Chapel Hill (although technically that could refer to all sixteen or so of the state universities in North Carolina, but most of the time that is referred to as “the UNC system”).</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s just my experience with name recognition.</p>
<p>When I tell people I’m going to attend UNC-Chapel Hill, they’re impressed. I think that says a lot to the school’s calibur and prestige. In NC, it seems UNC is almost more highly regarded than UVa, although I think they are at least on par with one another. </p>
<p>The Engineering school doesn’t matter if your D is majoring in Journalism. She should definitely choose UNC for this–2nd J-School in the nation with an award-winning newspaper. What more could a J-major want? :)</p>
<p>im trying to make the same choice between unc and uva. what would be the best option for a bio major? (pre med track)</p>
<p>From what I hear, UNC would be. UVA seems to be better in the humanities and UNC seems to be better in the sciences.</p>
<p>I suggest you actually do some real research instead of listening to the kids on here (some who haven’t even attended either school yet) saying stuff like “Now what I’ve heard”, or “what my dad’s friend who knew someone whose uncle was a dog trainer for a UNC student, said:…”</p>
<p>There are very valid reasons for choosing either school, you aren’t going to find out about them by asking biased, and mainly clueless High school kids and college freshmen on here.</p>
<p>Jwlstn, why do you feel you need to be insulting?</p>
<p>I’m going by rankings and can provide links, if needed. They wanted to read the opinions of others…you should keep the harsh comments to yourself. And, why wouldn’t college freshmen know about their college? That makes no sense.</p>
<p>Normally, I’d recommend that Virginia students go to UVA because of the cost difference. But the aid seems to eliminate that consideration.</p>
<p>In that case, UNC has an extremely strong journalism program AND an amazing college newspaper - so I think the balance shifts to UNC.</p>
<p>
…that’s precisely why I said “what I’ve heard.” I’m not offering a definitive opinion, just “what I’ve heard.” There are many resources to help HS seniors decide where to go to college, and CC is one of them. Since it’s online, I’m assuming that the OP knows to take any and everything they hear on this website with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>You guys can post whatever you want, I just think the OP should know how ridiculous it is to listen to kids who are just as clueless as he/she is. I’m sorry but if you haven’t even been to college yet it’s pretty silly for you to advise anyone on whether they should attend your school. </p>
<p>The worst thing about CC is that the mods don’t actively remove posts by kids who obviously have no idea of what they are talking about, it’s unfortunate that someone should come on here and have to read advice from some kid who hasn’t even left his parents house yet. </p>
<p>I should point out I’m not saying that everyone’s advice in this thread is useless, I just take issues with the kids posting ignorant speculation based on what they’ve heard in high school.</p>
<p>The fact is that there is not a huge difference between UNC and UVa. It’s not like deciding between Yale and UMich or something. It would be stupid for you to choose UNC over UVa unless you are getting great financial aid, or if there is something specifically at UNC that UVa doesn’t have. </p>
<p>Everyone cites the statistics about how UVa is more greek than UNC but the fact is that greek life is pretty big here too, I doubt it will make a huge difference in your social life at either school though.</p>
<p>Jwlstn, sounds like you would rather be a UVa student than a UNC student.</p>
<p>I’m not basing every opinion of mine on hearsay, but on rankings, student reviews online, and the known quality of UNC. If this person is applying to J-school, then I think they should definitely choose UNC, as it is simply known that their J-school is at the top of the bunch. Do you disagree?</p>