Bio:
- Citizenship: US, Egypt
- State of residence: Ohio
- Class: 2018
- Race: White (Middle Eastern)
- Gender: Male
- Intended Major: Biology (pre-med)
School:
- Private school (around 200 kids total, 57 in my grade)
- Graduates (How many go to Ivies): 3 per year, 5 last year (there’s normally only around 30 students in a graduating class)
- APs Offered: 11, 3 of them fine arts (3 APs per year maximum)
- Only 5 classes per semester, including free period 90% of students take
Academic Profile:
- Unweighted GPA: 3.90 (calculated this myself, school doesn’t send unweighted)
- Weighted GPA: 4.10
- SAT: 1500 (730 rw, 770 m)
- AP Scores: Biology (4), Psychology (5)
- Rank: school does not report class rank
Senior Year Courses (APs):
- AP Calculus AB (school doesn’t offer BC)
- AP Chemistry
- AP United States History
EC (I have more, this is more quality over quantity):
- Varsity Tennis Team co-captain
- Science Olympiad co-president
- 45+ hours volunteering at local university hospital
- 30+ hours fundraising/volunteering for local mosque
- 75+ hours of shadowing at a local hospital
- Math Club
Honors:
- Academic Honor Roll
- National Society of High School Scholars (school isn’t a member of NHS)
- National Spanish Exam Medal Winner (Gold last year, Silver this year)
Thanks!
For OOS applicants, it’s hard to consider anyone a “match” for UNC-CH. Generally, the chances for any OOS applicant to UNC-CH are somewhat problematic due to the highly competitive nature of OOS applications there: UNC-CH admits OOS applicants in numbers that are calculated not to exceed 18% of an entering freshman class. See “Undergraduate Admissions” on Page 2, here: http://www.admissions.unc.edu/files/2013/09/Admissions__Policy.pdf. As a further example of the difficulty for OOS students to be admitted to UNC-CH, the entering Class of 2020 had a 15% acceptance rate for OOS applicants: http://admissions.unc.edu/apply/class-profile-2/.
So I wouldn’t think in terms of “match” or “reach”; rather, whether you might be competitive for admission among the likely pool of OOS applicants. Your GPA is a bit low, but it may not be a dealbreaker. If you look at the UNC-CH Common Data Set, under Part C7 it states that standardized test scores, application essay(s), letter(s) of recommendation, and the 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.
At this point I would work on making sure that your essays and LORs are top-notch (as they are “very important” academic factors). I would also consider elaborating on your leadership abilities and examples of leadership in your ECs, which relate to the “very important” non-academic factors of character/personal qualities, as part of your overall application.
I don’t know whether your high school has Naviance or any similar program that gives information about how students at your high school have done in applying to colleges and universities; if so, you might look over that data. I would try to meet with a guidance counselor at your school early this semester to discuss application strategies for UNC-CH; if any former students from your school have been admitted to UNC-CH recently, the guidance counselor may be able to give some insight into how and why such student(s) were successful. Since the EA application deadline is October 15, the sooner the better.
It’s a reach because you’re OOS (unless you’re a legacy).
Why UNC-CH rather than TOSU as a premed though?