ldmom06

Again hornet...redirect if you must.

The point is, we have had a minor mini-rash of posters who have had atypically negative experiences, or so they claim. I think the reason many feel the need to correct these posters is not to DEFEND, but to make sure the overall picture of UNC is true and accurate.

Because, seriously, some of the complaints have just been really nutty lately. Sheesh.

I'll add an elaborative example on the oos issue. My d is from oos obviously. All of this negativity about being an oos student and treatment by in-state students is really sad. It is NOT the huge problem into which two or three posters have frothed it. My d spent last week with her big gang of girls...half in-state, half oos, half sorority girls, half independents, etc... They dressed up, took photos together, hung out before the big push for finals and before they went their separate ways for summer. The in-state girls are helping the oos girls without cars get their belongings into storage. Their's is a wonderful, colloborative friendship and one EASILY HAD by all willing just to make the smallest of effort. If I mention this, hornet will call me defensive. If I don't, people will read this forum and get a completely WRONG idea about what it means to be oos at Carolina.

hornet

"Again Hornet...redirect if you must"

"If I mention this, hornet will call me defensive."

Your post was fine and would have help its own without the above comments. Why did you discredit your post? Had you simply shared your daughter's experience, you would have had a good, solid and helpful example. The added "colored" comments are what I am complaining about, not the right to present another opinion.

ldmom06

I'm glad you like the post hornet. But again, the fact that I DISAGREE with you doesn't constitute 'color', nor does it make anything I've said invalid. You are out of line in assuming you hold the key to the proper way to debate a topic, and in chastising others for not meeting 'your' standards. And my calling attention to that fact, while uncomfortable to you, IS fair.

karipac07

This discussion is so stupid, if you hate Carolina go be negative somewhere else, we're proud of our school, get over it.

vc08

I just want to point out that I've heard this 3 times on CC....and all 3 times, the people are from Texas.

Ahh, the red-state/blue-state rivalry runs deep in TX it seems

I agree that UNC is among the best public schools in the country. But saying it's the same as Berkeley is simply uneducated. Why? Because it doesn't have the results to prove it (with the exception being the pharmaceutical/pre-med fields, of which it produces amazing results). Once it does, it will certainly get the credit it deserves from people of all regions.

The good thing about UNC is that it's rapidly advancing. Like USC and Boston College, IMO. The only way it will go for the next several years is up.

ldmom06

"Uneducated"? What is uneducated about the statement that though UCB is great, it's no Stanford. Setting aside my Stanford bias (), I don't think anyone will disagree with me.

And it is factual that how far a UCB diploma will take you varies from region to region, or from industry to industry. I'm sorry if you don't like this...but the truth hurts. No doubt....UCB is still a great school. But I guarantee you, it will take a back seat to nontop 30 schools like UT or Texas A&M in Texas, UF in Florida, Mines or Penn State in the oil industry, you get my drift....

Btw vc...I don't think you caught the meaning of my post. (Often an issue I have with you.) My post was not a comparison of UNC and UCB on any level other than the susceptability of their prestige factor to region factors.

armcp

unc's not rapidly advancing in USNews. it's position has remained mostly static as the 5th best public since the publication began rankings (not necessarily a bad thing). it's law school's ranking has plummeted recently, from the high 20s to the mid-40s. i hope this isn't a predictor for the undergraduate division.

armcp

can we talk more about how our personal experiences at UNC make us feel about its 28th ranking. do we feel like the school should be above that, below that, or about the same based on the quality of our ACADEMIC experiences at the school? this would entail idmom06 taking her personal attacks elsewhere, since i'm assuming you are not a student at this university (?).

swim4china89

first off, ranking colleges are stupid on CC. it gets none of us anywhere nor does it do anything for any of us. you want rankings? read US news, or whatever magazine ranks colleges since they are "professionals".

anyways, not saying your (armcp) wrong but college is more than just academics. I agree that what mostly got us here in the first place is hardwork throughout high school and we attend college to educate ourselves but the overall experience and and how "good" a school is compared to others extend far beyond simply its academics. I know you arent only focusing on academics since you mention personal experience but a lot of people seem to take one look at the US news rankings for national universities and feel that they are qualified enough to make judgements about them. That being said, the rankings are stupid because everyones different and everyone will have their own unique experiences. People have different levels of adaptability and how easily you can fit in. You could be given a million opportunities and still end up not as happy as the person who was only offered one but used it fully. Its not about how much your given but how much you take. So what if a college is ranked higher on paper? You'll still have to make the choices. You determine what you make out of YOUR college career. If you like your college, good for you. If you dont, it doesnt mean other people wont either. Thats why this discussion is pointless.

armcp

i'm not asking people to rank unc. i'm just asking them to reflect on whether they think the USNews ranking is accurate. this is an exercise of criticizing the rankings, not of acting like they are all that matter as you imply. and just saying that this is all relative is an attempt to put out any really debate or discussion here. relativism is a given. i know that college is what you make of it and personal experiences will vary. this has been iterated millions of times of this site. can we move a step beyond that now? jesus.

ldmom06

"can we talk more about how our personal experiences at UNC make us feel about its 28th ranking. do we feel like the school should be above that, below that, or about the same based on the quality of our ACADEMIC experiences at the school? this would entail idmom06 taking her personal attacks elsewhere, since i'm assuming you are not a student at this university (?)."
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Omgosh...if I had a nickel for every student who started whining about parents posting on CC when the going gets a little rough. (My daughter is a junior at UNC btw.)

