University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Top Questions

What is your overall opinion of this school?

Brian

Coming to UNC is probably the best decision I've ever made. I have loved every moment here, from my freshman orientation right up through the graduation ceremony. The campus is breathtakingly beautiful, the people are nice and welcoming, and every day feels like it could be special. The student body and alumni, myself included, have an overwhelming sense of pride in the letters UNC. It is hard to find someone who graduated from UNC that doesn't bleed Carolina blue. I personally flaunt the fact that I go to UNC every chance I get, with clothes and bumper stickers and anything else I can find. I don't know a single student who doesn't love this place with all their heart, who hasn't been touched by the university, or who won't leave with many lasting memories. After you graduate from UNC, everywhere you go you will meet members of the Carolina family and you will be just that: family.

patrick

best thing - the campus experience. campus is absolutely beautiful and the students make it even more so - everyone is friendly and active in so many ways. it's a huge school but that was perfect for me because that's what i wanted. the only weakness this presents is that the administrative stuff like billing, class registration, etc can get really frustrating (very bureaucratic) AMAZING college town - you will come to love the town of chapel hill over the course of your years here. TONS of restaurants, bars, concert venues, job opportunities, community events, etc. favorite experience - when we won the ncaa tourney national championship in 2005. Franklin Street was freaking CRAZY!

Nicole

UNC has a very beautiful campusl, especially in spring. The architecture and the nature mesh very well, especially on upper campus. The downside is, south campus is nowhere near as pretty, and campus stretches over a mile long. Thank goodness for buses, bikes, and pretty days. UNC has a great reputation. People are always impressed to hear that I am a UNC student. School pride is great, especially when it comes to basketball. A recent controversy was that the school went smoke-free. A lot of people love it, a lot of people hate it. There are two (?) places left on campus where people can smoke. The town is pretty liberal, and almost utopian, especially when Carrboro is just a mile West (a hippie-ish town where people are very environmental and artistic). Raleigh is just 35 minutes away if you're looking for a bigger city, but Chapel Hill is really all you need.

Whitney

out of state? be ready for some culture shock, depending where you're coming from. be ready to get involved and put yourself out there.

Rebecca

Among the colleges I applied to, I wouldn't have gone anywhere else. It's a large student body and campus, but it doesn't feel that way. If you get to know professors and TAs, you can really build some beneficial relationships. Most people are impressed when I tell them I go to UNC (except Staties and Dookies, but that's a different story). I actually spent most of my time on campus in classrooms or in the UL (undergraduate library) and student union. The administration structure is very stratified and highly bureaucratic. It is frustrating to have to spend days looking for the answer to a question, sent from department to department, only to find the person who can answer your question is in the office you initially contacted. The Chancellor (the Meese) and his staff are fantastic. They respond to your questions and try to address your concerns as best as possible. I have high expectations for our new chancellor, Holden Thorpe. He will likely acquire his own nickname soon enough. Tuition is a perennial issue. The board gouges out-of -state students. You'll read about it for months in the DTH (Daily Tar Heel). You will not find another school that has more school pride. The colors and logos are everywhere, the traditions are solid. Even if you don't know the basketball songs when you are a freshman, by senior year, you will have them memorized. My favorite experience will be being on Franklin Street the night we won the National Championship in 2005.

Kathryn

UNC is a great school. It's diverse, provides a thriving academic environment, and there are plenty of opportunities for any student to get involved no matter what their interest. The social life is great, if you like to party primarily at frats you can or you can go to the many bars or house parties that go out. Chapel Hill is definitely a college town with a lot of charm. Carrboro, a nearby suburb is a lot of fun and provides an eclectic view you don't see a lot. The music scene in Chapel Hill and the surrounding area is out of this world and amazing. The campus is undergoing a lot of construction right now, which is probably what I hear people complain about the most but the quad, especially in the springtime, is absolutely gorgeous and cannot help but bring a smile to your face.

