UNC v. Duke

Colleges & Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
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<p>I'm posting the same topic in the Duke thread as well to get an idea from students at both schools, but basically, what are some of the big differences between Duke and UNC?</p>

<p>I know all of the statistics ( duke is private, unc is state, unc is double student population than duke, so on and so forth)</p>

<p>What are some of the things that can be put in a stat (type of kids, is duke really for smarter kids, can an OOS student fit in as well at UNC as he can at duke, how is the social scene, who has the more attractive student body, anything like that which cannot be found on their website or any statistics)</p>

<p>thanks</p>

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<p>for smarter kids?..i dont know.
Although UNC has way better basketball team..:p..everytime u walk into the campus you’ll be atleast proud about one thing. Tar Heels Basketball team…unlike Duke’s team…lol</p>

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<p>also, according to me, if you have the money and are accepted to both places, duke will be a better choice. As it is privately funded college, equipment updates are faster for med. students and (My favorite) the stem cells research team is great at duke. At UNC stem cells research is still not initated, only discussion club is created.</p>

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<p>jkterrapin: Most likely, you’ll get very different answers from those who don’t live in NC and those who do. For NC students, Duke really doesn’t seem to hold the allure for them that it seems to for others. Certainly, the top high school students in NC almost always apply to and are accepted at both. (By their charter, Duke must enroll a minimum of 13% in-state students, by the way.) </p>

<p>The choice of one over the other is usually more about feel than about cost difference. The academics really are very similar; on average, Duke will have smaller classes from the get-go, but UNC’s classes are small once you get past the intro courses. Also, one school may offer a major that you can’t get at the other (ie, engineering at Duke; journalism at UNC).</p>

<p>While not a current student, I do know that one of the drawbacks that many students see with Duke is that, in comparison to UNC, the campus is somewhat isolated. Durham is not a student-friendly town in many regards-- just more difficult for a student to find things to do, and Durham does have a crime problem. That’s not insurmountable, but you have to watch yourself a little more, and where you can freely roam in Durham. Duke’s fraternity scene (in connection with the social scene) is more prevalent than at UNC. It’s a smaller school than UNC, with a much larger percentage of students involved in the Greek scene. </p>

<p>Ultimately, though, these 2 campuses are so different in atmosphere and feel, that if one really appeals to you after visiting, the other probably wouldn’t.</p>

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<p>From an unbiased student residing on the West Coast</p>

<p>UNC
Pros: </p>

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<p>Cons:</p>

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<p>Duke</p>

<p>Pros:</p>

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<p>Cons:</p>

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<p>Either way, you can’t go wrong. It depends on where you want to live/who you want to hang out with, and what you want to major in. Good luck!</p>

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<p>As a follow-up to the above post, he/she is right about the funding. Duke really does seem to have boatloads of money, and they do not mind spending it. That is a plus (I think). ;)</p>

<p>Also, in my post above when I mentioned cost difference (between the 2 schools) is not the biggest factor-- I meant to add that Duke’s financial aid is excellent, and they also have some merit scholarships-- so that’s another reason the cost isn’t always a major factor in decision between the 2 schools.</p>

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<p>I have an interesting perspective on this, considering I wanted to go to Dook (that is how we spell it in Chapel Hill) up until my senior year of high school. Dook is incredibly prestigious and has some fantastic programs. However, here are some things I did not like about Dook:</p>

<p>-The rich and pretentious atmosphere. As a middle class person, I would definitely not fit into this situation. Many (not all of course) people where designer clothes and have no problem with spending money.
-Social life is based nearly entirely around the Greek scene and, based on what I’ve known and heard from people who have partied at Dook, people drink to get absolutely hammered and pass out because the stress of schoolwork is so ridiculous. People here drink socially to have fun.
-Have you ever watched a Dook basketball game? Just look how OBNOXIOUS the fans are!</p>

<p>I just want to emphasize that none of that is fact, just stuff I’ve heard/seen there based on my experiences. And I mean, there’s a reason that UNC is ranked in the top 15 for happiest students by Princeton Review…</p>

