UNC Honors or UVA Echols?
Cyrus Anvari
Honors, MD Honors, UVA, Davidson, and Emory. Rejected at Duke, Harvard and
Yale. Thus, I'm mediocre, but I digress.
For various reasons, I instantly scratched all schools but UNC and Penn. I
then wrote to UVA and asked for reconsideration of my non-Echols status and
was surprised to be accepted to Echols a few weeks later. What was
originally a two horse race ended up being an arduous decision between three
good schools/programs.
I chose UNC. But then, after speaking to a good friend about Echols at UVA,
I felt that UVA would be a better choice. Unfortunately, at this point, I
had already sent in my deposit to UNC and, more importantly, it was past the
may 1st deadline for enrolling at UVA. I called and they said that if I
wanted to try to get in late, I'd have to write a personal letter to the
Dean of Admissions who is apparently very stingy with the wannabe late
enrollees (read: he doesn't let many in).
Today, I got a letter from Echols. I put it to the side, thinking that my
college search was over. Still, I have been regretting my choice of UNC. I
kind of want to go to UVA. I picked up the letter and read it a few hours
ago and was surprised to find out that i had till May 19th to enroll at UVA.
Thus, I can still go there.
I know the advantages of Echols: no distribution requirements (the public
Brown), pre-registration, special advisors (including a Rhodes Scholar!),
and Echols housing (which may be a detterant because when I visited they
were all kind of...um, square.
But, again, I digress....
My questions: what would you choose? A Brown-esque program at arguably the
top public school in the nation? Or an honors program with "specialized"
courses at arguably the second best public school in the nation? Will
either be a boon on my resume (as Penn would have been...)? Which is more
reputable? Echols or UNC Honors? [I know that's kind of a tough question,
but what do you think?] Or, more generally, which is more reputable? UVA or
UNC?
If anyone can give me any thoughts or advice I would be very grateful.
Jeremy Thorp Fox
: My questions: what would you choose? A Brown-esque program at arguably the
: top public school in the nation? Or an honors program with "specialized"
: courses at arguably the second best public school in the nation? Will
: either be a boon on my resume (as Penn would have been...)? Which is more
: reputable? Echols or UNC Honors? [I know that's kind of a tough question,
: but what do you think?] Or, more generally, which is more reputable? UVA or
: UNC?
I have always been the type of person who wants to take the courses I want to. I
don't want my electives chosen by a committee of self-interested faculty. Thus
the UVA program appeals to me a lot more. Do what you want to.
Plus, UVA is supposed to be nicer than UNC. It's also smaller, although at the
level I don't know if it is noticeable.
Employers and grad schools aren't going to distinguish between the two programs.
UVA and UNC have similar reputations overall, except that UVA may be seen as
somewhat more academic. PhD program will scrutinize your coursework carefully,
other people will just want the general idea plus your GPA.
--
------------------------
Jeremy T. Fox
Economics Grad Student
jer...@leland.stanford.edu
James Battista
: My questions: what would you choose? A Brown-esque program at arguably the
: top public school in the nation? Or an honors program with "specialized"
: courses at arguably the second best public school in the nation? Will
: either be a boon on my resume (as Penn would have been...)? Which is more
: reputable? Echols or UNC Honors? [I know that's kind of a tough question,
: but what do you think?] Or, more generally, which is more reputable? UVA or
: UNC?
Well, I did choose UVa / Echols, but for reasons that escape me I never
applied to UNC. The Echols program is a joy; in my time there (88-92),
the only time I ever didn't get a course I wanted was one that had
been cancelled. I really liked the dorm experience; sure, the level
of geekiness was maybe a bit higher than otherwise but it was also
quite comforting to be around other geeks and overachievers all the
time (to the extent that this wouldn't be true at UVa generally).
UVa and Carolina have very different feels. UVa is smaller and in some
ways more compact-feeling than is Carolina. UVa is far and away the
prettier school; UNC mostly looks like God grabbed a bunch of buildings
from all over the US and threw them at the ground in vaguely quaddish
arrangements and some of the buildings at UNC (Hamilton Hall and to
a lesser degree Davis Library) can only be described as unfortunate.
