<p>The whole idea of perpetuating stereotypes seems a little odd to me. Without directly answering the thread, I'll talk about my experience.</p>
<p>When I was a senior, I thought I knew what I wanted from college. I wanted to go to a liberal school with a reputation for intellectualism, where I could learn and my diploma would earn me respect from people around me and possible post-grad institutions. I did care for friendliness and activism, but more than that, the reputation. I wanted to go somewhere where, upon graduation, everyone would say, did you hear so-and-so is going THERE? Of COURSE SHE IS SHE IS SO SMART!</p>
<p>There really isn't anything wrong with that, except that reputation these days is full of crap. Honestly. Sometimes reading stuff like this makes me sick - all senior year you get your shoes signed by the students below you in high school hoping to learn something, their parents, the people in your community, etc. Then you show up to college, anywhere in America, and you're a little fish in a big sea. As you should be.</p>
<p>Everyone starts off college lost and scared, recognizing that the institution they picked may be a little different than what they imagined - no matter where they are - Harvard, Guilford College, Ohio State, UNC. I feel like, at least for me and a lot of my friends, the first semester of college is spent largely getting to know what you signed up for. I knew the Carolina I had <em>visited</em>, then it was time to <em>live</em> there. This was exaggerated when my parents moved to Florida, essentially making me out of state when it came to wanting to visit home.</p>
<p>Carolina, at my high school, was not the bright shiny university in the sky. It was known as an easy school to get into so long as your grades were solid. Granted, my high school is now ranked 17th in the country, but I think this is a common perception among good high schools in North Carolina. UNC was safe. People would say, "That school is huge, you'll just be a number...It's filled with average North Carolina students...that's what sucks when you go to a public school."</p>
<p>And yes, it did take some adjusting for me. I wasted too many nights first semester in frat houses, unaware that there were tons of places where I'd actually <em>enjoy</em> spending my time. I met some out of staters who were totally full of themselves and dismissive to me when they found out I was from Greensboro, NC, only to see them get their first Cs or Ds in Econ 101 (ha-ha) and quickly shut up.</p>
<p>First semester wraps up, and everyone realizes they weren't as active as they were in high school - people had abandoned what they were once interested in. Then, like some sort of surge, everyone starts getting involved... And keeps getting involved... And keeps getting involved... Until your facebook feed is just a string of benefit events and fundraising bar nights and 5ks and Vote for so-and-so for whatever-this-is, and of course, the sport-related status updates, it's incredible.</p>
<p>This, I know, is not the case at every school. My friends at small liberal arts colleges don't get to take obscure courses, say, in linguistics, or even take some of the languages that are offered here at UNC. I take that for granted all the time. They don't get the speakers that we have on campus CONSTANTLY. They don't have an intramural soccer season with over 2,000 students involved. Man!</p>
<p>So if I could add in my experience of Chapel Hill students in stereotype form, I'd say that it's a school of all kinds of demographics and view points (though generally liberal, and also friendly and open minded), who work hard in school and even harder to realize their goals. People don't shove their intellectualism down your throat, but on the other side, you'd be surprised by how bright the people here are, despite the fact that they decided against going to a private school.</p>