I think it is more than rank/gpa. Mine was not in top 10% OOS got in and offered Morehead Cain last year. I think that essays and ECs can overcome rank. They just need to be really good ones.
Do you think there’s a chance for an OOS release on Friday? Last year they released all decisions on Friday, Jan 24.
Yes
Historically yes there’s a chance.
They also usually release decisions the same day as NCSU - so you might follow NCSU chatter this week as well.
The variable is that this is the first year UNC EA split In-State vs OOS dates so who knows if their past behavior is predictive for this cycle.
You are obsolutely right. It appears GPA/RIGOR/RANK matters the most. Everything else come after that. Other things only matter if an applicant is on borderline.
If you see most of the college common dataset, it become very clear.
I know people who got in within top 20%. My child also has excellent ECs and essays.
Rumor that the February 10th EA OOS notification date might be getting moved up. Anyone know anything?
it will most likely be this Friday or next
Thanks, Where are you getting the information?
I did the thing I am always on my kids about - Always check the facts behind your assumptions before making further assumptions.
I didn’t verify that UNC EA was following it prior historical behaviors (more or less setting same ‘release date’ as NCSU) when it’s now clearly doing a new format - splitting EA In-State and OOS. I just assumed the only change was the move to EA InState into December - reviewing the actual info, looks like EA OSS is targeted for Feb 10th release date. Silly grown-up.
Historically they’ve released before their official release date - but at this point, who knows as this is a new protocol for admissions decisions.
My point is I do not think .1 in GPA is the reason some one gets deferred. Unfortunately 4.0/1600 is becoming common. So the question is how do you stand out and communicate your arc? By doing more than volunteering and school sponsored ECs. It is becoming a true full time job for these kids
Gives us hope! My OOS daughter has a 4.15 weighed GPA but a 1500 SAT.
The increase in unweighted GPAs is due to grade inflation. And only about 500-1000 students in the entire country achieve a 1600 SAT, roughly 0.05% of students. It kind of eclipses the achievement of the kids who get 1600s by saying it’s common. I once heard a college admissions coach on YouTube call the SAT “the great equalizer” and that made sense to me. It’s really the only objective measurement of a student’s academic intelligence. Although I 100% agree that school is becoming a true full time job. It’s out of control. And it makes me sad that some kids are working to build a resume that they think will get them admission to their dream school instead of just enjoying high school and doing what they love. I hope we can get back to that. It’s exhausting reading resumes like “50 hrs/week volunteering + Captain, Varsity Soccer and Tennis + President, Math Club + Bio Tutor + full-time job.”
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Historically UNC turns down multiple ‘perfect’ standardized test students, as well as Valedictorians / Salutatorians etc etc. And there will be a large bunch of 1500++ SAT and 3.90 / 4.60 who will also not be admitted (especially OOS) .
On the other hand, there will be students with lower (and moderately lower) “stats” who will be accepted right off. Nobody outside of UNC really knows the UNC formula for admissions ( outside of NC Residents with 4.6+ / 1500+ / 33+/ Top 10% class) - if there even is such a thing as a formula for that. It just becomes completely unpredictable beyond that singular threshold it appears.
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If that means they are looking for a well-rounded class or looking more holistically at applications then I can respect that. Best of luck to everyone!!
someone finally put spotlight on current reality. if you look at UNC, UVA and UT (top5% autoadmin) kids will be in rat race to get to the top. Many kids load up DEs by registering them during summer when they suppose to enjoy their life which is part of high school. If you look at their common dataset it becomes very clear they heavily favor high GPA (absolute 4 no less) UNC has 97% 4 unweighted GPA. These universities add more weight to rigor, rank and GPA all essentially only possible with high GPA over the rest. essentially weighing same thing three times. the basket (wholistic view) is heavily tilted towards very high GPA (rank + gpa +rigor). From Universities point of view it is easy to pick given so much competition. There is reason some universities like harvard, those in califonia and many elite universities are rank blind. My child got into similarly top university like UNC as OOS simply because they are rank blind. Unfortunately he is not good enough for UNC (In-state) cause he falls behind rank by a difference of .1+ gpa. He still struggles to wrap his head around this.
UNC Common data set says 97% admits have 4.0 unweighted GPA. so They are rank heavy.
I’ve noted this before - and am skeptical it’s accurate that 97% of their student body is 4.0/4.0 unweighted GPA. I’m uncertain how they arrive to that number - as I expect that if it was a weighted GPA, it would actually be 4.4 or 4.5 as average - but I don’t know how many NC Counties don’t offer AP/IB level weighted courses to bump GPA.
There is definitely rank weighting as Very Important / Important.
Yes their categorization tells the story. test score or optional which actually measures their proficiency. it appears to be unweighter gpa as they mention the scale (4.0). For weighted gpa the scale is 5. It is on their documentation we need to take for what it is. otherwise we throwing stones in the darkness.