Does anyone think I have a chance at getting into UNC-Chapel Hill?

[Viihart]

Hi! I’m a high school senior from Mississippi, and I was wondering if anyone thought my stats were good enough for Chapel Hill. I am a caucasian male, and I’ll be applying regular decision and I plan to double major in Biology/Economics with a minor in Statistics.

ACT: 29

Senior Classes:
University Cal I
AP Statistics I
Ap Statistics II
Honors Electronics
Honors Mechanics
American Government
Film
Honors Economics
Contemporary Literature
World Literature
Southern Writers
History of Science

Junior Year:
University Composition I
University Composition II
Honors Chemistry I
Honors Chemistry II
PreCalculus
Honors Trigonometry
Cell Biology
Microbiology
Spanish II
Logic and Game Theory

Extracurriculars:
SGA Alumni Affairs Secretary
Interfaith Club President
Interact Club Vice President
March for Our Lives Secretary
Beta Club

Volunteer Work:
Contact Helpline Volunteer
Boys and Girls Club (teaching math to elementary school kids)
City’s Science Carnival Volunteer
Volunteer at the local Humane Society

Honors/Awards:

Best of Fair at the Region III Mississippi Science Fair
First place in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Region III Mississippi Science Fair
Winner of the Mississippi Air and Waste Management Association Award 2020
National Honors Society

My school does not rank its students, nor does it provide us with our GPA. However, I’ve self calculated my GPA to be around 3.8-3.9.

If anyone has any tips, they’d be greatly appreciated.

[collegemom3717]

UNC-CH has a hard cap of 18% OOS - and that includes recruited athletes. Standardized test scores are considered ‘very important’, and yours is in the bottom 40% of admitted students. They aren’t required for this year, so I wouldn’t send them if If were you.

They also rate ‘rigor’ very highly, and here it’s hard to know, without knowing your school. Is your course considered very rigorous? what is the typical number of APs that the strongest students take?

Finally, Is your self-calculated GPA based on A=4 / B= 3, and calculated based on core academic classes (English, math, science, social science, foreign language)?

[Viihart]

My school is considered the best in the state in terms of public schools, and all of our classes are either honors, AP, or University. However, with the pandemic, many of our AP classes were taken away in order to implement a new schedule design (this is why I took Electronics and Mechanics instead of AP Physics along with a lot of English courses instead of University Literature).

Also, I did use the A=4 / B=3.

Thanks for the reply :).

[VirginiaBelle]

I am sorry to say I don’t think you are competitive for UNC. The next step from Pre Calc ( which should be at an honors level for UNC) is AP Calc - preferably AP BC Calc. Applying to UNC with pre calculus only as your highest level math class puts you at a disadvantage. Honors Chemistry is a sophomore class at my school, with AP Chem the junior class. AP Statistics is algebra based and not accepted by many schools. It is also much easier than AP calculus. Rigor is very important and yours does not look very rigorous. Also don’t send your ACT as it is out of the mid range - it may hurt you.

UNC only takes 18% of its students from out of state and those include legacies and athletes. It is a high reach for all but the most exceptional non legacy students.

[nanosec]

It looks like he’s taking Calculus at a University, if that’s what “University Cal 1” is.

[VirginiaBelle]

That makes more sense! I was wondering why you would take Statistics instead of Calc!

[Mwfan1921]

UNC will be a high reach for you, and I would apply test optional. Will UNC be affordable for you if accepted? As an OOS student you are unlikely to receive any institutional financial aid. https://npc.collegeboard.org/app/unc

UNC does not have 2020/21 COA on it’s website, but 2019/2020 OOS COA was $52K+

[collegemom3717]

UNC meets need for both instate & oos students

[Mwfan1921]

Yes, but many families can’t afford their EFC’s as calculated by colleges.

[VirginiaBelle]

Exactly. EFC’s are often not affordable or require re-prioritizing financial goals, such as paying for college over saving for retirement, etc.

[collegemom3717]

absolutely true that EFC’s are often not affordable, @Mwfan1921 & @VirginiaBelle- but I was addressing the question of in-state and OOS as a variable. For UNC it’s not relevant.

[chb088]

I agree that the test score is your weak spot and if you don’t need to send it, don’t. Best of luck.

[Sunnysky7]

Apply optional , you like like a great student!

[Sunnysky7]

Look like a great student! Sorry typo! Best of luck!