University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Top Questions

People are also really well rounded so it was never an issue when we wanted to get out and let loose or get in a good run or frisbee game. When I lived on south campus as a freshman everybody bonded over the fact we were in the oldest farthest dorms and we loved it. You'd walk around and just meet people everywhere. People threw parties in their dorm rooms as long as you had a laid back RA. You can always find people going to UNC athletics matches in all sports or heading to see an interesting speaker talking about big global issues or just going to hang out on the quad or attend meetings where you got free food. My friends and I often lamented to lack of good male dating material and I ended up in a serious relationship with a guy at a different college, so whatever that means! I live in an off-campus house of seven beautiful, funny girls. None of us are sorority girls, although each one of us nearly joined one at the beginning. Everyone is super-involved, very friendly, we throw lots of small parties at the house and hit the town, and throw a few all out bashes where everyone shows up. We spend lots of nights up late studying and pull quite a few all-nighters. Some of us are bio majors with doctor ambitions, others are journalism and business majors, even a theater major who keeps us entertained and going to all the great plays on campus. Honestly, I'd say that we have the very best balance you could want. People work hard, play hard, get over-involved, like to take it easy.. I never want to leave!

The social life aspect of college was my favorite part of UNC. It was the best four years of my life, and I struggled/am struggling with letting it go. UNC has a great night life and party scene. If you want to go out, somebody is always going out. Any night of the week you can find something to do, but you never want to miss a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday. You don't want to miss opportunities to spend spring and fall afternoons on Bob's porch, go to sporting events where your team is always in the top 10, if not winning championships, be on Franklin St. with 70,000 other people on Halloween, or any of the other great experiences that make up your 4 years at UNC. You don't have to be involved in a greek organization either to have a good time. I wasn't, and I promise you there was no shortage of fun. You have to work hard, but there is ample opportunity to play just as hard as you work.

UNC is a work hard play hard kind of place. You're not likely to find anyone who doesn't spend considerable time on academics, but you're also not likely to find someone who doesn't go out at least once or twice a week. Generally, the big bar/party nights are Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Friday is sort of date night. Bars are open until 2 and there is late night food to be had until 3 or 4. Athletic events are huge, especially basketball games (enough said), though football, baseball, lacrosse, and womens' soccer and basketball bring out crowds as well. The campus is about 15 - 20{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} greek, so the fraternities are fairly prevalent. You will likely find a fraternity party every day during rush in the fall and after that they become fewer in number, though there is still at least one more or less every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, though they are not officially open events, and fraternities are not required to let everyone in. For the most part the school socially has a bar culture thanks to franklin street. Those who are able, either because they're 21 or because they have a fake ID, are likely to choose bars over house parties, etc.

Greek life is big at Carolina, but the parties are generally very inclusive. Basketball games are popular but because tickets are so scarce most people watch them in dorms/houses/apartments. Girls complain a lot about the dating scene because of the girl/guy ratio.

Perhaps the one downside to Carolina, being a woman, is the 60-40 ratio of women to men. It makes the dating scene a little challenging but not impossible. On the upside, there are always a thousand things to do at Carolina--speakers, sports events, concerts, parties, you name it. Halloween is always a huge celebration, regularly drawing 50,000 people or more to Franklin Street. Greek life is also good here; it hovers around 18{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} so that people who want to join sororities or fraternities aren't totally out of the norm but people who don't are by far in the majority. It's a good balance. People party all the time, but it's also totally accepted to stay in for a night to get some work done. Most students understand that (especially around midterms or finals).

I enjoyed the social life very much. Sporting events are pretty big here. Basketball is the king of November-April. You can always find a party, it just depends on who is going to be there. Greek life is definitely present here, but one can do without it if they are not interested.

