Hello!
I recently received an unconditional offer to the University of St. Andrews Joint degree with William and Mary for international relations. I have also been accepted to UNC-CH as an assured admit to their Kenan Flagler business school with a full tuition scholarship. I would also be a Global Gap year fellow and receive $8,000 to fund a volunteering gap year next year. I am having a very difficult time deciding between the two schools because I have not been able to visit either school.
I have spoken to people at both schools who both love their respective schools but I was hoping that someone would be able to tell me a bit more about their experience at either school.
UNC:
pro- almost free, gap year, direct admit to highly ranked business school, course flexibility
con - in the south, very large,
USt.A:
pro: very strong international relations program, greater depth in major, smaller, Scotland!
con: more expensive than UNC, less flexility in curriculum
Do you want to major in business or in international relations ?
Curious why you believe that living in the south is a con?
But either way, save your money for grad school. St Andrews looks like a good option, but it will be expensive. What if the travel restrictions persist into the fall? Will you be okay paying full tuition for a virtual experience? How about getting up at 3 am US time to attend a morning virtual class in Scotland?
UNC Chapel Hill is not a traditional Southern/Red State experience - that would be Duke.
I am interested in why Business at UNC and IR at StAs?
Also, there are numerous other differences in the schools approach to education and the atmosphere. At StAs you are not attached to General Ed requirements, nor are you handheld with reminders of when things are due. Your grade will be based on 2 or 3 assignments and a final.
There is no Greek Life at StAs and there are no Saturday Night Football games or Homecoming type events…so if the rah-rah American College Experience is what you are after, then UNC is the only choice.
On the pragmatic side, UNC is an excellent school, made even more excellent by someone else willing to pay for the opportunity.
Duke is definitely not a bastion for red state politics. Durham and the surrounding area is a sea of blue in an otherwise red state. Same for CH.
Don’t you do two years at St. Andrews and two years at William & Mary?
Can your family afford both options with no loans/no hardship?
Every comment I’ve seen on CC about the St. Andrews + W&M program has reported that students end up wishing they’d applied for the regular four-year program at St. A’s. (maybe @VickiSoCal can comment)
I personally cannot see why you’d give up that amazing offer from UNC - a full ride and a funded gap year? I’d grab that brass ring. You could do an IR masters at St. A’s afterward and still come out ahead $-wise.
Do you know what you want to study?
But yeah, regardless, I’d consider full-ride + funded gap year at UNC a no-brainer.
More pros/cons:
St A’s: pros: swishy red robes, tight community; cons: comparatively isolated, dark from 4pm to 8am from Nov-Feb
W&M: pros: good school spirit, mildish weather/short winter
Both: pros: pretty campus porous to a pretty town; strong academics; con- 2 year split
Biggest challenge: by your threads, IR is not really a core interest for you, and you will have a lot of it.
I’m with the people saying take the funded gap year- and go to a country whose language you want to learn- whether you do business or IR, real fluency in another language is an asset!
I would look further into the placement of the St. Andrews - William & Mary program in terms of IR positions, but from the surface I would say hands-down UNC. Kenan-Flagler places students extremely well in both the South and Northeast (NYC/Boston). The assured admit program (which I did) also gives you even more connections among professors and alumni. UNC is also well known for international relations, so I don’t think you’re losing out there. I don’t think the South is a con. Students are generally liberal and more laid back than in the ultra competitive atmosphere you might see at a top private university.
St Andrews is a terrific university, and it is actually LESS expensive that private US colleges. The seriousness and caliber of the average student at St Andrews is probably higher than at UNC. BUT, you have a fantastic financial package from UNC and St Andrews is easier for paying US students to get into than the overall reputation of the school within the U.K. would suggest. So people aren’t going to be as impressed by it on your resume. Also - should you decide you want to do a Wall Street or hedge fund internship (a good experience even if that’s not what you want to do after graduation) you will have a much better shot from Kenan Flagler. I love St Andrews but, for you, UNC is a no-brainer. Do use the gap year to travel, though.
If I attend UNC I am planning to study international business and with both paths, I would hope to attain a masters degree in international law/finance. The international relations program at St. Andrews lets you specialize in which modules of the course you which to focus on and I would plan to take the business and economics focused modules
Thank you to everyone for your great feedback!