UNC accepts 25.7 percent of applicants this year

Michael Ward never wanted to go to a college that accepted a lot of people.

The high school senior from Woodbridge, Va. — who was recently accepted to the UNC class of 2016 — applied in a year that saw 24 percent more applications and a lower acceptance rate.

“I think it’s rewarding myself for the hard work I’ve done to apply to schools that are selective like North Carolina,” Ward said while touring campus Wednesday.

UNC was even more selective this year, accepting only 25.7 percent of its 29,486 applicants, said Ashley Memory, senior assistant director of the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

This acceptance rate is down from 31.4 percent out of 23,753 applicants last year, she said.

Memory said the increase in applicants is in part due to the transition to the Common Application, in addition to an emphasis on recruitment efforts.

“We knew we might expect an increase from the Common Application, but of course we couldn’t take that for granted,” she said.

Memory said UNC admitted just 14 percent of out-of-state students, down from last year’s 18.1 percent.

Although low acceptance rates are common at top-ranked schools, Memory said admissions staff do not view prestige in terms of how many students they must reject.

“We wish all students well and we believe that they will have a wonderful experience at the college that they do choose,” Memory said.

“If they choose to join us for later, perhaps as transfer students or later as grad students, that door for application remains open.”

But, she said, it is an honor to receive so many applications.

“We do take great pride in the fact that so many strong students from inside North Carolina and outside decided to apply,” she said.

Ward said he thinks selectivity does go hand in hand with prestige.

“Selectivity, I think, is one indicator of the prestige of a school,” he said.

“It’s not the end-all be-all, but I think certainly the selectivity is telling of the types of students that a university can crank out,” he said.

Katy Folk, a high school senior from Charlotte who was just accepted to UNC, said adding the Common Application probably didn’t change the applicant pool significantly because the caliber of students is already high.

“I’m excited about (the low acceptance rate), and that was one of the reasons that I decided to attend — because of the prestige and the name,” she said.

“Having the lower acceptance rate only helps that.”

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