White, male, from CT, hopes to major in business, bilingual (Slovakian)
Academics:
92 W average
ACT: 32
Courses: Taken as many APs as school offers
AP English: 5
AP Euro: 3
AP US: 4
EC:
Fencing: Div III National champ
Baseball: 4 year player, captain
Cross-Country: 4 year player, captain
Current Affairs club: President
Student Government: School president
Book club
Volunteer work: over 100 hours
newspaper club
stock club
mathletes
Starting chess club (founder)
Work XP:
Interned at wealth management firm over the summer
Reflection:
I think my EC will get me through the door. My grades are subpar for out of state, but hopefully my leadership skills and involvement in school life will shine through. My essays were good, spent a lot of time on them (supplements and common app). Recommendations were written by 2 teachers that know me well, I hope they did a good job.
Question:
Is there an interview aspect to the admission process? IF so, can someone send the details please?
@greenhandbook - AFAIK - UNC-CH does not have interviews as part of their admissions process.
There is no interview to the admissions process. You have very good ECs that show involvement and leadership. UNC does like students who are involved. Hopefully you expanded on your volunteering in your essays.
Does your HS rank? You are right in that your grades and scores, while very good, are on the low side for OOS. That does not mean you won’t get in, but it does mean that the rest of your application must really grab their attention. As I mentioned, UNC is a very active and involved campus and you will need to show them how you will contribute to this. FWIW- you appear to be the kind of student who will be very active on campus, and that is important.
Just remember that there is an 18% OOS cap and the school receives a tremendous number of OOS applications. Good luck!
@greenhandbook UNC-CH does not offer interviews. UNC can only accept 18% of the applicants from OOS for the freshman class. Good luck!
Our OOS high school usually has a couple of students admitted each year to UNC-CH; and, with the exception of legacy students, our admitted students have composite ACT scores of 34+ and weighted GPAs of 4.5+. Other kids in our city who I know were admitted to UNC-CH recently have also had similar statistics. All of these kids were “unhooked” in admissions parlance (i.e., not a recruited D-1 athlete, or URM, first-generation college student, etc.).
If you have looked at the UNC-CH common data set, you will see that under Part C7 it states that standardized test scores, application essay, letter(s) of recommendation, and 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.
While your ACT score is good, I am not sure that it is good enough when compared to the OOS population that you will be competing against; and, as you note, your grades are a little low as well. But your ECs are good, and show lots of leadership ability; and if you have written good essays and have good recommendations, then that should also help you in the admissions process. As @twogirls notes, UNC-CH’s admissions policy limits OOS freshmen to no more than 18% of the incoming freshman class, so competition for the OOS slots is extremely fierce.
If any of your high school sports can translate to potential D-1 participation, then your chances for admission go up.
Our OOS HS typically gets 1 ( maybe 2 if we are lucky) acceptance every 2-3 years. I am a parent of an OOS student with very high HS stats and her guidance counselor did not know if she would get accepted. We are also from the northeast. Agree that if you can participate in D-1 sports then your chance improves.