Mike

- Great college town (relationship between the locals and the college kids is fantastic) - Great nightlife - Spectacular academics - A+ athletics - High percentage of females - Very safe campus overall (despite some recent events)

Natasha

When you begin to attend UNC, it becomes a part of who you are. Many students come to the school having worked their entire life for the opportunity. When you have that level of commitment, along with a deeply seeded hatred for all things Duke, school spirit and pride is automatic. There are so many wonderful things about UNC. Here are just a few: the campus is very safe. I've walked across campus numerous times at 3am and never felt scared. We're extremely well-funded, which opens up so many opportunities. We get a ridiculous portion fo the budget. I started out disliking the size, but with a large student body comes opportunities for classes, clubs, people, and notoriety that you can't achieve at a smaller institution. Chapel Hill is the quintessential college town, and the entire place revolves around Franklin St. I feel like the only drawback is the constant and annoying construction projects.

Matt

It is an excellent school for academics. There are a large number of students who don't really belong and cruise through without accomplishing anything. The more time I spent there, the less I enjoyed the student population, but the campus and academics made it worthwhile.

Gene

I love it, as an out of state student it is the best. I am glad that I came here. I am not really going to give you everything that I love about it because I am me and I am very different from you. You, I like being away from home and the independence of it. UNC fosters develepment and I am just ecstatic when I think about it and why I chose to come here.

daniel

UNC is a big school and this is both good and bad. It's good because it means there are endless possibilities for ways to learn or get involved (and a seemingly endless amount of funding, if you're willing to search for it). It's bad because it means that these possibilities are not always open to people and many students probably fall through the cracks that the intro-level 300-person classes create. UNC has a decent reputation, and for the most part it deserves it. There is a wide range of students, very far left to very far right, very smart to questionably vegetative, etc. I think UNC might be the most "public" of the top public universities - almost every student is involved in philanthropy or outreach or activism.

elizabeth

UNC's an amazing place. As someone who didn't want to come here I really grew to love it in my four years. There are over 600 student organizations so you can get involved somehow, no matter what your interests. There's also just a ton of stuff going on in the town of Chapel Hill and academically around the university. Most of the other schools I looked at were Ivy Leagues and I think I can pretty much say that I received as good an education here as I would have up north. I really appreciated the size of the campus as well; there are always new people to meet and stuff to do, but I never felt lost or swallowed. Also, after my first year or so I was able to steer clear of big lecture classes and interact in small classes with all of my professors and other students.

Ashley

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Meredith

Best: Historical Campus, most beautiful in the country Worst: Dining Academics: Top Tier Social: Yes, Franklin street is amazing and there is always something to do - too much, I find often. This is the greatest school in the country.

Andy

The Big picture is that I simply couldn't imagine myself anywhere else. UNC is my home, my love, and my life. UNC has helped me become the person that I always thought that I could be. It has developed me academically, intellectually, and has helped to ground my life in service to others. UNC is a place for everyone, we welcome anyone who wants to persue a commitment to passion, intensity, and change.

Dale

The size is just right and the campus is absolutely heavenly. It's a true college town. When I tell people I went to UNC people always respond with recognition and admiration. The adminsitration tends to care more about the alumni's money than the students at times, but on the whole I would say the students are very well respected and listened to. TONS of school pride. More than I can ever describe here. If you've ever been in the Dean Dome for the Duke game, you know what I'm talking about. We bleed Carolina Blue.

Ellie

Very large. Many students, hard to get to know people in your classes. Friendly rivalry with Duke. Chapel Hill is definitely a college town. Lots of school pride. There is ALWAYS construction. Campus would be much prettier if there wasn't constantly construction.

