<p>I've gotten a lot of contradicting advice about this. When I went on the UNC campus tour, the admissions person who gave the presentation said that your chances do not increase when you apply early action. I was happy to hear that, because UNC's early action deadline is REALLY early (October 15th), and I would have appreciated the extra time to make sure my application, essays, and recs are in top shape. But then my counselor told me I should definitely apply early action because if I apply regular I'll be in the pool of Duke and Ivy rejects that are using UNC as a safety. So I'll look weak in comparison to them. I'm stuck. I also want to have mid-year grades to send in, so that's another advantage of applying regular. What should I do? I'm in-state for UNC, by the way.</p>