Your UNC questions, answered

[TarheelMD08]

Hello. In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently a 4th year medical student at UNC. Today, our rank lists were due for the match so now I have a lot of time, energy and anxiety to kill before March 20th. I thought that if any of you who have been accepted to UNC, are still waiting to hear or haven't even applied yet had any questions, I would be happy to answer them, even if they are as superficial as, "Is the food in the hospital cafeteria any good?" So ask away, and I will do my best to answer honestly, not as someone trying to recruit you and certainly not judge you, but because I remember how it felt.
And the food is pretty good, actually.

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[armybound]

Thanks for entertaining questions, Tarheel.

 

[al112987]

Hello. In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently a 4th year medical student at UNC. Today, our rank lists were due for the match so now I have a lot of time, energy and anxiety to kill before March 20th. I thought that if any of you who have been accepted to UNC, are still waiting to hear or haven't even applied yet had any questions, I would be happy to answer them, even if they are as superficial as, "Is the food in the hospital cafeteria any good?" So ask away, and I will do my best to answer honestly, not as someone trying to recruit you and certainly not judge you, but because I remember how it felt.
And the food is pretty good, actually.

Were you a UNC undergrad? And if so, did it bother you any to stay in chapel hill for 8 years? (I'm quite serious about this question, I'm fine with Carolina right now, but even though I've only been here two years, its starting to get old. Still, I love the thought of a good school with super cheap tuition.)

 

[TarheelMD08]

As a matter of fact, I did do my undergrad years at UNC. It hasn't bothered me being here 4 additional years, but everyone is going to be different.
The pros (in no particular order): Chapel Hill is such a pleasant and un-stressful place to live, which is always good during med school. 4 more years with free admission to awesome sports (I managed Dook basketball tickets twice!). During your 3rd and 4th years you are allowed to park on campus (for a fee- UNCers will understand that parking is a painful part of the undergrad experience). Obviously, great school at a great price, and all the other general "pros" of going to UNC SOM.
Cons: Chapel Hill feels kind of small after all this time, high cost of living (hard to buy a house), at some point you will feel old- glancing at all the cute skinny 18 year olds prancing around campus (note- if you are single this could be moved to the pro category). Plus, I suppose, there is a lack of variety. However, there are several more options to relocate and they don't involve a 3-fold increase in cost.

Of note, I am doing everything in my power to get a residency spot outside the triangle- I still love this town but it is time to leave.
Best of luck!

 

[ChubbyChaser]

How do you think Hansborough will do as a Pro???


Are the students competitive?? as in full of gunners?

 

[nchasmyheart]

How do you think Hansborough will do as a Pro???


Are the students competitive?? as in full of gunners?

I was curious about the number of gunners too. Also, do you think the faculty is pretty supportive?

 

[TarheelMD08]

1. I think Hansborough will have at best an uneventful, unmemorable and low paying NBA career if he goes pro this year. On the other hand, if he waits until after next year I think all of his dreams will come true. Mine too.

2. Probably about 10 percent of the class would qualify as gunners with about an additional 10 percent snipers (gunners in hiding). But our gunners will loan you their notes if you miss class or spend an hour explaining ABG's to you if you ask. So you will still look dumb standing next to them on rounds but it's not so bad. I don't know how people are at other schools, so I can't compare but I think UNC tends to attract a pretty laid back group, relatively speaking.

3. The faculty are definitely a strength. They are generally enthusiastic about teaching and reasonable with their expectations (that is huge- the last thing you want is a biochem professor who thinks you should know the subject as well as his PhD students). Plus, if anyone is really bad the class above you will run them out or make them change. Seriously.

 

[anotherpremed]

so pardon me in advance for the mega onslaught of questions

how would you classify the student body? Are there lots of cliques? Is it like high school again in terms of gossip/incestuousness? Are a lot of the students already married in entering class or is the class mostly single? do students actually have time to go out on the weekends?

how do you think the work load compares to other med schools- meaning are UNC students more or less stressed out than your friends at other places?

how much time did you spend away from UNC during 3rd and 4th year?

where do most students live? is living far away (north chatham county or near southpoint) a problem? is it super important to be on the bus line- or can you rent parking from private lots in CH?

do most students want to end up practicing in NC?

thanks for all your help! good luck with the match!

 

[al112987]

so pardon me in advance for the mega onslaught of questions

how would you classify the student body? Are there lots of cliques? Is it like high school again in terms of gossip/incestuousness? Are a lot of the students already married in entering class or is the class mostly single? do students actually have time to go out on the weekends?

how do you think the work load compares to other med schools- meaning are UNC students more or less stressed out than your friends at other places?

how much time did you spend away from UNC during 3rd and 4th year?

where do most students live? is living far away (north chatham county or near southpoint) a problem? is it super important to be on the bus line- or can you rent parking from private lots in CH?

do most students want to end up practicing in NC?

thanks for all your help! good luck with the match!

I also like this question, one of the things I hate about UNC undergrad is that most of the students come in knowing each other (since all are from NC just about), and it becomes a bit clique-ish. Is med school the same?

