<p>From a parent's perspective, Heather's experience sounds familiar. Our d is a first year OOS student at UNC. She tends to be a little reserved. However, when we were in Chapel Hill for parents weekend, everywhere we went, she ran into a friend or an acquaintance. It seems impossible not to meet and befriend folks at UNC. The school may be large but it doesn't feel like it at all. Also, she has had no difficulty getting to know her professors. Classes tended to be 20 or under and those that were larger had recitations.</p>
<p>Probably the only two negatives that my son has mentioned is the lack of available parking (which is not unusual for many college towns) and the large classes. I think next semester will be better for the class size issue. This semester he had mainly courses to fulfill "perspectives" and the lectures were very large. Yes, they had recitations, but that was only with TA and some of those were not very good. Next semester he will have more "major" classes and foresees those as being smaller.</p>
<p>Should a kid with 12 APs be able to bypass most of the huge classes? The parking is not going to be an issue since he'll be leaving the car back here for his sister. I guess a bike is a good idea though. His AP scores are all 5s thus far with the exception of AP Euro (4).</p>
<p>One of the things no one has addressed is if graduates from UNC get into the best grad schools. Any comments?</p>
<p>UNC kids get into great grad schools. Take a look at Harvard/UVA Law for example. If you pull up the profile for which schools are the biggest feeders, you'll see that Chapel Hill, along with UVA, CAL, Mich, UT-Austin etc, are among the biggest public feeders to HLS. Same goes for UVA's first year class profile. If you do well at Carolina, you'll get into a top program - no question about it.</p>
<p>As to the original post, here's my 2 cents as an OOS person. UNC good: top kids, laid back kids, v. good campus, fun social life, terrific weather, breadth of programs. The wider band of "talent" at UNC (compared to Princeton or Duke) is actually a plus: less ego, more laid back, more fun. The top 20% of the class is as good as it gets academically, and many turned down nods to HYPS etc. The bottom 20%, while not as academically talented as the avg kid at an elite private, is still bright, did well in school and probably pretty fun to hang out with. Too many dorks can spoil a stew!</p>
<p>UNC bad: 82% in-state. The Gen Assy needs to get off their behinds and rescind the rule mandating the in-state %. A 34/66 mix OOS/IS will make Chapel Hill a more lively and interesting place to attend school. The campus can seem very big and overwhelming - one needs to find their niche and build a world around a core group of friends and activities. But once you crack this nut, you'll be in good shape.</p>
<p>And FYI - I think Duke is a v. good school: small, elite, rigorous and has a beautiful campus. same for UVA. Duke, UNC and UVA rule the South.</p>
<p>kay--great points. And, as you can see from a post on the "minority thread" here, this past year's incoming class was closer to 80% in-state, not 82%. NC passed a legislation in recent years that gave all OOS merit/athletic scholarship awardees, in-state status. In part, that loosened the restrictions on the 82% in-state students, effectively allowing more out-of-state students, by giving them that in-state status if on a scholarship.</p>
<p>The other issue is, you have to look at how much money the taxpayers of NC pour into the UNC system. The NC taxpayers and the legislation are huge supporters of UNC-- one reason the costs to attend are so low. You also need to look at that in comparison to how much other states support their public university systems. There's a huge difference, and that's why other states can and do take in more OOS. Their costs are usually higher, too, for both IS and OOS than the UNC campuses. Look at the mission statement for UNC, too. The General Assembly will never "get off their behinds and rescind the rule mandating the in-state %" - at least not in our lifetimes. </p>
<p>Do you really believe that a 34/66 mix, which is only 14% more OOS students, would make Chapel Hill "a more lively and interesting place to attend school?" I don't see it. Also, you need to look from where UNC-CH draws the majority of its students (Charlotte and the Triangle area), which have seen tremendous growth and influx of people from all over the country (and the world) in the last decade or more. Not everybody who is "in-state" is actually from NC.</p>
<p>Also, if that percentage ever changed, you can say good-by forever to relatively low tuition rates-- for both IS and OOS.</p>
<p>I agree with all your other excellent points, though. :)</p>
<p>Maximus, I would guess that the 12 APs would decrease the number of big classes. The classes my son had this semester, taken to meet some kind of grad. requirement were things like Anthropology, Drama, Native American History. His two other classes were more like 40 students.</p>
<p>As Kay observed, he also likes the more laid back attitude.</p>
<p>I also attended Guilford College in my senior year of high school (like cloying) and I do have to say her comments are spot on. It was a little bit strange coming from a place with so much personal attention to a school with 10 times the population. At the same time, it was amazing to me that just a week or two ago, an old professor of mine recognized me and stopped to say hello, even though the class I had with her was 300+ students. Speaking on class sizes, I am not in the Honors program or anything similar, but I've only had 3 huge classes in 3 semesters here. That may have something to do with all the credit I had coming in, which is something to think about, but those three classes were introductory history and anthropology. (In other words, Gen. Ed. requirements.) Other than those, the largest class I can remember having was probably closer to 40 students. The smallest class I've had was 13.</p>
<p>I'd also like to address the idea that UNC students don't have money or opportunities for research. Even in unpopular majors, there is still plenty of research money going around. I know several people doing highly unusual research that I would never believe was getting funded if I hadn't seen the results of their work myself.</p>