And if I had a dime for every person who blathers on about the meaning of life according to US News. armcp...are you actually a student at UNC and STILL obsessing over rankings?

vc08

Right. No one said it was. YOU were the one who just brought Stanford into the question. That's like me saying that while UNC is great, it's no Duke. Comparing apples and oranges. Does Berkeley want to be Stanford? No. Does UNC want to be Duke? No. Do we really care? No, not unless you're trying to decide between Duke and UNC, which the OP isn't.

Sure except that it happens to have a top-10 program in the field you mentioned....but, rest assured, there's a plethora of jobs available in CA for UCB grads w/o having to travel to the cattle, orange, or corn (?) states

"Often"? I don't ever remember talking to you before. But if I'm somehow misunderstanding you, then present yourself more clearly. I received perfect scores on the reading and English sections of the SAT/ACT, as well as 5s on all AP English tests, so I'm pretty decent in that area. You weren't comparing UCB and UNC, but you brought them up? You said "Berkeley is good, but not quite as famous as you might think." Which implies more than regional bias (which is fine, it happens everywhere)--it hits the "intellectual/factual dismissal" category. If Berkeley isn't *that* famous, then why does it have such success placing grads into PhD programs (it has more grads go on to earn their PhD than graduates of any other university)? Why does it have more programs ranked in the top-10 than any other school in the country (including HYPS)? If it isn't *that* famous, why did my friend turn down Yale and Omgosh STANFORD! to go there? Btw, she's from Louisiana. Huge regional bias there, it seems.

I think it's probably pretty widely accepted outside of North Carolina (and apparently Texas) that Berkeley is more "prestigious" than UNC. Just like it's more prestigious than really any other public school (including the one I attend). That's what world-class research and faculty will earn you: a world-class reputation. In world-wide rankings, UCB consistently ranks in the top-10 universities. UNC is lucky to crack the top-30 (though obviously that's still excellent). So if it's a "world-wide" ranking system, it probably entails opinions outside the state of CA.

But there's more that goes into a school than just prestige; there's that experience part, too. And UNC is a very unique one. That's what makes it such a good school. Are you going to get the same experience at UT, UCB, USC, Vandy, Harvard, and UNC? No. But that's what makes each school great. So perhaps instead of criticizing another school in order to emphasize UNC's merits, you should focus on what it does well. For there's no short list there.

I'm curious, if you had a 50 cent piece, then what would you do?!
Haha sorry, you sounded like a few of my teachers on that one...couldn't help it :P

ldmom06

oh vc..... tsktsk. Overcompensation and personal insults will never do in the real world.

Please re-read my posts and focus on my meaning; you keep reiterating that you have missed it completely.

And those of you overly concerned about rankings, please try not to stress yourself about this so much. I'm actually starting to feel badly for you. If you are attending UNC, or plan to, you have no worries. You will have a great college experience, and grad school and employment doors will fall open for you. What more should you care about?

ldmom06

Btw....when I mentioned Berkeley's Petroleum Engineering program to my husband, he got a big question mark on his face. And he has been in oil and gas industry for 30 years and is the founder of a private equity oil and gas startup that received $1 billion in funding last year. (My own overcompensating on his behalf )

The UCB website reveals no petroleum engineering, geological engineering or geophysical engineering major in their little section on engineering rankings. But it does clearly reveal a desire to be considered as good as Stanford or MIT as evidenced by the repeated comparisons. So maybe your q&a "Does Berkeley want to be Stanford? No." is a not exactly true.

UNCC_UNC

Idmom06, your post displays both ego and excessive overcompensation, especially in your need to mention personal wealth as to underscore your absolute control in this situation; your 'Omgosh' comment is ridiculous. No offense, but I don't trust anyone who uses the word 'omgosh' in lieu of 'omg.' I'm sorry. VC not only silenced your rant, but he (or she) also completely obliterated any chance for a rebuttal---so please stop.
The whole situation is fairly simple: on a realistic scale, it does not matter whether you attend UCB of Stanford, for equally competitive placement for job or graduate school is available through both programs. Goldman recruits as many students from UCB as they do from Ivies; many other industries follow in similar suit. There is almost no difference in world perception between Stanford and UCB. Period. I've been halfway all across the globe, and I feel able to comment; because in every region, somehow, I engaged in 'college talk' with my foreign friends. EVERY one of them has heard of Stanford; every one of them has heard of UCB; none among them holds any greater sentiment for either school.
Rankings are a joke, anyway. What does it mean, for me, within North Carolina, for instance, whether UNC is ranked 30th or 28th or even 1st? The fact that I attend and will graduate from Carolina already guarantees me an interview with ANY! prestigious NC firm in my area of specialization. They won't care whether I went to UNC or Duke; whether I spent 15 or 45 thousand a year. I don't need to open the current US rankings and point to Carolina's status.
But this argument doesn't only hold within the bounds of merely NC. UNC is not a no-name school, and we have recruiters come from all over the country, representing the very elite firms, and sweep away UNC students by boatloads. Will a student from Berkeley or Standford have a better chance at the VERY top positions? Maybe, but I guarantee that either UNC or Duke or Berkley or Stanford students will be considered for an interview, all having an equal chance to at least exhibit their knowledge. The rest is up to the student and how well he or she fares during the interview.
Three of my UNC alumni buddies work for Goldman, a few are currently in top law schools (Harvard, Chicago, Columbia...), two of whom I know are in HBS, and five work for Bank of American Securities. Was any of them hurt by NOT going to Duke or Stanford? No. (There's my ego and compensation, but I will totally admit it )Ranking are silly. End of story.