<p>I have three questions about the UNC admissions process</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How much does being a legacy help when applying out of state?</p></li>
<li><p>Is one viewed as a legacy only if there parents attended? Does having several relatives on both sides of the family who attended help?</p></li>
<li><p>What would be a sat score that would likely grant one admission oos? On the UNC web site it said the average score of an accepted student is 1303 (m+cr) but on this site people with much higher scores are being told the school is a reach.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>1) Legacy does help for OSS. I don’t know the exact stats, but I know that the admit rate for OSS Legacy is higher than for non-Legacy (I think in the 25% area as compared to 16-18%). Legacy has no effect on in-state admissions.</p>
<p>2) It is either parents only, or parents and grandparents. The application has a spot for any family member that attended, but having a cousin won’t do you much good.</p>
<p>3) The reason for this is that the in-state quota drags the mean score down. You have a bunch of OSS with 1400+, and but there are more NC residents who can get in with ~ 1250-1300. </p>
<p>This isn’t saying that all NC residents are below the 1300 average. I scored 1410, and all my admitted friends scored 1350+, but just that the NC residents can be accepted with lower scores because state law requires that 82% of the freshman class be NC residents.</p>
<p>It’s not quite so bad for out of state students. In 2009, Carolina admitted 39% of out of state alumni applicants compared to 20% of its other out of state applicants. Alumni parents and possibly grandparents ?? but definitely not aunts, uncles, cousins, etc earn you legacy status. Their UNC degree(s) do not need to be undergraduate degrees. Having just seen the process successfully play out for my OOS alumni son, here is my take on it all: The high school transcript (grades plus rigor) is the most important thing. Scores are important and the higher they are (700+) the better, but Carolina takes the whole application and its essays very seriously. Apply to the first deadline. Get your teacher recommendation from someone who knows you very well (not necessarily the teacher who’s given you the highest grades but the one who will write about you in a way that compliments/supports the rest of your application). Read this summer and retake the SAT in the fall: even November scores reach Carolina in time for the first deadline review. My son ended up using the 500-word essay he labored over for Carolina as his common app “topic of choice” essay–not the other way around–and it paid dividends at UNC and elsewhere. Carolina’s essay questions are some of the best I saw for their wording and range of responses they invite. Don’t rush them. And, finally, luck is involved in this process, so good luck!</p>