Bryce

UNC has a beautiful campus, located in a perfectly-sized town. Many of the big city attractions are in Chapel Hill, but the traffic is much better on average, a benefit from the biker-friendly attitude UNC and neighboring Carrboro have adopted. Regardless of the origin, an almost tangible sense of camaraderie exists amongst students, faculty, employees and alumni. This "Carolina Spirit" likely derives from the fondness that everyone associated with the university feels for it. The school is the perfect size, UNC is well known and respected in almost all areas, and many suitable housing options are close to campus. One problem at UNC, however, is parking. Like many schools, parking permits are prohibitively expensive for some, but that makes walking/biking to campus all that more practical. My deepest gratitude is to be given to UNC's Carolina Covenant, because it enabled me, a student from a low income family, to graduate with only $3500 in student loans - and my parents paid none of my tuition or other expenses.

Erin

UNC is the perfect size. It's big enough that it offers infinite opportunities to get involved in an activity, a cause, or just to socialize. But it's small enough that it quickly feels like home. The majority of students genuinely love the school and the community, and take tremendous pride in the school. There are a ton of small, comfortable places to study or to read on campus, and the quad is beautiful. UNC's campus is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen, largely because of the number of trees and flowers. I think the majority of the faculty and administration at UNC sincerely want the students to succeed and work to help students that are willing to ask for it.

Erin

I love everything about Carolina. The academics are top notch, competition is fierce, and the professors expect the best of the best. Something that amazes me everyday is the way every single person is involved in so many other activities and organizations outside of just academics. There is such a great balance of academics, athletics and social that people would be CRAZY not to come to Carolina. Best college town in the nation.

Andrea

The real motto of the students is work hard play hard. The classes are tough and some of the professors are real hard asses but the weekends start on Thursdays. Any given night there are a lot of people hanging out on Franklin St. But as soon as Thursday hits that number doubles. The night life is amazing whether you prefer the frats, the bars, or the clubs theres something for everyone. We recently suffered the tragic loss of our student president, the campus came together so strongly that it was truly possible to see the "Carolina Family" that alumni and administrators are always talking about.

Jessica

Way too much construction that takes too long to complete. A project that was started at the beginning of my junior year is still going on at the end of my senior and it looks like there is no progress

Maria

The best thing about UNC is the huge number of things you can get involved in. The reaction I get from most people I tell that I go to UNC is, " Wow, you must be an intelligent young lady." not too shabby if you ask me. Chapel Hill is most definitely a college town, without the college I doubt that the town would have a mall or a movie theater. There is a huge amount of school pride here, you can't walk across campus without seeing at least 9 or 10 people with Carolina blue on. The most recent controversy on campus was when our student body president was murdered at the beginning of our Spring semester, Eve Carson. The men were found and incarcerated.

Valerie

While UNC is large, it is one of the best college towns in America, which has a small town feel due to the intimacy that peers are enables in the academic setting, as well as the social setting.

Kelly

Advising is terrible. There are an awfully lot of people here. The campus is ridiculously large. People have a lot school spirit here; i didn't know what that was until i came. I stay in my room most of the time b/c everything is too far away. They should put a Franklin Street on South Campus; it'll give North Campus students a reason to come south. I remember freaking out because I couldn't find public safety to get a parking pass on the first day I was here. I couldn't park either, because I couldn't find a parking space (illegal or not) in which I could stop to look at my map. I.e. their sign is too small.

julia

UNC is awesome with lots of types of people and lots of things to do. many people are ambitious and involved in many things. the frat/ southern belle/ concerned about money part is true. there are also a lot of very very smart people here that are hard to relate to. i love sport and the campus. some teachers are wonderful and some teachers make life hell. class is extremely hard. Advising sucks. its hard to come here and not be able to pursue your major because graduate programs are so hard to get into. its a fun school. there is tons of school pride. administration is not good. its a great college town but so many people are either super involved, too busy studying to hang out with. if you don't get involved its kind of hard to fit it.

Whitney

The school is just right. It is such a beautiful campus and it is fabolous to walk around campus when going to and from classes esp during the warm summer days. And, how can you leave out, our basketball team and the support that comes along with them!! AMAZINGGG!