<p>The social life is vibrant here, and there's a lot to supplement your education with if you choose to do so: organizations, speakers, libraries, performing arts events, etc. I also agree that safety is a big concern. I was at a conference at Duke (at a hotel nearby) and I got manhandled by a guy. The manager refused to call the cops, and by the time they responded to <em>our</em> call he was long gone and they were apathetic. In Chapel Hill I feel reasonably certain that the opposite would've happened. To put it bluntly, I feel relatively safe walking down Franklin St. at 3am, but not walking around in Durham at 7pm. But I'm not sure how it compares to other "Public Ivies". </p>
<p>The bad about Chapel Hill... I really have to think about it a lot, to be honest. Parking is a huge, huge issue, and permits are so expensive that I know plenty of people who would rather rack up $50 tickets than pay for one, even if they happened to be eligible. (You're not, as a freshman.) Unless you're really lucky or apply for theme or unpopular housing, you're very likely to end up on the far end of campus, often without air conditioning, as a freshman. (Though they are constantly renovating and now an entire floor of HoJo has a/c!) Organizations suffer from members being spread too thin because they want to do too much. Out of state students who chose to come to UNC but don't try to engage with NC in general annoy me. It might feel clique-ish at times what with the many people who went to high school in the Triangle and still hang out together, or those who went to NCSSM, but I think that's pretty easy to overcome. I think that you can meet whatever kind of people you prefer to meet here.</p>
<p>Where's what I thought was interesting though. I always thought I got Kenan because I totally lucked out. But I learned this through admissions ambassadors - </p>
<p>75-80% of incoming first years actually rank South Campus as one of their preferences. It's not that a lot of people get stuck there, generally, they ask for it. They think that South Campus is where the first years are, so apply there, so it ends up that that's where the first years are. I think that's kind of funny in a way. I have friends on South Campus who love it and say they wouldn't've lived anywhere else, but I do have to say that I'd live here 10 times out of 10 on North Campus. My hall has plenty of first year girls, we're so close to Franklin, and class. The AC is definitely a plus, as are the hard wood floors. Why am I rambling about this?</p>
<p>Anyway, just wanted to put that in there because that stat sort of surprised me.</p>
<p>I requested to be on south campus b/c thats where the freshman are. Its true, south campus is a hassle when u want to go to the library or something on saturday or sunday afternoon because the bus service is usually very limited on weekend afternoons....other than south campus is not really that far from middle campus. Kenan is still pretty far from where most of my classes are, though not as south as ehringhaus or hojo.</p>
<p>For those of you in the know, how would you rank the desireability of dorms for an OOS male freshman?</p>
<p>Cloying- I was in my friends room in Kenan yesterday.. and I must say I drooled in envy. Sure beats the heck out of Hojo... I am def. living in that community next year!</p>
<p>Maximum- Based on luck, you'll either get a direction dorm (which are new) OR ehaus, craige or hojo. Ehaus and Craige are pretty terrible. Contray to popular opinion, hojo isn't that bad at all... I actually like my room haha</p>
<p>If you were visiting the second floor in one of the cove-y sort of rooms I may have met you!</p>
<p>cloying/ann - my d is on second floor Kenan! (Loves it btw.)</p>
<p>Weirdly enough, I was visiting a cove-y room on the second floor... I don't suppose you were the girl with the pizza haha?</p>
<p>Idmom- I'm envious of your daughter.. Besides Cobb, the Kenan community has the nicest dorms on campus! I secured a room in Alderman next year.. Must say I'm excited :)</p>
<p>Hmm. No pizza, sadly. I met someone in the room and had to leave because I was on the phone with my mom. My friend who lives there brought some girls from ADPi over, though. Her name starts with a K. I also know another girl in a covey sort of room (on the Alderman side) whose name starts with an M! And she'll be my new roomie next semester.</p>
<p>And ldmom, I think I know who your daughter is! If so I was talking to her roomie yesterday and I may hit your daughter up for some crocheting lessons. I could be wrong though. :)</p>
<p>Small world, eh? I was visiting the ADpi friend with a K and I think you met my friend J with long blonde hair!</p>
<p>:o! K is one of my closest friends and that girl is CRAZY. I absolutely love her. I went with her to the Tacky Christmas party by ADPi a couple weeks ago, maybe I met you there. :)</p>
<p>AH! I LOVE K! What a small small world! haha unf. due to circumstances, I was not able to go to tacky christmas.. but I do recall seeing picturesss of yall. Just added you on facebook :)</p>
<p>If anyone thinks UNC is too big I'd like to cite this as evidence that it is sometimes crazily small. I swear I know everyone in the first year class through someone else.</p>
<p>cloying - That has to be her, the little knitter! lol! She would also be the one always making queso in her little mini-crockpot. </p>
<p>You want to hear a small world story. My d is one of the very few from Texas at UNC, first ever in her district of about 100,000 students to attend actually. Last summer, one of her good UNC friends met a boy from our h.s. at an internship and they are now dating. Turns out he is a very good h.s. buddy of my d's who attends college in yet another state. It is the wildest coincidence. (She hopes the UNC friend will come to visit the boyfriend here over the holiday so they can all get together.)</p>
<p>I will now have to bow out of this thread...if my d even gets a whiff of me talking to someone she might know...I'm in trouble...lol!</p>