Some of the largest groups on campus are: Intervarsity (a Christian group), the Black Student Movement, Campus Y, and intramural sports. Some of the most influential groups on campus are: The Daily Tar Heel (the student newspaper), Student Government (our Congress, President, and Honor Court), CUAB (Carolina Union Activities Board-they arrange various events on campus, including FallFest and weekly movies at the Union), CAA (Carolina Athletic Association-they are the student liaisons to the Athletic Department, and determine the ticket distribution system for Men's Basketball), RHA (Resident Housing Association-works to increase the quality of on-campus housing).

We have some great singing groups - Clef Hangers and Acordants are two of the main male singing groups. The Lorelies is a popular female singing group. There are also co-ed groups and these groups perform at a lot of campus events. GAA (general alumni association) is a good organization to be involved in because you only pay 20 dollars and you receive discounts off of places on franklin street, a free tshirt, a free item (which has been a water bottle, bag, coffee mug etc in the past) and free events to attend that are meant to bring students together. A lot of people join this organization. The Campus Y is also a great organization. It includes several organizations within it dedicated to social justice. You can pick the organization that you are the most interested in.

I have participated in many events for the school of public health, sorry, I am old---- minimal social life.

Some popular groups on campus are the various dance teams (eg hip hop groups like Kamikazi and Misconceptions, salsa group Que Rico, a modern dance group, etc), political groups, social action groups (eg Habitat for Humanity), honor societies, publications, etc. Our basketball team is definitely the most popular team on campus, and UNC's basketball spirit is amazing (especially with our rivals, Duke, just down the road). A lot of people also go to see guest speakers, theater events, and nearby concerts. There are tons of ways to make friends: in classes, in the dorms, on Franklin street, school clubs, parties, random encounters. I met my best friend through the potluck roommate assignment, and another best friend at an ice cream place on Franklin Street. If I'm awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I'm either studying, writing a paper, trying to fall asleep, talking to a friend, or getting ready to leave a bar. (I'm 21, and bars in Chapel Hill have events a few nights a week.) Drinking isn't necessary though, even on weekends. On Saturday nights I've done things like going to bed at 10pm, going to parties, getting ice cream, visiting my parents or a friend's parents, hanging out in a friend's room, going to concerts, going on an impromptu drive to the beach with a few friends, going out dancing, writing a paper, watching movies with my roommate, going to dinner with friends, etc. Like I've said, a lot of people do drink, but there are plenty of other options.

There are loads of activities to be involved in at UNC. If you are not an athletic (but were you highschool) then you can try out for a club team or play intramural sports. Along with that, there are two gyms which are both open until 12 and offer great fitness classes ranging from yoga to kickboxing and even to Zumba (African styled dance). I am not so much into the whole sorority and fraternity scene, so I would rather not comment on that. But I am involved in student organizations, such as Unite For Sight. We help with the underpriveleged in the community and give free eye exams, as well as collect donated glasses to make new (free) glasses for those who can't afford them. So, even if you don't join a sorority or fraternity you can still be involved in the community.

You have to get involved somehow if you are out of state-- if not you are going to feel very lost. There are many ways to do this. I think the easiest of which is joining a sorority or fraternity but this also confines you because the school is very split (greek and non-greeks) This may just be true as a freshman, i can't speak on older years.

The Greek life at UNC is very active. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night you can basically find some frat that's having a hall crawl, kegger, pj party, etc. So if you're looking to drink, no worries. You'll find something. We also have Franklin Street right above north campus that is home to Players (a club) and several bars. We have over like 300 clubs so anything that you may possibly be interested in is probably covered in one of the clubs. Some of the most active are the BSM (Black Student Movement), GAA (General Alumni Association), Frats, Sororities, and the millions of fundraising groups (Dance Marathon, Relay for Life, etc.) Traditions-Exam week houses some of my favorite traditions. The night before the first set of finals a group of guys streak in the library. The Clef Hangers (an a capella group) perform at the Old Well the last day of class. Things to do that don't involve drinking-UNC always has different performers coming into town. If there's nothing at the University, Cat's Cradle in Carrboro always has great bands coming to perform. The GAA also sponsors recently released movies to screen for free for students every Friday and Saturday in the Student Union.