 

[TarheelMD08]

so pardon me in advance for the mega onslaught of questions

how would you classify the student body? Are there lots of cliques? Is it like high school again in terms of gossip/incestuousness? Are a lot of the students already married in entering class or is the class mostly single? do students actually have time to go out on the weekends?

how do you think the work load compares to other med schools- meaning are UNC students more or less stressed out than your friends at other places?

how much time did you spend away from UNC during 3rd and 4th year?

where do most students live? is living far away (north chatham county or near southpoint) a problem? is it super important to be on the bus line- or can you rent parking from private lots in CH?

do most students want to end up practicing in NC?

thanks for all your help! good luck with the match!

My classmates have probably been my favorite thing about med school. I was kind of painfully unpopular in high school and I don't think I have ever felt that way in med school. We are a big enough class that you will easily find people that share your interests and who you enjoy hanging out with. I also think it is one of the most interesting groups of people I have even spent time with. There is probably a little gossip, but it is usually more innocent- like, " have you seen Sarah lately? She is pregnant!" The class is probably more single than married (at first- a lot happens in 4 years) but with our fair share of people with kids and even people who have kids during med school. I think they are crazy, but they manage it. There is definitely enough free time to go out or have hobbies, just not as much as college. We actually would go out together a lot during the first two years after exams, and now at the end of rotations. The school will even sponsor a keg to get things started (I hope I am allowed to say that!)

I have spent some time with ECU students and have a friend at UVA and I think we are definitely less stressed out than the ECU kids while UVA sounds pretty similar. To be honest, med school has been hard but not as bad as I thought it would be. My life didn't end 4 years ago. It just got busier, and more interesting.

During 3rd year I did two months in raleigh and one month in asheville. This year I did one in charlotte and two in raleigh (wake med is a great hospital- totally worth the 30 minute commute). Some students do more, but usually they choose to- like they have parents in greensboro or they live in raleigh so they ask for more rotations there. It's actually nice being exposed to different clinical settings like that, so I never really minded.

Students live everywhere from half a mile from the hospital to Raleigh, Hillsborough, Mebane, Pittsboro, Durham etc. It's not a big deal because on every side of town you can park in a lot and take a free bus to campus then for your clinical years you can buy a parking pass close to the hospital (because the buses don't run early enough for your surgery rotation, trust me) On the other hand, I live on a bus line and it is super convenient. The trade off is cost of living, so if I had kids I might prefer a nice house outside Chapel Hill. To be clear, what I am saying is living inside Chapel Hill is more expensive, and living out of town isn't a big deal and commonly done.

Lots of students leave NC at least for residency, but a good number stay too. That's really going to be up to you. I'd say more people go far away than I expected for a state school. They certainly don't discourage us from leaving town the day after we get our MD. I would like to maybe come back after residency, but that's because I like NC- good weather, you know.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[MDwannaBe81]

My classmates have probably been my favorite thing about med school. I was kind of painfully unpopular in high school and I don't think I have ever felt that way in med school. We are a big enough class that you will easily find people that share your interests and who you enjoy hanging out with. I also think it is one of the most interesting groups of people I have even spent time with. There is probably a little gossip, but it is usually more innocent- like, " have you seen Sarah lately? She is pregnant!" The class is probably more single than married (at first- a lot happens in 4 years) but with our fair share of people with kids and even people who have kids during med school. I think they are crazy, but they manage it. There is definitely enough free time to go out or have hobbies, just not as much as college. We actually would go out together a lot during the first two years after exams, and now at the end of rotations. The school will even sponsor a keg to get things started (I hope I am allowed to say that!)

I have spent some time with ECU students and have a friend at UVA and I think we are definitely less stressed out than the ECU kids while UVA sounds pretty similar. To be honest, med school has been hard but not as bad as I thought it would be. My life didn't end 4 years ago. It just got busier, and more interesting.

During 3rd year I did two months in raleigh and one month in asheville. This year I did one in charlotte and two in raleigh (wake med is a great hospital- totally worth the 30 minute commute). Some students do more, but usually they choose to- like they have parents in greensboro or they live in raleigh so they ask for more rotations there. It's actually nice being exposed to different clinical settings like that, so I never really minded.

Students live everywhere from half a mile from the hospital to Raleigh, Hillsborough, Mebane, Pittsboro, Durham etc. It's not a big deal because on every side of town you can park in a lot and take a free bus to campus then for your clinical years you can buy a parking pass close to the hospital (because the buses don't run early enough for your surgery rotation, trust me) On the other hand, I live on a bus line and it is super convenient. The trade off is cost of living, so if I had kids I might prefer a nice house outside Chapel Hill. To be clear, what I am saying is living inside Chapel Hill is more expensive, and living out of town isn't a big deal and commonly done.

Lots of students leave NC at least for residency, but a good number stay too. That's really going to be up to you. I'd say more people go far away than I expected for a state school. They certainly don't discourage us from leaving town the day after we get our MD. I would like to maybe come back after residency, but that's because I like NC- good weather, you know.

Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for your feedback! That was really helpful. You keep making my decision harder and harder...lol.

