New First-Year Admissions Coordinator Hannah Bingham

Hi Seahawks!

My name is Hannah Bingham and I am a new First-Year Coordinator for the UNCW Office of Admissions.  As an alumna of UNCW, I am thrilled to remain working on campus as part of the Seahawk family, and couldn’t be more excited to start my journey with the Admissions office.  I love UNCW and can’t wait to recruit future Seahawks! First, let me tell you a little bit about myself. 

I was born and raised in the small town of Laurinburg, NC, just a few hours away from Wilmington.  I grew up going to Wrightsville Beach and was familiar with the city so when the time came to start looking at colleges, it was a no brainer where I wanted to go!  During my time as an undergraduate at UNCW, I fully immersed myself in all of the opportunities available to me.  I held several on-campus jobs such as working as a Building Manager for Campus Life and a Peer Educator for Health Promotion. In addition, I was involved in awesome student organizations such as Association for Campus Entertainment and the Seahawk Link program.  I graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor’s degree in Community Health Education and am now interested in one day continuing my education through the Higher Education graduate program at UNCW.  I love our campus and working with students so I may never leave!

I hope I get the chance to meet as many people as I can and welcome anyone to visit me, whether you have an Admissions question or just want to say hi!  I am the regional counselor for the Northern NC counties, as well for the Midwest of the United States and can’t wait for the traveling opportunities that lie ahead.  If you have questions, you know where to find me!

Best,

Hannah Bingham ‘13

First-Year Admissions Coordinator

binghamh@uncw.edu

910-962-2269

Transitioning as a Transfer Student

As a very recently transferred student, I find myself in the unique position of knowing the ins-and-outs of UNCW, but also acutely remembering what it was like to have no idea what I was doing. Being at a new university is hard, especially when you’re coming in as an upper level student. You have to relearn everything from the campus’ layout to how to sign up to classes, while at the same time you’re taking high level courses that require most of your attention. On top of all that, you’re probably moving here from another city like I did, or maybe you’re moving out on your own for the first time. It can all make for one incredibly stressful first semester. But fear not! I have some sage advice on how to handle it: you are not alone. There are other transfer students who are going through the exact same thing all around you.

Almost immediately when this semester began, I noticed that there were several students who seemed to be in almost every class I had. This was a little strange since my schedule was pretty crazy to account for several gateway courses I had to take to get into my major. I approached them and found that we were all brand new transfer students with the same major. We’ve spent all semester in class together, working together on a number of group projects, helping each other learn how to use UNCW’s systems, and even hanging out outside of school. I can’t tell you how invaluable its been having this group of ready-made friends. What I was worried would be a stressful beginning, turned into an amazing start to my time here at UNCW.

Went to Wag for some food, came out with a friend.

 One of my favorite things about UNCW is the friendly students. This week I made a new friend just by eating lunch.

I had a busy schedule with a long list of things I needed to accomplish for the day. I decided that I didn’t have time for chit-chat and planned on running into Wagoner Dining Hall just for a quick bite as I stressed out about everything I had to do that today. I grabbed a slice of veggie pizza and a salad and only planned on being in there for 10 or 15 minutes. I usually don’t eat lunch by myself (I’m not a loser, I promise), but like I said, I had a lot of things to accomplish that day and was just stopping for a quick bite. Not long after I sat down a guy I’ve never met before in my life walks up to me. He casually says, “I noticed that you were eating by yourself and I was wondering if I could join you”. I was a little shocked, but I nodded my head and accepted his invitation. We began casually talking and before I knew it I had forgotten about the list of things I had to do that day. We had a great friendly conversation and it was a nice unexpected break from my hectic day. 

The kindness and thoughtfulness of strangers here at UNCW never ceases to amaze me. I love UNCW and all of its friendly students. Plus I love making new friends, especially in the most unexpected ways!

