What are my chances of getting into UNC?

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

I intend on majoring in either Biology or Biochemistry as a pre-med. Anyways, as far as numbers are concerned, here goes (I am currently a HS senior):

Out of State

SAT Single Sitting (New): 1400/1600 (Math: 710 Reading and Writing: 690)
Essay Score: 8-8-8
SAT Subject Tests: Math 2: 670 Chem: 650 US History: 750

AP Exams: US History: 5 Chemistry: 3 (I will be taking the AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, and AP Spanish Lang exams at the end of my senior year)

Weighted GPA: 4.00 (95 on the 0-100 scale)

Honors: High Honors each marking period up until the end of my junior year (senior semester has just begun)

AP Courses: AP US I, AP US II, AP Chem, AP Physics C, AP Spanish

Honors Courses: (I do realize that honors courses are not a regulated curriculum in the way that AP is, but here is the list anyways) Geometry Honors, Pre-Calc Honors

Volunteer Work: Park cleanup, tutoring, food kitchen, taught English for a week to a small school district in Peru (I did this thanks to a connection I have with one of the district’s administrators)

Extracurriculars and Misc.: Politics Club Member, Red Cross club member, Lab Assistant for my AP Chem teacher, Flight Simulation Club (this as been a lifelong passion/hobby of mine), participated in a CNN interview in which the anchor was to interview students about their political views on this election (I was one of the 10 students recommended to be interviewed in a school of 800). Fluent in Spanish

Hook: URM (Hispanic) and bilingual
If you have any questions concerning my application, please let me know. Also, I have done quite extensive research on the school and it does look like a bit of a reach for me, but I would still like to hear an opinion from a third party. Thanks

2

Our OOS high school usually has a couple of students admitted each year to UNC-CH; and, with the exception of legacy students, our admitted students have SAT scores of 1350+, ACT scores of 34+, and weighted GPAs of 4.5+. Other kids in our city who I know were admitted to UNC-CH recently have also had similar statistics. All of these kids, however, were “unhooked” in admissions parlance (i.e., not a recruited D-1 athlete, or URM, first-generation college student, etc.).

If you have looked at the UNC-CH common data set, you will see that under Part C7 it states that standardized test scores, application essay, letter(s) of recommendation, and rigor of your high school record are “very important” academic factors considered for freshman admission, whereas GPA and class rank are “important” academic factors considered for freshman admission.

Your standardized test score is good; so the question really is, does your URM status compensate for a GPA that is slightly lower than what unhooked successful applicants have had, especially given how UNC – according to its common data set – considers standardized test scores as slightly more important than GPA? My sense is that you could be a viable candidate, IF you have very good essays and letters of recommendation.

You should try to get the application essay(s) in order for the Early Action deadline of October 15.

3

Thanks so much for the help! I’m essentially done with the application and will have it all submitted for October 15, so fingers crossed for this one. My school has a policy in which recommendation letters are kept confidential (which I think is a bit odd, but I don’t know if this is unique to my school), but they are from teachers with whom I have had very good relationships and grades with (both ap teachers). My essay is also quite strong, so hopefully that combined with the URM status gives me a shot. Thanks again

4

Good luck with it. Getting into UNC-Chapel Hill is just a hard row to hoe for OOS students, especially as UNC admits OOS applicants in numbers that are calculated not to exceed 18% of an entering freshman class. See “Undergraduate Admissions” on Page 2, here: http://www.admissions.unc.edu/files/2013/09/Admissions__Policy.pdf. (As I’m sure you know from your research on the school.)