<p>My child was accepted into UNC with the early acceptance process, and was thrilled to get in. However, since that time, there has been little communication from UNC, and other schools with equally prestigious reputations are seeming to be in more frequent communication. He is starting to feel like UNC is not a very “personal” place, and that maybe he will be more of a “number” there, whereas other schools are getting him excited about them. Has anyone else had this experience? Has anyone communicated with UNC about their apparent lack of followup to get their prospects excited about attending there? My son even emailed the admissions office with some specific follow up questions, and they didn’t bother getting back to him. I personally feel UNC is the best school for him, but obviously can’t make the decision for him either. Should I contact the school and give them a heads up on how he’s feeling, or would they consider that meddling? Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>Just my two cents…UNC is a great school, but it is a state school that receives a ton of applications. Are you OOS or IS? There are very few OOS students accepted EA who don’t attend. My guess is that they don’t have the time/manpower for ‘hand-holding’. It is very different from the LACs who use this time to ‘woo’ potential students. Frankly, they won’t care how he’s feeling! I suggest you don’t waste your time…</p>
<p>First off, congratulations to your son. A UNC admit is a tough ticket to punch and even more so if he is OOS.</p>
<p>My son graduated from UNC last May. He was a Morehead Scholar and in all honesty prior to his actually accepting the scholarship, the only real contact he got was from the Morehead Foundation staff and Morehead alumni.</p>
<p>If things are still as they have been in the past, they will hold several “Explore Carolina” or similarly named events after the RD decisions go out. These sessions are, depending on the date of the event, either a major attempt to woo prospective students or a little more scaled down attempt. By that I mean that several of the dates are day and a half sessions with overnights and student hosts that include tours, classes, panel discussions and a big dinner in the evening and the rest are just one day events. </p>
<p>In all honesty I think that with the economic downturn they like other top publics, are absolutely swamped with applications. I know that early applications overall were up by 17% and OOS apps were up over 25%. Early on they were expecting over 24,000 applications for this years class of roughly 3500 students which is a huge increase and the final numbers could be higher than that.</p>
<p>If it makes you feel better, get the name of your regional rep (from your son’s HS college counselor) and email or call them. The truth is that despite anything else UNC and most other schools are all about yield and this year it may be more important than ever, so retaining someone they thought enough of to admit early will be important to them.</p>
<p>My son never felt like a number and any contact we as parents ever had with any office from the Bursar to student health was always very thoughtful, timely and considerate.</p>
<p>The Parents Assn is terrific and if you are OOS, the OOS Parents Assn is also very good and keep you very well informed. They will hold informational meetings for parents at the
Explore Carolina sessions as well as at Orientation.</p>
<p>He will love the school and you will love visiting him. We’ve had a very severe case of Chapel Hill withdrawal this year…:)</p>
<p>He’s OOS, so he was very happy to get in. But the other schools seem to be making a better attempt at wooing him, and as an 18 year old that’s very flattering, obviously. Hate to contact the admissions office on his behalf, but his attitude is he wants to go somewhere that wants him as badly as he wants them.</p>
<p>That’s interesting. My daughter applied to UNC last year RD as an OOS applicant and was waitlisted. In the meantime, she was accepted to 7 other extremely prestigious schools which did seem to want her and value her. She accepted a spot at one of them, applied for housing, found a roommate on facebook, put a sticker on her car, and bought a few t-shirts.</p>
<p>In early May she received a call from the admissions office offering her a spot. Took her all of 5 seconds to accept, she whistled as she sent a Dear John letter to her other school, shed a tear as she told the new roommate she wasn’t coming after all, and skipped happily to the car with a razor blade to hack off the old sticker. </p>
<p>Point being, the kids won’t hear from the admissions office at any university once they start school, and they won’t really care. My daughter didn’t care whether the admissions office didn’t accept her right off the bat, much less did she notice they didn’t woo her. The important thing was that SHE WANTED to go to UNC. Not that it wouldn’t have been nice for her ego to have the admissions office campaign for her, but she wasn’t focused on them, she was focused on the school, it’s academic rigor and reputation, the fantastic sports culture, the charming location, and the general Chapel hill culture.</p>
<p>She loves it, is learning and exploring, enjoying her classes, her friends, etc. She’s growing in ways I never would have imagined. It’s not the admissions office employees who are reaching out to her and making her feel special, it’s her professors and her fellow students. </p>
<p>I am not saying UNC is the right fit for your son, but talk to him about what is really important here. It’s not being wooed or treated as someone really special by a group of people with whom he will never again interact, it’s finding that place where he can learn, grow, have fun, and be prepared for adult life.</p>