North Carolina college tour planning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We flew to Charlotte and were struck with the easy drive (20 miles) to Davidson. I highly recommend staying at the Davidson Village Inn. It is quaint and a very easy walk to the college, as well as several excellent restaurants. That place got us considering college in the south, which we have ruled out up to then.

Having said that, it seems to be a very hard admit, at least from our W school in MC, MD.

Sorry, but we did not go to UNC on the same trip. The scale is so different (and probably pace of the scene) that I would be surprised if your child likes both.

Wonder if we’re same HS. No one seems to get in to Davidson. Not sure why. I’m guessing it’s lack of kids applying ED and that’s the real ticket in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Charlotte is far from the Research Triangle Area.

Flights are pretty regular from National to RDU. It's a little over an hour flight.

We stayed at the Inn & Golf Club last summer while touring Duke. We were supposed to stay at the JB Duke but they had to close due to COVID issues. Both properties are nice, but the JB Duke is a more modern style. They're convenient for walking around. Durham is pretty "foodie" these days. Monuts has great donuts & bagels. Pizzeria Toro is good.

My kid didn't get into UNC. No one got in from his school and eight kids applied, all with super-high stats. I recommend that you check the scattergrams before your kid applies. Someone got in years ago but they were a legacy and Morehead-Cain scholar.

Don't know much about the other colleges. Have a good touring trip.

UNC alum here. I'm sure you probably know this, but UNC caps its percentage of out-of-state students, unlike, say, UofM. This is a huge factor in why it is so selective among out-of-staters

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Charlotte is far from the Research Triangle Area.

Flights are pretty regular from National to RDU. It's a little over an hour flight.

We stayed at the Inn & Golf Club last summer while touring Duke. We were supposed to stay at the JB Duke but they had to close due to COVID issues. Both properties are nice, but the JB Duke is a more modern style. They're convenient for walking around. Durham is pretty "foodie" these days. Monuts has great donuts & bagels. Pizzeria Toro is good.

My kid didn't get into UNC.

No one got in from his school and eight kids applied, all with super-high stats

. I recommend that you check the scattergrams before your kid applies. Someone got in years ago but they were a legacy and Morehead-Cain scholar.

Don't know much about the other colleges. Have a good touring trip.

That's strange, our public has about 10 got in last year and 15 the year before, acceptable rate is around 25%

Your DMV public school had 10 out-of-state admits to UNC in the 2020-21 application cycle, and 15 in the 2019-20 application cycle? Please name the school.

[Anonymous]

+1. Seems unlikely.

[Anonymous]

RMHS

[Anonymous]

ok, different #s than BethesdaBeat. Interesting.

[Anonymous]

Walt Whitman got 15, Blair got 9, not bad from MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see in Charlotte. Fly to RDU and see Duke and Chapel Hill. Then drive to the others. Davidson is in the middle of nowhere so make sure you don't plan to spend the night anywhere near it.

Davidson is less than a 1/2 hour outside Charlotte

OP: if you can, fly into Charlotte or RDU and out of the other.

Duke /UNC then Wake/ Elon then Davidson. Or reverse. The way the highways work RDU to Charlotte is quite a hike.


I grew up in the nowhere middle of NC and people sending their kids to college at Elon near Burlington blows my mind. What backward armpit of a place. If your kid is competitive fo the other 4 and you are looking at private tuition, they can find a better place to live and a better school to attend. I’d look at NC State instead.

Your old. Elon has changed in the last 5 years. It’s a very popular back up for kids competitive for UNC and WF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see in Charlotte. Fly to RDU and see Duke and Chapel Hill. Then drive to the others. Davidson is in the middle of nowhere so make sure you don't plan to spend the night anywhere near it.

Middle of nowhere? Where are you from, NYC?

I am from NC -- and yes, Davidson is in the middle of nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see in Charlotte. Fly to RDU and see Duke and Chapel Hill. Then drive to the others. Davidson is in the middle of nowhere so make sure you don't plan to spend the night anywhere near it.

