Chance Me? - UNC-Chapel Hill c/o 2022

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
1

I applied EA to UNC, and I was curious as to other people’s opinions about my chances of getting in.

I am in-State, I plan to major in English or Comp. Lit.; Maybe do a Pre-Med track, just in case.
Race: Mixed-Race (Half-Native American and Half-Caucasian)
Weighted GPA: 4.8606
Unweighted GPA: 3.94
Rank: 12 out of 450 (as of end of junior year)

ACT: 31 (I’ve never taken the SAT)
Math: 28
English: 35
Reading: 31
Science: 31

9th Grade: AP World History, AP Env. Science, Math II Honors, English I Honors, Art I
10th Grade: AP Government, Math III H, Pre-Calc H, English II H, Chemistry H, Biology H, Art II
11th Grade: AP Psychology, AP Statistics, English III H, American History I H, Ecology H, Spanish I, Forensic Science H, Art III H
12th Grade: AP English Lit, AP Euro History, American History II H, Spanish II, Ecocriticism H, AP Studio Art

ECs:
JV and Varsity Softball (JV MVP; three years)
Art Club Vice President (four years)
Beta Club (9-12)
National Honor Society (10-12)
Club Softball Team (MVP in NC Tournament; played from middle school to junior year)
Breakfast Buddy Volunteer (senior year)
Humane Society Volunteer (junior and senior year)
NASA/AISES (Native American Club; all four years)
Singer and Guitarist in Church Youth Group (all four years)
Church Outreach Volunteer (all four years)
Battle of the Books (senior year)
Library Assistant (senior year)

Awards:
Superintendent’s Award (ninth grade)
Junior Marshal
First Place in Oil Painting at Regional Show (senior year)
MVP in Charlotte, NC Youth Softball Series
Dixie Youth Softball State Champion (ninth grade)

***I also got into an online program for extra classes, which is why there’s a couple of strange Honors classes above (Forensic, Ecocriticism).

I’d be super grateful if anyone could let me know what they think! (:

2

As in state student, I would say that you should feel confident in your chances. I would be surprised if you were not accepted @yellowtomorrow

3

Can you please give me your opinions on my chances as well? I would appreciate it.
Here are my stats:

Home state: California
Race: Caucasian
Applied: Early Action
GPA (Weighted):4.38, 3.9/4.0 unweighted
ACT: 30 (superscore 32)
SAT: 1420

9th Grade Courses: all regular
10th Grade Courses: Chemistry (H), English 2 (H), Geometry (H), rest regular
**I also took an online college psychology course
11th Grade Courses: AP Chemistry, AP English Lang, AP US History, Biology (H), Algebra 2 w/ Trig (H), rest regular
12th Grade Course: all AP classes (except religion)

**my school does not offer IB classes, and APs are not offered until junior year

Extra Curricular Activities:
President of National Honors Society
Vice President of California Scholarship Federation
Founder/President of my own club
Leading Officer of Jefferson Awards Students in Action
Varsity Tennis (senior year)
Competitive club soccer
President of National Charity League
Teacher of children’s Sunday School

Awards:
AP Scholar
Honor Roll
in top 9% of class (do not know exact ranking but my school is very competitive)
CA State Assembly Service Recognition
Sportsmanship Award
Community Service; Bronze Pin (100 hours)

Internships/Program:
Plastic Surgery Summer Internship
Georgetown Medical Program
FACES for the Future Medical Academy

Please let me know what you think my chances are as an OOS early action applicant!!

4

@harrypotter221: Generally, the chances for any OOS applicant to UNC-CH are somewhat problematic due to the highly competitive nature of OOS applications there: UNC-CH admits OOS applicants in numbers that are calculated not to exceed 18% of an entering freshman class. See “Undergraduate Admissions” on Page 2, here: http://www.admissions.unc.edu/files/2013/09/Admissions__Policy.pdf. As a further example of the difficulty for OOS students to be admitted to UNC-CH, the entering Class of 2021 had a 14% acceptance rate for OOS applicants: http://admissions.unc.edu/apply/class-profile-2/.

If you look at the UNC-CH Common Data Set, here, https://oira.unc.edu/files/2017/07/cds_2016_2017_20170411.pdf, under Part C7 it states 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.

Further, Part C9 of the Common Data Set for UNC-CH 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.

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 SAT scores of 1490+, ACT scores of 33+, and weighted GPAs of 4.4+. 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.).

Having stated all of the above, your superscored ACT score is okay compared to the likely pool of OOS applicants, and your GPA is good. IMO, you are competitive for admission as an OOS applicant. If you have good essays and letters of recommendation, that will help; and your ECs look good also, especially with a number of leadership positions in your ECs. But I cannot emphasize enough that for OOS applicants, UNC-CH is a tough nut to crack.

As an EA applicant, you should find out something in a week or so.

5

bump

6

@gandalf78 I’d like to get your opinion on a discrepancy I’ve noted looking at the UNC CDS numbers and those of other schools. UNC says its % of enrolled students that had a GPA of 3.75-4.0 (out of 4.0) is a whopping 96%, and it’s average GPA is 4.67. Something seems very off about that when I look at those numbers for other comparable (and even more selective) schools. For instance, those comparable numbers for Princeton are 87%/3.89, for Harvard they are 87%/4.0, Vanderbilt is 72%/3.82, and Tulane is 32%/3.52.

These numbers from the other schools makes me wonder if UNC reports its GPA’s as weighted figures? Clearly they are doing that for the average GPA to get an average of 4.67, but 96% of their enrolled students having better than a 3.75 unweighted GPA seems very out of place given the context of those numbers from other schools.

What do you think is going on here?

7

@UTSquared: Well, that’s a good question; and I don’t know the answer. I also looked at the University of Michigan’s CDS numbers; and it has 79.6% in the 3.75-4.0 range (although U of M recalculates GPA, as I understand it, so those numbers may be based on U of M’s recalculated GPA).

Perhaps an inquiry to the Office of Institutional Research might be helpful as to this matter; but I can’t help you at all. It is a bit curious.

8

@UTSquared Must not include the UNC D1 athletes… :))

9

@burghdad LOL, someone’s got to fill out that other 4%, right?