University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Top Questions

I have only positive things to say about my school. I absolutely have fallen in love with this place. Coming from a big city I just love the laid back, friendly southern lifestyle. I truly believe this is the best school in the country. I think our school's size is perfect. It's large enough that if you never want to see someone again you won't but you will often bump into friendly faces out at night or on the way to class. Chapel Hill is the perfect college town. The town basically exists for the college and the world revolves around us students here. I will never forget the night our mens basketball team won the national championship in 2009. Words cannot express the joy I felt that night celebrating on franklin street. another thing I love about my school is people's reaction when I tell them I go here. UNC is very prestigious and has a great reputation.

Here's what I love about UNC: it is a big school, but it is made up of small communities that overlap and interact. At UNC there are Living Learning Communities where you can live with people who share your interests, there are clubs, music groups, volunteer groups, classes that take field trips and get very close, freshman seminars, club sports teams, general residence hall groups and even more UNC groups that I am inevitably forgetting. We have so many small communities to form close connections with other students and faculty. One problem: The advising services suffers a bit from the size of the school, however. The area around UNC is great. There are plenty of places to eat and lots of places to go on the weekends. Also, this campus is gorgeous in every season. I'll never forget my sophomore year when it snowed and about 500 people showed up for a snowball fight on the lawn in front of Franklin Street (called McCorkle place). So. Much. Fun. Overall, it's great.

It's really hard to put the Carolina experience into words. I love it. I love it so so much. Here's the thing: it's definitely a larger school, meaning that the campus always feels alive, there are things going on ALL the time, and there's tons of people to meet, hang out with, agree/disagree with, and learn from. But at the same time, it's still not as large as UT-Austin (where I'm from) or UVA or Michigan State, the campus edge-to-edge is walkable in 20 minutes, I see people I know constantly, less than 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the classes are over 100 people, and the professors make a ridiculous effort to be available and get to know students. So you get the fun and the benefits of a large research university (I have access to the coolest equipment as a biomedical engineering student!!) with the feeling of a smaller university. And it's an awesome college town complete with live music, local organic farmer's markets, crazy Halloweens, and more! On top of that, the campus is gorgeous, and full of some of the smartest, most amazing people I've ever met. It's ridiculous how many people are trying to save the world in different ways here (in a good way, of course), and I love being around it. One of the things that a lot of people complain about is advising: here's my take. It's true that you're not going to get much from academic advising if you don't do your own background research - you definitely have to take the time to map your own route. Once you do that, they're just there as a resource to answer questions, and you're all set. Oh, one more thing: once you're a tar heel, you're one forever. I've never been a huge basketball fan, but damn. I am a TAR HEEL now!! You just get caught up in it - it's a blast.

I do not even know how to begin to answer this question. From the moment, I stepped on this campus, I was in love. The Carolina blue skies, the lush quad filled with undergrads, and the gorgeous southern architecture are just are part of the beauty of this place. The students are really the best part of this campus. This past summer, I stayed in Chapel Hill in order to work in a lab and work as a summer tour guide helping prospective students in their search for the perfect college. The summer was an amazing experience and I was so happy to be here, even on the days when it got up to almost 110 degrees. However, this campus during the summer has no comparison to the campus during the year. The students bring so much life and passion each day that a campus without them is just lacking. One of my personal favorite spots on campus is the "Pit". The pit is the social hub on campus surrounded by the two main undergraduate libraries, the main dining hall, the Student Union, and the Student Stores, including the bookshop and coffee house. Some say that if one sits in the pit all day, one can see every Carolina student pass through because students have to pass through this spot. The pit is one of my favorite spots because I have never walked through it without seeing a friend (I would have said familiar face, but one sees familiar faces everywhere). As well, the pit is a main location for students to "pub" (publicize) for events and student organizations. Carolina's students are incredibly passionate about everything they are involved in, and getting to see this passion ignited in the pit can be truly inspiring.

Carolina is a great place to be. I like the size (18,000) because it provides so many of the great opportunities available to undergraduates. At the same time it is still easy enough to find your own niche. Chapel Hill is the quintessential college town and is a perfect compliment to the university. Students, Administrators, and town people all love this university which is an exciting atmosphere to be in.

A great school. One of the best educations you can get for the money.

UNC is great. There are so many incredible things about it. I really had the opportunity to do research that was interesting and meaningful, and I learned a lot from classes and the social life. Chapel Hill is also a really cool place--it is University-centered and Franklin Street, the main downtown area, has lots of restaurants and bars, which are all really great. Carrboro is a near-by town and is very quaint and hippie, progressive--Weaver Street Market is the co-op grocery store there and a great place to hang out and study. Campus is BEAUTIFUL, as is the area around it. Professors are generally good and intelligent, but focused on a lot of things (research, teaching, getting grants) so that they don't really have a lot of time. Additionally, the advising department SUCKS. The general thing I would say is that if you are really ready to be on your own, if you take initiative about things in your life and know how to handle dealing with bureaucracy, and you want a lot of opportunity to do incredible things, come to UNC. If you need a bit more hand-holding (and look, most 18-year-olds do), you will probably get more out of going somewhere else at least for the first 2 years.

