<p>Grades just weren't there Freshman and Sophomore year..all A's at a fairly rigorous private school the past two years, but I don't know if the upward trend is enough. 1480/2260 SAT, but I've been told that will just make them think I'm lazy..which i guess is true enough. Anyone with a similar problem that has input or results?</p>
<p>This is my first post after sifting through this god-awful website in my high school years. From the mouth of an admissions officers I know personally, the main thing that firstly matters is the number of applicants from your school itself. I worked at the undergrad admissions office briefly as an intern (copy/stapling, etc) and I had lengthy discussions with numerous adcom members. I can tell you there are quotas for each specific region/county/etc. and the acceptance rate drops significantly after EA (obviously) but even more so with each additional person applying to CHill. I got in EA with a 2220/1450 and I had decent stats/fairly consistent. Freshmen grades matter more than people care to admit. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news in that regard. Unless you have amazing ECs/very good course rigor (which I am assuming you do given by the private school remark) then it will be more difficult for you as a potential admitted ONLY on a high SAT score. Yes, it is a large public uni but at the same time CHill routinely rejects 1400+s. I was on the Mecklenburg system around Charlotte and I know at least 6 people with above a 1350 who were declined Regular decision. It’s a bit different with EA (the quality they want REALLY goes down). Anyways, hope that was helpful- I’m open to questions.</p>
<p>You obviously have great potential based on those SAT scores. Don’t let guys like Tellum91 discourage you. You have great potential and can go very far in this world. I know a guy who had a 3.2 and a 2120 who got into the honors college. Don’t stress too much.</p>
<p>I’m not discouraging him, I’m trying to be insightful and tell him what the reality is.</p>
<p>@ Tellum91: I understand you are trying to help, but negativity only induces stress.</p>
<p>This is why I hate this website. I offer help, and I am immediately shot down for “inducing stress.”</p>
<p>Look, “camuscrazies,” I think you’ll likely be fine with a solid course rigor/good private school record. Worse-case is that you go to a backup, and I am SURE a 2260 is very welcomed at whichever backup you chose (WORSE CASE SCENARIO). So, try not to be too stressed.</p>
<p>All, this is Stephen Farmer, the admissions director at Carolina. While I mean no disrespect to the earlier poster who cited quotas by region and county, the claim there is simply incorrect. We don’t have any quotas – neither explicit nor implicit; neither general nor specific – by region, county, type of high school, or high school. We just don’t.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone with final decisions. We’re grateful for your interest in UNC and wish you all the best.</p>
<p>I believe Mr. Farmer as what he says applies to my son (who was accepted EA and is attending) and his school. He has taken Honors, AP, IB and dual enrollment courses since 9th grade. However, his 9th and 10th grade scores (though As and Bs) ‘weren’t there’ either and his SAT scores were lower yours.</p>
<p>However, ever since his principal gave him a severe lecture after 10th (since he wouldn’t listen to me), he’s been taking the same class schedule and outscoring the probable valedictorian (VA resident who’s in the final round for UVA Jefferson Scholarship). My son addressed his 9th/10th grade issue in his long essay as did the principal and guidance counselor in their letters of recommendation.</p>
<p>As for the limits per school or county, I don’t believe that either. We’re in-state though my son attends an OOS private IB World School (35 minute daily drive). Out of his class of 31 seniors, all the NC seniors applied (4 EA guys, 1 RD guy) but no OOS applied. All 4 who applied EA were accepted; 3 from our rural county, 1 from a neighboring rural county. We don’t know about the RD student yet.</p>
<p>From the many threads I have read, I strongly feel that his essays and the 4 recommendation letters mailed by the guidance department made all the difference. Somebody HAD to have read those since he probably would not have been accepted on stats alone though his ECs were good.</p>
<p>However, I have told my son’s local public school friends who were not accepted to Carolina to not stress, do really well at another NC school and transfer later if that’s where they truly want to go. For the job market, it’s the college GPA and name on the BS/BA diploma that matters (plus of course, summer internships these days).</p>
