Type of high school (or current college for transfers): Top Public
Other special factors: completed three healthcare related internships
Cost Constraints / Budget N/A
Intended Major(s)
Public Health/Pre-PA
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.98
Weighted HS GPA: 4.73
College GPA: N/A
Class Rank: top 5-10%
ACT/SAT Scores: 1550 superscores SAT
List your HS coursework
AP Gov, APUSH, AP World, AP Human Geo, AP Stats, AP Lang, AP Lit, AP Psych, APES, Anatomy & Physiology, Spanish Dual Enrollment, 2 internships for credit, 4 years of chorus/show choir
College Coursework (Transfer Applicants) SPAN 101
Awards AP Scholar with Distinction (all 5s on APs taken so far)
Extracurricular:club sport, JV sport (captain), numerous honor societies, school club founder, two significant healthcare internships during junior and senior year.
Essays/ didn’t make varsity team but pivoted to healthcare internships.
UNC Chapel Hill had more than 42,000 out-of-state applicants this year and accepted fewer than 3,000 of them. That’s an acceptance rate of 6.6%. When admissions gets that competitive, there is no predicting. You have excellent credentials, but many with excellent credentials will be turned away. In other words, admission there is a reach for anyone and everyone who applies out of state. And that isn’t going to change because UNC is limited by statute to a maximum of 18% limit of its freshman class for out-of-state applicants.
Things are very different at Wisconsin where 43% of the out of state applicants were accepted in the most recent year reported. Your SAT score will enhance your application there because it is very strong compared to their other applicants, but keep in mind that they don’t consider standardized test scores as an important criterion for admission and half of their successful applicants didn’t even submit test scores. Your gpa is solidly within the midrange of their successful applicants, so I would expect your admission to be likely there.
Dartmouth is more of the same as with UNC. It has a 5% acceptance rate and has to be considered a reach for anyone.
Maryland accepts half of its in-state applicants. That’s the good news. The bad news is that 91% of this freshman class had a high school gpa of 4.0, a mark you fall just shy of. The rest of your application appears to be strong, so I would expect your application to be a toss up. As @thumper1 said, get your application in early because they take a high percent of their freshman class off the Early Action list. I only know one student who applied to U MD. He was a strong candidate and was accepted but he was rejected for engineering, so some majors seem to be more competitive than others. Fortunately you’re not applying to engineering.
You are a very strong applicant. Congratulations on your excellent results in high school. I know that this took a lot of work.
And by the way I think that the difference between unweighted 4.0 and unweighted 3.98 is probably a single “-” sign somewhere among all of your A’s. I do not think that this matters at all and I do not think that it will have any impact on your admissions results.
Even with this, as others have said UNC (out of state) and Dartmouth College are reaches, and Wisconsin is not a safety. I hope that UMD is a safety for you being in-state with such excellent stats. However, you should make sure that it is (your guidance counselor very likely knows much better than I do) because I do not see any other safety on this list.
To be honest without looking on-line I could not tell you which of UNC or UMD or U.Wisconsin is higher ranked for your intended major. However, they all are very good in general and for the majors that I am familiar with. UMD is a very good university and is likely to be more affordable since you are in-state. Since you have a major where some form of graduate work is entirely likely, make sure that you consider this additional expense when you and your parents figure out what your budget is.
Also, while Dartmouth College is excellent and highly ranked, IF you get in (which is of course more likely to not happen), it is not a good fit for all students who can get in. It is for example in a small town in a rural area with cold winters (since I am originally from Montreal and have a daughter who studied in Vermont I might call these “real winters”). If you get accepted, then make sure that you want to work that hard in a small school in a small town in the bitter cold before committing.
You can get an excellent education at any school on your list and can do very well with a bachelor’s degree from any school on your list.
Best wishes and I am expecting that you will do well regardless of which of these four very good universities you end up attending.
The percentages I’m quoting are from what is self reported by U MD on the common data set where there is no mention of weighted vs unweighted. We do know that each college recalculates gpa from a student’s high school transcript to fit their own priorities, so we rally have no way of knowing exactly how to interpret gpa information.
This OP self reports that her son/daughter is ranked in the top 5-10% of her/his class, that is positive mitigating factor since U MD reports that only 66% of this year’s freshman class were in the top 10% of their high school’s graduating class. I’d rather be conservative and say toss up rather than promise likely and mislead.
Well said, Dad. I might note that Wisconsin also has cold winters.
Let me add that UW is in a terrific city which is also the state capital and UW is big enough to have lots going on just at the university itself. Your point was well taken about Hanover being rural and isolated. When I’ve driven out of town there, it always felt like I was in Dogpatch within 5 miles in any direction. Yet, I do know students, including one currently there, who have been very happy with their 4 years at Dartmouth. So, your point about “fit” is well taken.
From C12, it says the average GPA is 4.44. This has to be weighted GPA. OP is an outstanding student, and I will put UMD in the safe column.
All information from common data set can also be viewed with a grain of salt. The school may view this as extra/unnecessary burden for the school, and maybe no one is checking what information they are putting in.
Has UNC accepted students from your HS in the past?
It is really impossible to chance you, as UNC is seriously competitive for OOS students. Spend time on the essays and make sure you have safeties.
Acceptance into the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC is very competitive and not guaranteed. Is public health at the other schools on your list less competitive?
Good luck. Apply wisely and you should have many great options!
I’m glad you found that! So, yes, the obvious explanation is that they’re using weighted gpa’s. If that is the case, then this applicant would appear to be a likely admit. A conversation with an Admissions Officer at UMD could confirm this or provide an alternate explanation. I would advise the OP to make this call or talk with their high school guidance counselor to see if he/she knows how this works at UMD.
Regardless of whether this student’s chances are likely or toss up, he should apply and file early (EA) to maximize his chances for admission at what should be his cheapest option.
Great record. It’s a degree that likely requires more schooling - if you decided against PA.
I think UNC might be hardest. I’d expect an in at Wisconsin and UMD.
Because you’re going to PA school and it’s pricey, I’d focus most there. Your undergrad won’t matter.
Your curriculum (UNC has a lot of concentrations), patient experience, LORs and more will be what matters.
So you’ll be fine anywhere but I hope you get in where you want. You’re certainly qualified but there’s lots of competition. But that’s why you added Wisconsin and UMD which I’d say are likely - the other two are reaches but why not you ?? If you have any budget concerns, not over 4 years which you note you don’t but longer, UMD would be the wise choice no matter where you get in as your save enough for maybe a Masters degree ($120k+) over UNC. I know UNC pops in the rankings but in reality, that’s not going to impact your future grad school endeavors. If anything, it might create more difficulty in standing above the crowd.
Grades and scores are important for UNC, but they are not everything. Focus on the entire application, including how you are a fit for the school and how you would contribute to the campus and local community.
You are lucky to be in-state for UMD. It’s a great school as well.
You will need grad school/PA school. I think it is important to keep costs in mind.
If you have any kind of legacy that might help you. Otherwise you are a good candidate, but honestly I think UNC is going downhill so don’t feel bad if you don’t get in. (I say that as an alum, who lives in Chapel Hill with a spouse that works at UNC.)
UNC is very tough OOS. S24 was rejected there with similar stats (but 1580 SAT) -with the cap on OOS students it is hard to predict. I see you in at MD and Wisconsin which are both great schools. Dartmouth is another super reach but you never know - you have a great profile. I assume you are only applying to these 4 - if you are looking for other ideas I’m sure we can make some recommendations.