UNC feels a lot more southern than does UVA. Charlottesville is
bigger than Chapel Hill but is alone in the wilderness and is
smaller than the Triangle, but Charlottesville is about a half hour
from the Blue Ridge Parkway & Skyline Drive.
You really can't go too far wrong either way; if I were you I'd go
on where I felt the most comfortable and where I wanted to spend
4 intense years.
All best, and do let me know if you're other questions,
Jim
James S. Coleman Battista
PhD candidate, Dept of Political Science, Duke Univ.
james.b...@duke.edu
A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man -- J. Springfield
geni...@hotmail.com
however. Both schools and programs have equal reputations...you just
have to go with your heart here.
QUICK: Take a deep breath and then close your eyes (after reading the
question). It's move-in day. Where are you? How do you feel?
You might want to consider the following:
What made you choose UNC originally? What does UNC have that UVA
doesn't? If you go to UVA, how much will you miss those things?
If you feel that you could live without those things or that UVA has the
vast majority of them or that UVA's advantages outweigh those things,
then maybe UVA is the choice for you.
Realize that there will probably be times that you regret your decision,
out of nervousness, no-matter where you go.
Then, take another deep breath.
{{hug}},
....a little "bea"...<(|)<
T-Bone
Jeremy Thorp Fox wrote in message <7hivn0$4mr$1...@nntp.Stanford.EDU>...
>I have always been the type of person who wants to take the courses I want
to. I
>don't want my electives chosen by a committee of self-interested faculty.
Thus
>the UVA program appeals to me a lot more. Do what you want to.
Same, though it does help to have a little direction once in a while. I
hate it somedays when the thought that, "sheesh, I should have taken this
course, but now I'm graduating" comes to mind. Ok, maybe not. I'm glad to
be graduating... TOMORROW!!! WooHoo
Jeremy Thorp Fox
: Same, though it does help to have a little direction once in a while. I
: hate it somedays when the thought that, "sheesh, I should have taken this
: course, but now I'm graduating" comes to mind. Ok, maybe not. I'm glad to
: be graduating... TOMORROW!!! WooHoo
Well, congratulations.
Darccity
>Thus
>>the UVA program appeals to me a lot more.
But think what you are saying. Suppose you had taken your Rice degree out in
the market after graduation. What do you have in common with other Rice alumni
(some of whom may be your job search network or pesonnel interviewers)? After
you've discussed the sports team, the drinking places, and how admissions
tended to misdirect your transcripts, what intellectual common ground will you
have.
If a college truly has a mission or distinctive educational philosophy, all
students must take a common set of courses. If not, at least an approach to
learning in general ed courses should be designed. Otherwise, we might as well
just pick up courses around the country (and on the web).
How do we get around your legitimate concern about self-interested faculty?
Perhaps by involving students and alumni in the decision process. Couldn't
hurt.
Jeremy Thorp Fox
: But think what you are saying. Suppose you had taken your Rice degree out in
: the market after graduation. What do you have in common with other Rice alumni
: (some of whom may be your job search network or pesonnel interviewers)? After
: you've discussed the sports team, the drinking places, and how admissions
: tended to misdirect your transcripts, what intellectual common ground will you
: have.
The residential college system! It's all alumni with no friends in common talk
about.
Actually, I didn't take a single required distribtutional course at Rice. I had
satisfied all the humanities requirements (basically 12 hourse, your choice)
through AP, and I majored in statistics and two social sciences, so that took
care of science and social science requirements.
: If a college truly has a mission or distinctive educational philosophy, all
: students must take a common set of courses. If not, at least an approach to
: learning in general ed courses should be designed. Otherwise, we might as well
: just pick up courses around the country (and on the web).
A lot of the reason to be at a single college is your social life. Plus, at a
single college the department can reduce overlap within its course offerings.