Does anyone else feel defeated after reading some of the crazy high stats of EA people who were rejected OOS? Of course, I knew OOS was going to be competitive but JESUS! I’m way below and those people WERE REJECTED!!
I feel like I should just come to terms with my fate but I can’t because I don’t want to admit it to myself. Anyone have any hard truth (or advice) to give?
I feel a bit scared…my stats are way below also.
Don’t feel defeated. You already know the 18% OOS admissions policy so you give it a shot and wait to see how it plays out. You can’t let it get to you. Good luck on all of your apps.
Yeah there’s a huge intellectual gap between in state and out of state at unc because of the 18% limit a person was accepted princeton but rejected from unc. I got into unc oos wit a 34 act and 3.99/4.0 gpa with 10 aps but most likely won’t go unless I get a full ride like Robertson
OP, don’t feel defeated. I’m OOS with a 32 ACT, and got in. Honestly you don’t need a 35+ or anything, as long as you wrote great essays and showed how you’d fit in at UNC I think you’ll be fine. Either way it’s already submitted and you can’t change anything, so just relax and let it play out. Hoping the best for you
I am the parent of an OOS student and I feel the need to comment on the “huge intellectual gap between instate and out of state” students so that others understand.
- While it is true that the OOS students are very strong, not everybody has a 34+. Some OOS students do have “lower” test scores.
- There are instate students who are academically similar to those who are from OOS ( the top 10-12% of instate students would probably fit in this category). This year’s first year class has a mid ACT of 28-33.
- UNC is a state school, and being a state school you will see a range of students. You will see more OOS students with high stats at Michigan because they don’t have the OOS cap that UNC has.
- When I asked my daughter about the “huge intellectual gap” I got several moments of silence, followed by “wow you sound like such an elitist.”
- My daughter’s friends from instate include a full merit scholarship recipient, a boy who raised over $100,000 for his organization, and another girl who started and completed a sustainability project in HS.
- I asked my daughter, who is doing very well, about the academics. She told me that she has the perfect balance. She finds the classes challenging enough without stressing her out all the time ( she does, however, get stressed), she is able to do well, and she has the time ( although she is busy 24/7) to take advantage of everything that the school has to offer ( research, etc). When I asked her about the classroom discussions that take place, she told me that she was very happy with the quality of the discussions. She does not find an “intellectual gap” in her classes.
- She came from a homogeneous community and what she loves about UNC are the differences that her peers bring to the campus.
On average the out of state population at unc is higher achieving than the overall in state population since they need to have higher stats and a great application to get in and usually oos ppl who get in get into ivy leagues too. There are in state ppl who get in with 27 act but out of state ppl rejected with 35 act so there is an obvious difference.
Nobody is disputing that you need high stats to get in from OOS. Nobody is disputing that if the 25% is a 28, you will find students with a 27. We have a student in our HS who got into Rice with a 24. What I am saying is that there are more than enough students at UNC who are similar to my daughter, both in state and out of state, to make her feel like she is in a good place academically.
Have to agree with twogirls here. Stating there is a huge intellectual gap between instate and OOS is very misleading. Number 1, test scores do not determine intelligence or define the people at any school. Number 2, there are more “high achieving” students from instate than OOS just by the numbers. The top 25% of instate will have similar statistics as the 18% OOS. While it is true that it is very tough to get in OOS, it is not all about stats and there are quite a few OOS acceptances that do not get into Ivy’s or have 35 ACTs. There are also instate students who take UNC for granted and don’t submit good applications or are not well rounded who don’t get in with 34+ ACTs. Finally, every state school, whether UNC, UMich, UC’s, UVA, have many students who got into Ivy’s or other top privates, but choose not to go because of the extra $200K tuition over four years compared to instate. People from NC, MI and VA are very fortunate to have such good public universities for such reasonable prices.
So, for any OOS, write a good application, be yourself and even if scores are not 35’s, you have a shot. Was not a fan of holistic review of applications in my younger days, but as I grow older see that sometimes the best and/or most successful people are not defined by test scores.
@jdogNC is right… and…to say that there is a huge intellectual gap is, quite frankly, insulting to all of the students.
One of my daughter’s instate friends at UNC has a sibling who recently graduated from the school. The sibling was accepted and received three full rides to phd programs that she applied to.
