The University of North Carolina - Wilmington

Date: Jun 25 2005
Major: Psychology (This Major's Salary over time)
I think I have a greater appreciation of UNCW (and the town of Wilmington) now that I've left. I agree that your college experience will largely be what you make it. Compared to schools like Carolina and Duke, UNCW may not be academically challenging, but it's a good school in its own right and I'm not sorry I went there. My advice to students—of any college, actually—would be to TAKE ADVANTAGE of everything the school has to offer. This is the time to do internships, establish relationships with your professors, and explore the subjects that interest you. For those lucky students who don't work during college (ah, but I was not one of them), you're going to have to do something to build up your "experience," whether it's an internship or volunteer job. I wrote for the school newspaper and leveraged the hell out of it when applying for communications jobs after college. It is a rare opportunity to be able to explore these avenues without obligation, so do your best to make it count. Here is the thing to no one tells you, but I learned pretty quickly when applying for jobs after graduation: your college education counts, but these 2 magic words count more: prior experience. And for God's sake (this especially applies to people who are not from the area), take time to enjoy the lovely campus and city. When I first moved there, I had to remind myself that I wasn't on vacation. Fair weather, relatively inexpensive cost of living, the beach… it makes me want to go back.

Out-of-staters, N.B.: I thought that because I supported myself (i.e., my parents didn't claim me as a dependent) I would, after one year, be eligible for in-state tuition. Not so. Because I moved to NC to go to college, and because I was a single non-veteran under the age of 24, I was not recognized as a NC resident—even though I had a NC license and plates, paid taxes there, was registered to vote there, etc. If I could do it all over again, I would have moved to NC and worked for a year, establishing myself as a resident—THEN went to school. Take a look at the disparity between out-of-state and in-state tuition rates and you'll see what I mean.