First, don’t get too hung up on the #1 ranking – whatever that is worth; you can probably find a ranking system where UNC-CH’s pharmacy program is ranked #50 – it all depends on what the criteria are, and how much emphasis is placed on each category. You can be a successful pharmacist (if that’s what you end up doing with your life) without going to “the #1 ranked pharmacy school”.
Second, as you probably know already, admission of OOS students to UNC-CH is very competitive; and UNC-CH 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 a further example of the difficulty for OOS students to be admitted to UNC-CH, the entering Class of 2020, for example, had a 15% acceptance rate for OOS applicants: http://admissions.unc.edu/apply/class-profile-2/.
Third, the UNC-CH Common Data Set has some useful information for you. Under Part C7 it states that standardized test scores, application essay(s), letter(s) of recommendation, and the 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. Extracurricular activities, talent, and character/personal qualities are considered as “very important” non-academic factors. Further, Part C9 of the Common Data Set for UNC-CH, gives you the median 50% for both SAT and ACT scores, as well as the percentage of the entering first-year class falling within certain ranges of SAT and ACT scores; and Part C11 gives you the percentage of entering first-year students falling within a range of unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale.
By way of comparison, our OOS high school usually has 8-10 students who apply, and 1-2 students who are admitted, each year to UNC-CH; and, with the exception of legacy students, our admitted students have ACT scores of 34+ and weighted GPAs of 4.5+. These successful applicants also were involved in extracurricular activities that showed commitment over time (no “drive-by” ECs), and demonstrated leadership in the school as well as their ECs. Other kids in our city who I know were admitted to UNC-CH recently also had similar academic statistics and non-academic characteristics; and all of these kids were “unhooked” in admissions parlance (i.e., not a recruited D-1 athlete, or a URM, first-generation college student, etc.).
So if you are a URM (“under-represented minority”), recruited D-1 athlete, first-generation college student, or OOS legacy, you may have a slightly easier path – relatively speaking, of course. Otherwise, focus on getting high standardized test scores (perhaps retake the ACT after a test preparation course), and work to have really good essays, and LORs. (By the way, every potential applicant who posts on the UNC-CH forum thinks that they have “killer” essays; you might get some objective opinion on that from an English teacher or school guidance counselor, or a private college admissions counselor.)
Having stated all of the above, if you are an “unhooked” applicant then your ACT score and weighted GPA are probably a little on the low side to be very competitive for admission as an OOS applicant, given the extremely large pool of high-achieving applicants who apply every year. Your apparent lack of leadership positions in your ECs may be a potential drawback, also. The rigor of your classes – you appear to have taken lots of AP and Honors classes – should work in your favor, however.
While it may be too late to do anything about the ECs (and also your GPA if you plan on applying EA), you can still work on raising your standardized test score a bit, since that is one thing that is in your control – along with your application essay(s). I would make an effort to spend some time with your school’s guidance counselor early in the Fall Semester to discuss an application strategy for UNC-CH, and how you can best position yourself as an OOS applicant; there might be some valuable information for you there. Remember, the EA deadline for UNC-CH is October 15 if you plan on applying early.
Good luck to you!