UNC Chapel Hill is a public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The university is home to over 20,000 undergraduate students, and has a strong emphasis on global education and pre-professional opportunities. There are 82 bachelor’s programs, and one of the most enthusiastic athletics fanbases in the country. Getting into UNC Chapel Hill is difficult, especially if you are from outside of the state. They received over 63,000 applications for the class of 2028, and only accept about 17% of applicants averaging out across in-state and out-of-state prospective students. This number is kept low partially due to a 1986 policy that mandates that UNC system schools may not have more than 18% out-of-state students in any first-year class. Students making up that 18% come from 100 countries!
UNC has also enacted a curious SAT/ACT policy that requires some close reading. The simple part is that they only consider self-reported test scores, so you don’t need to worry about sending official score reports. However, if you are applying “for the 2025-2026 academic year,” students with a GPA of a 2.8 or above (or a B+ average if your school does not calculate a GPA) are not required to submit a test score, while those with a GPA below that threshold are required to. This shouldn’t be your determining factor, though. If you have strong scores, you should submit them.
This post isn’t about SAT/ACT scores or acceptance rates, though, it’s about supplements! The UNC Chapel Hill supplement isn’t exceptionally long (there are only two prompts), but it does require strategy and planning.
If the idea of applying to college has you stressed, contact us. We help make applying to college a breeze.
The UNC Chapel Hill supplement has two prompts. Before you get to them, though, they offer you the opportunity to upload a resume. Always take this when offered. The activities section of the Common App is painfully concise. You only have 150 characters to describe how you’ve spent your time in high school, which is sort of absurd given how much emphasis you’ve put on developing a depth of interests and experiences. The resume offers an opportunity to elaborate on a few select activities and experiences, with some unspoken rules. Your resume must be one page. This is not a suggestion, and it doesn’t matter how ‘impressive’ you are. Young professionals with experience in the workforce are expected to put their resume on one side of one page, and you are too. We provide a comprehensive guide on how to write an impressive resume for your college applications here.
Once your resume is done, it’s time to write the supplements.
We’re proud of the Carolina community and how each student makes us better through their excellence, intellect, and character. We’d like to know how you’d contribute to the Carolina community and ask that you respond to each prompt below in up to 250 words. Your essay responses below should be different from your common app essay response.
This intro is really helpful, and for more than just giving you the required maximum wordcount. They emphasize that they want you to relate whatever you write about to the Carolina community specifically, and they also don’t want to see you repeating things. This is an important piece of guidance to keep in mind across all of your college applications. Don’t repeat things. Now let’s get into the prompts.
Prompt #1: Discuss one of your personal qualities and share a story, anecdote, or memory of how it helped you make a positive impact on a community. This could be your current community or another community you have engaged.
We love this prompt, but it’s important to approach it in the reverse of how they present it. Instead of saying what quality you want to highlight and then relating it to a story, we highly recommend starting with a story that then illustrates the personal quality you want to spotlight. The story needs to connect to a community, and while they open the door to writing about a community you aren’t actually a member of, we warn students to stay away from using this as an opportunity to write about things like inspiring vacations or volunteer trips. Instead, look close to home, and focus on the small stuff.
For example, you could tell a story about helping to coordinate a community 5K running race, and how you used your ability to positively motivate those around you to overcome bad weather. Remember to connect whatever story you choose back to Carolina. Building on the example, this may mean researching clubs or community events that would also benefit from your motivational and organizational skills.
Prompt #2: Discuss an academic topic that you’re excited to explore and learn more about in college. Why does this topic interest you? Topics could be a specific course of study, research interests, or any other area related to your academic experience in college.
While Carolina asks you to write about any topic you’re interested in studying, we highly recommend focusing on what you hope to major in, with an additional layer for any specific area of focus or minor you plan to pursue alongside. Before you describe courses you’d want to take, a professor you would love to learn from, or a research opportunity you want to pursue, you need to make the reader as excited about the topic you’re focusing on as you are.
To accomplish this, begin with a story that exemplifies why you want to study this topic. Describing the topic doesn’t cut it. Instead, draw the reader into your passion through story. Maybe you start with a moment in class that sparked your imagination, or a passage of a book that made you rethink your understanding of something. Or it could be an experience that happened in the field, participating in research, or simply engaging with the world around you. Whatever you choose to focus on, keep it small, employ a lot of detail, and connect your academic passion to what Carolina has to offer.
Other Opportunities
When applying to UNC Chapel Hill, you’ll also be able to opt-in for consideration for a series of very cool programs such as the Global Gap Year Fellowship, which provides selected students with an $8,000 stipend and mentoring to accomplish a year of service before college, the Summer Study Abroad Fellowship, Carolina Spring Forward, a study abroad program in the spring of your first year, and the Phillips Passport Initiative.
If you are considering a pre-professional program that will likely require a graduate degree or that is highly competitive to get into as a major, you should also look at the Assured Enrollment Program, which guarantees accepted students a spot in a major they are aiming to pursue. These include majors like Biostatistics, Education, and Pharmacy.
Finally, if UNC Chapel Hill is your absolute first choice, you should definitely consider expressing interest in the Carolina Global Launch program. Expressing interest in the program doesn’t impact your likelihood of getting in as a first year but if they are not able to offer you a spot in the fall class the Carolina Global Launch program may still be an option. This program sends a small group of students on a study abroad program for their first semester of college before they begin on the Chapel Hill campus and join the first-year class in the spring.
Alongside our expert guidance, the university offers useful recommendations (that happen, unsurprisingly, to align with ours) for a strong application, from sharing specific details to allowing time for a series of drafts. Give it a read as part of your preparation process for this supplement.
If UNC Chapel Hill is at the top of your list, email us to learn more. We can help.