The Essence of UNCA

Halloween, shockingly, has now officially passed and the holidays are well on the way. I personally have never been a huge Halloween fan. Of course it's alright, the kids get excited, it's a nice reminder of just where we stand in terms of the semester, and everyone takes a little breather. So, lacking enthusiasm, I did not go trick-or-treating, but rather visited a friend at a private, expensive university not far from here that shall remain anonymous for the purposes of this post. Some things I noticed that made me proud of UNCA:

1. Our campus is decidedly not as glamorous--we are short about 15 fountains to keep up with this schools crazy obsession with trickling water down a piece of engraved marble.

2. Our facilities (i.e. labs, libraries, computers, etc.) are not as cutting edge or expensive.

3. The cars you see around campus are worth, typically, much less.

4. Our student population is larger for the size of our campus. The student to teacher ratio is higher at UNCA.

5. People often have much larger groups of friends than at UNCA.


BUT


6. Our students are here for a reason--this isn't just a place to go after high school, a necessary step to keep up with social circles or please mom and dad. Not that this completely doesn't happen, but mostly UNCA students are really interested in something or are trying to get somewhere in their life.

7. Tacking on to the above, this means that people are INTERESTING, the absolute most important part about college. Everyone is going somewhere or doing something, or is passionate about one thing or another, whether it be about politics or anime. We are REAL people!

8. With our unmanicured lawns and centrally located quad, you can be sure to find someone you know lying around on the grass at one point or another throughout the day. Our campus is small, which means that you see new people and friends alike every time you walk through campus.

9. We appreciate our campus and our city and take advantage of them fully. People don't just hang around campus--there is always a hike to go on, an open-mic where a friend is playing, a group of people going for coffee, an awesome concert to attend at the orange peel, contra, swing, hip-hop, african, or belly dancing to check out, a politician to hear, a festival to attend, or a plethora of other awesome things to do in and around campus, versus the never-ending party scene you see at some schools.

10. We relish in our own oddities. Never will see a group of crazier dressed, more hippified, more diversified, bizarre group of people than in this city and school. We are crazy! Don't let anyone tell you differently! And we love it! Homogeny is just not for us.


So, even over a beautiful, well-endowed, cutting-edge school, I would still pick UNCA. It's just hard to match.

Alex