NC State

NC State is a land-grant institution of over 36,000 students, 26,000 of them undergraduates, in Raleigh, North Carolina. It's a sprawling urban campus with buses that can take you from one end to the other. There are small green quads with older brick buildings and there are very busy streets to cross with huge, beautiful new buildings.

I was advised by the young woman in the visitors' center to avoid the main dining hall. That's exactly why I went there. I must say she was incorrect. The food was delicious. I like to taste a lot of things when I go into a dining hall and I had roast chicken, red bean ratatouille, roasted fingerling potatoes, chicken pot pie, and cole slaw, and it was all delicious. The university radio station was playing in the dining hall and there were community tables that had cards with prompts to foster conversation between students. I loved that!

Interestingly, NC State educates more North Carolinians than any other university but at around $48,000 for out-of-staters, it's a great option for them as well. In fact, Money magazine ranked NC State #2 for value among public institutions in North Carolina. Their endowment is $2 billion, which is tremendous. As an R1 university, research opportunities are widely available, but it's important for students to understand that at a university with 10,000 graduate students, underclassmen have to hustle to get positions.

I had a great tour by a student of mine and the campus was full of energy. She told me there's an enormous amount of school spirit here, so for those looking for big game culture, you'll find it here. She also told me that Wolfpack Week, the first week for freshmen, was fantastic and had so much going on she couldn't go to all of it. It's great to hear that a large public institution puts such effort into welcoming new students! Another thing I loved was the free expression tunnel where students are encouraged to spray paint all they want, but please respect the rest of the campus. What a great idea! Additionally, the library was gorgeous and had a great digital media lab which any students can use for any purpose.

NC State has too many majors to list, but some standouts are Engineering, Animal Science, and Textiles. And they do admit by major!

If a student is looking for a large, urban, east coast university with excellent academics and a good social scene, they should take a good look at NC State!