Middle of nowhere? Where are you from, NYC?

I am from NC -- and yes, Davidson is in the middle of nowhere.

It's 5 minutes off 77 and is about 30 minutes from Charlotte. How is that the middle of nowhere?

[Anonymous]

I suspect that UNC is less likely to take a kid from VA because they know they are competing with UVA and they can't compete on price. So, not surprised at the MD schools having more admits to UNC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drive to Durham/ Chapel Hill and do Duke and UNC in one day. Unless you want to see NC State there is no reason to go to Raleigh. I would stay in Chapel Hill, it’s nicer than Durham. Next day get on 15-501 to Elon and then you could drive over to Wake Forest in Winston and do those 2 in a day probably and spend the night there. Then day 3 drive to Davidson.

You might want to consider on the way back hitting Virginia Tech if you’re interested in that school. You could take 77 to 81. FYI lots of speed traps on 77, and because there aren’t many drivers on it to self report Waze doesn’t always warn you.

I'm from this area but went to college at UNC and lived in the Triad (Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem) for a while after graduation.

This PP is spot-on (only thing I can't confirm is the Tech side trip because I never did that).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nothing to see in Charlotte. Fly to RDU and see Duke and Chapel Hill. Then drive to the others. Davidson is in the middle of nowhere so make sure you don't plan to spend the night anywhere near it.

Middle of nowhere? Where are you from, NYC?

I am from NC -- and yes, Davidson is in the middle of nowhere.

It's 5 minutes off 77 and is about 30 minutes from Charlotte. How is that the middle of nowhere?

I suppose we all have a different opinion of what constitutes middle of nowhere. After a recent tour of multiple SLACs, including Davidson, I would say that with easy access to restaurants, grocery stores, book stores, etc. this town isn't middle of nowhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just did this exact trip in late August with my senior. We drove and stayed in 2 cute AirbNbs.
The schools are an easy driving distance between each other, but tours are scheduled at specific times (usually twice a day) and you should pre-register. We did Duke and UNC, staying in Carrboro. Neither were offering tours then. If you're really serious about these schools, you'd want more time there but we just had lunch and hung out at Duke, then spent the rest of the time at UNC. Chapel Hill is a fun town. (One thing that was cute was a very packed patio at a Mexican restaurant we ate at tended to have tables split by gender - a table of boys, then a table of girls - because it seemed like the freshmen were still getting to know their hallmates then.)
We drove the next morning about 50ish minutes to Elon, and checked in at admissions before doing a self-guided tour via our phone. About 45 minutes farther was Wake Forest, which had tons of kids milling about and lined up for lunch. We made it to Davidson for a 2 pm tour, went to a campus event that night and hung out a bit in the morning before the drive back. I wish we'd had 4 days to get to know the schools better but even in this rushed tour, I learned a lot more about each school and the surrounding towns. Elon isn't far from the Research Triangle but the drive is rural and you'd need a reliable car to get between the areas, for instance. Good luck!

It's literally a straight shot on 40 to get from RDU to Elon. What about the drive is rural to you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drive to Durham/ Chapel Hill and do Duke and UNC in one day. Unless you want to see NC State there is no reason to go to Raleigh. I would stay in Chapel Hill, it’s nicer than Durham. Next day get on 15-501 to Elon and then you could drive over to Wake Forest in Winston and do those 2 in a day probably and spend the night there. Then day 3 drive to Davidson.

You might want to consider on the way back hitting Virginia Tech if you’re interested in that school. You could take 77 to 81. FYI lots of speed traps on 77, and because there aren’t many drivers on it to self report Waze doesn’t always warn you.

I'm from this area but went to college at UNC and lived in the Triad (Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem) for a while after graduation.

This PP is spot-on (only thing I can't confirm is the Tech side trip because I never did that).

Thanks! GDTBATH!