Will I get into UNC in State

Hello, Im a senior at a small school in Wilson North Carolina that doesn’t report class rank. I have a 3.64 unweighted and a 4.64 weighted gpa along with a 1260 sat. I have taken 12 AP classes and 10 Honors courses throughout high school. I have tons of extracurriculars including NHS, SGA, Chick-fil-a Leader Academy- raised 26,000 dollars for chew in 2018, Youth and Government, Tennis, and Shotgun Shooting- NC National Team member. I worked at the after school program at my school for a year and have helped a retired teacher at his house for the past 2 months. I have already applied early action to NC and hope to get in. What are my chances?

Chances would be slim to none. The unweighted GPA and SAT scores are much lower than average. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to apply, but don’t hold your breath. You’re about 50/50 for NCSU, which makes it a match.

I can’t chance you but UNC Chapel Hill is a reach…does your school use Naviance? If so what does that show? What does your GC say?

Certainly apply, but make sure to have a list that includes target schools and at least one affordable highly likely/safety school.

Good luck.

You should definitely chase your dream and apply for UNC. Your stats are not way outside of the range, but they are on the shy side of average stats of in-state accepted students.

If you’re certain you’re going to a public NC university, go ahead and apply early action to two or three more at the same time. You’ll have a better change (but no guarantee) at NCSU. You should get into just about all the rest. Choose three besides UNC, find out early which ones you get into, and then you can start really planning where you go next year.

I think you have a great chance of getting in. Contrary to what people tell you it’s not that hard to get in Carolina if you are outside of Wake and Mecklingburg counties. Carolina is one of the places that wants equal representation from the 100 NC counties and being in Wilson will play to your advantage.

UNC Chapel Hill admissions, as well as our school counselor, have told us several times that they look for the best applicants period. They do NOT take into account county quotas for representation in a class profile.

With that said, admission for you will be very difficult. Try to get your test score improved. You never know, things work out for the best. Best of luck!!!

@mark89unc UNC 100% takes county into account when looking at applications. Getting in from Wake/Meck is far more difficult than from rural counties due to an initiative by the school to increase representation across the state. There is a whole doc/statement about it online, it’s not hard to find.

@ToddinRaleigh SOrry, but your statement “its not hard to get into Carolina if you’re outside wake and meck” is utterly ridiculous. It does not matter who you are and which part of the country you are applying from, getting into Chapel Hill is difficult period. Is it probably slightly easier to get into UNC from rural places in NC? Sure, but the Chapel Hill standards are not dropped significantly just because you are rural. Almost across the board, you need to be in the top 10%-15% of your class, high SAT/ACT, and phenomenal EC and essays. Do some research before you write.

Thank you for the honesty, I just took the SAT in November and UNC accepted it. My new SAT score is a 1330. How would this affect my chances? Thanks again

You brought up your SAT score by 70 points so that will definitely help! Is 1330 the superscore or were you able to raise both math and verbal in November? I think your extracurriculars will definitely be a plus. I don’t think that Chapel Hill is a definite for anyone though. My daughter told me the salutatorian from her school was denied acceptance last year and ended up going to MIT - so ever since then, we assume it is a lottery even for the super high scorers/high GPAs. Best of luck to you!

@twokids2go Thanks! I was able to raise my reading from a 640 to a 700 and my math from a 620 to a 630. This was my highest single test and superscore.

Certainly the most hotly contested issue - do competitive state schools (UNC, UVA, W&M, etc…) take into account geography. None will say anything directly on the subject - but all discuss having a diverse class which in this context is not really just ethnic or socio economic. They are “building a class” based on some set of parameters.

I was told directly by a former admissions committee member of a VA state school that if they took the best qualified students every year 90+ % of the instate class would come from Northern Virginia, Richmond and Virginia Beach. And that the state legislature would simply not stand for that. Every year they turned down better qualified students from those areas in favor of less qualified students from less populous areas.

