The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill is a top public research university and has a long tradition of welcoming transfers with strong academics and a clear sense of direction. They welcome about transfers each year, joining a robust transfer community on campus.
For the fall of 2024, UNC-Chapel Hill received 4,692 applications for transfer and admitted 1,713 (37%). This is a strong transfer acceptance rate, but remember that it is skewed by students who are in-state applicants coming from two-year colleges in North Carolina. Gaining admission as an out-of-state transfer from a four-year college is much more difficult, although the numbers aren’t published.
Below, we break down the supplements that are a crucial piece of the UNC-Chapel Hill application regardless of whether you are from North Carolina or an out-of-state applicant. Depending on your proposed major, though, there are additional requirements. The list of majors impacted by these additional requirements is long:
Biomedical Engineering Major, B.S., Biostatistics Major, B.S.P.H., Business Administration Major, B.S.B.A., Clinical Laboratory Science Major, B.S., Community and Global Public Health Major, B.S.P.H., Data Science Major, B.S., Dental Hygiene Major, B.S., Environmental Health Sciences Major, B.S.P.H., Health Policy and Management Major, B.S.P.H., Human and Organizational Leadership Development Major, B.A., Human Development and Family Science Major, B.A.Ed., Information Science Major, B.S., Media and Journalism Major, B.A., Neurodiagnostics and Sleep Science, B.S., Nutrition Major, B.S.P.H., or Radiologic Science, B.S.
And the additional requirements are appropriately varied, too. They range from courses you must have taken before applying to transfer to minimum grade requirements for particularly important courses. Some of the deadlines are also different, so really do as soon as possible…like now…if your prospective major is part of the list above.
Now, though, let’s break down the questions every prospective transfer needs to answer as part of their application.
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The UNC-Chapel Hill transfer application has three pieces of writing, one of which will look mighty familiar from when you first applied to college as a high school senior.
THE PERSONAL STATEMENT
The first essay you’ll need to tackle is made up of just about the same prompts that are asked of first-year applicants: the iconic Common App essay. You cannot, however, reuse the essay you wrote way back in senior year. A key piece of a strong transfer essay is evidence of growth, and this is a great place to show that.
The personal statement helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want admissions readers to know about you that is not reflected elsewhere in your application? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay using the prompt to inspire and structure your response (1,250 - 3,250 characters, approx. 250 - 650 words).
Please select a prompt below to help you write your personal statement:
Now, this essay has seven prompt options. That’s a lot to pick from, but there is only one that we ever recommend selecting: the last one. We’re going to give you some guidance on the first six options, but we really mean it when we say that #7 is the obvious selection. When you select 1-6, you are being assessed based on both the quality of your essay and how you answered the question. When you select #7, your essay gets to stand alone. That, to us, is reason alone to pick #7.
Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
This prompt is a good starting point for a strong essay, but we still prefer putting a potential answer in the #7 “do whatever you want” slot. If you do want to use this prompt, though, remember that, to quote every high school English teacher, show, don’t tell. Don’t tell them about your background, identity, interest, or talent — show them how it is meaningful to you through a specific story.
The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
We do not like this question. Not because we don’t like writing about challenges, but because that is all this prompt is about. We’d rather you weave a challenge into an essay than make an essay about an obstacle or challenge. If you do answer this question, make sure a significant portion of your answer is showing what you learned from the experience through a story.
Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
If we have a least favorite, this is it. It is so easy to come off as self-important or self-righteous in response to this type of prompt, which is why we dislike it as a supplemental question as well. It also tends to lead students to write “big” things like God or systems of power. We’ve found that focusing on small, emotionally intimate, and personal stories actually lead to much better outcomes. Our vote: skip it.
Describe a problem you've solved or a problem you'd like to solve. It can be an intellectual challenge, a research query, an ethical dilemma-anything that is of personal importance, no matter the scale. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took or could be taken to identify a solution.