-Anna-Joy

Transfer to Teal Guide- Stephanie

When I was a senior in high school I was honestly scared to look into the future and had no idea what I wanted to do when I graduated so I decided that I would just go to the community college in my town first, and then transfer to a four year university after two years. I wasn’t ready to go to a four year university right after graduating high school so I’m very glad I decided to transfer after earning an Associate’s Degree from a two year college. It may not be the path that works for everyone and that’s okay; it just happened to be right for me. I honestly always had the idea of coming to UNCW in the back of my mind while I was in high school but wasn’t ever sure that I could actually go through with it so I never thought much of it. However, that all changed once I drove by the campus for the first time. I’ve always come to the Wilmington area for vacation with my family ever since I was in middle school but I never actually saw UNCW’s campus until the summer of 2011 and that was when I knew that UNCW was exactly where I wanted to go.

I started doing my research about the transfer process right away after getting home from vacation, sent in my application in the winter, got accepted, got a tour of UNCW in February of 2012, and made my official decision to attend UNCW within a week of taking the campus tour. I always knew with everything in me that Wilmington was where I was supposed to go and after a year here I still have no doubt that I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. I started getting involved with a couple of organizations within a month of my first semester here and cannot believe how much more I am involved in only a year. There are so many opportunities to get involved at UNCW, I’ve met so many incredible people, and have gained so many amazing experiences here. The campus is absolutely beautiful and everyone here is just so welcoming. The atmosphere is so friendly, upbeat, and inviting. Some days when I’m walking around on campus I honestly can’t help but smile just because of that fact that I get to go to UNCW since it was my dream to come here. I just love this school so much and couldn’t imagine being anywhere else!

Soaring Seahawk!

How high can a Seahawk go? All the way to 5,269 feet!! Pictured is Nicholas Milligan atop Mount Katahdin, showing his UNCW pride by sporting his T-shirt. Nicholas decided to take on the exciting and daunting challenge of hiking part of the Appalachian Trail (AT) before beginning his studies as a freshman in January 2014.

His parents, Don and Lindy, state, "He is having an amazing hike and is experiencing so much of what life and nature have to offer, as well as many challenges and struggles along the way." Nicholas is from Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Katadhin is the northern terminus of the AT; Mount Katahdin is the highest mountain in Maine. Nicholas has already logged 1,229 miles and has 958 to go.

We support Nicholas in this amazing endeavor and look forward to welcoming him to the UNCW community soon!

EARLY ACTION DEADLINE EXTENDED

The University of North Carolina Wilmington is extending its Early Action application deadline for first-year students to Friday, November 8, 2013 at 11:59 P.M. EST.  This extension is in recognition of the technical difficulties for those utilizing the Common Application. Please note that all Early Action applicants will receive the same consideration regardless of the type of application used.  We intend to maintain our original schedule to notify students of their Early Action decisions on or around January 20^th.

Please feel free to contact the UNCW Office of Admission if you have any questions.  We are happy to assist in any way we can.

Admissions@uncw.edu

910-962-3243

Color Me Rad @UNCW!

In the midst of a busy travel season and both the Freshman Early Action deadline for Fall 2014 and the Spring 2014 Transfer application deadline, a few of our Admissions Office staff members embraced the "rad" this past weekend as "Color Me Rad" took over the UNCW campus to benefit student-athlete scholarships and the Seahawk Club.

Here is what freshman counselor Jessie had to say about the event:

   "The race was AMAZING, the energy from the student volunteers was awesome and it didn't even bother me when I took a pink color bomb to the face that has left me with a pink highlight still in my hair that doesn't seem to want to come out."

and Operations staff member Linda:

   "I had a great experience.  There were so many people there dressed in costumes- I even ran into some of my former Running buddies. 

     Everyone was so happy and friendly.  What a great day it was! 

When it started to rain I thought OMG this powder is going to become a mess.  However the sun finally came out and it was a perfect day.  The volunteers that threw the color were wonderful.  They actually tried to avoid getting it in your mouth. 

All in all it was FUN FUN FUN.

When I got home it did take a while to get all the color off my skin, but I have to say the only color that  did not come out of my clothing was PINK.  Love it!