I am just wondering why UNC seems less famous than the UC schools. Forget about UC Berkeley and UCLA, but it still seems like UCSD is more famous than UNC although UNC has a higher national ranking according to US News.
It’s pretty relative to your geographic region (at least within the US). If you’re on the west coast, the UCs are going to be more well-regarded than a school across the country. As someone who lives close to UNC, the UCs are barely mentioned or known here unless its UCLA and occasionally UCB.
That makes sense tho. Then probably is bc I am from WA, so I have heard UCs more than UNC. Students also mention a lot regarding the University of Washington, which I bet no one even talks about this school in NC…
Very few on the East Coast or in the heart of the country could even name another UC school besides UCLA and Berkeley. It’s all relative to geography.
As someone from NC who goes to UNC, Berkeley and UCLA are the most famous west coast schools for us. While I’ve obviously heard about UCSD it doesn’t have the same prestige factor. In terms of undergrad programs at public schools, UCLA, Berkeley, Michigan, UVA, and UNC are the most famous nationally. Grad programs are an entire different story: that’s where UW, UT-Austin, UCSD, etc. really stand out.
It’s all relative to where you are from. To be honest, I’ve also never heard of UCSD being more famous than UNC. More people on the East will know UNC and probably more people on the west (in CA) will know UCSD but as a whole I’m almost certain UNC is more well known than UCSD. I’ve never heard of anyone outside of CA really mentioning any UC school besides UCLA or Cal. Also I think In academics, both unc and ucsb would be surely known (unc being more well regarded as a whole across disciplines) but I think the lay person who are not in academia and don’t have family or friends affiliated with either university would still recognize UNC more then UCSD mainly due to UNC’s athletics and would probably not even know about UNC’s prestige acadmics.
@Tarheel2020 no doubt about the grad programs of the schools you mentioned but UNC is no slouch in grad programs to the ones you mentioned either. They have equally as strong grad programs as those other schools you mentioned
UNC has excellent grad schools, with at least 10 programs in the top 30 nationally, including privates. Top 20 Business, top 30 Law, #1 Primary Care Medical, #1 Pharmacy, #3 Nursing, etcetera.
I think it’s also that all the UC schools are pretty good and have gotten quite competitive. And most of them are in very desirable locations (relative to all of the US). Whereas In the UNC system, Chapel Hill is the crown jewel and the others are very, very distant runners up. There are some good programs (I haven’t looked into it, but have heard the new nuclear program at UNC Charlotte is expected to be a great success), but they aren’t name schools.
It’s totally relative to where you live. In the Midwest, South, or East most people couldn’t name a UC beside UCB and UCLA, but would 100% recognize or name UNC.
However rankings have nothing to do with it - most people don’t know rankings at all or only very vaguely (even if they’ve never heard of Bothell, they’d likely be able to rank Harvard, UWash, Bothell properly. Now, Bothell v. Humboldt, they’d have absolutely no clue, even if thy live within 50 miles of either one)
Any reason you are asking?