Not to sounds like a broken record, but we dislike this one for much the same reasons as the two above. We get that they are trying to be helpful by giving options rather than simply the directive to “write something” and a blank box. But this begs the question of why you haven’t solved the problem yet. If you have something that you feel could go here, pick #7 and tell that story in a way that isn’t constrained by the prompt.
Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
We don’t hate this, but we’d still rather you pick #7 because of the bandwidth it gives you. Instead of writing about an event, we want you to write about yourself through the lens or experience of an event. Even just the direction to “discuss” leads to bad essay structure, with you reflecting more than scene-setting. We want the readers to lean forward as they read your essay, not to lean back assuming that they ‘get it’ because you summarized everything interesting in the first few sentences.
Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
Honestly, we love this prompt. We’d rather you write about something that fascinates you in the next one, but writing about something that you feel passionate about is a great way to connect with the reader, show your enthusiasm for learning beyond the classroom, and to help them envision you as part of the UNC-Chapel Hill community.
Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.
Hello, we have arrived. So, obviously, this is the one we like, but with an important caveat: do not submit an essay you’ve already written. This needs to be a new personal essay that shows who you are, and it needs to focus on something that has happened since high school graduation. You are, except in real outlier circumstances, well over 18 now. You were a kid last time you applied to college, and now you are an adult. Your responsibilities, vision, passion, and plans have shifted. UNC-Chapel Hill doesn’t ask applicants to explain the reason for why they want to transfer, but this essay should chart a growth curve that suggests at what has led you to this moment where you see the university as your next step.
SHORT ANSWERS
After the main essay, there are two shorter essays and you need to respond to both of them.
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.
The best way to find what to write about here is by filtering. Start broad: what are communities that you exist in and contribute to in some way. This could range from a faith community or neighborhood where you run food drives to a sports community where you coach young athletes. It could also be academic, but we like to try to look beyond academics as the next prompt really covers the academic side of things.
Once you’ve identified a community, you need to pick a moment. This is really the core of the essay. The essay isn’t about a place or even a group of people, but about how you engage with that place and with those people. The moment can be quite small, like supporting another person through learning a new thing and watching it ‘click’ for them and unlock new opportunities, and there should not be a lot (if any) time spent on preachy “and so this is what I learned” type fluff. Instead, put the words into making the story as compelling and vivid as possible, which itself will communicate the bigger messages that would otherwise feel heavy-handed.
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.
The second short supplement is the academic one. Again, they don’t ask you to legitimize your reasons for transferring, but the academic angle should come through on this essay. They’ll see your transcript, they’ll see what you want to major in at UNC-Chapel Hill, and they’ll have a recommendation to guide their understanding of your academic passions, but this is a place to plant a stake in the proverbial ground. Similar to the last, though, story needs to be the guide.
Use an experience or example from within your area of deepest academic interest to illuminate your passion for the subject (biofluorescence, anyone?). This example should be something you have already engaged with hands-on, not simply something that you have read about in books, and the way you write about it needs to convey your excitement. Then, weave in how you will explore this at UNC, from courses to research, to studying under a specific professor or two. Paint a picture for them of how you will pursue the subject on campus, leading to greater understanding and new breakthrough moments.
AND MORE…
UNC-Chapel Hill emphasizes that they want to get to know you in your application, and not only the parts that are flashy or directly relevant to your major. If you work part time, that is relevant. If you have a deep passion that wouldn’t otherwise show up on your application, that is important. Both types of things should be included in your experiences and achievements section.
For recommendations, UNC-Chapel Hill only requires one — so pick your recommender carefully. Like with activities, the fanciest sounding thing isn’t the best here. It should be someone relevant to your major but also someone who can speak about you as more than solely how you show up in the classroom.
Standardized testing is sometimes required and, interestingly, students over 21, who have completed more than 24 college credits, or who are active-duty military or a veteran .
The UNC-Chapel Hill transfer application has layers, from major-specific requirements to a sometimes confusing standardized testing policy, so we recommend starting early, working methodically, and always putting passion and story at the center.
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