Hey everyone! I transferred to Carolina from an NC Community College in Fall 2018 as an EXSS major. As the application deadline approaches, I just want to be a resource for students applying this year and answer questions about the transfer process, what my first semester here was like and any other general questions regarding the University and my experiences so far.
This is not a chance me thread, so please don’t focus your questions on that. I am no admissions staff member so I really have no say in your chances. I can only refer you to past admissions stats on the admissions website or give you anecdotal reports on some transfers I know.
Also, feel free to message me personally if you don’t feel like asking your question here.
Coming from an in-state community college, the transition was very difficult at first. I had multiple adjustments to make. I am living on-campus for my first year as I was struggling to find a 1-bedroom apartment for a reasonable price near campus. Another transition was getting used to taking buses everywhere and not having access to my car (on campus at least) unless I took the bus. Parking is somewhat of a dilemma. It is a lottery system to get on campus spots, otherwise the bus will be the best option. On weekends, parking on campus is fair game unless it’s a reserved spot.
As far as the transfer experience goes, I felt like they had many informational events in the week before FDOC discussing a lot of the topics transfers need to hear. I would encourage any admitted transfer to go to these events to not only learn more about the transition they are about to embark upon, but also to meet some new transfers and connect. There are also transfer ambassadors which are enrolled transfers from previous years who can help guide you and talk you through any issues you have in the transition.
The STEM courses, at least the ones I have taken and am in progress of taking at Carolina are quite a bit more difficult than community college, which is to be expected. Nothing crazy, but for entry level science courses such as CHEM 101, BIOL 101 and PHYS 114, the exam difficulty is pretty high and counts for a large portion of your final grade. This isn’t always the case, STEM courses here are no joke. @UNCISMYDREAM
I wanna do the exact same major and am a community college student! How was the transition and when did you find out you got in? Also, did you live on campus or off?
The academic transition was pretty difficult in the beginning. I had to reform study habits as what I used in commmunity college wasn’t getting the job done at Carolina. For the classes I was taking, I had to do a substantially greater amount of reading. Time management is one of the most important skills that you can have coming into the transition. In community college, I found that I was able to put off assignments at times because the load wasn’t as demanding. That definitely does not work here, procrastination is not sustainable if you want to do well, at least in much own experience. Luckily there are so many resources on campus that are there for you to utilize. Some of these include the learning and writing center for tutoring, free peer tutoring for over 100 different courses from 6-8 PM, CAPS for mental health, and pretty defent office hours offered by professors/TAs. @UNCISMYDREAM
I found out on April 6th, 2018 that I was accepted. There was no explicit email or notification that decisions were to be released at that time. However, there was an email sent out the previous day thanking me for my interest in Carolina and a message stating that they could not release decisions on that day (the 5th). This has been the case the past couple of years as well (an email going out the day before decisions are released), so once you get that email in early-mid April, you can likely (but not definitely) assume decisions are to be released the following late afternoon. Unfortunately, there is no noticeable trends about which day of the week or day in a April it will be.
I live on campus currently as the availablity of a 1-bedroom apartment near campus at a reasonable price wasn’t out there at that time in April. I’m my opinion, living on campus as a transfer is not the best experience. Not because campus housing is bad per se, but I think the whole process of room assignments was very convoluted. When you apply for on campus housing, you list a preference of 10 different residence halls and you can also request a specific roomate if there is someone you had in mind. The problem is, you have no guarantee of getting any of the dorms on your list as almost all of the on campus housing is already taken up by first years (who have residence halls lined up for them essentially as they must live on campus) and returning students (who choose their rooms separately in the November prior to the upcoming academic year). If you are not happy with your room assignment (if it’s too far away from campus, it’s a dorm style instead of suite style etc), you can request a room reassignment for which you are quite unlikely to get.