Emily

The best thing about UNC is the diversity of the student body and the beautiful campus. Within a few months here you can't help but completely fall in love with Chapel Hill. Students are laid back and very friendly and there is a wonderful aura surrounding the campus that comes from the happiness of students who attend UNC.

Meg

The best thing about UNC is the happiness of our campus. The school is not too big, not too small, but right in the middle..the perfect size. People are super excited & enthusiastic-sounding when I tell them I go to UNC. They comment that I must be really smart & must love the school. I spend most of my time on campus at my sorority house. Chapel Hill is one of the best college towns! Franklin St rocks. We have SO much school pride. Everyone is super proud to say they go to UNC & super proud to cheer for the Tar Heels. One thing unusual (in a good way) about UNC is that there is an incredibly good balance between academics & social life. I don't think it can be found at any other university. The biggest recent controversy on campus was the murder of Eve Carson. It really shook our campus up. The administration at UNC is very friendly and helpful. It's easy to set up meetings & get extra help. The most frequent student complaints are about registration.

Louise

UNC is a wonderful public university that has so much to offer. It is the definition of a college town with so many resources and so much to offer. UNC has so much school pride it is unbelievable. Athletics are huge, and everyone loves going here so much.

Tristan

Unc is the most active, involved place i have ever experienced. If you are seaching for anything, you can find it here. If you have everything you desire, you can share it with others. Its the most amazing place on earth.

Tiffany

It is a big school, but when you come from a big city, it's easy to fit in. Things are a long walk, but most of the time, it's worth it. Franklin street has many great restaurants and stores. Everything can be in walking distance once you go to UNC. You take pride in knowing you have some of the best science and pre-professional programs. Graduate schools are also nationally ranked.

Andy

UNC is huge but it's easy to find your own smaller group where you feel more comfortable. I love the quad in the Spring time.

Robin

Campus is extremely diverse as far as lifestyles of students. I love walking by Fraternity Court and seeing boys in sperries then continue walking towards Carborro and seeing everyone in hemp sandals.

Chelsea

i am obsessed with carolina, but there are two things i would change: the ratio of guys to girls and the ratio of liberal professors to conservative professors.

Devin

UNC has an awesome bar and party scene. The campus is beautiful, and the vibe is great. The people are somewhat "Laguna Beach"-esque though, and uncultured. The campus is large and this makes getting things with advisors, etc more difficult. Getting any kind of paper work or red tape taken care of always ends up in a wild goose chase.

Jarvis

It is extremely fun to attend because of its diverse student body and great college town setting. The teachers love carolina as much as the students so there is a lot of excitement.

Natalie

UNC is a great college town with great academics and a fun student life. There are tons of student organizations to get involved in, so there's no excuse for not having anything to do! School pride is awesome, especially during Basketball season. I'll always remember the times (good and bad) when our campus came together and you could really feel the Tarheels united in the Carolina Way, as Eve Carson used to call it. The bad times (the deaths of Eve Carson and other fellow students) and good (all the wonderful basketball memories, Fall Fest, and more!)!

Heather

UNC is a huge school and it can be hard to acclimate your freshman year. Getting involved in clubs helps to shrink UNC.

Jessica

School pride is the first thing that comes to mind when i think of UNC. If you love the color of the sky carolina is the place to be. It is an endless wave of carolina blue every day. The college may seem big the first time you come here, as it was to me, but once you finally get settled in the college seems ten times smaller. The best thing about going here is there is always something going on, whether it be a huge school wide event or just something going on around the dorms. You will never be bored between studying and classes here at UNC.

Nicole

Being able to say that I attend UNC Chapel Hill is one of the most rewarding accomplishments I've achieved. The name itself carries so much prestige that everyone expects great things in a Chapel Hill student's future. I can meet people anywhere in the country and, chances are, they know about Carolina and are excited to talk to a student from UNC. Coming from a small high school, the adjustment to such a large student population was somewhat overwhelming at first, but once I got comfortable here I realized how much fun it is to meet new people every day. It was unbelievable to me to see how much spirit and pride the students here express for anything and everything Carolina, and the Tarheel pride is contageous. You can't help but find yourself cheering for the team, wearing UNC tee-shirts everyday, and hating Dook. It comes with being a student at UNC Chapel Hill.

