While in Raleigh-Durham, we took Franco on his first college tours! Tiger parenting in full effect. Ha! I’m joking.
I really just wanted to see the University of North Carolina (UNC) Chapel Hill and Duke campuses because I know they’re good schools.
Growing up in California, I only knew about the University of California system and the Ivy Leagues when applying. I went to Catholic school for elementary and high school and even then, no counselor even mentioned Notre Dame! It was all about California schools…as if there isn’t a whole world out there of stellar universities! Kids these days have so many resources available to them that we didn’t have growing up.
UNC
OMG, so cute! Dean was in training and didn’t join us, but when I told him about it, I said, “It’s like where Hello Kitty would go to school.” Which is totally the wrong way to characterize it! But I found it to be clean, walkable, and very quaint.
I said to Franco, “Maybe you’ll go here one day!”
My mom quipped, “Why would he go here? He should just go to Cal and pay in-state tuition.”
I had no idea that UNC is the first public university established in the U.S. in 1789.
The student tour guide mentioned a tradition of waking up at 5am on your first day of class and taking a sip of water from the Old Well which will guarantee you straight As for that semester.
We made sure to stop by the student store so that Franco could pick something out. He chose a UNC stuffed monkey.
Duke
Duke’s campus was ginormous and massively under construction, too, which kinda took away from my experience. It was overwhelming at 8,600 acres to UNC’s 729 acres.
One thing I really appreciated was how diverse the student body was. I felt like I was walking around an international airport, which I think is a really important factor when choosing a school.
Another thing I really liked is how admission is need-blind, with the school financially covering whatever an admitted student cannot afford. That said, you gotta get in. With a 10% acceptance rate, Duke is one of the hardest schools to get into.
Franco picked out a Duke stuffed dog at the student store.
Us at Duke
Here’s a comparison of the two schools I put together. Any alum who are reading? Please share your thoughts in the comments!
I went to UNC for Medical School. If you want an experience that closely mimics the Cal vs Stanford rivalry, then this is a great choice (slight difference being that North Carolina is basketball country). Being at UNC felt very much like being at Cal (i.e. large public university experience) and I loved it just as much as I did Cal. The triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) area is much more liberal and progressive then the rest of the state, so although you definitely feel like you are in the South, a Californian ideology fits right in.
As for being an “out-of-state” student… at the time I attended Med School, UNC was one of the cheapest, if not THE cheapest “in-state” tuitons for medical school in the country. And the “out-of-state” tuition was reasonable comparing to other schools. I was able to get “in-state” status after 3 semesters (you can apply for in-state status each semester after the first year, but most are rejected the first time you apply, as in my case). So I paid 2.5 years of “in-state” tuition and just 1.5 years of “out-of-state” tuition. Cost of living is more reasonable there compared to California (although pricier than the rest of the state) so in total, I probably paid less to attend school at UNC then I would have attending a California medical school. I am grateful I was able to finish medical school with less than $100,000 of debt, which is a rare feat. Plus it’s great to live in and experience different parts of the country. I was able to travel all over the state and came to appreciate and love the fall foliage in the Appalachian mountains, the Outer Banks and the beautiful beach and coastline. North Carolina is truly one of my favorite places in the country!
UNC has to accept a fairly high percentage of “in-state” applicants, so admissions may be tough, but I got into med school there when every California school rejected me. Duke is also a great school (and also equally as difficult to get into) with a bigger price tag but definitely more of the Ivy League/Stanford type experience. Either school carries high regard around the country, so no issue landing jobs with a degree from either school. Both campuses are beautiful and I happily toured many who came to visit me around both campuses during my 4 years there. I never realized Duke campus was so much larger than UNC. UNC always felt big and spread out, but I guess I was comparing it to Berkeley. I will say that I lived 2 years in Durham and 2 years in Chapel Hill and I think I liked living in Chapel Hill better. As a student it has that college-town feel, which is great.
There are fewer Catholics in North Carolina (aka “The Bible Belt”), however there is a wonderful Newman Center at UNC. I also attend Newman at UC Berkeley but never really got involved other than attending mass there. I was very involved with Newman Center at UNC and being part of that Catholic community really shaped my beliefs as an adult Catholic and my desire to be an engaged and involved member of the church. Being part of that community was one of the best experiences I had at UNC. I was also involved with the local student chapter of Christian Medical and Dental Association, and was one of only 2 Catholic students in the group at the time, I believe. It was a very different and wonderful experience of sharing my faith with other Christians who were curious but knew very little about Catholicism. Also it was interesting to be in my first bible study and to bring a Catholic perspective to non-denominational Christian bible study with other medical students.
Go Heels and Go Bears!
wow cynthia, i’m so glad you commented. it was really interesting and refreshing to hear your perspective. i totally see the similarity between the unc vs duke // cal vs stanfurd rivalry. unfortunately we went to NC when it was so hot, but otherwise we would have totally checked out all that the outdoors has to offer over there. it really was so beautiful, even driving around the freeways. i had at least $120k business school debt and that was only for 2 years. ha! 4 years of medical school under $100k sounds like a real steal, especially for the prestige of UNC. we visited my parents’ friend from church (knights of columbus) who moved to chapel hill after living in alameda for 41 years. he said i would have been surprised by all the bernie sanders signs. we also went to a wonderful catholic mass in cary, NC when we were there, and it was awesome! super diverse.
Very interesting and have always said that a state education is definitely something to keep in mind for my own girls when it comes time here in NY. But loved getting the breakdown still and definitely gives more food for thought still.
Fun post! Wow, Duke is huge. Must have been fun to explore.
Both of my kids visited UNC and Duke, along with nearby Wake Forest, on their college visits. For a variety of reasons, none were the right choice for my two. All were beautiful campuses but my favorite was Wake Forest. Question about UNC: is the acceptance rate different for in-state and out-of-state applicants? It seems like it would be.
Hi Mo, I googled the acceptance rates so not sure if that acceptance rate is an average of in-state and out-of-state. Maybe so. Your kids didn’t want to go to University of Chicago? Ha! Those of us at Chicago business school joked about how the undergrad motto was, “University of Chicago: Where fun comes to die.”
Yes, it is more difficult to get into UNC as an out-of-state applicant compared to in-state. Here are the stats for Fall 2015 undergrad class:
9,510 admitted (30% of all students applying; 52% of NC applicants; 19% of out-of-state applicants)
4,076 enrolled (43% of all students admitted; 60% of NC admits; 21% of out-of-state admits)
However, these are pretty high acceptance rates for both in-state and out-of-state, compared to UC system at least. For UC Berkeley the admit rate was was 21.3% for in-state and 16.5% for out-of-state. But UNC is one of the top public universities in the nation, so I’d encourage out-of-state applicants with strong academic record to consider it.
Those numbers seem a bit high. Historically, the out of stat acceptance rate at UNC is berween 12-15%. When I got in, the acceptance rate for out of staters was below 10%.
Hi George, thanks for commenting! I googled ‘UNC acceptance rate’ and I currently show 26%. This is compared to the following: 29% at UVA, 15% at Berkeley, and 29% at Michigan. So it seems to be in line.
All great schools regardless of acceptance rate. Can’t beat the tuition either!
Maybe we out-of-staters just told ourselves that. Haha
I was reading somewhere, that at one time, only 5% of Cal’s student body was from out of state. Talk about impossible odds…