The Culture - the students, faculty, and staff are all amazing. The campus is one big family

The size of the campus is big - difficult to walk everywhere

Going to UNC is the best decision you'll ever make!

Yes

Culture, diversity, academic rigor, and location -- the campus is beautiful

It can seem too large at times. Intro classes can be impersonal.

Try and get into a North Campus dorm or one of the new South Campus dorms.

Yes

No cars needed. Small classrooms where you can sit down with your professor.

If you do not get into the business school, the econ department does not have great financial courses

It is a college campus with a very diverse student body.

Yes

The people, professors, and the atmosphere are unlike i have experienced. Big school feel in an amazing city

Although the people are great, they are sometimes overly liberal and tend to cannibalize any opposing viewpoints. Conservatives are not really accepted

Overall UNC-Chapel Hill is a great place to go to school. You get the big school feel, at a top tier institution along with amazing sports and there aren't many other places where you can get that. Coming to UNC was the best decision i ever made.

Yes

School pride, beautiful campus, leading professors, strong athletics, it's not Duke

Career Services could be much stronger, especially with regard to non B or J school students

Carolina was one of the best decisions I made in my life. I chose Carolina over a number of other schools, virtually all of which were closer to home. But I've never questioned my decision, because the people I met and the atmosphere I got to become a part of made the distance worthwhile. I wish I could go back.

Yes

The people I met made my four years at UNC some of the most important of my life. There were so many amazingly accomplished people who also led balanced lives--they performed well in classes, played sports, gave back to the community through meaningful long-term volunteer opportunities. The standard is to be involved in as much as possible, and it makes for a very rich experience.

Still a large school and can be tough to find a place to fit in initially. Despite academic prestige, sometimes the social scene seemed to be more important.

Look into the Honors program. When I was there, it was open to everyone on a class-by-class basis, so you could take some excellent individual courses with great professors without being overcommitted to an exclusive program.

Yes

It depends on your major, but I am definitely earning my chemistry degree (not just paying for it). The general requirements can be tough to navigate at first, but after your first semester you learn how to make it fun and use the system for your benefit. However, academic advising expects you to learn the system yourself - if you come into your meeting and are unprepared or don't know information accessible on the website or aren't that familiar with the structure of your major's requirements, you are going to have a bad experience. Also, they are not that helpful with undecided students. However, there are lots of programs through the career center that are way more helpful. Class size is good after freshman year and professors are really accessible through office hours/willing to make special time for you. Most are really welcoming too; there are exceptions to this, of course, but I've never had a bad office hours experience. Research opportunities are outrageously accessible. Grading can be tough - like I said, some degrees are harder than others, but it is usually really tough to get out of the B-zone in a chemistry class without at least 2 or 3 hours of daily studying for just that class. Studying abroad is really accessible too - there are tons of grants and scholarships floating around. Also, the Honors Program is really great. Basically, it just allows you access to 70+ really small, unique courses taught by world-class profs. You have to take at least 2 each year though, so if you aren't careful you can get stuck your senior year with not enough room in your schedule.

This is notoriously an extremely friendly school. People smile at one another, wear UNC gear ALL THE TIME, and are really dedicated to both school and extracurrics or a specific organization, which gives things a really well-balanced vibe (and generally just makes people more interesting). Also, Campus Wellness Services are super approachable and really helpful - my friends and I go there all the time to vent.

The "short answer" questions were rather unique; we had ~1 sentence to answer something like "What is your favorite joke?" or "Where would you go if you had a free round-way ticket?" or "What animal fits your personality?" - things like that. We also meet 100% of academic need, which is really great for a lot of people.

2

2013

UNC's academic program is structured into 2 broad parts - a general curriculum and your major track. All students must fulfill "general education" requirements, which are a set of categories in 3 levels (Foundations, Approaches, and Connections) like "World Before 1750" and "Quantitative Reasoning." Major tracks generally run about 9-11 classes, depending on the major.

Class size is occasionally an issue freshman year, as introductory classes tend to be a little on the larger side. One of the great things about Carolina is that as you progress, the classes get way smaller. Additionally, first-years can sign up for first-year seminars, which are 20-person max classes taught by senior level faculty on a topic selected by the professor.

Academic advising is a bit lacking. Many professors moonlight as advisors, and unfortunately they are sometimes ill-prepared for a question that requires more thought than filling out a form. I've generally had a pretty positive advising experience, but I've also heard quite a few horror stories.

Carolina is competitive academically in the sense that everyone you will meet is a bright and intelligent person. It's not easy to get into Carolina, and that shows. But if your high school is the kind of cutthroat competition that mine was, you'll find the atmosphere at Carolina extremely refreshing. Carolina students are not out for the #1 ranking or to seek to beat out all the other students. More importantly, Carolina students are interested in engaging with each other - whether that's inside the classroom or out of it in the form of extracurriculars.

Living in Chapel Hill is a dream. It's a bubble, it's a fantasy land, and it is the land of opportunity. Grandiose statements aside, whether you live on or off campus, you'll have a fantastic "quality of life" at Carolina. Housing is affordable both on and off campus. Campus itself is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, especially in the early fall and spring.

The facilities are top notch, particularly the science buildings and the athletic facilities. The libraries are plentiful and whether you're looking for a social studying environment or a small hidey-hole to squirrel yourself away, you'll find it.

Crime is about what you'd expect in a small Southern town - relatively low. Campus is pretty safe.

The application questions were a selection. For instance, I distinctly remember having to pick from a list of 5 questions for one essay. The personal statement essay was not a selection - it basically said to write whatever you want.

There were no interviews, and at the time of my application UNC had both early action and early decision. I don't know if they still do.

4

2010

Standard general requirements, the things that you would expect (science, foreign language, English, etc.)

Major requirements depend on the major, some are more demanding than others

Given its size, academic advising is excellent. You have two advisors - one in the general college and one in your major. Both were always helpful to me.

Professors are very accessible, but it does depend on the department or major. Accessibility of professors attracted me to a smaller major.

Plenty of study abroad activities. The study abroad office was a huge help for me in deciding to do a Semester at Sea.

Cost of living is OK. It's a college town, so apartments are expensive.

Town-gown relations are pretty good, so long as students don't act stupid in family neighborhoods.

2006