<p>I heard this rather surprising, true story from a friend (a parent) a couple of days ago. To make this easier to explain, I'll call the parent's child "Fred".</p>
<p>Fred lives in Pennsylvania. He has SAT scores of 540 / 560 and a 3.5 GPA (unweighted). Fred has already been accepted to several colleges, but a couple of days ago, Fred announces that he wished that he had applied to apply to NC State. The deadline for NC was February 1, and it's now March 11. </p>
<p>So what does Fred's parent do? Fred's parent calls NC State Admissions and asks if there is any point in having Fred apply. Admissions officer asks "what are Fred's SAT scores and GPA?" Fred's parent replies 540 / 560 and 3.5. Admissions officer replies that as long as Fred is not applying to the College of Design, Fred stands an excellent chance of getting in, and that he should apply, even though it's well past the deadline. </p>
<p>According the NC State website, the Feb 1 deadline is not an absolute "hard" deadline (not their words, but that's the jist of it). But to give such encouraging words in the case of an out-of-state student who has good but not outstanding scores and who wants to apply well past the deadline is surprising. </p>
<p>Maybe NC State is a bit short of applicants this year, or maybe they figure there's no downside to getting more applications. But I figured this was worth passing on, as it adds some encouragement to the chances for marginal applicants.</p>