So I’m looking to apply to NC Chapel Hill next year (I’m a junior), and I’m out of state. I thought it was pretty easy to get in to but their acceptance rate is 29% which is a lot lower than I thought. For anyone who’s applied or goes there, how hard is it really to get in to? It’s not private so why is the acceptance rate so low? My gpa is about 4.3 weighted but that should go up a bit after this year, I have a decent amount of extracurriculars, and my current ACT is 28 but that’s definetly going to hopefully go up in the next year to the 31-32 range I’m hoping. So what do you really need to get in? Will a high ACT score make up for gpa? I really wanna know what the chances are and is it harder out of state because I’ve read that somewhere.
It’s a public ivy. Out of state will be very hard. If you were in-state you would have a good chance. Check the results threads for EA this year to get a grasp of what is required.
The 29% acceptance rate is really a tale of two sides. For the class of 2019, in-state acceptance rate was 52% and out-of-state was only 19%. Chapel Hill does have a cap on out-of-state enrollment (it’s around 18%) so it’s much more difficult to get in from out-of-state.
They also practice holistic admissions, so they will consider ECs, recommendations, etc. in addition to your stats. However, the average GPA/test scores is generally higher for out-of-state students. Good luck!
It is much harder for OOS students - the 18% cap includes recruited athletes (think how many people that includes!). Plus, for a state uni they are pretty good on finaid for OOS state, so between the name and the finaid they get a lot of very strong applicants. @bksoccer7’s suggestion to check out the UNC-CH threads to get an idea. Btw, if you aren’t obsessed with just CH, Asheville and Wilmington (mountains or beach!) have really come on, and both are great college towns.
We just returned from a tour at Chapel Hill. They say the 18% OOS cap is a bit of an urban legend. They way they explained it is that the NC secondary education system AS A WHOLE needed to serve 82% of in-state kids. So, this would mean UNC is probably somewhat higher than 18% (assuming other in-state school get >82% in-state).
Either way, it’s OOS acceptance rate is low enough where it’s basically a lottery. Also, have you visited? My D thought she would love it, and it ended up low on her list, and will probably not make the cut come next fall. If you HAVE visited, awesome. It’s a great school. Good luck!
OOS acceptance rates range between 16 and 19% depending on the year. That makes it pretty competitive compared to the 52% in state acceptance rate. I do agree with visiting the school. My D visited and fell in love with it almost instantly. She’s currently a first year there and is extremely happy,
UNC-Asheville and UNC-Wilmington are very different in feel and academics than UNC-CH.
Why does it matter if a school is public or private with regard to acceptance rate? UNC-CH is the state flagship school, which means it is competitive. It’s also recognized nationally as a best value - even out of state tuition is much more reasonable than many other schools not of the same caliber. For so many reasons lots of students apply there, and as mentioned, there are limitations on the number of out of state students admitted. Last year just short of 32,000 students applied. 9,500 were admitted, just over 4,000 enrolled. Only 19% of out of state students were admitted. The middle 50% ACT score is 28-33. They don’t break that down by in-state vs. out-of-state, but realistically if less than 20% of out-of-state students are admitted, the numbers are likely higher for that pool. That’s not to say you shouldn’t apply, but it is good you are asking these questions now so you can ensure a good balance of schools based off solid facts.
One thing I will mention – my OOS daughter did get in but there was zero financial aid and it just didn’t feel like the right choice financially…so be sure you can pull off the tuition before you start. 
Last year they took 19% from OOS. You need to keep your GPA and ACT way up there and keep yourself involved, etc.
Applications went up this year by 12%. The energy at that school is not to be believed.
DS got in to UVA and UM- Ross, got wait listed at UNC. (To give you an example of how difficult it is to get in)
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill gets more applications and has a lower admissions rate than the University of Virginia and therefore has to turn down lots of students even though they maybe qualified.
I’m not totally set on going there in fact I wasn’t even considering it but I know someone who goes there from out of state so it got me interested and when I saw its acceptance rates I was pretty surprised. Seeing as everyone is saying OOS is super hard, I’m not so sure about it. I was just curious to find out it’s definitely a bottom of the list option and a bit of a stretch for me personally. Just curious-what makes it so unique? I mean other southern schools are really good too but UNC just seems top of the tier for no reason at all. And frankly it’s not even as popular as some of the other big schools in the south. And anyone who’s visited, is it nice? Like campus, and housing and all? Thanks!
@annamanna OOS % rate is around 16-18%, its extremely hard to get in. The reason why UNC is so popular is because of its academics. Many of its programs are highly ranked. It’s buisness school and medical school are top 20 in the country. Many of its departments (eg math/bio/chem/polisci) rank higher than a lot of private universities such as Emory, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, etc. The other closest school to UNC in terms of academics is Michigan. That’s why is so popular.
@SouthernHope, I thought they claim to meet need for both in and out state students. Of course, by their definition of “meets need”. Did your kid get a lot lower net cost via need based aid at other schools? I always thought that was one of the reasons it is so competitive for OOS students.
UNC does meet need for all students. It is competitive OOS because it gets 25,000 applications compared to 10,000 from in state, and they have to deal with OOS caps.
To give you an indication on how difficult it is to get in from OOS, on the early action thread, students who were accepted to Princeton, Georgetown and Note Dame EA were deferred at UNC. I was fortunate enough to be accepted OOS, and found there financial aid to be very generous.
It is must harder for out of state students. It’s also wildly expensive for out of state.
UNC reported receiving 40,000 applicants by Jan 9 for a freshman class of about 4,000. UNC is popular because of being in research triangle park, students are very happy as shown by 97% retention rate of freshman, great weather and very friendly campus. Research opportunities are abundant. Business school is in the top 10 in the country. Only negative I have heard is for freshman it is sink or swim. Not much support unless you seek it out. Any one else hear this about freshman support?