Perhaps what @Eeeee127 meant to say was “score gap” or “stats gap”, not intellectual gap?
OP: reading this wondering if you are panicking OOS with a 32? Lol! Look, if your score is 32ish, it won’t be the score that gets you in or out. It’s like the ante in poker is all. If it is under 30, unless you have some amazing thing on your app, the hard truth OOS is likely a no. But they do love to surprise us, right? My S was WL with a 34/4.0. So a higher score isn’t everything:)
UNC OOS admission rate is at low-mid teens, could well be 13% or so for the current cycle. In some ways, UNC is using the OOS stats to push up the overall stats on scores, GPAs, class ranks etc. Obviously, there are some IS kids with amazing scores, amazing stats, but I am talking about the average between the two cohorts IS vs OOS. I’d bet an easy 150 (out of 1600) SAT pts difference. I have parents telling me they want their kid applies to UNC because of the 29% acceptance rate. Gee… most parents have no clue how difficult for kids OOS. Kids with really strong stats to be shoo-in for UNC are likely to get into one of these (Vandy, WashU, Emory or Duke)… then will UNC reject them because it knows such kids will go elsewhere? So there is a catch-22 game going on. UNC wants high stats to push up the score percentile… but could reject a 1560 kid because it thinks the kid will certain get acceptance elsewhere and not attending UNC. JMHO
UNC receives about 25,000 OOS apps and about 10,000 instate apps, yet they must adhere to the 82% law. That’s tough.
An OOS student at UNC will likely have an easier time " standing out" than if that same student attended Duke or Vanderbilt. That may or may not be important- it depends on the student.
Don’t really think UNC uses the OOS people to push up scores like some universities do. It is a small enough school with a large enough highly qualified instate population to where it doesn’t need to boost its reputation for high scores by using OOS students. UNC can use the OOS students to round out the class and provide more diversity and choose students who they think will fit in. Same with UVA given the size. The OOS population on SAT/ACT scores will be better than the lower half of in-state, but with just 750 OOS student (18% of 4,200), it just won’t make much difference. With GPA’s it won’t make a difference at all. Every NC school will have people with almost straight A’s.
Definitely college admissions is a game. Kids applying to 10-20 schools and feeling they have to apply to certain privates and the top 5 publics no matter what is pretty insane. I would argue (no basis other than my own experience) that out of the 25,000 OOS applications, less than 5,000 would seriously consider spending the OOS money to go if they get in compared to their own in-state school. Some of these schools sound great until you do the math and the very good publics offer very little merit aid. You see quite a few on CC saying “No merit aid, guess I am not going to UNC”.
@jdogNC Exactly! The yield for OOS students accepted to UNC is quite low compared to IS students (according to admissions) and they know that so they actually accept a higher number knowing that many will go elsewhere. When you are considering $50k OOS COA for UNC and $65k for strong privates (including those with generous merit and direct admit to certain programs) or IS COA at your own flagship, it’s not a slam dunk decision like it is for NC applicants.
UNC gives excellent FA to OOS students, sometimes even topping the aid given at private schools. Additionally, while NC is blessed with amazing public universities, the same can’t be said for all. Our state has good instate options, but nothing like what UNC offers- not even close.
In our case UNC came in with a much better price than the private schools my daughter was accepted to. Every family will have a different experience.
Yes i mean score gap sorry it’s actually easier for oos ppl to get into umich than unc even though umich is overall considered more prestigious than unc average the students at umich have higher gpas and test scores than the students at unc
@twogirls I was referring to merit aid, not need-based aid. Yes, I agree that UNC is very generous with need-based aid and particularly for IS. It’s nice to hear that their need-based aid for OOS students is generous too. Not many public universities have that ability.
That’s ok- apology accepted. I do agree with you that Michigan is ranked higher despite being " easier" to get into from OOS - due to the NC caps. At the same time one can’t get wrapped up in the difference between the rankings- it’s not like you are comparing #4 to #200. At some point you need to focus on other things… namely fit, cost, programs, etc. In my opinion if a student lives in NC, Va, Michigan etc … it would take a lot to convince me that it is worth it to leave.
Merit aid is very hard to get as an OOS student.