University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Yes — UNC-Chapel Hill is highly selective, admitting about 16.7% of applicants, with roughly 12,750 offers from more than 76,200 applications in the most recent cycle. It is considerably harder for non-residents: state law holds out-of-state students to a small share of each entering class (about 15% of undergraduates are from out of state), and State Residency is weighed as a very important admission factor.

Out-of-state applicants face dramatically longer odds than the 16.7% overall rate suggests. In the most recent cycle, North Carolina residents were admitted at 37.0% (6,605 of 17,846), while out-of-state applicants were admitted at just 9.6% (4,685 of 48,645) — a gap driven by a state law that caps non-resident first-years near 18% of enrollment. International applicants were admitted at 15.0% (1,461 of 9,756). State Residency is listed as a very important factor in Carolina's holistic review, which means the rest of your application — essays, course rigor, recommendations — matters even more as a non-resident.

Admitted first-year students at UNC-Chapel Hill report an average high school GPA of about 4.47 on a weighted scale. There's no hard cutoff, but the rigor of your course load is weighed as the single most important academic factor — among enrolled students who reported a class rank, about 76% were in the top tenth of their graduating class.

A 1490 is competitive — it sits comfortably inside the middle-50% SAT range of 1400–1530 for enrolled first-years, just below the 75th-percentile mark of 1530. The corresponding ACT range is 29–34. A score in this band keeps you in the mix academically, though admission still depends on grades, course rigor, and the rest of a holistic review.

Yes, UNC-Chapel Hill is test-optional for most applicants, so SAT and ACT scores are only 'considered' rather than required in the review. Among enrolled students who did submit, the middle 50% scored 1400–1530 on the SAT and 29–34 on the ACT. Because scores carry less weight than grades and course rigor, applicants who test below this band can still be strong candidates.

Annual tuition and required fees are about $9,359 for North Carolina residents and $49,601 for out-of-state students. About 30% of first-years receive need-based grant aid, the average need-based package is around $21,695, and UNC-Chapel Hill meets 100% of demonstrated financial need.

Yes. UNC-Chapel Hill rates the Application Essay as a very important factor in its holistic review — alongside course rigor, recommendations, and extracurriculars, and weighted more heavily than standardized test scores, which are only 'considered.' With an acceptance rate near 17%, a specific, well-revised essay is one of the clearest places a strong applicant can stand out.

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The social sciences are the most popular area at about 16% of bachelor's degrees, followed by the biological sciences (13%), interdisciplinary studies, communication and journalism, computer science, and business. Carolina's breadth across the liberal arts and its professional schools gives students a wide range of academic paths.