Please help! UNC or William & Mary

Marsian
Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:05:54 +0000

Have you done a Web search on international student groups at the two schools? If you are not very social, such a group might be a place to start. UNC, because of its size, probably even has some kind of group (either formal or informal) specifically for students from China. Also, you might look at lists on their Websites of formally recognized student organizations to see whether there are groups that you might want to join, which would be a great way of meeting people with whom you share some interests.

It would be nice if you could visit to get a feel for both schools, but here’s a little about them to help. Both have beautiful campuses. Williamsburg is a wonderful historic town, very quaint and lovely. There is so much colonial history in the area (including Jamestown and Yorktown), and you are very close to Busch Gardens amusement park for fun. There is a very tacky, congested commercial district to the west of the historic district, but you can easily avoid this area. Chapel Hill is the quintessential college town. Franklin Street has lots of restaurants and ice cream/yogurt parlors. It’s a very walkable area, but bus service all over Chapel Hill/Carrboro is free. Sports (particularly basketball) are very big and students have a lot of school spirit. The campus is far bigger and more spread out than the W&M campus and includes a very large research hospital and medical complex (medical school, dental school, nursing school, etc.).

You have two solid options. I know less about the programs at W&M, but it is a strong school academically and is well known in the United States. However, I do think you need to keep in mind UNC’s name recognition in China if you’re fairly certain that you will return.

I hope things go well for you.