The State of North Carolina has a very strong commitment to, first and foremost, its own students. It puts a high priority on giving the advantage to incoming freshmen whose families have paid taxes to fund these institutions.
Unc act score and gpa are lower than umich because of its high percentage of in state students. Umich act is 30-34 which is the same as cornell and average gpa is 3.87
There is a limit, they just don’t have it legislated or make it known. CA is the same way. All state schools are making conscious choices of how many OOS they allow which balances whether taxpayers are funding the school or OOS students. NC residents have made it known through its lawmakers, they want UNC-CH to primarily be NC residents. Our state, our rules. If Michigan or California residents get angry enough that their kids can’t get in to their flagship state school because of out of state applicants and want to pay more taxes to fund schools, they will change it. For now, Michigan and CA are choosing the money OOS brings in. NC chooses something different. I know you don’t like it, but is what we NC taxpaying residents want.
Another interesting note is Michigan and NC have pretty much the same population. UMich has 28,000 undergraduates, UNC 18,500. Do the math and probably about the same number of instate students at each. UNC could get bigger, but so far has chosen not to. Part of the charm of UNC-CH is that it is not 25-30K undergraduates, same for UVA. NC State has 25K or so as does other NC state schools.
@jdogNC: I suspect that U of M is using the increased number of OOS students (along with the increased OOS tuition that they pay) to make up for the decreases in state funding to U of M, which is now down to 12% of its budget. So the decision by U of M to open the floodgates, so to speak, to OOS students, results not so much from a desire to have OOS students as some sort of leavening agent among the student population of Michiganders, but rather is driven fundamentally by finances.
Different states, different choices (a/k/a federalism).
Thanks for that info. I personally don’t begrudge NC AT ALL for giving preference to in-state applicants, nor do I think most OOS applicants on this thread do. They may be disappointed if they don’t get in and that it’s harder for them to get in, but I think generally speaking most of us respect NC’s right to make decisions for their state and its students. It obviously is working well for them and they should do what they think is right!
Every state is different. I met a admissions counselor from the SUNY system a few years back who told me they were really trying hard to attract OOS students. Laws, budget and funding aside, some of the differences in who the state schools are admitting might also be a function of their geography. The Northeast is jam packed with schools that attract students from all over the world and this may put pressure on the SUNY’s and Rutgers, UConn, and UMass for example to diversity beyond their state’s borders. The south has a lot of really strong academic and athletic flagships with tremendous school spirit (and having a lot of in state students complements that, perhaps?) that put their in state students first in the admissions process. It’s all fair game and up to the states to decide.
There are so many choices and applicants need to understand the criteria and then just do their best to make the cut. Chances are if you are applying to UNC you are a strong student regardless and if you don’t get in, you will get in somewhere great.
I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting anything while applying and I’ve always been set on applying as a transfer student next year because it’s a lot easier regardless of residency. @brooklynilene
No doubt finances are the main driver for both California and Michigan. The negative to UNC’s policy is less geographic diversity, but there are state schools where a much larger percentage are in state than UNC. I think University of Florida is 95% in state.
@jdogNC UF is 95% total in state in regards to their students, but they do not only accept 5%. They accept just as much out of state as they do in state, it just happens they do not offer many scholarships so the people accepted do not attend, creating the student body being 95% in state.
@JPGator98 Do you think, or have you heard, that UF is trying to increase their out of state percentage?
ETA: Oops, should have posted this question in a UF thread. Apologies.
@STEM2017 Yes, ever since President Fuchs has come he has been trying to diversify the population and expand their number of out of state students, but that does not mean that more scholarships and money will be given out, just more accepted.
@annamanna you are definitely right on that front…many OOS students get in to UNC as transfers. I know one there right now who was outright rejected as a freshman (low score) and then got in no problem as a sophomore. So those of you that have your heart set on UNC and don’t get in the first round, you might have a second chance! And the girl I know is very happy as a transfer. They made it quite easy for her.
Umich doesnt really give scholarships and financial aid to out of students and it’s 50% oos. Most oos students at umich pay the full 60k a year to attend.
For everyone thinking you need a 34 act to be competitive oos, I talked to an admissions counselor at UNC and she told me a 32 would make me oos competitive and, my family gets the Carolina yearly magazine and last year’s middle 50% for act scores oos were 30-33 meaning a 31 is right around average and a 33 is at the 75th percentile
@Eeeee127 Yes, but UMich is viewed as a public ivy and it’s name makes people think it is worth the money to attend. Although UF is a state flagship, it is seen as a normal state school and people believe they can go to their state schools for a lot cheaper for the same result, hence UGA, etc.
@AMK467: Of the OOS students falling in the median 50% of the ACT range, did the AO say how many or what percentage were legacy/URM/recruited D-1 athletes/first-generation college students? Just curious.
University of Texas at Austin has found a different approach… they have several programs that compete directly with the Ivies – Business Honors, Plan 2, Engineering and Comp Science. They accept just 10% out of state. Yet, even with these top-ranked programs, they are not charging egregious out of state tuition and, in fact, have an entire staff on faculty whose job is to guide OOS students to establish residency so they only pay out of state tuition for one year. Somehow they are able to avoid price gauging and still be super-competitive with very selective admissions into those programs. Thankfully, not all selective state schools are following Michigan (and UVA’s) lead.
Umich happens to have the most expensive out of state tuition in the whole country yet plenty of out of state students have already committed and paid their deposit for class of 2021without even waiting for financial aid package and regular decision elite schools to come out in April
@Eeeee127 Because of the name and history, people believe it is worth the out of state tuition, unlike regular stats flagships which people pass up to go for their own.
Not to get too far afield in this UNC EA thread, but the reason some schools (particularly in the Midwest) are admitting more OOS students is that they are receiving fewer IS applications. Rust Belt populations are somewhat stagnant, especially compared to a growing state like NC (which recently passed Michigan in total population).
I live and go to school in NY, but my parents own and pay taxes for a beach house in NC. I contacted admissions to see if I would be considered IS, but they said not unless I go to school in NC. Not sure why this is, for my family pays NC taxes just like all others who are considered IS.