 

[anotherpremed]

Thanks so much for all the info! i know it was a ton of questions- i just felt like i didn't get a real sense of the school on my interview day. (the students had the day off) thanks!!!

 

[surfstarj]

Question about second look day...

are we allowed to bring a husband/wife/fiance/SO-of-your-choosing to check out the school/area?

 

[TarheelMD08]

I actually don't know the answer to that- of course you could bring them to Chapel Hill, but I don't know what the day is like because I didn't go. I'd just call or email whoever sends/sent out the invite.

 

[patchwork]

Thank you TarheelMD08 for all of the time you have devoted to this forum already. According to an earlier post, the AdCom has completed interviewing and will be meeting throughout the month of March. Does this imply that there are a number of spots still open or has most of the class been filled? I interviewed in December and received one DND letter in January, but nothing since that time. What are your thoughts?

 

[ChubbyChaser]

DUKE or UNC??

 

[MDwannaBe81]

That's probably not the best question to ask in a UNC forum, but if you really are looking for an answer...UNC.

I grew up in Raleigh and went to the NC School of Science and Math down the street from Duke. Both schools are well-known and have great academics, but their tuitions are drastically different. If you're going to get the same quality in education and experience, UNC is a steal. Just my two cents...

But maybe the UNC med students can give you a better answer that's not based solely on finances.

 

[longhorntarheel]

Hello. In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently a 4th year medical student at UNC. Today, our rank lists were due for the match so now I have a lot of time, energy and anxiety to kill before March 20th. I thought that if any of you who have been accepted to UNC, are still waiting to hear or haven't even applied yet had any questions, I would be happy to answer them, even if they are as superficial as, "Is the food in the hospital cafeteria any good?" So ask away, and I will do my best to answer honestly, not as someone trying to recruit you and certainly not judge you, but because I remember how it felt.
And the food is pretty good, actually.

Hey TarheelMD08,

Do you know if UNC only has one second look weekend? I know it's March 29th, but I've already committed to going to another second look that weekend. Did you go to UNC's when you applied? If so, how'd you like it?

 

[tarheel21]

I grew up in Raleigh and went to the NC School of Science and Math down the street from Duke

Did you really MDwannaBe81!!??? I went to high school there, too! What year did you graduate? I graduated in 2004. That's crazy. 😀

*Tarheel21

 

[TarheelMD08]

Actually, Dook and UNC have very different SOM's. Many people will prefer one to the other and that's fine. Of course you can compare the costs, and the fact that we all become MD's, but their curriculum is much different than ours... so I understand how some people will really prefer Dook.

For anyone still worrying about admissions- I know that UNC doesn't believe that September interviewees should have any priority over the spring ones, so they don't make a lot of their decisions until March (ie- they want to leave plenty of spots open until they are totally done with interviews) That was good news for me, since I was a spring interview and I got in (obviously). Many of my classmates heard in March or even got waitlisted so they "heard" in may or june. It's not over until it is over.

I didn't go to second look day- I had already decided that UNC was the place for me. Sorry I can't give you any more info about it, but I am pretty sure there is just one day. If you really need to check out chapel hill or the hospital again, you can PM me.

 

[biggiesmallsiz]

check your pm!

Hello. In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently a 4th year medical student at UNC. Today, our rank lists were due for the match so now I have a lot of time, energy and anxiety to kill before March 20th. I thought that if any of you who have been accepted to UNC, are still waiting to hear or haven't even applied yet had any questions, I would be happy to answer them, even if they are as superficial as, "Is the food in the hospital cafeteria any good?" So ask away, and I will do my best to answer honestly, not as someone trying to recruit you and certainly not judge you, but because I remember how it felt.
And the food is pretty good, actually.

 

[MDwannaBe81]

Did you really MDwannaBe81!!??? I went to high school there, too! What year did you graduate? I graduated in 2004. That's crazy. 😀

*Tarheel21

I graduated in 1999. I can't believe it was that long ago. I had some great times there! Is it true you had to pay tuition to go to NCSSM and were graduates given "free tuition" to any of the NC public universities? Just wondering.

You can PM me if you like since this has NOTHING to do with UNC SOM 🙂

 

[pinkpanther88]

How many out of state students are in your class?

 

[TarheelMD08]

20, I believe. Of 160. However, many of my classmates are "in state" because they went to high school here even if they left for college (very common), or they went to college in NC but they are from somewhere else, or they moved here and worked or did a masters in something (like public health) before applying. So it doesn't really feel like 140 of us are from NC, but that's kind of nice for the sake of diversity. And the 20 or so true out of state students are rock stars, in general.

 

[Mdude]

if you're still checking this thread, a few questions:

1) What % of OOS applicants get interviews? Any clue what they are looking for specifically in OOS applicants aside from great stats?

2) What in general attracted those OOS students to the school, ie, why did they go to UNC as opposed to what I would assume were other acceptances? (besides the obvious such as weather and sports..in other words, what would you consider to be the school's trademarks?)

I'm trying to decide if I should even bother applying, but I find the school extremely appealing (especially the public health emphasis..)