Thanks for the suggestions! About Raleigh, I guess I'm just curious what it's like to live there. What is the city like, what are the people like, what is there to do, and do most people like it? (Sorry I know those are all hard questions to answer)
I'm getting a tour of the school and meeting with one faculty member on Friday. They don't know if I'll be able to meet with any current students though since its Easter weekend :/
Can any current students or accepted students who went to the open house share your opinions on the vet school? How are the faculty? Is there competition among the students? What was the general vibe you got from the school when you visited? Basically any pros and cons you can think of.
Also, if there are any students who decided AGAINST attending NCSU, what were your reasons?
If the admin can't find you someone to talk to, student-wise, I'd be more than happy to either bug my class for someone or chat in person. Heck, if you're still thinking of coming by the museum we could grab an early dinner somewhere afterward and you could pick my brains as much as you want.
I really like Raleigh. The area is pretty commonly listed in top 10 places to live in the US, as we have a pretty booming tech industry, good school system (though we pay our teachers like crap) and not too much crime/traffic/pollution/etc. There's a reasonable nightlife (I know that my classmates that like to go out have a good time!), lots of craft beer (more my jam), good arts/museums/parls in the area, LOTS of races if you're a runner, good variety of classes and events in the area. You can get to the mountains in three hours, the beach in 2.5ish if you like either of those things. If I didn't have a chronic wanderlust I'd probably want to stay here long term... my SO is genuinely sad that I want to drag him somewhere across the country after graduation, haha. People here are probably the strangest thing, because they really run the range from very down-home Southern sweethearts to displaced Northerners. The triangle area and Asheville and definitely a lot more liberal/blue than most of the State, and I sometimes forget I'm still in the South until I see a truck with a confederate flag (or someone calls me hun, haha).
Cons-wise: A lot of people find the summer hot, but I lived in Houston for quite a while and think it's kind of wimpy.
I know the nightlife is not AMAZING compared to a lot of cities. We have a lot of computer nerds, haha...
Actual school-wise: faculty is like 98% awesome and really want you to succeed. I won't say they're all the best professors/teachers on the planet, but none of them want you to fail out or anything, and everyone is super willing to give extra help if necessary. I think I've talked about the teacher support and student vibe earlier in this thread, actually, so read through the earlier pages for more. In summary, my class is brilliant but pretty chill. The current first years have more than a couple neurotics. It's supposed to alternate, so by history your class should be pretty chill.
I'll let others who aren't current students give their opinions on the vibe too, though.
My major complaints about the school is that I wish I were on the new, less didactic curriculum they're working on developing, and wish we did block scheduling in general and integrated the clinics in a bit more. The same classes all semester gets old real quick for me, personally, and I'm a very hands-on learner so the lectures all day every day is not the best for me personally. I like that we do surgery early (second year) and PE skills classes, but I just always want more.
I really need to study for my last final, now, though, so if you have any more specific questions send me a PM so I get it in my email - gonna avoid SDN for a while and learn some pathology!