If you want it, there's quite a good bar and party scene. Fake IDs are very common, and if you can get your hands on one as an underclassmen, you can get into a lot of bars and have a lot of fun. House parties happen sometimes, too, as long as you know people holding them. Most people are involved in some sort of organization. I did Dance Marathon which was my favorite thing in the world and became my life. I met incredible best friends, found a good cause to devote all of my energy to, and helped thousands of people and children at the NC Children's Hospital. Other groups people do are ballroom dancing, campus aerobic groups, intramural teams, Carolina Fever (supports sports teams), Black Student Movement, SANGAM (for Indians), CHiSPA (for Hispanics), and tons of religious-affiliated groups.

There is an amazing amount and variety of extracurricular activities, and limitless opportunities for students to get plugged into organizations that fit their personalities and interests.

Franklin Street has everything you would ever need for a social life! There are several bars and great restuarants right off campus. When the basketball team beats "Dook" or wins the national championship (2005!!) everyone rushes Franklin! The Greek scene is also very popular at Carolina... you can always find parties at the frat houses. The amount of groups/organizations/clubs that UNC offers is amazing! The intermural champion t-shirts are a highly coveted commodity on campus, and Campus Rec offers so many different sports for students to play. Since I do not drink very often, it was important for me to have other accessible things to do on the weekends. There is a great mall and movie theater 10 minutes from campus. Chapel Hill is very close to Raleigh and Durham, so you can easily venture into other cities. Going to sporting events is also popular at Carolina. We have one of the very best athletic departments in the country!

Athletic events are huge. The dating scene sucks because of the skewed guy to girl ratio, especially African Americans. People party alot fraternities and sororities are big. If you dont feel like drinking you can still go to parties or ice skating, movies, just hanging out.

The social life here is amazing. A guy just joined our fraternity after transfering from Wake Forest because he said there was no social life. The Greek system is amazing and we have a lot of fun, but there are many other great organizations to get involved with. Some of the people i consider my best friends are people I met in my dorm freshman year. Even though football isn't that good here (its on the rise just watch) people still love going to games on Saturdays and everyone loves basketball games. There is a lot of pride at this school, in athletics and academics. Having grown up in NC, no matter who you talk to everyone agrees that UNC is a great school and only Duke fans say that our basketball team sucks. If drinking is your thing then Franklin St. and Rosemary St. have a lot to offer. No matter what night you are looking to go out there is always something to do. If drinking is not your thing the University offers many activities such as movie nights, and general hang out events. There are also live music events around Chapel Hill and plays at local theaters.

You can't go wrong with any of the activities on campus. If you're a sports fan, join Carolina Fever! I've been in Fever since my freshman year and met my closest friends at the sporting events. If you're a partier, there's plenty to do, and if you're not, you won't be the only one on campus staying in for a girls/guys night on a Saturday night. It's easy to find a group of people that you'll fit in with and enjoy doing the same activities with.

IM sports are popular on campus, so that you can continue the sport you loved in high school. Carolina Fever is also really popular because you can have a better chance of getting basketball tickets, which is everyone's highest priority. Basketball is by far the most popular event on campus, but I really encourage any future students to experience all of the types of events that the campus has to offer. I met my closest friends through hanging out in the dorms and at parties. Most people party at least every Thursday and Saturday. If I am awake at 2am on a Tuesday, I am leaving He's Not ($2 Blue Cups) or Lucy's(1/2 Everything). Others party almost every night. Greek life is only 15{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} on campus, but if you live in Granville Towers(dorm), it is 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}. The last weekend I was at Chapel Hill, I went to almost every bar on Franklin St. between Thurs., Fri. and Sat. night. But, there is other stuff to do that does not involve drinking. You could go see a movie for free at the Union, go to see a movie on Franklin St. or at Southpoint (the mall), or go get ice cream or coffee. You could go see a show at Memorial Hall, or just hang out with friends at one of your places. Most people go off campus to go to Southpoint, the mall, which is about 20 minutes away from campus. You can also go to Carrboro to go to Weaver St. Market.