The exercise and sport science major is a pretty cool major so far. Anatomy and physiology are seperate courses (EXSS 175 and 276 respectively) and I studied harder in 175 than I have for any other class. A lot of material, but great professor and TAs. Right now I’m in EXSS 288 Emergency care of Athletic injuries and EXSS 180, Physical Activity in Contemporary society. Both seem interesting and not quite as demanding as the EXSS life science counterparts listed above. The 300 level EXSS courses have been known to be fairly difficult, but if you do well in 175 and 276, you can do well in 376 (Exercise Physiology), 380 (Neuromuscular control) and 385 (Buomechanics of sport). @tmaria2000
Hopefully this helped answer your questions. Let me know if there is something you want in more specific detail or if you have any other questions.
Hey! I got accepted into UNC & I am an early college student I am graduating high school with an associate degree, but I am still coming in as a first- year student. Aside from housing, what will set me apart from an actual transfer students?
Congrats on your acceptance! If you earned that Associate degree in NC, you should get 60 credits to automatically transfer. All of your gen-Ed’s should be complete except for Lifetime Fitness and possibly Foreign language (if you did not take up to level 3 in community college while in high school). So you should then only need about 60 or so credits for graduation and can focus on taking classes for your major and classes that interest you.
I guess the only thing that sets you apart is that when you register for classes, you will always register at the same time as the class of 2023 (regardless of your standing based on credits earned). In the 2020-2021 school year, you will be a senior by credit hours but will register with the then sophomore class of 2023. By contrast, transfer students enroll based on how many blocks of 15 credits they have earned (each block of 15 is considered a semester). So me, a junior by credit hours transfer, registered for spring courses with other class of 2020 juniors. 2018 or 2019 transfers do not all register at the same time whereas first years always register at the same time as their class. It is definitely better to have an earlier registration date as classes can go quick, especially classes that are major specific with low seat capacity. @froyo18
gotcha! It seems like I might have issues with being able to register in a timely fashion for classes I need, do you know if there’s any way I can help this issue?
I would definitely contact advising or the registrar office about that. I had a similar issue in the fall where my registration date was with sophomores and I contacted the registrar office and eventually visited them to get the issue sorted out. @froyo18
Hello! I am a out of state transfer student hoping to get into UNC. I was wondering if you could tell me if they offered any good transfer scholarships for you? I already know I’ll be paying an arm and a leg if I do get accepted. I am part of Phi Theta Kappa as well so I’m hoping they have a scholarship for being a member of that.
@cfisher1 I apologize for the late reply. UNC is quite generous with financial aid. If you are a dependent student whose family makes a certain income or lower, you may qualify for the Carolina Covenant (even as an out of state student) which is a great scholarship. It covers Cost of Attendance minus Estimated family contribution. I am not aware of many scholarships exclusive to transfers, but I can be on the lookout for some. Let me know if you have any other questions and I’d be happy to answer.
@HSstudentNC thank you for creating this form. It is nice to be able to hear from someone who has been in our shoes. My question is what is the community there like? Is everyone welcoming and have you found clubs to be involved in?
I’m glad it can be of help to potential transfers! The community is very welcoming. Carolina does want you to succeed and there’s a niche here for everyone. There are a plethora of student led organizations and clubs. If you do decide to visit or attend, you’ll notice in the center of campus a place called “the pit” where there are a large amount of students who are looking for people to join clubs, organizations or just get more information. In addition, before the first week of class, there’s an event where thousands of Carolina students go at Hooker fields called Fall Fest, which is a massive line of student organizations that want you to join or get information about their groups. I am not exaggerating when I say there are quite literally hundreds of groups with their members attempting to recruit or just give out information. There is also a lot of free stuff given out during the “Week or Welcome” so that’s a perk as well. There are so many ways to get involved and the Carolina community definitely has some pride and school spirit. This is just my opinion on the matter and other students may disagree. @transferluk
It was an awesome experience rushing to Franklin street after UNC beat Duke this year! Literally almost the entire school rushed and it’s something I’ll never forget.
I am graduating high school with an associate degree, but I am still coming in as a first- year student. Aside from housing, what will set me apart from an actual transfer students?