Chance Me- UNC Chapel Hill

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

Hey everyone! UNC-Chapel Hill is my dream school (and everyone else’s) and I want to see if I even have a chance since I applied early.

I am an in-state student

Unweighted GPA: 3.96
Weighted: 4.42
Rank: 17/496
AP Coursework: AP Language, AP Literature, AP European History
SAT Score: 1240
Dual Enrollment Credits: All A’s in Precalculus, Psychology, World Civilizations I, and World Civilizations II. Calculus in progress

Extracurriculars:
Founder and President of the Band Academic Initiative- Tutoring for band students aligned with our rigorous and demanding schedule
Volunteer to play music at my church every week
Battle of the Books
Relay for Life participant
UN Global Challenge and Historical Society
National Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honors Society (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th), and Beta Club (10th,11th,12th)
Marching Band and Concert Band all 4 years (section leader for three)

Letter of Recommendation: From my AP Lit. teacher who has taught me since freshman year

Awards: Bonnie Weaver Award for artistic excellence and distinguished leadership in the band program, Instrumentalist Magazine Merit Award for outstanding contributions, leadership, and service to the school instrumentalist program, AP Lang class speaker, Junior Marshall

Academic Honor Roll at school (9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th)

CommonApp Essay: About how my mother’s diagnosis with Breast Cancer led me to realize I was a Feminist

Supplements: About a peer who influenced me by inspiring my passion for global studies (introduced me to her middle eastern culture and taught me Arabic)

Ethnicity: White

Gender: Female

Major: Global Studies/International Affairs

I feel like my SAT score is too low for admission standards, but I don’t have enough time to retake it. It is a 1240 composite, 550 Math, 690 Reading/Writing
I am definitely not planning to pursue any math or science-related fields

2

Honestly everything seems perfectly fine except for the SAT. I think it would’ve been in your best interest to wait and retake the SAT for the best possible chance to get admission. I think you still have a chance based on your other stats. Good luck!

3

I agree with saadnc, everything looks fine and retaking the SAT will give you the best chance. Not sure if you are located in a more rural area, if so then your chances are better than if you were coming from Wake or Mecklenburg County

4

Thanks for your helpful comments @saadnc and @slngbld, unfortunately, I cannot retake the SAT in time for Early Admission, so I’ll just have to hope for the best. Does anyone have any information about “Holistic admissions” and how that might help?

5

Holistic admissions basically means that they focus on your whole application, not just a certain part (like standardized test scores). This will work to your benefit, because other parts of your application could make them overlook the lower SAT scores.

6

As @slngbld touched on above, the county of your residence in North Carolina may have an impact on your chances for admission. The UNC System is making an effort to increase enrollment of North Carolina students from under-represented and/or economically distressed counties, as set forth in a document styled “Higher Expectations”: The Strategic Plan for the University of North Carolina (2017-2022). At Page 9 in that document, it states as follows:

“2. Rural: By fall 2021, increase enrollment of students from Tier 1 and Tier 2 counties by 11% over fall 2016 levels (an average of 2% per year) to reduce the existing participation gap by at least half.”

(Counties are placed in “tiers” as follows: “The N.C. Department of Commerce annually ranks the state’s 100 counties based on economic well-being and assigns each a Tier designation. The 40 most distressed counties are designated as Tier 1, the next 40 as Tier 2 and the 20 least distressed as Tier 3. A county automatically qualifies as Tier 1 if it has a population less than 12,000 people or if it has a population less than 50,000 and a poverty rate of 19 percent or greater. A county automatically qualifies as Tier 2 if it has a population less than 50,000.”)

https://www.northcarolina.edu/sites/default/files/unc_strategic_plan.pdf

The State of North Carolina has published the tier designations for its counties, here: https://www.nccommerce.com/research-publications/incentive-reports/county-tier-designations.

So, this policy is something that you need to be aware of, notwithstanding any holistic admissions practices by UNC-CH (or any other North Carolina public university).

7

And it’s not simply Wake and Mecklenburg Counties. 18 counties fall into the same tier. I’m applying from Chatham County, which has a total population of 71,472. I’m in the same lot.

8

Thank you all for your input, I was just accepted today! UNC class of 2023!