I can say that when compared to students from a high ranking Charlotte high school my son has a punchers chance of admission. Compared to all admitted students he should have a very good chance of admissions. All this is from Naviance. So at least regarding my son’s school - clearly there are students denied admission with statistics higher than the average. I would assume Wake and perhaps to a lesser degree Guilford/Forsyth county students face the same dilemma.

Having said that - any student still has to qualify regardless of geography but by any indication being a student from Mecklenburg or Wake means you need to be above or well above the average to stand a chance.

Different times for sure - I applied to UNC out of state early decision and never really thought that I wouldn’t get in. I don’t know that I’d stand a chance today.

Anyway - good luck to you at this point I would not begin to hazard a guess but agree that Naviance seems to be about as good a resource as any to review the scattergrams and get a sense of your odds.

@HesNot - Funny about you replying and assuming you would get in way back when. I grew up in Virginia (Richmond area) and assumed I would get into all the state schools so applied to Chapel Hill because the chance of getting in was so difficult (I wanted a challenge, I guess). When I got in everyone assumed that was where I would go (since no one from my high school had ever been accepted before - and it was a good school) but I had realized by then that a small LAC was better for me. I agree with you that I would absolutely not have a chance if applying OOS today.

@HesNot - I love your username! And I totally agree with you on the stats for the kids from those larger, high SES counties. It is what it is, but we assume D will need to be on the top of the stats to get in from Meck. Crossing fingers and toes.

@10wysakeeper - Interesting discussion and strong opinions… UNC does look for good students from diverse areas of the state, even if the school officially says it does not (more on that later).

Seems like a lot focus on the comments here are around your unweighted GPA and standardized test scores. With the rigor of your course load, your weighted GPA is definitely in range. Your first reported SAT scores are probably in the 20th percentile and the second set moves you into the range of the current class of 2023 (1310-1460). See for https://admissions.unc.edu/files/2019/10/Class-Profile_FINAL.pdf for the current class profile.

Your ECs are impressive at a glance and if you have taken leadership roles you have a good story to tell. I want to encourage you but getting in to Carolina is still a challenge. Much depends on how you come across to the reader of the application. Are you a good fit? Do your essays reflect what you can bring to the school?

As for test scores and rural counties: A few years back, my daughter applied with SAT scores in the 25th percentile but with good ECs, a 4.6+ weighted GPA and a high class rank (top 2%). We are located in western NC in a small county without the opportunities offered by the schools in Wake, Mecklenburg and other counties. I was concerned that if she got in she might be swallowed up by the competition and pressures of Carolina. Turns out I was completely wrong. She graduated with “Distinction” and went on to get a Master’s degree at UNC. Several others from her high school class also got in and had great success. So good, solid and well prepared students can thrive at Chapel Hill. Best of luck to you wherever you end up and make the most of the opportunities presented.

I went to HS in Fairfax County and applied to UNC early decision - got in and that was it but it was the right fit for me. UVA and W&M were backups just in case (and that sounds snotty as all get out in todays environment).

I’m not sure I would get into any of them - in or out of state - these days. But no one seemed that worried back then. Maybe the relative lack of information made us blissfully naive.

In all fairness it is a state school with a mission to serve the entire state - not just Mecklenburg and Wake. And I expect not every high school offers 29 different AP classes, around 40 honors classes (not all in Mecklenburg do for that matter). In a moment of clarity my son actually voiced this same opinion even though it perhaps works against him in terms of his chances of admissions.

Your daughter and her classmates are good examples that success isn’t measured by your high school or where you grew up. Unfortunately there are in any given year more deserving kids than spots so hard decisions have to be made - I don’t think anyone who does get in doesn’t deserve a spot. As a parent, of course, it is hard to know he has a stiffer road because of where he went to school, on the flip side he has had a really broad, rich and challenging high school experience with a lot of opportunities others have not had because of where he went to school. His high school is also a pressure cooker as well with an incredibly competitive student body. There is, as the saying goes, no free lunch.