Explore New Interests at Carolina

Carolina students go on to do some pretty amazing things after spending four years with us. Last up in our short series of senior stories is Sarb...

When I came to Carolina, I was mainly focused on academics and research with a few hours reserved each week to cheer on our world-class sports teams. The one commitment I had that wasn’t purely academic was Admissions Ambassadors, which I joined to improve my public speaking skills in hopes of delivering better academic presentations. Ironically, it was my fellow Ambassadors who inspired me to break out of my academic shell and experience all that Carolina has to offer.

While listening to other Ambassadors’ service experiences, I was amazed at the scope and impact of their commitment to their respective causes. Their passion and enthusiasm opened my eyes to the many opportunities available at Carolina and helped me realize that developing other interests could only help my research and academics. I began to tutor and volunteer at area hospitals and with my friends’ service organizations. I’m now a Buckley Public Service Scholar and a Carolina Research Scholar, and I recently completed a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Each of these rich experiences helped me earn admission into the School of Medicine at the University of Virgina, where I will begin studying in the fall.

If you haven't yet enrolled, the deadline to do so is tomorrow at 11:59 PM ET! Remember that you can enroll electronically through MyCarolina.

Have a question for Sarb? Post it below.

J-School Tells the Powerful Story of Water in New Multimedia Project

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of corresponding with Stephanie Bullins about 100 Gallons, the latest production from Powering a Nation.

Can you give us a quick orientation to Powering a Nation?
Powering a Nation is a fellowship program offered by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication that aims to report on energy news with transparency, engagement and trust. It was initially funded by News21 as part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education, which allowed some of the top journalism schools in the nation to experiment with journalism in the changing landscape of new media. In its fourth year now, Powering a Nation has received more than 45 national and international awards for its storytelling, visuals and interactivity.

Clearly, there’s a strong correlation between this year’s Powering a Nation theme and the UNC academic theme of Water in our World, but why “100 Gallons”?

This year, on the heels of Coal: A Love Story, the Powering a Nation fellows wanted to focus on a more non-traditional form of energy. As we were tossing around ideas for what "powers" our lives, water stood out as an important resource. In the weeks before the project truly started, we spent countless hours brainstorming, pitching stories, revising and pitching again in an endless cycle. Eventually we decided the story we wanted to tell was our deep connection to water, from birth to death. We debated the title for the first several weeks of the project before we finally landed on 100 Gallons, which is the amount of water an average American uses on a daily basis. 100 Gallons, as a title, emphasizes our lifelong connection to water by pointing out the importance we place on it every day.

How did you select the individual stories for the feature reports? (And did the team really spend 7 hours in a sewer?)

In the beginning, we knew we wanted to tell traditional character-driven stories in addition to creating the visually exciting centerpiece video. For some of the stories, the videographers knew what they were going to film. Jon Kasbe, a senior Communications major, had spoken with Steve Duncan and seen his work before meeting up with him in the sewers of New York City (where he really did spend seven hours filming). But some of the stories came to us by surprise. While live-tweeting a fracking rally in Ohio, we happened to meet Christine Moore, a woman struggling with leaving her farm because she feared her water might be contaminated by the controversial natural gas drilling practice. She invited us back to her home and we followed her on a hunch that her story would be powerful. Now Christine's story, which took three visits to Ohio to capture, has become one of the larger feature stories on the site. 

Now that the site has launched, what’s next?
Now that we've finished this project, most of the fellows and student contributors have been thrust into the "real world," where we're all looking for jobs, while a few of the team members will be returning to UNC to finish their undergraduate or graduate degrees. We plan to keep promoting 100 Gallons and we hope that it will continue to engage users and encourage them to explore the human connection to water. As for Powering a Nation, we're all looking forward to seeing what next year's group of fellows will produce.

Last question: whose unlucky cat got dunked?

Dante, the unlucky cat, actually belongs to Cath Spangler, a former Powering a Nation fellow. While the videographers were in New York, they were able to meet up with her, where she's working as a multimedia producer for The New York Times. None of the shots in the video are staged — they were all collected as real moments in people's lives — so we were all surprised and excited when the videographers came back with footage of Dante's first bath.

