I have been accepted to these schools and considering all of them. Would love to hear some feedback of which school is better. (campus, education, environment, ect.)
Hey! I posted on your earlier thread. UNCW is by far your best choice. UNCC just edges ECU for me. UNCC has large campus, but a large chunk are commuters.
I go to Uncc and it is by far better UNCW. In the recent years UNCC has grown so much so there are so many more people living on campus which makes the commuter status go down a lot. I personally did not like UNCW as it seemed very community college to me. When i visited my friends there I wasn’t sure how they got that it had a better campus life because i felt like it was somewhat isolating. When I first went to UNCC this is exactly how i felt isolated because it was a commuter school but in the three years that i went there now it has gotten so much better and there has been a lot of growth whereas I feel that UNCW is still generally the same. I can’t speak for ECU though because i haven’t been there.
@eastcoast11 OP has already decided on UNCW (as revealed on another thread in the ECU forum). But you say that the campus has a “community college feel”?? That’s quite a curious comment. How many community college campuses have you visited? UNCW is certainly not for everyone, but I’m interested in hearing different opinions.
Sorry, I meant @eastcoast24
I know that the OP has made his choice and that is great news. But just in case others ever look at this tread comparing these three NC schools I wanted to weigh in. I have spent time on all three campuses and know many students at each of them. Each have their own individual strengths and atmospheres.
Of the three, ECU has the most complete university feeling. It is the largest and the oldest of the three. Wilmington is the smallest, in population and campus size which gives it a more small school feel. UNCC has population numbers that are close to ECU but many of those still have to be commuters, their campus is much more urban than the other two and Charlotte is a great city with much to do, but to me the school doesn’t feel like a “university campus” , BUT they are working on that and the school is changing. Wilmington continues to do better is most rankings, so that might mean something, but personally I don’t know anyone that has NOT been able to get into UNCW, so I really don’t know where they get their admission numbers. Here we call it UNC-Waitlist – everyone makes deposit at UNCW while waiting to get off waitlist at UNC-CH or State.
That’s funny. I live in Wilmington and have never heard that one.
I know this is a UNCW thread but @LBad96 wanted opinions and there may be others who want to see opinions. I didn’t like UNCW because I’ve spent a lot of time around NC coasts. I didn’t feel like UNCW would have been much of a change to me. My goal was to get out of the NC coastal plains. If I grew up in the mountains I’d probably be considering UNCW more. I had this problem with ECU but it was much worse. The reason I didn’t choose ECU is because I live way too close. I feel like ECU and UNCW would have been like high school 2.0 for me. Plus Greenville isn’t a place I would walk around at night. That left me with App State, UNCG, and UNCC. I didn’t like App so I had to choose between UNCC and UNCG. UNCC is a decent school, but I didn’t like that barely anyone in Charlotte even knew there was a college in Charlotte. While some schools in NC are better, it’s hard to go wrong with any school here. As long as don’t pick Pembroke, it’s hard to go wrong with the UNC System.
@ITBgirl UNC-Waitlist. Huh. Interesting indeed. Let me tell you from personal experience that it is FAR harder to get in from OOS. I just finished my first year and a small part of me is still surprised I got admitted early action. 10 of my high school classmates (including myself) applied to UNCW, and I was one of only three to get in. From 2011-2015, only 16/39 applicants from my high school got in (41%). Four decided to attend, all of which had respectable GPAs and very good test scores (and we have two coming in next year). Average UW GPA of those admitted is a 3.48, average SAT/ACT is 1817/26. Meanwhile for ECU, 15/27 got in from 2011-2015 (56%), only two of the 15 admits ended up picking it (both of which were only in the last two years). Having known those two students personally (not getting along with either of them), they were at or near the bottom quarter of their respective graduating classes for both grades AND test scores. Average UW GPA is a 3.08, average SAT/ACT is a 1557/22. That’s just from my NJ public high school. The top 25% at ECU barely scrapes the bottom 25% at UNCW. UNCW took no students off the fall 2016 waitlist this year because they already had the enrollment numbers they wanted, so those students are coming in the spring. Not to mention the disparity between the acceptance, retention & graduation rates as well. So if we’re “UNC-Waitlist”, then ECU is the second-to-last resort.
The gulf in class and quality between UNCW and ECU is very, very damning. The only reasons that anyone not in the ECU Honors College would pick ECU over UNCW is for engineering, dentistry, the easier-to-get-into nursing program, or because they want a (below-average) football team on campus, or because they want to party their college years away without any real accomplishments to their name, just coasting through. On campus, we call them “Easy U”, “ECPoo”, or “Purple Nurples”. Most people at UNCW pity/can’t stand ECU, and anyone who knows both schools can see that the Seahawks soar above the Pirates academically and otherwise. And while Chapel Hill are certainly better than Wilmington, we’re not nearly as far off from NC State as you like to think. ECU can’t touch us, and aren’t even as good as UNCC or UNCG as far as the stats are concerned, although I will say that they are certainly better than High Point or Pembroke.
But although I very vehemently oppose your position, I do enjoy seeing the other side of the debate.
@WiliyamMSL fair point. Like I said, UNCW is gonna appeal to everyone. No school appeals to everyone. I will say that I agree that as long as you don’t attend Pembroke (or Elizabeth City State or High Point or some other low-end private) that you are in good hands in the state of North Carolina.
Whoops, I meant “UNCW is NOT gonna appeal to everyone!” 
@LBad96 “ECPoo” - that just hurts…
Correct me if I am wrong but you got into UNC-W OOS with a 2.8 GPA and 1 AP class, correct?
@ITBgirl lolol, it’s just a funny nickname. It’s all banter really. Pretty aggressive banter, but banter nonetheless.
You are not wrong, but keep in mind that I attended a VERY rigorous public high school in NJ (top 30 HS in the entire nation last year). I also encountered significant financial challenges at home with my family that had a negative effect on my classroom performance, of which you are also aware. Despite that, I got a 2000 SAT first-time in addition to showing an upward trend (sending my senior year first quarter grades made a huge difference, as I was told), so I got in EA. Not to mention I had quality ECs and showed a lot of genuine interest in attending. I’m very sure that I would have been deferred to RD had I applied this year. So if you’re gonna bring up my GPA like others on this site constantly do, you might as well look at all aspects of my application.
UNCW is a fine school but the fact that you have to belittle ECU to sell it shows volumes about your credibility and personality. At least we have a football team. Having been to other universities with friends including UNCW I can safely say the drinking/partying scene is not much less prevalent anywhere else as compared to ECU. Plenty of ECU grads finish school to lead very successful careers through a multitude a fields. The nursing program is one of the top in the state and the Brody School is also highly competitive. It’s really a shame that you had to resort to name calling when UNCW has so many other amazing things to promote.