<p>My D is trying to decide on schools, and we're stuck between UNC and a small liberal arts- middle rated college. Both schools have very friendly campuses. She's a very good student. Upon graduation, provided she makes the best of her 4 years, which degree would serve her best so far as going on to grad/med school, or getting a job? My thoughts are that UNC would be a more marketable diploma. With the economy being what it is, this has me concerned. </p>
<p>Thanks for any insight- and help making this decision! :-)</p>
<p>My son is now an MS-1 (first year med student) at a top ten med school; UNC prepared him very well. He also has two close friends that he graduated with who are at Harvard Med and Cornell Weill respectively as well as several at UNC.</p>
<p>A top rated research university like UNC will provide your D with the opportunities for research and the all so important medicine related ECs like shadowing doctors, volunteering in the ER at the University hospitals etc. These opportunities are right on campus and not hard to get.</p>
<p>If you were talking about Williams, Amherst or Pomona it might be a closer call and could depend on where she felt she fit in better but certainly not when comparing UNC to what you describe as a “middle rated college.”</p>
<p>Additionally, med school is very expensive and there aren’t big scholarships unless pursuing an MD/Ph.D at someplace like Harvard or Penn where the research money flows very generously. Take a look at one of the med school admissions books at Barnes and Noble and then add four more years of inflation to the numbers and it will help to clarify your decision. There are some grants but most is loans and most med students graduate with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt unless they attend an instate med school.</p>
<p>What liberal arts school is it? I would also seriously consider the price difference-are you OOS or IS? Just from growing up in NC, I’ve seen how there are UNC grads from all walks of life working any kind of job imaginable. Unless the liberal arts school is an Ivy or covered by a full ride, I would definitely choose Carolina. I think your daughter would thrive there.</p>
<p>Your input is really appreciated! She will not have a full ride at the liberal arts school, it’s St. Olaf in MN, which looks to be a very nice school, looks like it’ll be the same cost for us as UNC- we are OOS, from IL. Of course, from my viewpoint UNC offers so many options, and it’s hard to tell. I’ve also heard some good things about St. Olaf, I just think UNC would be a much better choice, all around.</p>
<p>As a North Carolina high school senior, I often thought in my underclassmen years that I would be attending UNC-Chapel Hill like most of the best students in my high school had been doing for years. But as I universities and colleges in my junior year, particularly the top tier liberal arts colleges, I realized that I value the small, nurturing environments that a top tier LAC can provide. As a result, I applied to the majority of the top tier liberal arts college, seeking out an environment where I could conduct original research and learning surrounded by some of the best students from the nation and the world. Luckily, my applications and hard work in high school landed me a spot at Haverford College, very far away from my quaint North Carolina town. </p>
<p>The fit for a top tier liberal arts college and UNC-Chapel Hill, an excellent university in its own right, is contingent upon your daughter’s personality, I believe. Ensure that she chooses the place that will best nurture her intellectual and social development and y’all will be fine. :)</p>
<p>Thanks Slight-Anarchist, your experience is helpful- also cloying, that UNC is a liberal arts school. As D has said she likes both, but is leaning towards the one and I think UNC would open up her horizon the most, in our case. Lots of opportunites at both, and these years will be what she makes them regardless of school. That said, I still think the opportunities and options after these 4 years will be more coming from UNC. But that’s not a scientific response- EAdad’s comments about the medical facilities is worth considering as a big advantage to UNC.</p>
<p>UNC-Chapel Hill is much stronger academically than St. Olaf. And it’s certainly much better-known in academic circles. (This comment is about St. Olaf in particular, not liberal arts colleges in general – Carleton College or Macalester, also both in Minnesota, would garner different responses from me.)</p>
<p>I would only go to St. Olaf over UNC-Chapel HIll if there was a huge cost difference and/or your daughter wanted the close advising/support network of a small liberal arts college.</p>
<p>I almost attended a small LAC instead of UNC (in fact, at the time I preferred it!). The school was too expensive for my family, but now that I’m at Carolina I couldn’t picture myself anywhere else. Not only are there boundless opportunities that only large public universities can provide their students (thousands of course offerings, study abroad opportunities, student organizations, etc.), the social life is very diverse. There really isn’t just one “type” of student at Carolina, and it’s easy to find your niche here. I think going to such a small school would have dramatically hindered me socially. It’s nice to be at a place where the party’s always happening close by if I want to go out, but there are tons of students studying if I want to hole up in the library, too.</p>
<p>Also, before I came to UNC-CH I was never too into sports, but now that I’ve experienced performing on the football field at Kenan Stadium to a sea of Carolina blue (I’m on the colorguard–I spin a flag at the games), cheering on the basketball team at every home game, and rushing Franklin Street after a big win, I’ve developed a lot of pride for my school, and I couldn’t imagine myself somewhere without so much spirit.</p>
<p>If your D feels more comfortable at St. Olaf than at UNC, I wouldn’t hesitate at all to send her there. St. Olaf has an excellent history of getting students into med school. The school is really good in the sciences (and that was before they opened their state-of-the-art science center this year), and your D will probably get much more individual attention as an undergrad there than at UNC. On the other hand, if she likes UNC better, UNC does have the advantage of having a much more national reputation than St. Olaf.</p>
<p>Thanks HoComom, Thoughtprovoking, and leah377- my D can mull over your input and hopefully make a decision within the next week or two. Because of this discussion, whatever her decision ends up, it will be an informed one, that’s for sure! We visited UNC last weekend, as well as last summer, and she’s also visited St. Olaf twice, so she’ll have to reflect on the merits of both, and decide. The cold, long winters of MN as compared to being near ocean/mtns, would be enough to sway me, but it’s not me who’s moving on with this charter of her life!</p>