Hi, Chapel Hill will be one of my top choices when applying this fall. As an OOS student from NYS, any thoughts on my chances would be greatly appreciated.
Out of State Applicant, Early Action
Race: Asian
Gender: Male
GPA:
Unweighted (out of 4.0): 3.75
Weighted: 4.36
Class Rank: School doesn’t rank (likely top 10 out of 120)
ACT:
35 composite (one sitting)
SAT II:
Pending scores for Math II, USH, Latin
APs:
European History (3), Pending scores for Comp Sci A, Latin, Biology, English Lit, USH
Senior Year AP Course Load:
Psychology, Physics, BC Calculus
Work Experience:
-2 summer/fall jobs (about 15-20 hours per week)
-Summer research internship at the University of Buffalo with a graduate student on her dissertation
-Robotic surgery internship at cancer institute
Extracurriculars:
-FIRST Robotics Lead Programmer (9-11)
-Student Council Rep (9-12)
-Captain of Chess Club (10-11)
-Founder and Head of Linguistics Club (11)
-Stock Market Club (9-11)
-Model UN (9-11)
-Science Olympiad (6-11)
Athletics:
Varsity Crew (9-10)
Varsity Golf (11-12)
Possible Major:
Biochemistry
I think I have at least one really good LOR.
Thanks!
My Son has similar stats except interests in Political Science and was accepted OOS RD class of 2021 from Florida. UNC Chapel hill accepts only 18% of OOS. EA might give you an advantage and your ACT score is much higher then the in state student average. Wish you the best!
You may be able to get an idea of where you place relative to recently admitted students by looking at the UNC-CH Common Data Set: Part C9 of the CDS gives the median 50% for both SAT and ACT scores, as well as the percentage of the entering first-year class falling within certain ranges of SAT and ACT scores; and Part C11 gives the percentage of entering first-year students falling within a range of unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale.
The CDS also tells you, under Part C7, that standardized test scores, application essay(s), letter(s) of recommendation, and the rigor of your high school record are “very important” academic factors considered for freshman admission, whereas GPA and class rank are “important” academic factors considered for freshman admission. Extracurricular activities, talent, and character/personal qualities are considered as “very important” non-academic factors.
Your ACT score is very competitive; your GPA is good, although not great (for UNC-CH). By way of comparison, our OOS high school usually has 8-10 students who apply, and 1-2 students who are admitted, each year to UNC-CH; and, with the exception of legacy students, our admitted students have ACT scores of 34+ and weighted GPAs of 4.5+. These successful applicants also were involved in extracurricular activities that showed commitment over time (no “drive-by” ECs), and demonstrated leadership in the school as well as their ECs. Other kids in our city who I know were admitted to UNC-CH recently also had similar academic statistics and non-academic characteristics; and all of these kids were “unhooked” in admissions parlance (i.e., not a recruited D-1 athlete, or a URM, first-generation college student, etc.).
At this point I would work on making sure that your essays and LORs are top-notch (as they are “very important” academic factors). I would also consider elaborating on your leadership abilities and examples of leadership in your ECs, which relate to the “very important” non-academic factors of character/personal qualities, as part of your overall application.
I don’t know whether your high school has Naviance or any similar program that gives information about how students at your high school have done in applying to colleges and universities; if so, you might peruse that data. I would try to meet with a guidance counselor at your school early in the Fall semester to discuss application strategies for UNC-CH; if any former students from your school have been admitted to UNC-CH recently, the guidance counselor may be able to give some insight into how and why such student(s) were successful.
Good luck to you.