NCSU: Excellence in all things

Introduction
The best advice I can give to any student considering State is just to visit the campus and take a tour. The tour guides can tell you a lot of really neat things about the school that are pretty encouraging. I chose State because it's one of the best engineering schools in the country, offering varied disciplines in the undergrad and graduate arenas. It also has one of the best vet schools in the country, not to mention its bio and ag departments. It's certainly not the prettiest campus, but it has a TON of opportunities for students who want to focus on academics. I would suggest to anyone that's looking for a 'party' school or an easy time academically to stay away.

Campus Life and Social Life
Social life is a blast. Every weekend offers parties (if that's your thing); but more importantly service opportunities and city life activities bound. There's a nearby rose garden, the NC Botanical Garden, the Capitol, and many other colleges to hang out with. Raleigh isn't the typical college town, and has a very grown-up feel. Upcoming downtown renovations and major overhauls will render the downtown even more easy to navigate. Plenty of night life is available as well, given that Raleigh is a very large city. Sports are certainly a highlight of every semester. With our top-ranked basketball and solid football programs, not to mention dozens of other sports (tennis, wrestling, skiing, dressage, rowing, etc), no student could be disappointed at the plethora of opportunities available. Advertisement
Academics
The entire university is solid academically. The bio/ag/engineering/chemistry/physics/humanities/social sciences offer too many degrees to even imagine mentioning, all of them taught by solid faculty who can direct you toward life after college as well. Most faculty are more than willing to work with you outside the classroom, whether it be in office hours or over a cup of coffee on Hillsborough Street. TAs aren't as reliable however, but they aren't paid much to keep costs down. State does offer a Supplementary Instruction (SI) program as well that's VERY helpful in the areas of math, chemistry, and physics. If you're looking at the more recognized programs (chem, physics, bio, engineering, material science, design) then expect to have your butt kicked by some hard classes. The design students basically live in the studios for 4+ years and the others I mentioned often will have 4-5 major tests in one week.

Student Body
Just looking at the demographics you would think that State is composed of a bunch of white males. And you'd be mostly right. However, I see and meet a lot of folks of other races, esp in classes. Most of my friends are females, so if your concern is balance, don't worry. The international kids are a lot of fun to hang out with as well. I do worry about State's unofficial segregation however. Most of the on-campus black students live in one dorm, and the rest of the dorms are mostly balanced according to the demographic. But that doesn't mean that you can't make friends that are different than you, it's quite easy actually.

In Closing...
One of State's best attributes is the availability of religious groups and churches. Upwards of 7 Christian groups meet every week including Campus Crusade (about 1,000 students strong).

Despite our complete lack of a music major, State has one of the best a cappella groups in the country. About 10 choirs and a cappella groups are available for students. The State Jazz band is really strong as well, usually rated at least as good as UNCGs (a school well known for it's music program).