University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The university was chartered in 1789 by the North Carolina General Assembly, making it the first public university in the United States to open its doors (1795) and the only one to have graduated students in the 18th century. Its founding was driven by the state's desire to provide higher education independent of religious control, a radical idea at the time. The first class had one student, Hinton James, who walked from New Hanover County to Chapel Hill. The university closed during the Civil War (1861–1865) and reopened in 1866, but financial struggles persisted until the 20th century. The campus's iconic Old Well, modeled after the Temple of Love at Versailles, has been a symbol since 1897.

UNC-Chapel Hill is a Carnegie-classified R1 doctoral university with very high research activity. It is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for athletics. The university is known for its professional schools, including the Gillings School of Global Public Health, the Eshelman School of Pharmacy, and the School of Medicine, which are consistently ranked among the top in the nation. Research expenditures exceed $1.2 billion annually, with strengths in health sciences, environmental science, and data analytics. The university's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, opened in 1949, trained NASA astronauts in celestial navigation during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

The campus is centered around McCorkle Place and Polk Place, with the Old Well and the Davie Poplar tree as landmarks. The university's library system, including the Louis Round Wilson Library, holds over 10 million volumes. Student life is defined by the Carolina Covenant, a program ensuring that low-income students can graduate debt-free, and the Honor Code, which emphasizes academic integrity. The Daily Tar Heel, one of the oldest student newspapers in the country, has been published since 1893. The university's athletic teams, the Tar Heels, compete in the ACC, with men's basketball winning six NCAA championships under coaches like Dean Smith and Roy Williams.

UNC-Chapel Hill has several obscure distinctions. The university's mascot, Rameses, is a live Dorset ram that has been present at football games since 1924. The campus's underground steam tunnels, built in the 1920s, were the site of a 1960s student prank involving a stolen alligator. The university's PlayMakers Repertory Company is one of the oldest professional theaters in the South. The university's School of Government is the only one in the nation dedicated to training public officials. The university's rare book collection includes a first edition of the King James Bible and a copy of the Bay Psalm Book. The university's research on the Carolina parakeet, an extinct species, contributed to early ornithology.

Carolina Covenant

A financial aid program that allows low-income students to graduate without loans.

Old Well

A neoclassical rotunda on campus, a symbol of the university.

Rameses

The live ram mascot of UNC-Chapel Hill.