Our son will graduate from high school in 2026. He currently has 4.45 gpa in mostly AP and Honors classes, with concentration in math and science. We live in North Carolina and thinks he would like to stay in-state. He does not know what he would like to major in or what profession he is leaning toward. As parents, we would like for him to continue to grow while having a great college experience. There are lots of choices - I would be grateful for some recommendations!
One thing I meant to add - He scored a 1390 on his SAT (He plans to take it again). He took the ACT but his score has not arrived.
Do you know what his unweighted GPA is?
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If he intends to stay in-state and not pursue an overly niche profession, any of the NC in-state colleges and universities have the potential to meet your desire for growth and a great college experience (we are lucky in NC to have great in-state options!)
He should start doing visits and see which campus(es) feel like a good fit while considering which programs may be of interest to him. My oldest graduated from UNC-CH and we know many happy graduates and current students at NC State, Wilmington, App State, Charlotte, Western Carolina and UNCG. Each has its own unique vibe. For NC State and UNC-CH, he’ll probably want to get his test scores up unless he plans to go test-optional. Applying from the highly populated Mecklenburg and Wake counties also adds to the difficulty in getting admission to these two universities. If he’s interested in engineering at NC State, that will also add to the admission difficulty.
Many NC students also apply to popular universities in nearby states (UofSC, Clemson, Alabama, Auburn, UGA, UTK) close enough to NC and some luck out with merit scholarship offers to some of those schools.
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If he were my kid, I’d get him over to Davidson for a campus visit.
His SAT is a little low (just below the 25th percentile), but since he’s already planning on taking it again, that should work out fine. From the rest of your description of what he’s looking for, it feels like it could be a really good fit.
I would then look at colleges in which it is easier to switch majors. With his interest in math and science, is engineering a possibility he is considering? If so, then I would take a close look at NC State, UNC-Charlotte, and NC A&T.
With NC State, I believe there is a secondary admission process to get into one’s desired engineering field, even after being accepted into the engineering school but you would want to verify that. With UNC-C and NC A&T, I don’t think there are many barriers in terms of changing majors, but again, that’s something you will want to confirm.
If he’s not interested in engineering, then that opens up a plethora of options. Does he have a preference for size of school? Size of classes? Climate? Greek life? Athletic fandom? Anything else you can share about what your son is interested in would help to provide suggestions. (Additionally, budget?)
So many great options in NC! Given that he is undecided, I’d apply to many of the state schools - NC State, UNC, UNCW, UNCC, and App State. All will give a great college experience, and he can visit and decide once he knows more and gets acceptances.
Mine is currently at UNC Chapel Hill and loves it. You don’t have to declare a major right away which is nice. It’s a work hard/play hard school, especially in STEM courses.
We found with that same gpa and a somewhat higher test score, mine got good merit from UNCW, UNCC and App State. (Also from UNCA)
My best advice would be to start visiting and see what appeals to him. Feel free to ask me questions as we did this same thing last year!
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You should come join us at Parents of the HS Class of 2026! 
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This data dashboard for North Carolina public universities might be of some assistance when considering the likelihood of admission at different NC schools: Workbook: db_freshmen
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I suppose start with determining what a great college experience looks like for him. If it’s having a big sports environment, UNC, NC State, Duke, or even App State could be a good fit. If it’s small class sizes and a liberal arts pathway, UNC Asheville or Davidson are the way to go. If it’s Greek life, Elon or Wake Forest would be my suggestions. If it’s outdoor activities, Western Carolina or Warren Wilson are great.
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Wow, that’s a fantastic GPA, good job doing the hard work in AP and Honors classes!
We are also in North Carolina, and found that getting on campuses really helped figure out what my S25 was looking for. (Mind you, we toured 14 schools, only 2 of which were in NC, so I don’t necessarily recommend that many!) And NC has a lot of variety: big public campuses like UNC-CH and NC State, more mid-sized/big private like Duke and Wake Forest and Elon, true mid-sized private like Campbell or High Point, and private small like Barton.
And the public school campuses have a great variety in campus locations and amenities, too, from UNC W and Pembroke to App State and UNC Greensboro and UNC Charlotte. If there isn’t a draw on major yet, that might come with a few tours and seeing facilities.
We really have a bounty of options in NC. And I’m sure that like me, you have met grads from most of these schools and seen that they are doing well with what they learned on any of these campuses. I would definitely encourage a few tours of big and small, public and private, just to see what resonates. It was super helpful on our journey.
Good luck!!
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It should be noted that UNCA is having serious financial woes and recently slashed several of its humanities departments. It’s unfortunate that such a gem has been so mismanaged.
Bummer too - they give really great merit!