UNC is an amazing school, period. I wouldn't change a thing about my four years at Carolina, and they were without a doubt some of the happiest in my life. I learned so much, made so many good friends, got involved in organizations I cared about, and really lived life.

UNC is the perfect place to get a college education. As a state school, there are so many resources for students including free admission to all athletic events, free events put on by the endless organizations, and the best professors in the world. The town has just about everything, restaurants, bars, shops, and it is so easy to get around by foot or public transportation. "Carolina Spirit" cannot be matched- it encompasses pride for our teams, our sucessfull students and alum, and for the color of the sky. When you come to UNC, you gain a new identity of a Tar Heel and it stays with you forever, just as the friends and memories you make.

great place to chill at and encounter tons of new ideas and people. so many opportunities to actually make a difference. i love the size. its big enough to get out of one social group and meet entirely new people. but at the same time there are many groups and niches, especially south campus dorms. i would definitely recommend staying in one of the south dorms (preferably one of the high rises) i know theres no ac in most but the experience is well worth it. aim for hj or ehaus freshman year and motown for sophomore. its amazing. i respect the administration and they seem to try to include student feedback. i do have a complaint about the smoking ban... not that i partake but i dont think the state has a right to regulate that. the atmosphere is incredible and the campus is alive every weekend with any type of entertainment, whether frat hoppin or bars or ultimate frisbee on one of the fields or quads. sports also really draws the campus together... i have rarely seen as many tears as when we lose in the ncaa tourny.

I was in the graduate school, and I found out that the grad professors are extremely helpful. They are more than willing to help students even if they have to squeeze students into their schedule. Generally, the faculty, staff and even students are extremely nice. You wont believe it until you are in the community.

The Campus changed my outlook on life, allowing me to reconsider my standing in life and to delve in to my inner self worth. The shear size of the campus is overwhelming. I never realized the size of UNC until I visited some of my friends at Elon, Wake and State. Though the campus is large, it guarantees that there will be place for you in the UNC community. Once you have stayed on campus for a few days, you will never want to leave. I'm home for the summer, and I want to be back at School already! Never in my life did I yearn for the schoolyard during my summer. I miss it all. The campus, the Arboretum, the stadium, Franklin street, and most of all my friends. I don't believe there will be another time in my life where i will be so well connected with my friends as when i am at chapel hill.

At UNC you will definitely work hard, but every night you can find something fun to do! Tuesday and Thursdays, and of course the weekends, you will most likely be out of Franklin street with friends or watching a Tarheel game! UNC students have a reputation for being fun-loving, out-going, and all around Carolina-obsessed. UNC is the quintessential college town. School pride is a must for Carolina; everyone bleeds Carolina blue!

the best things about unc are the diversity, the expert faculty, the hundreds of organizations that you can join, the stimulating environment, and the wide variety of classes. i took a lot of women's studies courses just because they were so fun and interesting- courses such as politics of sexuality, feminist pol theory, women in rome. i also loved jewish american lit (even though i'm not a jew), american history after 1865, politics of latin america, and civil rights law. the size can be overwhelming at first, but it is such a friendly campus, that it all feels like home and family. do try to avoid taking all intro classes though in any one semester- a 400 person lecture is not fun. try for more obscure courses where you can really connect with students and faculty- more fun and better grades! there is a special camraderie among fellow tarheels, so much school spirit. of course, in the time i was there we also had several tragedies that brought us together. in my senior year, eve carson was shot and killed in town and the campus rallied together in a way i'd never seen. while i was there, we also lost our school mascot, two students that were messing around and fell out their dorm window, and had the strange incident where a former student drove his suv into "the pit"- a big gathering place, though no one was seriously hurt that time. Yet the staff and students pull together at these times and can take a tragedy and find something good they can do to prevent such tragedies or to just support each other. We also had so many fun events that I remember. We won basketball championships. We have the "pit preacher", crazy squirrels, big name bands like wilco, and political leaders from all over the world come here to visit. My favorite times? Just laying in the grass in polk place to read or nap or get some rays between classes.

