She seems like an excellent student with a great shot at UNC Chapel Hill. I would encourage her to apply to as many other UNC system schools as she wants to because it seems likely she’d get in most and that just gives her more choices when it comes time to make a decision. UNC-A is smaller, funky, beautiful mountain city. App is a larger school than UNC-A in a smaller town. Smaller school than UNC Chapel Hill.
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This student has a 3.95 unweighted GPA and a 34 ACT score. This is a very very strong student. I don’t think this is a Hail Mary at all. It’s a reach…but many others also try for reaches that turn out to be successful. I think Washington and Lee is a good suggestion for a reach school with potential for a good merit award. They award 40 of the full rides each year.
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Would she be interested in an HBCU? I’m wondering about Howard or Spellman or Morehouse? I don’t know the cost of attendance on them but they have such great reps thought it might be worth checking out. NC A&T might be worth a look too. I think it’s the best HBCU in the UNC system but not really up there academically with Howard (or UNC Chapel Hill).
I also agree that it might be worth checking out Agnes Scott. I was really impressed with the diversity there when we visited. It’s something like 40% white with the rest being Black, Latina, and others. You can take classes at Emory also so you get to mix with the men. It might not be right for her but if you go down that way to look at any other schools it might be worth a visit. It definitely sounds like it ticks most of her other boxes except for being a women’s college. They give a lot of aid also and would be in budget for you. Consistently top rated by US News for what that’s worth.
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I agree, this is an excellent student who will be a competitive admit anywhere. With a well-balanced list, she should have choices at decision time… and that is important for a student IMO… having a choice of schools. Even if she gets in UNC-CH (which is highly likely), she can decide next April if it is the best fit for her college years.
Due to the budget considerations, I would first find schools the student would like to attend and are highly likely to be affordable. Note, some of these schools may not meet the distance or “liberal” preferences… when budget is priority some trade-offs may be necessary.
- UNC schools (e.g. App, Asheville)
- Auto-merit schools (e.g. Miami Ohio, Alabama)
- Schools that use generous merit to attract high stat students (e.g. Furman, Rhodes, CofC, UofSC)
Once those schools have been identified, I would add competitive merit schools. These are reaches due to affordability, but this high stat student will be competitive. Some of these scholarships require a school nomination, and they usually have early application deadlines to be considered for merit so keep those in mind.
- Davidson - Belk, James B Duke are the big full ride, full tuition scholarships but there are others
- Wash & Lee - as mentioned above, the Johnson Scholars full ride is awarded to about 10% of the freshman class (URM status is a boost as they have diversity goals)
- URichmond - Richmond Scholars full tuition + R&B is awarded to 25 students, about 3% of the freshman class
- Vandy - Cornelius Vanderbilt and others
- Emory - Emory Scholars
- Wake - Reynolds Scholars
- W&M - W&M Scholars, 1693 Scholars
- American - Frederick Douglass
- UMD - Banneker Key
edit: I forgot some of the OP’s feedback, such as Davidson being too close to home. Apologies! I need more coffee. 
But hopefully the general idea comes across.
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Great suggestion. If the OP’s student is interested in HBCUs, @ChangeTheGame and @EconPop are wonderful CC resources.
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Just one thing for OP to keep in mind — UNC-CH doesn’t consider legacy for in-state applicants. Not that it would seem to affect this strong student’s chances for admission.
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This is a very strong student, but it’s important to remember that certain counties in NC are more competitive for admission than others.
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If access to men is a consideration, don’t forget that the Atlanta consortium includes Morehouse (all men) and Georgia Tech (higher percentage of men).
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Is this more in regards to student political leanings, college administration policies, and/or applicable state laws and policies that may affect some students (e.g. abortion laws, bathroom regulation, etc.)?
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I disagree with the recommendation to apply to many schools, across the board, so as to have many acceptances to choose from come April. This can lead to decisional gridlock. Plus all those app fees do add up. In the case of this student, an in state safety plus an in state reach are the backbone of the applicarion process. There is plenty of time now to make sure that the student would be happy with either of these two schools. The time to decide whether or not they like chapel hill, their most likely and most affordable reach, is by early fall. If for some reason they dont like chapel hill or any other in state public, it is a completely different application ball game for them.
One more thing to take into account. While a court decision banning consideration of race in admissions may come into effect soon, there are many, many scholarships, both private and institutional, that are earmarked for students of color, and i doubt this will change. This student might be an excellent candidate for such a merit scholarship at slightly less competitive schools.
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@jrskaratz is the 36k budget firm, or can your D take the 5500 student loan plus work earnings to increase the budget? This may open her options up a bit more.
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If the application fees are really a hardship you can apply during the CFNC free college application week. A bunch of NC schools offer free apps then including UNC-A, Davidson, Elon and more. https://www.cfnc.org
I don’t think you need to apply to 20 schools, but I would definitely include more than 2 UNC system schools if you are still up in the air. They are very good bargains. If things are more settled in the fall then no need to include too many, but generally they are very easy apps and all you have to do is click another box.
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Any general sense, all of the above… Doesn’t have to be extremely activism-heavy, though. She just wants to be in a fairly diverse/accepting environment. I’m sure there is a range of that depending where you go…
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We are very familiar with Chapel Hill- her dad is a Tarheel. We’ve been on campus many times, and DD likes it and feels a sense of familiarity. However, she needs to decide if she will be OK with the size of the school, and take a deeper dive into different elements and offerings to determine how good of a fit it is. There’s also the issue of wanting to chart her own path and not feel pressured to go where dad went. We’ve tried to be very aware of not applying that sort of pressure, but it is a factor, even if subliminal. I kind of see her at a smaller school, where she will have good access to professors and career guidance, and be a bit more of a big fish in a small pond. That’s kind of her comfort zone, which doesn’t mean she can’t do well at Chapel Hill. She would just have to find ways to locate her people, make it smaller or whatever…
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This is a function of the student, not the size! There are kids at tiny schools who avoid being mentored and guided like the plague, and students at huge schools with robust relationships and who get significant amount of help from Deans, professors, etc.
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We need to run the NPC’s, that is one thing we haven’t done. However, our assets are mostly in investment accounts, which I believe does not work in our favor.
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What is the 5500 loan? I think she would be fine to work at school if necessary. She will also earn money over the summer and during senior year of high school… But that will primarily be for spending money at college, which we will not be providing.
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Please run the NPCs before determining that you don’t qualify for need-based aid. Assets are assessed at 5.6 percent. Income is assessed much more heavily.
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That is excellent to hear. If she chooses a larger school, I will impress upon her, that she will have to seek out the relationships that will help her define her path, and get any support that she needs. Despite the possible majors I listed, she’s truly undecided and I want her to have help in figuring out what she wants to do during and after college. I also think she is happier and more motivated when she has the opportunity to speak in class and have relationships with her teachers.
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Every student who fills out the FAFSA can get the $5500 unsubsidized loan. We don’t qualify for aid, but still do the FAFSA to have access to that loan just in case.
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