Chapel Hill (while definitely not Boston) is not in “the middle of nowhere”. It is in RTP which is one of the fastest growing metropolitan cities in the US. Plus Chapel Hill might be top 3 best college towns in the country and as such your overall school experience (academics, social, volunteering, clubs, sports, etc) will be really good. All a amazing schools but UNC will truly offer you best of everything in a smaller scale compared to Boston or NYC