I can’t speak to this year, but last year kids just checked the interested in honors college box on the application, so perhaps those who checked the box got the email. Last year there was not a separate essay I don’t think.
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Just an FYI to all applying. Make sure you know what the perceived drawbacks are to UNC. Currently parents are freaking out because their child can’t get on campus housing for sophomore year. Only freshman housing is guaranteed. There are off campus apartments, houses, etc. Some are close, many are quite far. The bus system is great. Kids can bike. Apartments close to UNC (on or just off Franklin St) are pretty expensive and parking spots are extra per month and limited.
Registration for freshman is not ideal. It is difficult to get STEM classes. Kids have to be persistent, join waitlists, go to the first few days of class and interact with profs in person to get seats. The STEM classes are HARD. Even for 4.0 students with great scores. If your child comes in with a ton of credits, it’s even harder to get classes that first year because they register after everyone else and seats are saved for upper classmen.
That said, my kid really loves it. Making friends has been a bit challenging at a big school, but she loves her classes and really likes the atmosphere.
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This is all so helpful! Thank you!
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Not sure what you mean…ours had a second sheet with a preliminary acceptance letter. Just kidding of course, good luck to all, it is a very hard school to get in OOS.
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UNC has no drawbacks imo- it’s medium sized, not big, big schools are TAMU ( I have a kid there too), UM, OSU( both my older ones were admitted into these); the campus is gorgeous , OOS tuition is still lower the UC system, UM and many others, and the quality of education is top. UNC has been consistently ranked among top5 public unis for years; the amount of support my alumn kid now got during their 4 years there is unimaginable even for a mom- she started doing research in her 2nd semester freshman year, had priority in registration due to many AP s and DEs that she got credit for ( as a freshman had already the status of a sophomore due to transferred credits), did travel abroad, summer internships at MIT, and graduated in 4 years double major CS&NS, minor in music. UNC is an exceptional public university, that’s for sure
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The UNC CDS labels Class Rank as “Important.”
I don’t closely follow UNC CH admissions. For the last 6 years, I have followed admissions to UF quite closely for family reasons. I think they are peer institutions. I am sure it has happened, but I don’t recall seeing anyone outside the top 15% of their class getting into UF.
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That’s great your kid had a good experience at UNC chapel hill. I agree it’s an impressive school but is not for everyone, like any school. While not large, an undergrad cohort of 20K is too large for plenty of students. NC residents do have an abundance of outstanding college choices.
Personally, I don’t think the campus is nice looking at all. Maybe because I visited High Point the day before 
That’s not a fair comparison of course…but U Delaware which has a similar number of undergrads is much nicer IMO, and a better surrounding commercial district.
There are a lot of beautiful campuses of course. This is the UNC-CH forum so I was talking about this uni. I am not here to compare different campuses or unis, I only outlined my impression ( I said IMO) of UNC-CH. Everyone has their opinion of various campuses and uni, that’s why they chose to attend different schools. Good luck to your kid!
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And many of these drawbacks, such as hard to get sophomore housing, difficulty getting classes and parking, challenging STEM classes etc. are true of many/most top mid to large public schools. At least we have found It to be true at both UGA and Georgia Tech.
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Absolutely! Personally, my kid is really enjoying it, but there are many parent complaints, so I thought it may be helpful for people to know some of the commonly talked about issues. Many people are very stressed about housing. For those who can’t afford it, the stress of not having on campus housing in the second year seems to be high right now since off campus housing at a comparable price point (and close to campus) isn’t plentiful. And many parents/students don’t want to be off campus. Once again, it’s a great school with tons of amazing qualities, but registration and housing seem to be difficult for some to handle.
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Thanks for heads up. Would students who can’t get housing 2nd year onwards feel like they miss the connection on campus? Or are there clubs or organizations that would still make them feel the school spirit?
The lack of housing seems to be relatively new- my daughter never had an issue. I wonder why?
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Definitely they would still feel connection, but that will vary base on student I am sure! Most of the apartment areas are students, too, so it’s not like that community is lost when one moves off campus.
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Not sure…maybe more upper classmen staying on campus? I think about 60% of sophomores end up getting on campus housing.
My daughter would have had on campus housing all 4 years if she wanted so that’s why this comes at a surprise. I guess more upper classmen are staying on campus.
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Yes, I think once you get it sophomore year, it’s easy to keep getting it since you then have seniority.
Curious to see if my in state kid gets in. According to the publicly available data, their school has run a 50-ish% acceptance rate the last few years, though it dipped down last year to 33%. Rank is 20 out of 400+, 13 APs plus lots of Honors classes, 33 ACT. Very unique EC, internationally competitive. That said, after completing the NC State application, interest has ticked up with the land grant institutions for more Bio-adjacent type applied majors. Assuming all goes well with the process, NC State or VT might be higher on the list at this point. Good luck to all.
Can’t imagine they won’t get in! I think 95% of the kids from our top 10% who applied got in, and all who submitted good scores did.
Thanks. I figure they’re likely to get in, but ya never know. I thought the essays were good too 
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Hello all. What are the prospects for an OOS (Illinois, NW Suburbs big school) with a psychology major applying EA? Her brother is an undergraduate there now. D has a 3.71 UWGPA with a 4.53 WGPA. 6APs (including AP Psych this semester) and 7 Honors courses. Pretty solid essays. 4 year athlete with club leadership and good community service. She is applying TO. Thank you for any input.