<p>While I am open to criticism, I recommend skepticism in regard to the actual identity of some of these people. It seems slightly unusual to me for the head of admissions at a large, prestigious state school comment on a CC thread (also observing he has 10 posts total). Bottom line, UNC can claim they do not have quotas, but just look at the distribution amongst separate states and North Carolina counties even more so. Whether these quotas are in fact “implicit” I think is irrelevant to the reality. They exist. Look at the student distribution THEN tell me there are no quotas.</p>
<p>Isn’t it a conflict of interest for a head of admissions to use a third-party blog regarding the school itself?</p>
<p>I believed the admissions officers who told us there were NO county or school quotas- only that 82% of students must come from in-state. From my school, there were 9 students who applied ED to UNC. 7 were accepted, 2 were deferred. There have been years that no one, or only 2-3 of those who applied were accepted. That doesn’t sound like much of a quota to me. For every negative story you hear, there will be several positive ones. Don’t listen to everything- you’ll only get discouraged. Good luck! Tomorrow’s the day.</p>
<p>Nick, you’re challenging that post because the author has only 10 posts on CC. Yet it looks like you have 6 posts total. If the Dean has 10…then he has 66% more posts than you. </p>
<p>And seriously, yes, adcom members DO look here. I have a family member whoworked at a super selective college (less than a 15% admit rate) and they would pop over to forums like these from time to time, esp if there was a controversy on campus and wanted to see what the perception was for prospectives. So, be careful because you seriously do NOT know who might be on here. </p>
<p>Plus, some schools actually have admissions folks who pop on these boards regularly to answer questions about the admissions process and their school.</p>
<p>And, probably because my family member worked at a similar school, I DO believe what he said. I’ve heard my family member swear to it for years, but no one ever believes it because it’s easier to latch on to some half-truth that might explain something that you’ll never be able to understand because you didn’t read the ENTIRE folder and you weren’t there when the decision was discussed and finalized.</p>
<p>Admissions people routinely comment on CC. Just check out other schools … William and Mary is a great example. Happens all the time. I would not be skeptical at all!</p>
<p>And if you’ve ever read any of Mr. Farmer’s letters or his posts on UNC’s website, you’d know he has a distinctive way of describing situations which is quite similar to his post here on CC.</p>
<p>I recently attended a admissions talk at my S’s school. A UNC admissions officer was one of the featured speakers (not Stephen Farmer). She told us the exact same thing that Mr. Farmer mentioned above about quotas…They don’t exist.</p>
<p>I appreciate when admissions representatives post on CC. It helps correct the amazing amount of incorrect information that is constantly being spread around. My currrent UNC freshman also applied to UVa last year. An admissions’ dean from UVa, Dean J, posts on the UVa forum all the time. She’s wonderful and I found her posts very helpful last year. </p>
<p>I applaud Mr. Farmer for taking the time to give us the correct information.</p>
<p>What I have seen, is that Mr. Farmer posts if he feels there is inaccurate information, or the need to clarify, and once even apologize, from something regarding admissions. I think it’s great that he takes the time to contribute and help keep inaccurate information to a minimum. There is no conflict of interest that I can see in any way.</p>
<p>I want to thank all of you for your immense help and I can’t stress the value of everyone of you. Stephen Farmer is quite literally the most patriotic man I have ever heard of. I think he serves as an exemplar to you, me, and everyone. After carefully reviewing his scriptures, I think we can all learn a lesson and conclude that this is the real guy. I want to especially thank allgood2011 for his complex mathematical abilities, citing that Mr. farmer has 66% more posts than I do. I think we can all learn many a lesson from your skills. My past belief was that the only thing that mattered was the SAT, but after reading these comments, I can luxuriously tell you that this isn’t the case. My views have literally been uprooted for the best. God Bless All.</p>
<p>I am so glad you have come to an understanding, Tellum. Now you realize the true value of positivity on the world and on this situation. Thanks to all the posters for constructively aiding and enlightening us as to the truth of the admissions process.</p>
<p>God bless us all.</p>