I've got to disagree with the "lack of clinical experience" statement. Clinical education is the school's ultimate strength and one of the main reasons for the top notch dentists it graduates. We start treating (one on one), not assisting with, recall patients the summer after our first year. I just finished the first semester of my second year and already have five people assigned to my family of patients, for whom I'm responsible for the next 2.5 years. I've already done several operative restorations (by myself), and I'll be doing my first crowns in just over a month, during the spring semester of my second year. And all this experience does not include our required assisting rotations that begin during the first year summer. The clinical faculty are excellent and very helpful. We start our clinical education much earlier than some other schools, and it's reflected when the scores for part 2 of the NBDE are releases every year.
As for the competiveness, it all depends on your attitude and your approach to the experience. There are plenty of competitive people in my class who want to specialize, but there are also plenty of us content to be GPs (probably due to NC GPs making well above the national salary average). You're spending 40 hours each week with some of the brightest students in the country, so some competitiveness is inherent in the demographics. However, I think Carolina does an excellent job of recruiting "real people" to the school, i.e. people who are academically outstanding but can still hold a conversation with a patient or a classmate.
Any more questions? I'm happy to help!