Survey: UNC 2nd In Category of Hot and Trendy

The Kaplan 2002 National Survey of High School Guidance Counselors reports that UNC ranks second in a list of the nation's Hot and Trendy universities.

UNC also appeared near the top of other categories like Best Freshman Housing and Best Value.

The book that contains the survey results, titled "The Unofficial, Unbiased Insider's Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges," was produced by Kaplan Inc. and was written by Trent Anderson and Seppy Basili.

High school guidance counselors were surveyed on a variety of subjects to see what students are saying about higher educational facilities.

Jerome Lucido, director of undergraduate admissions, said he believes this ranking is a positive indicator of what students are saying.

"I think this particular survey is an interesting one because it represents what guidance counselors are hearing in their offices," Lucido said.

UNC was ranked in five of the nine survey categories. The University ranked 20th in Best Value, 33rd in Best Academic Facilities, 27th in Best Freshman Housing, 26th in Highest Academic Standards and second in Hot and Trendy schools.

"I think this is the best we have ever done," Lucido said. "There is only one place left to move up."

Categories that UNC did not rank in were Hidden Treasures, Best Career Services, Parties and Pranks and Revenge of the Nerds Schools.

UNC ranked second only to Harvard in the Hot and Trendy category. Hot and Trendy schools were described as schools that were most popular among high school students. Duke University ranked third in this category.

"I think the University has always fared well in word-of-mouth surveys," Lucido said.

But some University students said they do not think these rankings are significant.

Jeff Difranco, a mathematics graduate student, said he does not believe the rankings mean a lot to incoming freshmen. "I never really paid much attention to those kinds of rankings," Difranco said.

The survey reported that UNC's freshman housing ranked 27th in the nation.

Other students said they agreed with the findings.

"I agree with the rating because as a freshman I had an ideal living situation," senior Ashley Knight said. "I was assigned a room on North Campus and lived there two years because it was convenient in all aspects of the college experience."

Senior Kevin Carr also agreed. He lived in Ehringhaus Residence Hall his freshman year. "I can say that Carolina has some of the best facilities."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.