<p>i know the obvious, but does anyone have any INSIGHT into major differences b/w the two schools' social lives, like what an average student will do on a sat night or something. also, how the academics differ. since UNC is such a reputable school, are the professors above the average "state university" level?</p>
<p>UNC and Vanderbilt were my choices as well (add Davidson into the mix too) but in the end I chose UNC. Vandy just had a very "rich" feeling to me, which is just not something I'm into. Many girls dress up to go to class, wear designer clothes, stuff like that. It's also much more Greek, I think around 50%, and that's not really something I'm into.</p>
<p>At UNC there are a variety of things to do on a weekend night. This weekend for instance, I partied at a friend's apartment one night then went to a chill local comedy show the next night. It's fun for sure.</p>
<p>And yes, I've had some awesome professors.</p>
<p>I'm not exactly sure what your perception of what the average state university level is, but I can say that I am very impressed by the professors here.</p>
<p>It's very common, pretty much across the board of disciplines, for professors to be an authority on some subfield of their interest.</p>
<p>Byrns, an econ professor, wrote the textbook for one of the most used Econ textbooks across the country. One of our poli sci profs helped with the constitution of Afghanistan (heathergee, who was that again? Was that Stephen Leonard?). Dorit Bar On, a philosopher, is one of the intellectual leaders in the field of "self knowledge," which is an area of metaphysics (very interesting and confusing stuff). Shapiro is an incredible poet known all over the country for his work, he teaches Intro to Poetry. Mark Katz is an ethnomusicologist who was recently interviewed for a documentary on PBS about early radio, hip hop, and turntablism. Think of people important in hip hop and he has probably interviewed them. He taught a First Year Seminar that I took. </p>
<p>I don't know as much about science professors because I haven't ventured there myself!</p>
<p>These are just the first that come to mind. A lot of professors at UNC have some very cool credentials.</p>
<p>The Afghanistan Constitution professor is Andrew Reynolds.</p>
<p>I'd say Professors can be kind of hit or miss. There are tons that are excellent, engaging, and brilliant, and there are others who aren't so great. The thing is, if you are smart about it and do some research ahead of time, you can seek out the good professors and avoid the not-so-good ones. It's not difficult at all to plan your schedule so that you have, in general, very, very good professors over the course of your four years.</p>
<p>I don't think any of that is unique to UNC though, or even public schools in general. There are good and bad professors at every school in the country, HYPSM included.</p>
<p>ok social life. i DO want to join a sorority, i'm just not super concerned about which one i get or whatever. how is social life if you're in a sorority at UNC?</p>
<p>Annn would be able to answer this better than I can since I'm not in one, but I will say that a lot of sorority members also have friends outside their sorority.</p>
<p>I have just done interviews for PhD programs at these two programs and feel like I might be able to comment. </p>
<p>They both are superior academic institutions with a southern culture. Both are located in somewhat large, but not very large cities or metropolitan centers. Both have sizeable campuses with extensive support networks for things like student services, student health care, etc. Both offer a great deal of depth and breadth in their departments and course offerings.</p>
<p>However, UNC struck me as a much larger version of Vanderbilt. UNC dominates the city it occupies (Chapel Hill) whereas Vanderbilt is a very small part of Nashville. This has obvious pros and cons as you would always be surrounded by your peers be it at a grocery, apartment building or on campus. UNC has a lot of resources that Vanderbilt simply cannot offer due to its size such as 50 faculty in your specific interest area instead of 10. </p>
<p>I don't know the specifics about either school as I wasn't told anything about undergrad concerns, but smaller schools tend to have stronger advising structures for undergrads. The school that my wife works at even has a "students of concern" committee that oversees the personal issues of students that are in danger of dropping out or failing. I don't know if Vanderbilt has that sort of personal touch but I would be shocked if UNC had anything like that. IMHO if you are an adult, you don't need to be treated like a child in summer camp and shouldn't need the strong advising support.</p>
<p>"if you are smart about it and do some research ahead of time, you can seek out the good professors and avoid the not-so-good ones."</p>
<p>How would you go about doing this?? enlighten me... :)</p>
<p>[url=<a href="http://www.pickaprof.com%5DPick-A-Prof%5B/url">http://www.pickaprof.com]Pick-A-Prof[/url</a>]</p>
<p>You have to pay for a membership but it is DEFINITELY worth it. That's how I pick all of my classes. It even shows grade distributions, so you can tell exactly how hard/easy it is to get an A in a particular class.</p>
<p>I would say that social life is excellent for girls in sororities here. I'm a dude, but know a lot of girls in sororities and they always have stuff to do between cocktails, constant frat parties, and sorority events.</p>