Tell me about colleges in North Carolina and life there

Here is a video of Trump at High Point University. Looks like a Nazi Germany rally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2IGezreYbg

I'm a Chapel Hill guy and I spent a lot of time at NCSU. Currently live 15 min from HPU. I also lived and worked in Charlotte after school. If you want to major in finance the Charlotte is you best bet for running while in school, a quality education, and a lot of career opportunities. Kudos for looking ahead in life and having direction. You are ahead of where I was at your age.

PS - not on tour list is Appalachian. Great school, college town, perfect for runners, but maybe not the internship feeder like UNCC. Btw, I would take the Seahawks off of your list. It does not seem to

fit.

HowaboutNC wrote:

Can someone give me any information about how college down in North Carolina is? I also plan to run on the team where ever I go, I'll have the walk on standard at NC state at a minimum.

Specifically on these?

NC State

UNC Charlotte

UNC Wilmington

High Point

I'm more interested in the bigger schools, and looking to major in finance. I don't like being bored, and I'm from Boston, trying to escape the cold weather. I know Wilmington is vacationy, but also love the other ones. Interested in hearing thoughts, thanks!

Any chance to to to App State? Beautiful area, plenty of hill training.

jman1 wrote:

I'm a Chapel Hill guy and I spent a lot of time at NCSU. Currently live 15 min from HPU. I also lived and worked in Charlotte after school. If you want to major in finance the Charlotte is you best bet for running while in school, a quality education, and a lot of career opportunities. Kudos for looking ahead in life and having direction. You are ahead of where I was at your age.

PS - not on tour list is Appalachian. Great school, college town, perfect for runners, but maybe not the internship feeder like UNCC. Btw, I would take the Seahawks off of your list. It does not seem to

fit.

Thanks so much for the information! I had no idea Charlotte was a good school involving finance and internships... I'm looking to get to wall street after college.

Did you like Chapel Hill? I understand it's increasingly difficult to get in, not even sure if I'll apply due to that, but seemed gorgeous. Thoughts on NC State as well, and it vs Charlotte?

Appalachian state I actually got an offer from. I'm not quite sure why I shook it off, I think it's because I wasn't fond of it being in the mountains, I should look back into it.

I lived in North Carolina for about 10 years and had some interactions with the coaches at all of those schools and have been on all of the campuses as well.

NC State- Pretty good state school for the education, running for Rollie seems to be a "survive and thrive" sort of situation. Many good high school runners have gone there and disappeared and he's had some survive and become pros.

UNC Charlotte- Another pretty good state school (largest school in the state) being in Charlotte and majoring in finance this would make the most logical sense for you. Location of the school in Charlotte is a little bit meh because it is close to some shady areas but for the most part its ok and a pretty growing and bustling campus. The running program is definitely up and coming, but I do not know how far they can really go.

UNC Wilmington- Campus is nice because its near the beach but thats about it. Wilmington proper is a crap hole for the most part. Education is pretty meh and while I like the coaches there, the program is in a constant flux.

High Point- Education is crap, even though it is a very impressive campus. They are very much running in the red and I have heard rumors they may lose the accreditation. Coaching is ok as well and they seem to always have one or two runners who do something every couple years.

App State- Very nice campus in the mountains. Again, good not great education. Coaching is pretty solid but I've heard the staff may be getting a complete overhaul in the near future. Great training areas.

Others I would consider in North Carolina would be:

Davidson

Queens

Elon

WasThere wrote:

High Point- Education is crap...

App State- ...Again, good not great education.

How can the education be any different from the other schools? Undergrad is undergrad. They probably even use the same books. Do you think there are secret finance formulas that they don't teach at High Point or App State but only the other schools know about???

There is definitely a difference in the student bodies, and that carries through to the general educational environment.

I taught LSAT lessons for Kaplan back in the late 90s while in law school in Chapel Hill. I would teach classes in Durham, where you got a mix of students from different schools, at UNC, at Duke, at a small school right on the outskirts of Raleigh (Meredith College maybe - I cannot remember the name) and at UNCW.

I can tell you that the ability of the students to quickly grasp the material lined up very well with the various schools' academic reputations.

In education, the learning environment can be as meaningful as the base curriculum, and being surrounded by bright students asking insightful questions and with whom you can discuss issues and even go beyond the text book enhances the educational experience in a meaningful way.

OP - I would cut UNCW off of the list because of the lower academic standing as compared to UNCC and NCSU. I cannot opine as to the others.

Chapel Hill is spectacular on all fronts, but it is very challenging to get into.

What about UNC-Greensboro. They have had some major successes in the past 5-7 years - Joey Thompson, Chelimo, Paul Katam, Belles. A good coach who comes from the school of Rollie Geiger at Nc State in Chad Pearson. Great trails and places to train off campus.

Education is above average as are intern and grad school options.

Except the current coach isn't the one who coached the great runners that Greensboro had. The program has gone downhill since the current coach took over.

