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Unlimited avenues to maximizing your potential.
A big part of what makes Carolina a national leader among public universities are the endless opportunities it provides students for distinguished academic study. It’s no coincidence that, in addition to attracting the brightest young minds from across the nation and beyond, Carolina is also the university of choice for almost all of the very best students in our state. After all, from doing original research and writing an honors thesis, to traveling abroad, to winning a prestigious post-graduate scholarship, to be a student here is to discover new avenues, every day, to fully realize your individual potential.
- Take advantage of our Honors Program that is one of the most challenging yet most inclusive in the nation. Even if you don’t enroll at Carolina as an Honors student, you may still apply during your first three semesters. And you may still take honors courses, write an honors thesis, and graduate with honors. In fact, any student with a 3.0 GPA or better qualifies to attend an Honors class, and approximately 30 percent of enrollment is made up of students outside the Honors Program.
- Collaborate on research projects of real-world consequence as early as in your first year here. All you have to do is to enroll in a first-year seminar that offers a research component, or browse through the wide array of research opportunities listed in the undergraduate research database. Nearly 50 percent of our 18,000 undergraduate students participate in breakthrough research projects in fields ranging from genomics and nano-manipulation, to creative writing and the performing arts, to cancer treatments and clinical laboratory work at the world-renowned UNC Hospitals.
- Study abroad. With more than 300 study abroad programs across 70 countries, it’s no surprise that Carolina is consistently recognized as a leader among public research universities for the number of its undergraduates who choose to study abroad.
- Enroll in a First Year Seminar (FYS). Open only to first-year students, our First Year Seminars are capped at twenty students and are taught by Carolina’s most distinguished researchers and most skillful teachers. Last year, 2,428 first-year Carolina students took advantage of 134 seminars.
- Get involved in the Carolina Challenge. A student-led project of the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative, the Carolina Challenge is a pan-university effort to help Carolina students, faculty and staff gain the knowledge and skills they need to launch sustainable businesses and nonprofits of all kinds— commercial, social, artistic and scientific. Last year, ten teams out of 70 entries were awarded a total of $50,000 in prize money to help them launch their ventures.
"I found myself spending three months of my freshman year in a hospital in Peru meeting exceptional people, and experiencing medicine in a different culture and language. This, combined with the other exceptional research and clinical opportunities that have defined my Carolina experience, definitely solidified my desire to pursue medicine. It’s not just the endless opportunities—there’s a spirit here that instantly embraces you and enables you to discover new passions, and talents, and new dimensions to yourself."
Julia Conway⁄ Chemistry⁄ West Springfield, MA
Honors Program⁄ Undergraduate research: 5 semesters in the Samulski Lab at the UNC Gene Therapy Center⁄ Clinical Research Assistant, Emergency Department, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA (2007)