Even though UNC is a large university, there is a sense of community that I found to be quite intriguing when I came here three years ago. Depending on your likes and dislikes, any one can find his or her niche within the larger, extremely diverse social scene at Carolina. If you're looking to join a sorority or a fraternity, be absolutely sure that that is what you want because even if you do make friends outside of the Greek scene, you will not hang out with them. The Greeks will, by and large, only socialize with others who are Greek, and although not all of them are like this, many will not give you the time of day if you're not in a fraternity or sorority. Chapel Hill is the quintessential college town--cliche, I know. But, it is true. Franklin Street is the heart of Chapel Hill, with restaurants for any taste and plenty of places to drink if you're 21, or, sometimes, even if you're not. As you probably are aware, UNC athletics are a great focus of the students, and of the administration (for obvious reasons). School pride is rampant and infectious. There is no more exciting time than March in Chapel Hill, and the basketball players are gods among men, according to most students. It doesn't matter what you have going on; if the Duke game is on, you're in front of the television, screaming and carrying on about how the referees are biased because Duke paid them off using the interest from their multi-billion dollar endowment. I think the best aspects about this place are just little things: sitting in Polk Place with your friends on warm spring afternoons; having a drink at Top O (Top of the Hill) after a long, stressful week; or, just strolling through campus on your way to class thinking to yourself, "Wow, what a beautiful place". Although, take that last comment with a grain of salt because the construction going on around campus is most unattractive and bothersome.

UNC is a school with a great deal of pride and the administration definitely tries to pass that on to students by setting higher standards. Students have a lot of school pride as well. I have found that students are very smart and have the ability to work hard, but do not always want to. They tend to be spoiled about the subject matter and more outspoken about what they don't like--they tend to whine a bit. There are a few students who feel the need to brag about being a part of trends such as how much they like foreign food, where they have traveled or what they believe politically, or their sexual preferences but it comes off as ingenuous. There are students who stay away from that and just want to be themselves and they tend to be much more cooler and more interesting.

i love how this is a large school that feels small and personal. i see the same people all the time, and everyone is very friendly. chapel hill is beautiful and there is tons of stuff to do within walking or biking distance. this is definitely a pedestrian town, so if u hate walking or are disabled, chapel hill is probably not the best place for you. my only real complaints are that advising is awful so you better makes sure u no the curriculum yourself and there has been no predictability for tuition increases for out of state students.

The best thing about UNC (and you'll hear this repeatedly if you decide to come here) is that it's like a family here. The moment you step off of campus and enter another community, you'll find someone who went to UNC or is a UNC fan and suddenly the two of you are best friends--there's a sense of school pride that immediately becomes a part of you that you'll never be able to shake, especially if there's a Duke fan around! And of course, we have the best basketball team in the nation. :) The worst thing about UNC is the constant ongoing construction. Because it is the oldest public university in the U.S., buildings are constantly being remodeled, so it's a never-ending sight to see orange cones and yellow tape blocking off buildings and pathways. It's a little sad to see a different campus everytime you return to UNC from being away for awhile. But you really can't beat the feeling of pride when you say "I go/went to Carolina." People are always impressed, and it's nice being able to say you went to a university that people all over the country--and the world--know about. Chapel Hill is definitely a college town, but it's fun and relaxing. Everyone goes to Franklin Street during nights and weekends to eat, shop, and/or drink. But nothing beats the feeling of being at a sporting event (most notably, the Dean Dome) and screaming along with 20,000 other Carolina fans to root on our athletes.

I know that it is the goal of a public university to grow so that they can provide opportunities to as many people as possible, but there is also a certain expense that goes along with this. In trying to raise money through sports events and the like, commercialization and corporate sponsorship play a big part, and these things, I think, somewhat prevent a real sense of community to be created within the university, because instead of trying to truly create a diverse place where students can open up their minds to new experiences, the university spends its time just trying to promote a certain image to everyone watching them on tv or coming to shop at student stores. Perhaps I'm just small-town, but another thing that bothers me is the student culture that exists here. Instead of having opportunities to express individuality (although there are a handful of these), the most common things that a student can do to bide their time is join school clubs, participate in the unreflective "party culture" that exists everywhere in America, or study. Though these things may have good qualities, we should not count out that at least their current mode of existence has some downsides.

The best thing about UNC is the close knit atmosphere it provides. There are 16,000 Undergraduates and 10,000 Graduates attending, but it feels like you are home because everyone treats you with respect and courtesy. I spend the most time in the Union studying or hanging out because it's a nice central location and the atmosphere is nice. UNC is a college town with all of the benefits. UNC is great for hanging out and enjoying the south. UNC's Administration is not always loved but they do the best possible job given the circumstances. I especially appreciated how the handled the murder of Eve Carson. They really tried to unite UNC and affect healing. School pride is a must. If you aren't a Tar Heel there's no reason to enjoy it. I'll always remember the first time I went to Late Night with Roy. The atmosphere was perfect. Everyone complains about the laptops and the food, but given the deal we get there's not much to complain about even in that.