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<p>Here is an article your might find interesting from a past issue of the Duke Chronicle, written by one of the Duke Robertson Scholars:</p>

<p>[Commentary:</a> Carolina Blue - Editorial](<a href=“http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2003/02/20/Editorial/Commentary.Carolina.Blue-1462496.shtml]Commentary:”>http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2003/02/20/Editorial/Commentary.Carolina.Blue-1462496.shtml)</p>

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<p>Very interesting article and helpful posts. I guess what I assumed Duke would be like is very similar to what has been described. I had my premonitions about its pretentiousness (Harvard of the South), and its students over obsession with school. I personally don’t like people who flaunt their money and feel superior to others, which I’m afraid duke might be like (specifically why ive eliminated princeton from my college search.</p>

<p>on the other hand, my problems with carolina remain. as an OOS student, i don’t want to feel like i am surrounded by north carolinians who are getting the same education as i am for a fraction of the cost and w/o the hard work put in from an OOS student. other than the size, it seems like a great place to go to school, but its national reputation is at best 4th among public schools (berkeley, michigan, virginia) and i feel that would hurt me in the long run.</p>

<p>if i had to choose at this point though, i probably would choose UNC. The size might be too much but you can always make a big school smaller. And coming from Maryland (with all of my relatives graduating from UMD), I grew up hating Duke basketball (UNC wasn’t too good in the late 90s). I guess I still can’t get over the fact that I might have to root for the team who made me hysterically cry in 2001 when they overcame a 10pt deficit in 53 seconds to send the game to OT.</p>

<p>anyways, thanks for all your help. just wanted to get an idea on everyone’s thoughts before i visited in late march.</p>

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<p>This has been discussed so many times, I don’t want to start another discussion about it, but I just want to comment on this viewpoint.</p>

<p>The thing is, how hard you worked to get into UNC, or Duke, or anyplace else is all relative. You may imagine that you worked harder, but for students who might not have the stats you did to get in (and, trust me, there will be out-of-state students, too, who won’t have your stats)-- they probably worked equally hard as you did for that acceptance. Perhaps they attended a school that didn’t offer a ton of AP classes; perhaps they just don’t do well on standardized tests. To truly determine that someone else didn’t work as hard as you did in high school would be guesswork, at best-- no matter where you decide to go. There will also be many students (instate and out-of-state) who will have stats equal to or better than your own. They worked hard, too.</p>

<p>No matter where you go to school, though, you’ll never really know how hard someone worked in high school, relative to your own experience. Even your viewpoint about your own hard work is subjective.</p>

<p>I really do believe, too, that you can’t determine how talented or smart or hard-working someone is, simply by looking at their standardized test scores and gpa. I know it sounds like a cliche, but there really is so much more to people than those numbers.</p>

<p>Finally, the issue with in-state students paying less for the same education is somewhat misleading. You should know that even though the stated tuition is less for in-staters, their parents have been paying taxes for years to support the UNC system. Even those folks who don’t have any children have been paying to support the UNC system. In fact, their taxes also help to subsidize all students, even from out-of-state. So the parents of those in-state students really are paying the same, if not more; the payment is just more indirect.</p>

<p>I agree that you can always make a big school smaller, but it’s awfully tough to make a small school seem big.</p>

<p>Hope that helps. All the best in your choices; I feel sure you’ll have plenty of good ones.</p>

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<p>jkterrapin</p>

<p>You are NOT going to feel like an outsider at UNC. The OOS student community is vibrant and after a short while it won’t be an issue because the student body is a very friendly and welcoming group. The ONLY place I read or hear anything about in-state vs OOS is here on CC.</p>

<p>My now senior son has a large circle of friends that is a mix of both. He lives in half of a duplex that he and five other friends rented both halves of last year. Interestingly the six are evenly split; his half has two OOS and one in-state and the other half has two in-state and one OOS. </p>

<p>The message here is that after a very short while no one cares where you are from so don’t let it become a distraction or get in the way of choosing what may be the very best undergrad experience around.</p>

