That’s not consistent with the admissions information published in the Carolina alumni review, which indicates a roughly 40% admit rate for legacy students, at least as of several years ago. I know at our OOS school almost nobody gets into UNC unless they are a legacy, and while smart typically they are not in the top 10% of the class. The top 10% who apply without a legacy connection are almost always waitlisted. Occasionally we will have an exception, but they are typically Morehead finalists or winners (we have had a couple of Morehead recipients).
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Are you saying what UNC posted on their own website is inaccurate/misleading?
Here’s a 2019 article saying that UNC only considers legacy for OOS students which is consistent with their website quoted above.
To the extent that legacy admissions also play poorly, UNC’s situation is different. The university considers alumni status only for out-of-state students. So for most of those admitted, legacy plays no role. Of the 4,300 freshmen this fall, only 120 were out-of-state legacies.
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Yep. Legacy is only considered for out-of-state students, but legacy admit rate hovers around 40%. Here’s an article from the student newspaper discussing it. They also provide the statistics in graph form in the Carolina alumni subscription only publication. https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2019/02/legacies-in-admissions-0218
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Got it. And yes, not sure data for HS Class of 2018 is relevant 5 years later. But, as long as UNC isn’t transparent with the data we can’t know the deal.
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Agree that it is slightly out of date, but they used to put that 40% acceptance rate in the alumni letter as of several years ago. This is directly from the UNC alumni website (even more out of date). It states that children of out-of-state alumni are considered along with North Carolina residents for admission. In-state alumni are given a preference if borderline. Straight from the horses mouth🙂
https://alumni.unc.edu/news/undergraduate-admissions-myths-and-realities/
All of this jives with the experience I have observed in admissions over the last five years. Legacy kids get a big boost.
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Current UNC website > UNC alum website article from 1986.
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We are in state and got the same letter. Daughter withdrew app after before EA results since she got in her first choice elsewhere.
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I suspect this 40% acceptance rate has changed recently. My oos daughter applied last year. We got the letter from UNC, and it said 40% (she got in but decided to go to Clemson instead). Our son is applying this year RD. We got this letter last week and the 40% figure is no longer in the letter. I suspect that that is because it is no longer 40%. Also, I suspect the affirmative action lawsuit against UNC for favoring alumni in admissions has had an effect in the last year or two, so I would suspect that it is now harder to get in oos as a legacy than it was a couple of years ago.
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Interesting. We have not seen that reflected in admissions at our school this year. At least 2 legacies got in. Not admitted to Georgia Tech in state. Last year non legacy valedictorian was rejected from UNC (ended up at Princeton). Seems to make a big difference at our school.
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Yeah, I hear Georgia Tech is crazy this year. We also live in Georgia. My son (who didn’t apply to GT) has several friends who got in ED, but I just heard about a lot of great students at other schools who are wait-listed.
That is encouraging about what you say about UNC legacies this year. I still doubt my son will get in (record not as strong as his sister’s) but maybe he has more of a shot than I thought.
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Thank you!
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I think UNC OOS admissions is a mystery. All UNC admits have high stats but since OOS admits are capped and relatively low compared to other flagship universities it seems OOS UNC admits have very high stats, and often accepted at schools that meet full need. I would think AO are aware OOS students with no connection to UNC might choose the highly ranked private university and it might even be cheaper than OOS at UNC. But, OOS students who are legacy with similar stats might choose UNC because of growing up in a Tarheel family. It is still a complete mystery to me.
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My daughter was OOS. UNC gave her a much, much better FA package than every other meets full need school that she was accepted to.
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Perhaps true, but legacies getting into UNC OOS that don’t get into Georgia Tech in state (and I know of more than a few this year) makes it seem like the admit rate for legacies at UNC is higher than the in-state admit rate for Georgia Tech, which was 30% last year.
I agree that the out-of-state applicant pool at UNC is competitive in general so even with a 40% admit rate it is a tough admit. Similar to Georgia Tech - 30% sounds like a lot but those that apply are self- selecting and realize what it takes to get in so many don’t apply.
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Yes, I agree. I was just wondering if part of the reason the admit rate was higher for legacies OOS vs non legacies OOS was because of a possible higher yield of legacies vs non legacies. If at all UNC is protecting yield but I don’t know if it is.
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That is wonderful! We’ve had 2 OOS children admitted and although their package for UNC was good, other schools were better. Congratulations to your daughter. Did she choose UNC? One of our daughters did but the other did not.
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She already graduated. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the package she received.
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Yes, in state as well. Received the letter in 2019 when son applied EA and again this year when daughter applied. Son was admitted, daughter waitlisted, most likely going to NCSU.
We just got this letter, not alumni. I don’t really understand why they send these.
We also just got this letter. Not alumni. In-State. Applied EA.
Letter starts:
On behalf of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, I write to express our gratitude for (name)'s decision to apply to UNC Chapel Hill. We’re fortunate at Carolina to have the interest of many smart and good-hearted students, and we appreciate the opportunity to get to know (name).
It ends by saying, “Regardless of our eventual admissions decision, we are so grateful that (name) is considering Carolina. If we can help answer any questions about Carolina while (name) is waiting to hear from us, please contact…”
Sounds like a waitlist letter to me…