Brandt

This school is HUGE. Lots of school pride.

Andrew

Things to change: heartless idiots running administration need to GO. however I am very proud to be here and other people's reactions confirm that I should be. There needs to be MORE SCHOOL PRIDE!

Kennan

UNC is a medium sized school. Chapel Hill itself is a small, centrally located town. Franklin Street is the center of activity in Chapel Hill, and runs along the north side of campus. Most student housing and dorms are within walking/biking distance to campus and Franklin Street. The bus system is also a good option for underclassmen living on South Campus or other students who live in apartments that are more than a mile from campus. The buses go everywhere and are timely and reliable. One of the great things about Chapel Hill is the ease in getting around. As a student in the dorms or living in a nearby off-campus location, driving is hardly ever necessary. Franklin Street offers a plethora of restaurants and twenty or so bars, which can all be conveniently accessed. There is an incredible amount of school pride. UNC is quite the basketball school. Tickets can be hard to get. The entire town is consumed with basketball during games, with peaceful riots on Franklin Street commonplace after big victories. The UNC-Duke rivalry is arguably the most intense rivalry in the nation, and watching the game anywhere in Chapel Hill is an incredible experience. Although students have a lot of enthusiasm for UNC basketball, this enthusiasm is not necessarily transferred to football. The Greek life is large and pronounced, but by no means dominant. There are plenty of other things to do at UNC that are non-Greek related, although many students active in the Greek community find their calling and become consumed by fraternity/sorority activity.

John

UNC is perfect- every day i spend at this university i am more and more scared of the day ill have to leave- its beautiful. never had more fun or made more friends.

Jessica

UNC is the most amazing school. I love everything about it! I love the size, the location, the classes, the opportunities, and of course BASKETBALL! I love how much everyone that goes here has a certain connection whether they have anything else in common or not. Everyone has such a strong sense of school pride!

Karen

When I tell people that I go to UNC, they ususally are very impressed and then immediately ask if I go to the basketball games. Naturally, if I am speaking to a Dook fan, they have the opposite reaction. Overall, I feel that people respect Carolina for our academics and are big enough to know when to seperate that from the athletic department.

Mike

The best thing about this school is the value of the education. The size is perfect. The town is great and theres lots of good food. There is a ton of school pride and I will always remember Franklin after basketball games.

Ann

The best thing about UNC is how the university is the perfect combination of everything: academics, social life, school spirit, and general atmosphere. The campus is absolutely gorgeous, the academics are challenging and the professors are inspiring, there is no experience that even comes close to a basketball game inside the Dean Dome, and I think that the Carolina-Duke rivalry is a neat part of the Carolina experience that one wouldn't get at another institution-- after graduating, you bleed Carolina blue for the rest of your life. Carolina transforms you, and you become intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally a living part of this university. It's one of those things that is almost impossible to express, but every Tarheel knows exactly how it feels--walking through the quad as the sun sets in early fall, or seeing the sea of Carolina blue flooding Franklin Street after beating Duke at Cameron on their Senior Night, or singing at the top of your lungs with all your closest friends at He's Not on Sunday Karaoke nights, or being moved to tears after hearing the Clefs sing James Taylor's "Carolina in my Mind" at the Old Well on the last day of classes.

Lauren

UNC is the dictionary definition of a college town. It's in a suburban setting, yet Raleigh is a 20 minute drive away. The campus is gorgeous and historic, one of the most beautiful in the nation. Everyone has a tremendous amount of school pride, stemming from pride in the University and its great academic reputation, as well as our phenomenal basketball team and countless other award-winning athletic programs. People are generally very impressed when you tell them you go to UNC.