UW Seattle or UNC Chapel Hill?

College Search & Lists
1

Hi guys! I accidentally posted in the wrong forum so I’m reposting it here:

I’m accepted to both schools, which one should I go to?

  • I plan to major in neuroscience/premed, and I heard both schools are prestigious in the field of medicine.
  • I'm out of state for both and I'm trying to apply for financial aid... my family faced an emergency financial problem lately, that's why I did not apply until now. But BESIDES money, what other factors should I consider? Why should I choose one school over another?
2

-Location/environment/weather. Seattle will be gray and rainy (but not very cold - chilly, not cold) throughout the majority of the academic year. This is not objectively a bad thing, but it is what it is. Chapel Hill will be warmer and probably have more sunny days. In September and October and April and May, Seattle will (if it decides to) be warmer and sunny more often. Chapel Hill may be uncomfortably hot, particularly in May and September (and August definitely, if you happen to be there then) but everything is air-conditioned anyway.

Also, UW is in the middle of Seattle, a large city. UNC is in a small suburban college town (Raleigh is pretty close - about 40-50 minutes - but I’m not sure how much that’ll mean if you don’t have a car.)

-Your potential peers, but they will be relatively similar at UW-Seattle and UNC-Chapel Hill. (UW will have a little more of a mix of high school academic achievement, whereas UNC is so competitive that they have a greater proportion of top students.) They have similar proportions of in-state students (a little more than 80%).

-The kinds of majors and classes you can take at each college and what appeals to you academically. That’s not necessarily major “strength,” as you’re not going to study a specific “program” as if you were a grad student, and you may change your mind. I would only use that as a tiebreaker. (For example, UW has great computer sciences and related majors, like informatics and human-centered design and engineering. UNC has excellent public health and business majors. But both are great comprehensive universities.) I’m talking about the breadth of things that are interesting to you at the school that you could take; or if you wanted to study specific languages; or study abroad in a specific place, that kind of thing.

Both universities have cool majors in areas the other doesn’t: UNC has a variety of things in the health sciences like dental hygiene, clinical laboratory science, radiologic sciences, and public health. UW has a bunch of majors in tech and computer science, like industrial design, informatics, interaction design, and the HCDE program I referenced above. At UNC you can study languages like Swahili, Wolof, and Lingala; at UW you can take languages like Danish, Finnish, and Norwegian. And so on. You can look at the major offerings at both universities - as well as minors, special programs, centers, study abroad programs, etc. - to decide for yourself.

-Additionally, think about the extracurricular things you’d like to do as well. Are there certain clubs, organizations, intramural sports, etc., that you’d like to do or that seem interesting to you?

If your family faced an emergency financial problem, will they be able to pay OOS tuition costs? These schools are both expensive for OOS students with no aid. Did you apply to your own state’s public universities?

3

Here are some facts and figures about the 2017 freshman class at each school (from their websites and common data sets):

UW:

Washington residents 65.6%
Nonresidents 34.4%
• U.S. 17.4%
• International 17%
46 states and 56 countries represented
Female 54.5%
Male 45.5%
ACT: 27-32

UNC:

North Carolina residents 83.9%
Nonresidents: 16.1%
• U.S. 11.1%
• International 5%
41 states and 29 countries represented
Female 61%
Male 39%
ACT: 27-32

4

Wow interesting facts. UNC is universally considered uber elite in CC. It looks fantastic but a little more approachable in state. Maybe that’s the difference. OOS being so small it is uber selective.

And also UW languages. Finish and Norwegian. I just was watching “deadliest catch” and there’s a large contingent of Alaska fishing crew and owners that have a Scandinavian/ Norwegian background. And they all live in Washington off season. So that makes a bit of sense to me.

5

Both are world-class centers of research and learning that receive more applications from nonresidents than residents:

2017 Applied/Admitted

UNC:
Resident: 12,918/5,925 (46%)
Nonresident: 28,008/3,785 (14%)
Total: 40,926/9,710 (24%)
Enrolled: 4,356 (45%)

UW:
Resident: 12,394/7,335 (59%)
Nonresident: 32,487/13,498 (42%)
Total: 44,881/20,833 (46%)
Enrolled: 6,793 (33%)

6

I only meant less of a total admitted out of state in real terms and a much lower percentage. Just an observation and no knock at all. I would be proud to have my child be accepted to either spectacular r1 unis.

7

Here is an interesting item about UNC:

“In March of 1986, the UNC Board of Governors adopted policy 700.1.3, which capped out-of-state enrollment at no more than 18 percent of total enrollment.”

http://mediahub.unc.edu/university-ratio-unc-systems-82-18-split/

There is graph in the article that compares nonresident enrollment at several of “Carolina’s public peer institutions.”

8

UNC Chapel Hill and UVA are the only two public universities who claim to meet the financial need of all admitted domestic students. I wouldn’t count on getting sufficient aid from UDub.

In addition to differences in location and academics discussed above, size is a major difference between the two. Carolina’s enrollment is about 60% that of U Washington.

Also note that Washington is on the quarter system, whereas Carolina is on the semester system.

9

^ Very good points.

10

In another post, OP stated that she is “an international student.” I do not know about UNC or what country OP is from, but Washington has a lot of resources, clubs and organizations dedicated to its large international student population (especially students from Asian countries).

11

Udub is on the way up with money pouring in from state and private sources. UNC is challenged now by poor state funding and much less state wealth. http://universityrelations.unc.edu/budget/content/FAQ.php#totalstatecuts

12

These two schools will not give FA to international students. The OP indicated that there was a problem with the profile.

13

Unless I’m reading incorrectly…from both school websites…UNC and UW don’t give need based aid to international students. She can appeal until the cows come home…but reality is…unless she can pay the full out of state cost of attendance, she can’t attend.

I posted a much more lengthy response on her same question in the financial aid forum.

14

OP, please reconsider your plan to study pre-med in the US. The chances of getting into med school as an international student is not exactly impossible, but very nearly so. If you want to study medicine, you should do that in your own country. After finishing medical school there, you can come here for advanced training,

If you can’t demonstrate to the visa officer that you have enough money to pay for at least the first year of college here, you won’t get a student visa. It may make more sense for you to take a gap year and wait until your parents’ financial situation recovers.

15

The student will not get aid or scholarships from either school.

The student will not get into either schools’ med schools. They don’t accept internationals.