University of North Carolina - Out of State Legacy question

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
1

Our son will be applying to UNC CH out of state. He is a legacy (both mom and dad) went there. How much pull does being a legacy have when applying as an out of state legacy? Is it somewhere in the vast space between in-state and out-of-state? If so, are they treated more like a regular out of state applicant or more like in a regular in state applicant?

2

According to this article: https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2019/02/legacies-in-admissions-0218 In 2018, 48% of in-state legacies, and 40% of OOS legacies were accepted, as opposed to 41% of in-state students, and 16% of OOS students.

So acceptance rates of OOS legacies seem to be a lot closer to that of in-state applicants than to non-legacy OOS applicants.

3

My husband went to medical school at UNC, would my children be considered legacies?

4

Yes, I’m almost certain of that.

5

Yes, you are considered a legacy if a parent went to UNC only for Grad school

6

We toured last fall and in the admissions office discussion at the beginning, she stated that legacy really was only a factor for OOS candidates, which I found interesting. She said it wasn’t a huge factor, but all other things being equal, it could have any impact.

7

With a 40% acceptance rate for OOS legacies versus 16% for non-legacies, I would say that legacy status actually is a very large factor. On the other hand, the 48% versus 41% for in-state legacies versus non-legacies could have some other explanations, from perhaps a more prepared applicant pool, to a better understanding of the system. However, I would say that, despite UNC’s claims, legacy does help somewhat for in-state applicants as well.

8

Just to add for future applicants reading this thread, if you’re Out of State and do not have a hook (legacy status etc,) the acceptance rate out of state is very, very low (little above 10% as stated above.) I applied EA to UNC and was put on the waitlist. However, I ended up being accepted to Brown (attending,) Vanderbilt, USC, and UC Berkeley. UNC, unlike many of the other top-ranked state schools (UF, UCLA & Berkeley, UMich, maybe even UVA) has a much higher % of in-state students vs. out-of-state, so keep that in mind when applying.

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