Hey! I have kind of an interesting story. For my freshman and sophomore years, I attended a performing arts high school in North Carolina. After that, I decided to homeschool for a multitude of reasons, and it ended up being a very positive thing for my education! It also gives me a very strong topic for my essay lol. Having known all of this, I have a couple of questions. I would like to know my chances of getting into UNC Chapel Hill, and UNC Charlotte. I am also considering NC State, and a private university that I have not decided on yet. (Suggestions welcome ) I am interested in majoring in Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Acoustics, or Engineering Physics. What are some things I should look into? I am definitely open to applying early action, however, I would like to stay away from binding, early decision applications. Here are my stats…
-State: North Carolina
-UW GPA: 3.58
-W GPA: 4.41
-SAT (new): 1260
-SAT math: 660
-SAT reading: 600
-ACT comp: 28
-ACT English: 32
-ACT math: 27
-ACT science: 28
-ACT reading: 26
-ACT writing: 8
-Almost every class I have taken has been Honors or AP (Obviously you can’t take APs as a homeschool student, so there haven’t been too many of those, due to what is offered)
-I have taken a foreign language my first three years of high school, and intend on taking another this year.
-I had enough credits to graduate halfway through my junior year
-I have over 10 extracurriculars, many of which are a continuation of all 4 years of high school
-I am a part of a student core leadership team
-I have 4 first place awards at the North Carolina Fine Arts Festival
-I have 2 first place awards at the National Fine Arts Festival
-I have multiple superior ratings and multiple Top 10 and Top 3 awards at both the North Carolina and National Fine Arts Festivals
-I have received an Award regarding leaderships skills from the city in which I live
-I have won an international essay contest
-I have over a years work experience at Panera
I’m sure there is some stuff that I have forgotten to put in, but this should give a good feel as to who I am. I have been working extensively on essays over the past few weeks, including working with multiple mentors to assist in them being as powerful as possible. Beyond admissions chances, do I have an shot at any worthwhile scholarships? Also, as mentioned earlier, I am open to suggestions for private colleges, anywhere fro DC to Florida. Thank you guys so much for your time!
One more thing, I am ranked first in my high school class, and am considered valedictorian.
Some of the private collges I have considered are Elon, Duke (Although I realize there’s an extremely low chance of that happening), William and Mary, and American University. Thoughts on those would be appreciated also! 
@startearly Is there any advantage in submitting SAT over ACT? I would rather look at getting the ACT score up, since I do have a couple of good sub scores already in my ACT scores. Just after some quick looks at Chapel Hill Bell charts, I looks like I am already within average of ACT scores. Would it make more sense to retake the ACT over the SAT? Also, is there anything else you would recommend for me before I submit my application to Chapel? Thanks!
But you only submit one test score…
@startearly Unless I have done the common app completely wrong… you’re only required to submit one test score, and doesn’t help your application to submit both…
@startearly, please be careful about stating things as facts: it is simply not true that you have to have both an SAT and ACT score to “get into a major college”.
@Jjlghv73, fyi some colleges do require you to submit all your test scores (they will specify that on their application).
I am sure that there is a way to be ranked first in your class and be ‘valedictorian’ as a home-schooler, but you would have to explain it & I doubt that it will help. Also, you can indeed take APs as a home-schooler- I know many who have.
NC State is a great option for your intended majors- arguably better than UNC-CH. The physics and engineering groups are doing really exciting research and they are a very supportive bunch. Their resources are super. And, being in-state, with stats that are exactly in line with middle 50% it should be an affordable match for you. UNC-CH is not unrealistic, though a little more of a stretch, but I would not put money on Duke. Elon won’t have the physics/engineering options you are looking at. W&M is an OOS public university, which will be expensive and, like Duke, not one that I would bet on for you admissions-wise. AU cares more about HS rigor & GPA than test scores, and your GPA is in their middle 50%, so plausible from an admissions perspective, but they are not generous with financial aid and you would be unlikely to get meaningful merit money.
@collegemom3717 Thank you so much for your time and input. Just to help clarify the home-schooling bits, I am a part of a nationwide curriculum that restricts the classes offered to you. Therefore, I did not have AP available to me my junior and senior year. Regarding the valedictorian aspect, I am not in a class of 1. It is a small class, yes, however, there are students in my curriculum that are currently attending various colleges on specific Val. scholarships. Hope that helps straighten out that bit. Also, yes I realize that some colleges require both test scores, however not a single one mentioned above does.
Just a couple of other things that maybe you can help me sort through. Elon University has a program called the “dual-degree” engineering program, which I understand is a somewhat common thing, in which the university works with considerably more prestigious universities to get the student two degrees in 5 years, on a 3-2 basis. I have looked into the possibility of getting my first degree as a physics degree from Elon, and an engineering degree at a school such as Columbia or Washington in St. Louis. I have been assured that theres a 100% acceptance into any of the listed partner schools (both of the above mentioned are, and yes it seems too good to be true, but it is) as long as I can get at least like a 3.2 at my time at Elon. Wouldn’t this seem like the smarter option? The only reason AU is on the list is because it is the only college I have found to have exactly the program that I am looking for, which is why I am looking for physics and engineering schools. What can I do to maximize my application to Chapel Hill, besides retaking the ACT? I have decided to also apply to State, however I would much rather go to Chapel Hill, for other reasons than my major.
Thanks for the clarifications, @Jjlghv73.
You have probably noticed that the first thing that long-time posters on CC focus on is money. You mention “worthwhile scholarships” so I’m guessing money is at least something of a concern. Do the NPC for AU and see if your parents can afford the EFC (do it for Elon and any other privates / OOS publics as well).
I am familiar with 3+2 at several LACs. It’s not about pairing with ‘considerably more prestigious universities’, it s about competitive LACs that don’t offer engineering. WashU, Columbia, Dartmouth and CalTech are frequently on the list of partners, but so are Ga, Tech, Penn State & RPI, which are great engineering schools, but probably not what you consider prestigious.
Be careful with the 100% acceptance rate assurances: irl it means that they won’t put you forward unless you meet the other unis requirements. For example take a look at what Columbia says is required for ‘guaranteed’ admission: https://undergrad.admissions.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/2016-17_combined_plan_curriculum_guide.pdf
Note that whatever financial arrangements you have at Elon won’t carry over to Columbia or Wash U, so be sure to do the math on what the cost of 2 years at Columbia or Wash U would be.
My assumption (and apologies if it is mistaken) is that CH > State is a prestige thing. Really, other than getting your ACT up and refining your essays there isn’t much more you can do at this stage.
@collegemom3717 Thank you again for all your help!
Update: I currently have applications in at UNC (With Robertson), NC State (With Park), Charlotte, Liberty, WUSTL, Southeastern, and Wingate (Have been accepted with Full Tuition Scholarship)