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<p>I really wouldn’t worry about the OOS thing. Honestly, no one will really care; they’ll just think it’s cool to have someone different, with a different lifestyle/perspective/background hanging around. I agree, it could actually be to your advantage.</p>

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<p>jkterrapin, as an OOSer first hand, I can tell you that you will NOT feel like an outsider. You’ll make friends with people you live with and I suggest going to the OOS social at the beginning of the school year: that is where I met many of my close friends. Every OOSer feels the same way and are very outgoing and looking to make new friends. In-staters are interested in OOSers and love to hear all about you and where you’re from etc. Being an OOSer is quite awesome actually :)</p>

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<p>Visit, attend classes, eat in the dining hall, hang out with students, spend the night on campus if you can…then compare. Bet you will be a tarheel.</p>

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<p>I agree that the IS/OOS thing is not an issue. Son is a NC resident. When I questioned him about this he said that he often has no idea where someone is from until he gets to know them pretty well–it just doesn’t come up. Recently he called to tell me that he just found out one of his new friends is from New Zealand–he had no idea (guess either son doesn’t listen to accents or this guy has learned “southern”).</p>

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<p>We have a son who is a junior at Duke, and our younger son has been accepted at UNC (OOS). He is trying to decide between UNC and two other excellent choices. We are making a second visit to UNC this month, and he will have an opportunity to spend the night with a freshman he knows. </p>

<p>But I have to say I am very upset with some of the comments made here about Duke. We have loved Duke and our son has absolutely loved it. He has wonderful friends and no one has struck us as being the least bit pretentious–and we have spent a great deal of time visiting and taking kids out to dinner, or going to some of the big gatherings that his friends have organized on Parents Weekends, etc. His brother loves Duke, too, but they don’t have a school of journalism, and that is what he wants. They are having fun doing some trash talking (and our Dukie gave his brother a t-shirt “Duke > UNC<br>
Basic Math”
for Christmas!!) But he would never presume to tell him things about Carolina that he’s “heard” to try and persuade his brother to go elsewhere.</p>

<p>Everyone needs to visit the schools to which they’ve applied and make up their own mind. We are trying to help him make an informed decision–not one based on a rivalry.</p>

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<p>irish - This is no different than the ‘Duke is smarter’ comments made about UNC in the past on the Duke forum. But, I wouldn’t expect an unbiased opinion there, so …</p>

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<p>i purposely posted in both the Duke and UNC forums to get views from students who attend each school so i am expecting biased opinions in each post (more duke students will post in that forum and vice versa)</p>

<p>i appreciate everything that has been said and also thanks to irish for her comments about duke students</p>

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<p>If people are going to say UNC has more socioeconomic diversity (which is probably true just b/c it’s a public state school and is much larger; Duke students are not all rich and 40%+ receive financial aid packages that average $28,000/yr), you have to point out that Duke is more racially diverse. UNC has about 25% minorities, while Duke is 40% minorities. UNC is also 60% female (~10,200 females vs. only ~6,800 males), while Duke is 50/50. Also, Duke has a lot more geographic diversity for obvious reasons of not being public. UNC’s student body is much more Southern, which you may like or dislike. I know plenty of lower and middle-class people who go to Duke - in fact, if you parents make less than $60,000 combined, starting next year, you get a full ride (although you do have a few thousand in loans). I come from a middle class background and don’t feel out of place at all at Duke. So, this is clearly coming from people who don’t know what they’re talking about. The vast majority of students are not pretentious - if you want to see pretentious, visit an Ivy League school. Are there some? Yes. Just like any elite university, there are some. You don’t have to be friends with all 6,500 undergrads. There’s obviously positives and negatives about both schools, but it should really come down to your decision and what’s important to you. They have very different atmospheres if you ask me.</p>

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<p>How efficient that the Duke students are choosing to respond the OP here in the UNC forum. :wink: For what it’s worth, all the kids accepted at Duke from my daughter’s h.s. were very middle class, some with financial need that was well met with aid from Duke. Regarding their ‘attitude’, as opposed to their SES…most are great, level-headed kids; some have fallen into the pretentious wannabe trap. It’s nothing peculiar to Duke however; happens everywhere.</p>