My son is instate and from Wake.
UNC is by far his top choice. My wife and I both went there for undergrad and Masters
Number 1 in a school of around 120
GPA 4.6 (Weighted); 4.0 (unweighted)
8 AP’s through Junior year - all 5’s
5 more AP’s this year
National Merit Scholar semifinalist
1550 SAT (800 Math; 750 reading)
Varsity sports X2
State recognitions in DECA and Science Olympiad
Leadership positions in club up and down the portfolio
Honestly, if he doesn’t get in - I don’t know what else he could have done
My kid is in a very competitive public high school. 3.96 uw / 4.3 w and is 78/457 (top 17%). Anybody in a similar situation? Just wondering how much class rank weighs. She also has plenty of AP/Honors, good test scores and tons of clubs and community service hours. Just wondering if UNC will take into consideration how competitive our particular school is.
I am not entirely sure since my kid said they didn’t compare scores or talk much about test scores. I know her friend submitted a score that was “borderline” which I assume to be a 28/29 ACT and got in. She was top 5% of her class. My kid was top 8% of class and had a 33 ACT. Also the difference between top 5 and 8% in her class was likely about 0.1 at most, probably more like 0.05-0.08.
We’re also OOS, and we’re following the same game plan - just assume my kid won’t get in. I mean, if he does, that’s lovely and will be a great surprise! But looking at the OOS admission rates, it just feels more realistic to think about it as unlikely to happen. I’m just really glad that my son has a pretty healthy attitude about it - maybe because we’ve talked about the admission rates a lot, but he knows that it’s not him, that there are lots of perfectly strong qualified candidates who won’t get in, just because there’s too many great applicants and too few seats.
OOS UNC fee is pretty expensive, other schools like UF may be an option and their acceptance rate is pretty high. I heard their fee is very less , and may match to instate fee of IL. UNC does not offer direct admission to Computer science and Gilling health major and Kenan Flagler assured admissions are few and rare. Also there are tons or pre med students who are weeded out and will not stay in pre med major after few years.
We got the same letter and we are in state. UNC is a reach for my daughter even though we are in state. However, past year threads seem to indicate that the letter is not meaningful.
I think everyone received it. Same letter arrived in the mail today, and we are also OOS. D25 also received an email with Honors College information. I’m assuming all applicants received that as well. Don’t read much into anything. It’s just marketing to make people feel good.
Same here. Assuming it will be a denial simply based on acceptance percentages for OOS. D25 is anticipating that and shrugged her shoulders. She knows the odds and that high stats students are a dime a dozen. It’s not a reflection on her as a person.
Thanks! It seems oddly positive. It does say they are “fortunate to have the interest of so many smart and good-hearted students,” but otherwise no mention of the throngs of applicants or decisions not being made, etc. It would be a very odd letter to manage expectations.
EXACTLY! I’ve been working hard to reinforce this with my S25. Lots of great applicants, if he doesn’t get in, it doesn’t mean that he’s not a good student, or UNC Caliber or any nonsense like that. It just means way too many great candidates.