The University of North Carolina - Charlotte

Date: May 29 2012
Major: Computer Science (This Major's Salary over time)
The quality of your experience at UNC Charlotte is highly variable depending on the department. The modus operandi here seems to be that it's easy to gain admission and hard to graduate (U.S. News has the graduation rate around 27%), which I actually think is great, but perhaps this breaks the morale of some of the more motivated students by lowering the perception of incoming students (by professors and students alike). There isn't much "school pride" to be witnessed, as you will often see students walking around in other University-themed apparel. I am local to the area, and almost everyone will agreee that this is a commuter school (I never lived on campus so someone else might be able to give praise to the social setting). While there are some generally whiny, entitled students who complain every chance they get, I think rigor here is sometimes conflated with the "wash-out" process that other students allude to (for example, I don't think having 100 out of 200 students drop or fail a class should be viewed as acceptable or normal). My first two semesters of calculus were taught by probably one of the best professors at the university, while the more advanced mathematics classes were taught by professors from former the soviet block, who are ,on average, incredibly bright but incomprehensible at times. All of the gen-ed classes I took in the English department were taught by flaky adjunct professors, two of which ended employment before the end of the semester. Undergraduate courses in the Computer Science department are pretty shoddy with the exception of junior and senior level classes that are very time-intensive and rigorous (a good thing). Student organizations in the CS dept. from the time I enrolled, have been weak until this year, but seem to be improving. My first day at the university, I put in an application and inquiry about the student ACM organization and did not hear news until a year and a half later. They did not have funds allocated for the ACM regional programming competition, which was a huge disappointment to me (this was a major reason I wanted to attend a four-year university). I had two internships, which were found through the schools career center, and have served me well (do this regardless of where you attend). Every professor I had in the Humanities was EXCELLENT. Overall I thought that the Math and Science departments did a poor job of taking care of their undergraduates, with the exception of a couple teachers. If you are smart and resourceful, you will achieve regardless of your current situation, so always do what you think is best for you at the time. If you are not paying in-state tuition and do not come from a nearby area, I would advise another school. Take the reviews on here with a grain of salt.