Hi, I’m Nathan, a Filipino senior currently living in Georgia. I applied to USC-Columbia, Purdue, Georgia, UNC-Chapel Hill, Tulane, Miami (FL), Vanderbilt, Harvard, Brown, and Stanford. At the time I applied, I had gotten a 33 twice on the ACT and currently have a 3.93 GPA, along with multiple extracurriculars and over 75 hours of volunteer work. I also got accepted to South Carolina! Recently though, I was rejected from UNC and UGA, and I’m really confused as to why. I thought those schools would be relatively easier to gain acceptance to compared to the other schools I applied to, and I’m losing confidence in being accepted to the other schools on my list; I feel now as if I’m “punching above my weight” in terms of applying to these schools. I just wanted to ask if there could be any reasons why I was rejected by two schools I thought I fit the requirements for.
About the only thing that can be said with certainty is that there were other applicants they wanted more. I know it’s no help. 
Congrats on your acceptance.
I don’t know why the other colleges didn’t take you. Were you applying for computer science or another highly impacted major? It has been a tough season.
Are you a US citizen, or international student?
UNC is highly competitive for out-of-State applicants. I think it only accepts around 30 percent of its students from out of state, and because it has such a fine reputation, MANY high-stats OOS students apply. The school is supported by the taxpayers of North Carolina, so it makes sense that it would reserve the majority of it’s freshman class to the children of those taxpayers.
Congratulations on your acceptance, and good luck going forward, wherever you land!
Citizen since 2017. And I applied as a biochemistry major…
You are punching above your wait, most of the schools you mentioned are very very competitive and your ACT and GPA well very good , are not very good against the competition you are up against in the schools you applied to. If UNC is your safety school something is wrong. You also do not mention if you applied anywhere Ed or are full pay both of which would have helped your chances rightly or wrongly.
UNC actually only takes approx 18% of it’s students from OOS. It is a very competitive admit, feels more like Duke from that aspect. I would imagine the OOS, RD acceptance rate is below 20% and that applicant pool is a very strong cohort. International makes it even harder (if you are in that category).
You’ll find many high stat kids waitlisted and rejected from the schools on your list. It’s just a capacity issue and they have to make hard decisions.
Congratulations on SC! I hear it’s a fabulous place!!