Chance Me! UNC Charlotte, UNC Greensboro, East Carolina University

I have a 3.4 gpa, 20 act and because of COVID I could not take my SAT. I really want to go to UNC Charlotte as it has been my dream school since sophomore year, but I don’t know if I have a chance to be accepted. I’m so nervous about sending my application to just get rejected.

I think you will likely get accepted at ECU and UNCG. The odds will be longer for UNC-Charlotte, but it is a possibility.

Do you think if i make a good strong essay that could boost me to be accepted into uncc?

In recent years, for UNC universities (not named Chapel Hill) the two most overwhelmingly important factors have been GPA and SAT/ACT scores. This is reflected by the fact that in the Common Data Set for UNC-Charlotte, only three factors are listed as “Very Important” which is the highest level: GPA, Standardized Test Scores, and Academic Rigor. And based on anecdotal evidence, I’d say Rigor is not as important as the other two. You can see this on page 8 of this chart: https://ir.uncc.edu/sites/ir.uncc.edu/files/field/cds/field_file/CDS%202019-2020.pdf

UNC-Charlotte lists no factor as the 2nd most important, which is labeled “Important”. Listed in the 3rd category, “Considered” are a lot of things, including Application Essay. In all honesty, I assume it would be almost impossible for an essay to make the difference at UNC-Charlotte. There isn’t a lot of holistic review at most NC public universities. With 21,000 applicants for 2,000 seats last year, you can see it’s a numbers game. The two most important numbers for admission are GPA and Test Scores.

Now, in this year of optional test scores for some schools (is it optional for Charlotte?), you may want to consider how important it is to include your score. If you look at page 10 of that link above, you’ll see that the vast majority of accepted applicants to UNC-Charlotte scored at least 18 on the ACT. Your score is in range according to that.

Also on page 10 is the average GPA. For 2019-20, the vast majority of students (88%+) had a GPA no lower than 3.5. Assuming the 3.4 you mentioned is your unweighted GPA, I’d say you have a middling chance at being accepted. If that 3.4 is your weighed GPA and your UW GPA is lower, your odds of being offered admission will be lower.

With your stats, I would definitely be sure to keep UNCG and ECU in mind as possible destinations. UNC Charlotte is not a guaranteed acceptance for you. Possible, but not extremely likely.

Good luck!

PS - FWIW, UNC lists “Application Essay” as Very Important.

My daughter last year had a 3.98 GPA a 20 ACT and a 1060 SAT score she was accepted to UNCC. She chose to go to UNCW instead and is now re-applying to UNCC for spring 2021 semester so the wait is on again for a decision. Good luck!