In addition to 100 Gallons, you can also view previous Powering a Nation projects online. Much thanks to Stephanie and the Powering a Nation team for their incredible work!

You’re Not Just Applying for Admission…

When you apply to Carolina, we’re not just reviewing your application for admission. We also use the information you submit in your application to consider you for a number of exciting opportunities, including merit scholarships, the Honors Program, summer fellowships, assured admission to the Business and Journalism Schools, and more. Some of these opportunities involve scholarship money, some don’t. But all of them connect you to an exciting aspect of the intellectual life at Carolina from the first day you step on campus. The great news is that you don’t have to submit any additional applications or information to be considered for all these great opportunities:

Merit Scholarships 
Last year, Carolina awarded $2.8 million in merit scholarships. We encourage first-year students to apply by the Early Action deadline of October 15 for fullest consideration for merit scholarships. Learn more about the different scholarships we offer.

Honors Program 
About 260 first-year students are invited to join the Honors Program each year. Honors students have priority registration for Honors courses, which are seminar-style classes that emphasize discussion, debate, and interaction between students and professor. The Honors program also sponsors lecture series as well as Honors study abroad and research fellowship programs.

Summer Fellowships
Last year, we started two new programs that provide students with a $5,000 award for summer study during their time at Carolina. Summer Study Abroad Fellowships allow students to use the award toward one of 81 study abroad programs in 37 countries. Carolina Summer Research Fellowships award $5,000 to students for use toward a research project of their own design.

Carolina Research Scholars Program 
Carolina Research Scholars brings together students from across the academic disciplines who are engaged in undergraduate research. First-year students who are chosen for entry into the program receive special advising that helps them navigate the research community at Carolina and network with fellow researchers.

First Year Fellows Program 
First Year Fellows connects students with the exciting opportunities and resources available at Carolina through special lectures, discussions, and excursions. Fellows are also guaranteed a seat in one of their top-choice First Year Seminars.

Assured Admission Programs 
Most students apply to the Business School or the School of Journalism and Mass Communication during their sophomore year at Carolina. Each year, though, we offer a group of new first-year students assured admission to each of these programs. Assured admission students also benefit from special coursework and advising in their first two years, allowing them to begin pursuing journalism or business study from their first semester.Learn more about assured admission to the School of Journalism and the Business School.

So how do we select students for these opportunities? As the admissions committee reads your application, they'll also be considering you for all of the above programs. They'll be looking for the same things we look for in all of our candidates: intellect, curiosity, creativity, leadership, kindness, courage, and diversity of background and experience. Your essays and letters of recommendation are important as they help us understand who you are as a person and how you will contribute here. We want students who will not only take advantage of the opportunities here at Carolina, but who will also make new opportunities both for themselves and their fellow students.

Faculty committees make the final selection of merit scholarship and Honors candidates. For the remaining programs listed above, we survey finalists to find out which programs are of most interest to them, and then match students to one of their top choices. So if you're chosen as a finalist, you'll be able to tell us which program is the best match for you.

Ready to apply? Get started!

Extraordinary Opportunity: Assured Enrollment in Journalism

When you apply to Carolina, you're automatically considered for a number of special opportunities. In addition to merit scholarships and the Honors Program, we also consider you for programs that match incoming students with some of exciting opportunities that exist on this campus.

We recently posted about Assured Enrollment in Business, and today we're focusing on a similar program we offer for students interested in Journalism. Carolina students generally apply to the School of Journalism and Mass Communication during their second year of study at Carolina. Each year, however, a select group of outstanding first-year students are offered assured enrollment in the undergraduate program in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication--widely acclaimed as one of the best such programs in the nation.

Students who are chosen for the program take two special first-year seminars focusing on journalism. In this way, students are able to start exploring their interest in journalism from the first day they step on campus. There's no obligation to pursue journalism if students' interests lead them elsewhere--they're always free to choose another major if they wish.

All applicants are considered for this program just by applying for admission--there's no separate application required.

Read more about Assured Enrollment in Journalism.

Explore the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.