Chance me at UNC and Wake - OOS

Chance Me / Match Me!
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Hoping someone will chance me for UNC CH and Wake for 2022 admission:

Objective:
SAT 1420 - 680V&R, 740M
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.71/5
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): @9 out of 475 (don’t publish but know I am top 3%)
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Human (5), AP Calculus AB (4) , AP Bio (4), AP Euro (3 - not submitting)
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: AP Stat, AP Chemistry, Forensics, Honors English 12, AP Gov, Spanish III
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): 4 year academic distinguished honors, school soccer MVP junior year

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Unified Track (founder), NHS, Key Club, Jr Rotary Club, Varsity soccer 9-12, JV tennis 10, Club premier soccer 9-12 (Captain), Link Crew (Leader) 11-12
Job/Work Experience: CVS Cashier 10-12, CVS Shift Supervisor/Pharmacy Technician 12
Volunteer/Community service: Food bank volunteer @ 60 hours per year, clothing drives, shoe drives, and fundraising through school clubs
Summer Activities: Premier level soccer 9-12, work at CVS 9-12, volunteer
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 8 or so. Wrote from the heart about topics I was passionate about. “How does history impact who you are?” Chose to write about family history molding my character.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 7-9. Teacher reccos might be standard except for science as I asked the toughest teacher in school to write one (got on her good side Freshman year and she really likes me. Also she rarely is asked to write them).

For CH only - Personal reccos are higher. One from family friend who watched me grow up. Executive at Google. Other from well respected family friend who has a strong reputation at UNC-CH (both adults and one child attended).

Other:
Location: Pennsylvania
Intended Major: Biology
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: ~$250,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): For CH - Grandfather is alumni, family friends are well respected alumni and wrote reccos. For WF - father knows a well respected WF community member and has been in contact regarding my application.

Thanks!

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Should have a good chance at Wake but because you are OOS UNC will be a challenge even though you are well qualified. Might want to check where your SAT score rates at UNC before submitting.

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Thank you for the feedback. Based on 2020 admission scores I am @ the 60th percentile overall but 75% for math. Do you think that helps?

Full disclosure I have already applied to both schools but nervous about my chances.

Thanks!

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Well I suppose part of it being in the top 75% will help. My daughters both applied there last year but received their ED acceptances before UNC decisions came out so both withdrew their applications. One went to Wake and other to NU. The one who went to Wake has similar stats and had a 1540 but got accepted before her scores came in. She really studied up on what and what the school was about and incorporated that into her essays. Good luck with your applications! If you need any Wake of NU info I can probably help.

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Look at Section C7 of UNC’s Common Data Set: it states that standardized test scores are a “very important” admission factor while GPA is an “important” admission factor. So your test scores relative to the likely scores from OOS applicants will not be as helpful. Also, the non-academic admission factor of “alumni/ae relation” will not help you because UNC considers only parents, not grandparents, for legacy purposes.

If you are not aware, UNC (as a public institution) limits OOS admission in its first-year class to 18% of the entering students. Further, for the last couple of years, about 2/3 of the 40,000+ applicants to UNC have been OOS; so approximately 27,000 OOS applicants are vying for 18% of the available slots as first-year students. Further, OOS students with one or both parents who are Carolina alumni have a much higher acceptance rate – I have seen 40% but I can’t be for sure – in the pool of OOS applicants. So, statistically speaking your chances for admission to UNC are not good.

If you want to improve your chances of admission to UNC, you might try improving your SAT scores; or try taking the ACT (people usually do better on one or the other).

As for Wake Forest, check out the numbers in Sections C9-C11 of the WF CDS; these are for matriculated students, but these numbers may give you a crude estimate of your chances at admission.

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Also, did you apply EA at UNC-CH?

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I agree with the other - Wake solid and UNC unlikely - it’s brutal for OOS.

I’m sure you have matches and safeties beneath and you know with the 4.0 unweighted you’d cash it at many schools such as Alabama and Arizona.

Good luck - hope you get into both.

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Yes, I applied EA to UNC.

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Thank you so much for the info. Did your daughter submit her previous SAT scores or was that score the first she had taken them? I am applying RD to Wake and March cannot come soon enough. The waiting is so stressful.

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That was her first score so it wasn’t part of her application but they did ask if she would submit her score sometime last semester for some reason. Maybe for some data they are tracking. I thought waiting until December was tough. I can’t imagine waiting until March. Good luck! It’s an amazing school. Blown away by all the great things they do for the students.

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Thanks to all who replied here. I received a rejection from UNC. Not unexpected. My chances were slim based on the CDS. Wake is in fact my first choice but I applied RD. I was looking for opportunities at lower division schools to play soccer at the next level. There have been a few offers, but the schools’ academic reputation aren’t that strong. I’ve put that aside and I’m now focused on Wake. Hoping for good news in March.

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Best of luck to you going forward! The important thing to remember is this: Wherever you land, make the most of the opportunities that are put in your path; if you do, you will be successful at whatever you attempt.

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Good luck on Wake! You can always play some Club ball and see where it takes you.

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Thanks so much!! That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking. I have heard that they club team there is competitive and I would absolutely enjoy playing with them!!

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So - I’m going to be contrarian here - if you really want to play soccer, that is a memory you cannot get back.

You are waaaaaaayyyyy overestimating the pedigree thing here in my opinion - especially with Wake.

If you, for example, got into a Juniata, Wooster or Depauw or name your 3rd tier D3 and could play the game you love and have that experience - to me, that’s far above being a regular student at Wake.

It’s late now - I don’t know if you still have those opportunities, etc.

Heck, I’d be going to Arizona or Alabama for $3K a year before I was full pay at Wake and I’d join the Honors College. You have Ivy league caliber students at all these schools.

Sorry about UNC - but OOS it’s just brutal.

Good luck.

What are your fallbacks to WFU??

PS - @gandalf78 said it correctly - where you go is far less relevant to this they noted:

Best of luck to you going forward! The important thing to remember is this: Wherever you land, make the most of the opportunities that are put in your path; if you do, you will be successful at whatever you attempt.

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Follow your dreams! Don’t let old ladies who spend their lives justifying where they forced their kids fo go to school alter your path.

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I have no idea about deadlines but if you’re interested in soccer and southern schools did you consider schools like Furman, Wofford or some of the other UNC’s?

Good luck with WF. Beautiful campus.

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I appreciate the advice and understand what you are saying. All the same, I have talked to several former classmates who play soccer in college and they tell me it’s more of a job than a sport. I truly enjoy it but would rather play it more casually than that. HS soccer was very intense and I think I may have just burned out a bit. School reputation was only one of the reasons I haven’t pursued it further. Perhaps a bad example in my post.

I understand your point about the name of the school. I just really enjoyed my visit to Wake. There are several aspects that appeal to me, academic reputation being just one.

I have already been accepted to a few other schools. PSU and Seton Hall. I have a few others I should hear from in the coming weeks/months. And while they are all fine institutions, I still think Wake has more qualities I am looking for in a university. If I do not get in I know it won’t be the end of the world but my hope is that I have what they are looking for when making admissions decisions. My one regret is that I perhaps should have applied ED II, but that’s hindsight so I can’t dwell on it.

Thanks again for the response.

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Thank you!!

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Glad to know you have PSU and SH - two fine universities - albeit vastly different.

That’s a great attitude - I hope you get into WF (you have stats that merit admission for sure) - but if you don’t, you’ll still have a great experience no matter where you go. There’s so many schools out there kids can have a wonderful time at.

Good luck - and let us know what happens with WF.

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