Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1540, 770 each
ACT:
SAT II: 780 Chem, taking Math 2 this week
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.375
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (5), BC Calc (5 w/ 5 AB subscore), Lang (4), Physics 1 (4), Chem (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra, AP Lit, AP Bio, AP Gov, AP Spanish, AP Micro/Macro, one elective
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semifinalist, Meritorious Achievement Award from U.S. Public Health Service, 1st Place at Regional Science Fair, AP Scholar w/ Distinction
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): NHS, Mu Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Girl Scouts, Math and Chemistry Tutoring Clubs, Volleyball (player 9-10 and coach 11-12)
Job/Work Experience: Summer job at my pool
Volunteer/Community service: 100+ hours at a center for children with special needs, tutoring, 100+ hours at church events (fundraisers, donation drives, reading at Mass, etc.), other random activities involved with honor societies and Girl Scouts
Summer Activities: job
Essays: 8/10? idk I’m a harsh critic but I think I’m a pretty good writer, not super creative though
Teacher Recommendation: 10/10 hopefully, it’s from my AP Chem teacher who I also had for honors; I absolutely loved her, I did excellent in class and we were very close, she also taught my older brother for two years who is majoring in chem engineering at USC (in CA)
Counselor Rec: 8.5/10? big school so he doesn’t know me super well but he does have to spend more time on me b/c of national merit
Additional Rec:
State: VA
School Type: big public, extremely competitive (send over 5 to ivies each year)
Ethnicity: half Filipino, half white
Gender: female
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
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; Part C11 gives the percentage of entering first-year students falling within a range of unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale, and Part C12 gives the average high school GPA of first-year applicants.
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 SAT score is very competitive; your GPA is good; your ECs are a bit thin, IMO. 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.
Your stats are excellent but OOS is very competitive at UNCCH. Assuming you’re taking a very rigorous course load relative to what’s available, hard to see how you would be able to do much better.
Completely agree with other poster, make sure your essays and LORs are superb. You say you’re a creative writer, time to prove it. That spills over to the Common App as well. Although the EC area has very limited space, make the most of it. Every word is taking up critical real estate. Emphasize the impact you’ve had rather than just listing activities. It drove me crazy when my S did this last yr. He had some great ECs with major leadership invovlement and actually caused great change at his school but simply listed it as “Class President”, “VP of NHS”, “Student Ambassador”. I had to explain to him that these are great things to be, but he made them sound like ordinary activities. “As Class President I …” “As Team Captain I…” Let’s them know you’re a doer and a leader. Very important.
I also don’t know if this is relevant, but from my high school with a class size of about 500, typically about 30 students apply to UNC and about 8-10 get in.
hey im applying this year too. did you apply early? honestly, what i have come to terms with for OOS is that it is such a coin toss. it is so random that someone with a 29 ACT gets in and someone with a 29 ACT gets denied, which is especially interesting because you would think a 29 is somewhat low for UNC but apparently they saw something in them that set them apart form the other one with a 29. they really are looking for people who are interesting and their personality shines through in whatever they do. as long as that is true for your application, i think anyone can have a nice chance. even with i think you definitely have the stats but your EC’s are pretty normal. i know you might feel kind of hopeless for UNC without any hooks, but as long as you expressed your best self in your essays and chose the right people for recs, you certainly have a chance.
@clemson22: I don’t think that “random” is a word that can accurately be applied to OOS admissions, since that implies a process like throwing darts at a dartboard. Further, I suspect that an OOS admit with a 29 ACT is going to be linked to some other factor considered for admission, such as URM, D-1 athletics, first-generation applicant, legacy, etc., notwithstanding what is in an essay.