Tar Heel born, bred, dead: UNC seniors look back on their acceptances

Attending UNC is a privilege that gets taken for granted, and the memory of the day you receive your acceptance usually gets forgotten in the midst of stress and exams. 

While UNC seniors are halfway through the fourth week of their last semester, hundreds of new applicants recently received their early acceptance to UNC.

The four years at UNC fly by, and for some, the memory of receiving your acceptance letter will soon seem so distant.

Senior Emily Montes was in class in Switzerland when she received her acceptance. 

“I freaked out when I was in class, and I couldn’t, like, do anything about it and that was really crazy,” Montes said.

After class she was able to settle down and process what had just happened.

“I was real excited and surprised," she said. "And, yeah, it was kind of surreal.” 

She said coming to UNC was one of the best decisions she’s ever made.

But if she had known about all the different opportunities at UNC, she would have explored more majors — which is why she thinks the class of 2021 should explore all the options UNC has to offer.

“Take the time, even if you don’t know what you’re interested in," she said. "Click on different departments and just keep clicking and exploring because there are so many cool majors and minors.” 

The pressures of anxiously awaiting that decision from UNC admissions doesn’t get easier if a friend — or a brother — is awaiting the same decision.

Especially not when there are different outcomes.

“I have a twin brother, and he did not get in, so it was a little delayed reaction, I would say," senior Mandy Kinniburgh said. "But overall, it was a positive reaction." 

After only applying to three schools and finally accepting her spot at UNC, Kinniburgh said she feels like she made the right decision.

“Carolina is a difficult school, but you’re gonna learn a lot,” she said.

For some, coming to UNC was an easy first choice, but for others, the decision came out of the blue.

Senior Aly Moser was already committed to the University of South Carolina when she received her acceptance to UNC four years ago. 

“Previously, I had been accepted to other colleges, and I was not excited at all,” she said. “I would find out and not tell my parents for a couple of days.”

But this was not the case when she found out she had been admitted to UNC.

“I’m not a super emotional person — I get happy, but I never get overly excited,” Moser said. “But when I found out that I got into Carolina, I was so excited — like, jumping up and down.”

But Moser was faced with a tough decision: to stay committed to the University of South Carolina or revoke her enrollment and accept the offer at UNC.

“That prompted me to look more seriously into whether I made the right decision committing elsewhere,” she said. “Obviously, I’m here now, so that really did change my perspective on coming here.”

@JordanKatlyn97

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