Possibly anecdotal to my own life experiences, but I've come across a number of really impressive UNC grads in a way I haven't come across Vandy ones, and my sense is that in general UNC feeds more of its undergrads into top grad programs, and, if one wants to take it seriously, the education there can be more rigorous. (Admittedly, most of the folks I have in mind were Morehead-Cain scholars, so it's possible I'm only thinking about a smaller subset. Still, that group has
a pretty impressive set of alumni.)
Of course, the academics scandals from the late 00's suggest that perhaps UNC can be a very different experience depending on how one directs their energy...
ETA: again, possibly selecting for a small subset, but it appears UNC has something like
twice as many Rhodes Scholars as Vandy. Those are small numbers, of course, but my sense is most people judge a university brand by its most notable outputs - for the same reason that, for example, Elizabeth Holmes' single year at Stanford has nonetheless tarred us with the sins of her fraud.
)
