Out of stater wants UNC Chapel Hill. From Philly area.

Father here.

OK, we know that they only accept 18% of all students from out of state.

One of my kids wants to major in physical therapy at UNC. She is only a sophomore, but she knows what she wants.

With the 18% in mind, this is what she brings to the table:

  1. Will have taken 8 AP classes by graduation
  2. The rest are honors classes, basically
  3. Currently ranked 14th in her grade - 4.6 weighted scale ( about 475 kids in her grade ) Has never had a "B" in anything.
  4. Medical Sciences Club, Rotary Club, and helps with things like organizing charity dances at school
  5. Played 3 years of club volley ball, but gave it up when she stopped growing at 5' 2"... plays for fun now
  6. Already has several teachers who have said they will write letters for her
  7. National Honor Society in 10th grade.

With the 18% being what it is, what else might she need to get accepted?

Forget this reply… I found the edit button above,

It sounds like she is a very good student. I’d encourage her to stay focused on her studies and extracurriculars, and continue to do what she loves doing outside of school. There are also many other great PT programs around the country.

Unfortunately the “18%” is the percentage of the total student population from out of state/international. The “acceptance rate” for out of state students is about 15% and that includes athletes (there are many out of state athletes considering that all teams are D1) and legacies. So the actual acceptance rate for “unhooked” OOS students is less than 15%. Closer to Ivy acceptance rates. UNC is one of the few public universities that give a strong “nod” to legacies. The acceptance rate for OOS legacy students with strong academic profiles is around 49%. It’s not impossible for your daughter, but any time you are applying to a highly selective (top 25-ish) school, it’s a long shot. Please don’t think there is anything she can add, improve, enhance, etc. to make her odds better. Find some other schools that she loves just as much because there other great options.

She is going to need high standardized test scores, for one; really good essays and letters of recommendation, for another; and leadership roles in organizations for which she has demonstrated passion and commitment.

If you look at the UNC-CH common data set, under Part C7 it states that standardized test scores, application essay, letter(s) of recommendation, and 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. Part C9 of the common data set gives the median 50% ACT and SAT scores, along with other information related to the ACT/SAT scores of freshman students.

By way of comparison, our OOS high school usually has 8-10 students who apply and 1-2 students who are admitted each year to UNC-CH; and, with the exception of legacy students, our admitted students have SAT scores of 1350+, ACT scores of 34+, and weighted GPAs of 4.5+. Other kids in our city who I know were admitted to UNC-CH recently have also had similar statistics; and all of these kids were “unhooked” in admissions parlance (i.e., not a recruited D-1 athlete, or URM, first-generation college student, etc.).

Regarding the ACT/SAT, perhaps your daughter could take some good test preparations courses next year; but it’s nothing to lose your mind over. Also, this past year the OOS tariff for UNC-CH, without any aid (which is very hard to get from the school) was around $45K; so if money is going to be an issue, there may be less expensive options closer to home.

Having mentioned all of this, I agree with @snorkelmom that your daughter should keep doing what she loves outside of school; she shouldn’t try to become a different person than she is simply in order to get accepted to UNC-CH.

Thanks to both of you.

One thing we have going for us is that we have a company that will offer us unlimited ACT / SAT practice testing as part of what they do for us. They start this summer with that, And they have classes in how to write essays as part of the service, as well.

I think that they weigh essays heavily too. I know someone with very high stats (4.7 or so gpa, over 2,000 sat, 11 ap classes, great ECs) and she got rejected. I think it’ll be very hard for anyone to accurately chance your daughter because of their admissions process and she doesn’t have test scores. She has a chance, but she is only a sophomore and it’s a reach no matter what.

I was accepted out of state from Michigan with a 3.99 uw gpa 34 ACT and 10 total APs my short answers were also good I did not get into honors Carolina though. To be competitive as out of state have her aim for a 3.9+ gpa preferably 4.0 and 34,+ act with amazing essays then she will have a chance.

@AbsDad We are IS and my son was not interested in applying to UNC-CH (although he did) because he didn’t want to stay IS. After hearing many wonderful things on CC about Pitt, we decided to take a tour and did the info session since we were already next door at CMU. If your daughter loves UNC-CH, she may very well find Pitt is a good option for her. I believe they also have a strong PT program. Pitt offers high stat kids merit aid. It’s a very good in-state option (assuming near philly means you are in PA).

@AbsDad, this isn’t necessarily directly related to admission at UNC, but make sure she studies over the summer for the PSAT. The prep is basically the same as it is for the SAT. Getting National Merit Semifinalist/Finalist could help her get in UNC, and will open lots of doors for scholarship money at schools that offer it for NMS/F.

Pitt is a great school ( one of my favorites) and does give very generous merit aid, but the kid needs to be ok with an urban campus.

Pitt is known for their health professions so that’s a great option and they gave a guaranteed physical therapy program! Pitt would be a much better value than unc out of state

Maybe I’m missing something…but I don’t think UNC-CH has a direct admit physical ,therapy program. Their DPT program is a doctoral program done after the bachelors degree is received.

If your daughter goes to UNC-CH for undergrad, she will need to apply to their DPT program…with no guarantee of acceptance.

@carolinamom2boys am I correct about this?

@thumper1 You are correct . If it is not a direct entry program she will have to apply to the DPT program along with other applicants. IMO , if one is confident in their decision to major In PT , a direct admit program is a better choice . If they are not sure, I wouldn’t necessarily go the direct route. PT has gotten extremely competitive , especially now that it requires a doctorate to practice. I don’t know if UNC- Chapel Hill gives preference to UNC undergrads or not. That would be a good question for the PT department .