The most enduring symbol of the university is the Old Well, a small neoclassical rotunda based on the Temple of Love in the Gardens of Versailles, in the same location as the original well that provided water for the school.[83] The well stands at the south end of McCorkle Place, the northern quad, between two of the campus's oldest buildings, Old East, and Old West.

UNC-Chapel Hill has a regional theater company in residence, the Playmakers Repertory Company,[215] and hosts regular dance, drama, and music performances on campus.[216] The school has an outdoor stone amphitheatre known as Forest Theatre used for weddings and drama productions.[217] Forest Theatre is dedicated to Professor Frederick Koch, the founder of the Carolina Playmakers and the father American folk drama.[218]
For decades, UNC-Chapel Hill has offered an undergraduate merit scholarship known as the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. Recipients receive full tuition, room and board, books, and funds for summer study for four years. Since the inception of the Morehead, 29 alumni of the program have been named Rhodes Scholars.[158] Since 2001, North Carolina has also co-hosted the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, a merit scholarship and leadership development program granting recipients full student privileges at both UNC-Chapel Hill and neighboring Duke University.[159] Additionally, the university provides scholarships based on merit and leadership qualities, including the Carolina, Colonel Robinson, Johnston and Pogue Scholars programs.[160]
One of the top backcourts in the country – David Johnson and Carlik Jones – is no longer on Louisville’s roster, although Chris Mack joined his ACC counterparts in hitting the transfer portal hard this offseason. Miami forward Matt Cross, Marshall guard Jarrod West, Florida guard Noah Locke and JuCo standout El Ellis will all factor in a rotation that already includes forwards Malik Williams, Jae’Lyn Withers and Samuell Williamson. Add in Top-100 prospects in center Roosevelt Wheeler and forward Michael James and the Cardinals may have enough pieces in place to contend for the ACC title.
The Yellow Jackets’ 2020-21 season came to a brutal end when ACC Player of the Year Moses Wright had to miss the NCAA Tournament after the team won the ACC Tournament. Wright is gone, as is savvy guard Jose Alvarado, but Josh Pastner returns some quality pieces in guards Mike Devoe and Bubba Parham and forward Jordan Usher. There’s also Top-100 guard Dallan Coleman, who is expected to make an immediate impact in Atlanta. A lack of legitimate size and post depth could derail the Yellow Jackets.

The university was named a Public Ivy by Richard Moll in his 1985 book The Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, and in later guides by Howard and Matthew Greene.[134][135] Many of UNC-Chapel Hill's professional schools have achieved high rankings in publications such as Forbes magazine, as well as annual U.S. News & World Report surveys.[136][137] In 2020, US News & World Report ranked the School of Medicine #1 in primary care and #23 in research.[138] In 2016, U.S. News & World Report ranked UNC-Chapel Hill business school's MBA program as the 16th best in the nation. In the 2019 edition, U.S. News & World Report ranked the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health as the second best school of public health in the United States (behind Johns Hopkins and tied with Harvard).[139] The UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy was ranked #1 among pharmacy schools in the United States in 2020 by U.S. News & World Report.[140] In 2005, Business Week ranked UNC-Chapel Hill business school's Executive MBA program as the 5th best in the United States.[141] UNC also offers an online MBA program, MBA@UNC,[142] that is ranked #1 in the country in 2019 for Best Online MBA Programs (tied with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University).[143] Other highly ranked schools include journalism and mass communication, law, library and information science, medicine, dentistry, and city and regional planning.[144][145][146][147][148] Nationally, UNC-Chapel Hill is in the top ten public universities for research.[149] Internationally, the 2016 QS World University Rankings ranked North Carolina 78th in the world (in 2010 Times Higher Education World University Rankings and QS World University Rankings parted ways to produce separate rankings).[150]
For decades, UNC-Chapel Hill has offered an undergraduate merit scholarship known as the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. Recipients receive full tuition, room and board, books, and funds for summer study for four years. Since the inception of the Morehead, 29 alumni of the program have been named Rhodes Scholars.[158] Since 2001, North Carolina has also co-hosted the Robertson Scholars Leadership Program, a merit scholarship and leadership development program granting recipients full student privileges at both UNC-Chapel Hill and neighboring Duke University.[159] Additionally, the university provides scholarships based on merit and leadership qualities, including the Carolina, Colonel Robinson, Johnston and Pogue Scholars programs.[160]

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina[10]) is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The flagship of the University of North Carolina system, it is considered to be a Public Ivy, or a public institution which offers an academic experience similar to that of an Ivy League university.[11] After being chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolling students in 1795, making it one of the oldest public universities in the United States. Among the claimants, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the only one to have held classes and graduated students as a public university in the eighteenth century.[12]

Despite initial skepticism from university President Frank Porter Graham, on March 27, 1931, legislation was passed to group the University of North Carolina with the State College of Agriculture and Engineering and Woman's College of the University of North Carolina to form the Consolidated University of North Carolina.[34] In 1963, the consolidated university was made fully coeducational, although most women still attended Woman's College for their first two years, transferring to Chapel Hill as juniors, since freshmen were required to live on campus and there was only one women's residence hall. As a result, Woman's College was renamed the "University of North Carolina at Greensboro", and the University of North Carolina became the "University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."[35][36][37] In 1955, UNC officially desegregated its undergraduate divisions.[38]


The University of North Carolina men's basketball team will begin Atlantic Coast Conference play December 5 at Georgia Tech in the first regular-season ACC game for first-year UNC head coach Hubert Davis. Carolina's ACC opener will come in its eighth regular-season game, four days after the Tar Heels host Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. (GoHeels.com)
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