<p>I am a junior from California and UNC is one of my top choices. I haven't taken the SAT's or ACT's yet but I am taking them soon. </p>
<p>-I am in the top 10% of my class
-I am taking or have taken Honors or AP History and English every year
-Cross country and track runner and I am doing it next year too
-Community Service every semester
-Chapter president of my high school's Young Democrats club
-very involved in my temple and social action projects</p>
<p>without my scores, how does this look so far? I know chances of getting in from out of state are very slim, but I really really want to go to UNC!!!!</p>
<p>lc:</p>
<p>Without test scores, it is impossible to tell. But assume you’ll need a 2100+ for OOS.</p>
<p>If you were in state, I’d say this was a decent match. Out of state? You’re going to need to do really well on that SAT.</p>
<p>What is your unweighted GPA?</p>
<p>^The weighted GPA is what UNC looks at.</p>
<p>^ While I am not specifically familiar with UNC’s admissions with respect to GPA, that makes no sense. Weighting systems vary significantly from school to school; to compare them would be meaningless. Are you implying that UNC doesn’t even look at the high-school transcript (which is essentially a delineation of the unweighted GPA)?</p>
<p>They translate the students’ GPAs to North Carolina’s system of weighted GPA, with 4 points for academic classes, 5 for honors, 6 for AP, and then look at that.</p>
<p>Even that makes no sense. Many schools do not offer Honors or AP classes, or they offer them in smaller numbers than is the case at many other high schools.</p>
<p>I mean, no system is perfect? I’m sure they take that into consideration too, considering the counselor form asks about how many AP and honors classes are offered and all.</p>
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<p>But what you described is very and inherently flawed.</p>
<p>I don’t know what to tell you, it’s not like I work in admissions for Carolina. That’s just what I’ve heard about it and it makes sense to me.</p>
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<p>It makes sense to you in that you agree with it or in that you understand it?</p>
<p>I understand it, and I agree with putting all the applicants’ GPAs on a single system, rather than comparing across different weighting systems. I don’t think any of the schools I applied to paid much attention to the unweighted GPA, so I don’t have a problem with this.</p>
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<p>But it’s not only different weighting systems that result in the quantitatively incomparable nature of grades at US high schools; it is the significant variation in the number of AP/Honors courses that are available as well as the grading standards.</p>
<p>Well, do you really think looking at unweighted GPA instead fixes that?</p>
<p>No, the current manner in which students are considered at top private schools fixes that.</p>
<p>Then apply to a top private school and don’t complain about how people are considered elsewhere.</p>
<p>What an absurd response.</p>
<p>Silverturle, you’re being antagonizing to another member who is trying to give you an accurate picture of how UNC analyzes GPA. It’s not Laurie’s fault how UNC runs their admissions program-- ever heard of the phrase “Don’t shoot the messenger?”</p>
<p>Besides- UNC does an EXCELLENT job of putting each student in the context of their high school. This can be done through the weighing of the GPA, but it often also occurs by looking at the school’s demographics (which happens to include number of AP courses offered- so, if you’re school doesn’t offer many, UNC absolutely doesn’t penalize that applicant). I think UNC does a great job of finding a wide variety of students from very different high schools (rural, public, private, magnet, boarding, etc) and giving all of them a fair shot at admission.</p>
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<p>I did not blame her for anything (save for committing the ridiculousness of post #17), nor have I been even remotely antagonistic. I was merely debating the merits of the described system with someone who agreed with it.</p>