WasThere wrote:

UNC Charlotte- Another pretty good state school (largest school in the state) being in Charlotte and majoring in finance this would make the most logical sense for you. Location of the school in Charlotte is a little bit meh because it is close to some shady areas but for the most part its ok and a pretty growing and bustling campus. The running program is definitely up and coming, but I do not know how far they can really go.

nope, NC State is bigger

I'm down at Duke, but have visited the following NC schools to varying degrees:

Wake Forest

UNC-CH

NC State

Elon

All were wonderful, and Elon, UNC, and Wake Forest were three of the most beautiful schools I've ever visited. Raleigh is awesome, so that's a plus if you attend NC State. Chapel Hill is a quintessential college town--one of my favorite places to visit. WF and Elon have just OK surroundings, but have thriving on-campus communities.

Surprised no one has thrown out UNC-Asheville for you! I knew some guys that ran there, and Asheville is a great city, especially for a northerner like yourself!

I also know guys that ran for NC State, Wake, Elon, Duke, UNC-Asheville, and High Point, so let me know if you want to know more specifically about the track/XC programs.

UNC-CH is good if you want A's without even going to class. It's like a diploma mill there.

If you're an athlete, it's even better.

Cheater U wrote:

UNC-CH is good if you want A's without even going to class. It's like a diploma mill there.

If you're an athlete, it's even better.

that joke is so 2011

Smoove wrote:

There is definitely a difference in the student bodies, and that carries through to the general educational environment.

...

I can tell you that the ability of the students to quickly grasp the material lined up very well with the various schools' academic reputations.

In education, the learning environment can be as meaningful as the base curriculum, and being surrounded by bright students asking insightful questions and with whom you can discuss issues and even go beyond the text book enhances the educational experience in a meaningful way.

That is not true. Sure, the student body abilities vary from school to school, but that doesn't affect the curriculum in any significant way. The ability of the other students to grasp concepts well is irrelevant to the curriculum as well. All it means is they are more likely to make As than students at other schools.

I'm not buying your "insightful questions" idea. No one is asking relevant insightful questions about finance or math or science. These aren't philosophy or sociology classes. There is nothing to be insightful about. I've been at several elite schools and no one is asking insightful questions in objective (science, math, etc) classes.

The vast majority of the world seems to disagree with you, but I am sure you are right - all educations are the same when it comes to the hard sciences and the intellectual ability of your peers will not impact your education in any way other than to impact your grades.

Elon does have a guys XC team but does not have a guys indoor or spring track team, guys do run in invitationals on a club team. Elon is a liberal arts school and the finance program in the love school business is doing well, but it does not have a track record of large wall street connections. If you are looking to go into corporate finance or banking it does have a good on campus recruiting and track record of placing graduates into jobs.

UNCC is an interesting school. Well to do alumni pumping money into the school. Charlotte has significant banking opportunities with BAC, Wells Fargo, BBT and Fifth third all having a large presence in Charlotte. Although different from Wall Street / NYC and IBanking. Men's team is improving but is still a good deal away from a national caliber team.

App is a good value school in the mtns but would not be a top school if you are looking for a inroads into finance or Wall Street. Comparing the track program of APP vs UNCC, I would rank UNCC > APP. Sure some will differ. If you are looking for a warm weather location Boone, NC is not warm being in the mtns.

Information on both NCST and UNC CH have been covered. Another opinion UNCCH > NCST for wall street type opportunities, NCST> UNC CH for the XC and track program.

Regarding admission to UNC if you have the walk on credentials to NCST you may want to consider contacting the UNC coach and see if he can offer you advice / assistance on admissions.

HowaboutNC wrote:

I'm more interested in the bigger schools, and looking to major in finance. I don't like being bored, and I'm from Boston, trying to escape the cold weather.

If you're from a city with as much going on as Boston, you'd likely be bored anywhere other than Charlotte or the Triangle. UNCC isn't even in the same league though, as far as college town lifestyle goes, as UNC or even NC State.App State is like a little version of UNC up in the mountains, but a lot more earthy. Elon is in Burlington, which aside from the school itself, has nothing going on at all. Same as High Point. You'd be bored to death at either of those. Same with UNCW, unless you really like the beach.

I can't speak authoritatively about the relative academic strengths of UNCC vs. NC State or UNC, but the Triangle definitely has better places to run and train. Aside from UNCC's facilities, training in Charlotte mostly means running on paved greenways and sidewalks, unless you make the long drive across town to Macalpine Park, which still isn't very big. The Triangle on the other hand has Umstead State Park and the American Tobacco Trail, which are both dirt and are used all the time by the area teams. Plus, Raleigh has many many miles of fantastic greenways, with more being built every year.

If you're good enough to walk on at NC State, you're clearly good enough to run any other place in NC, as NC State has the best program overall. You'd do well to reach out to some current and former NC State runners and ask their opinions directly.

Black Med Student wrote:

Here is a video of Trump at High Point University. Looks like a Nazi Germany rally.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2IGezreYbg

Here is a link to some pictures of what Hillary rallies for - and she insists on taxpayer funding of the entities that do this:

Now that looks much more like "Nazi Germany."

UNCG has a deeper team than they have had in years. Chad Pearson has turned mediocre high school guys into conference competitors.