Anonymous wrote:UNC is a great public. Not quite the same level of prestige nationally as UVa and à Michigan and none of them are as prestigious as Berkeley. The only reason to attend UNC oos over Ivies, Duke, chicago et al is if one gets a true merit scholarship program with benefits (Morehead Cain). The majority of the student body is not impressive and per capita it does not do well for top companies and top JD/MD/phD. There is a large drinking and weed culture on campus much more extensive than that of the T15 private types, arguably more than UVA though not significantly. We live in NC and none of the really smart kids stay at UNC unless they have to financially or get moreheadcain.

Anonymous wrote:UNC is a great public. Not quite the same level of prestige nationally as UVa and à Michigan and none of them are as prestigious as Berkeley. The only reason to attend UNC oos over Ivies, Duke, chicago et al is if one gets a true merit scholarship program with benefits (Morehead Cain). The majority of the student body is not impressive and per capita it does not do well for top companies and top JD/MD/phD. There is a large drinking and weed culture on campus much more extensive than that of the T15 private types, arguably more than UVA though not significantly. We live in NC and none of the really smart kids stay at UNC unless they have to financially or get moreheadcain.

Anonymous wrote:Everyone had to take PE when I was at Chapel Hill, 2 credits. I took bowling and golf and both had tons of athletes in them. The classes were a lot of fun, they had so many options. The athletes were hilarious, trying sports they never tried and having a good time.

Anonymous wrote:Everybody looks good in their shade of blue.

They don’t have a great tradition in football or softball, but they kick butt in many other sports (especially women’s sports like soccer, field hockey, & lacrosse), so lots to cheer for.

The town feels safe, clean, & kinda magical.

Campus is very nice, especially the older part.

Opie Taylor wanted to attend.

Larger city (Raleigh) is nearby.

No engineering nerds continually bragging about how superior they are.

Great name recognition.

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Anonymous wrote:William & Mary founded 1693 oldest public by almost 100 years over the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill branch. The heels do like hiring senior AARP members as their football coaches.

Wasn’t public at the time!

William & Mary wasn't really private to start as well. It had a royal charter and funds provided by the crown from tobacco taxes, revenue from 20,000 acres of land, and pirate loot. Not sure how to categorize that.

And King George III isn’t considered a US president.

Anonymous wrote:Why is Chapel Hill given so much hype? It is actually unique and what makes it different from any other state flagship?

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Anonymous wrote:Everybody looks good in their shade of blue.

They don’t have a great tradition in football or softball, but they kick butt in many other sports (especially women’s sports like soccer, field hockey, & lacrosse), so lots to cheer for.

The town feels safe, clean, & kinda magical.

Campus is very nice, especially the older part.

Opie Taylor wanted to attend.

Larger city (Raleigh) is nearby.

No engineering nerds continually bragging about how superior they are.

Great name recognition.

This is true, but you could make the same argument for UVA and UGA minus the baby blue.

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Anonymous wrote:I’m convinced the negativity is one person. I was quite enjoying the little history lesson, but had to get another in. Take a deep breath, we get it, you don’t like UNC and that’s okay.

The Duke alum was very positive towards UNC - probably one of the most positive posts here. No one was really hating on UNC. Then the UNC fan got nasty.

UNC seems to have an inferiority complex to Duke.

Many UNC alums do, but not all. Even more UNC "fans" with no affiliation to the university do. There are definitely some obnoxious jerk Duke alums but they are the exception, not the rule.

I am an identical twin. I went to Duke and my brother to UNC. Both out of state - we were poor kids from the Midwest on our own since age 18 and needed the athletic scholarships we were offered. I was a little irked when a national sports publication made a big deal over it. I was naive.

I thought highly of UNC and still do. I hesitate to say one school is better than the other for serious students. My brother was a 4.0 Phi Beta Kappa in math and he was well prepared for the econ PhD program he attended on a NSF grant. He became a giant in institutional finance. Likewise I did well at Duke and later was at the very top of a top law school and a law review editor. Duke was a better fit for me and my academic interests, although as an athlete in a very difficult honors program I struggled more than my brother. But it turned out well. The culture at Duke was a very good fit for a competitive law school where intellectual sharp elbows were useful.

I was recruited to UNC and was immature and was frightened of the large early classes as I thought I wouldn't engage. I had some regrets as UNC's athletic department was a great place to be an athlete. No regrets about Duke though. The students were wealthy and I wrote off a social life as a result. The education was a privilege for a poor kid like me so I didn't care. Both of us married Duke grads.

I got a good feel for UNC's curriculum. Twice my brother was competing in Europe in August and given I looked like him I went over to Chapel Hill with his ID to do drop add with his ridiculous instructions. As a scholarship athlete he had auto preference over everyone (as I found out) and drop add was easy, even for an inauthentic character like me. The hard part was getting the PE requirement to graduate. My brother didn't want anything strenuous and absolutely insisted on bowling. I was there for four hours to get him bowling. The things you do for a brother. Bowling is one of my worst athletic endeavors and I would tease my brother that at least UNC taught him how to bowl!

Interesting story, but varsity athletes don’t typically need a PE class to graduate.

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Anonymous wrote:William & Mary founded 1693 oldest public by almost 100 years over the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill branch. The heels do like hiring senior AARP members as their football coaches.

Wasn’t public at the time!

William & Mary wasn't really private to start as well. It had a royal charter and funds provided by the crown from tobacco taxes, revenue from 20,000 acres of land, and pirate loot. Not sure how to categorize that.

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Anonymous wrote:William & Mary founded 1693 oldest public by almost 100 years over the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill branch. The heels do like hiring senior AARP members as their football coaches.

Wasn’t public at the time!

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Anonymous wrote:^For in-state applicants admission rate for all UNC is 42% while at Duke admission rate is around 4% and the 2 schools have vastly different applicant pools. Duke like most elite schools goes out of its way to attract in-state students especially in a financial way. But when 60 thousand applicants for just 1700 freshman spots for class of 2029 at Duke it is unattainable for most kids.

Duke plays the TO game to get that magic low acceptance rate (so do a lot of schools). Duke is also an excellent school that attracts very smart applicants, so not sure why keep that up when honestly I don't think they need it. Duke also does NOT attract many instate kids, they just don't want to go there and that's ok. So comparing UNC and Duke as if the same student is applying to both. Apples and oranges.

NC has actually been a pretty big feeder state for Duke - many more NC kids at Duke than peer schools. According to their web site, in 2024 NC was the biggest feeder state, ahead of NY, FL, CA, TX (surprised NJ isn't there - I'm a Duke alum from NJ so can make that joke). And they have recently heavily focused on recruiting from the Carolinas - I believe kids from those states with family incomes below $150k or so get a free ride. Obviously there will always be many less NC kids at Duke than UNC.