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I had pretty good grades but I couldn’t get into any great universities with my stats. Best I could do was UNC-CH.

The bifurcation is extremely real in my experience, and I’m not in the charmed class.

But your claim is built on certain assumptions that there is a certain path to get in based on “stats”. Sometimes you can improve your chances because there are other paths to get in. I don’t know if it’s still the case, but years back schools were clamoring to get veterans. I know some who were accepted to prestigious schools despite relatively underwhelming “stats” had they applied straight out of high school.

I’m not saying military service is for everybody, just that there are more paths than the well-worn templates most people attempt to emulate.

You're not wrong! But the classic "get good grades, get good scores, do A, B, C, D" gets you into a school like UNC in state at best. Most people don't have the opportunities to do the sorts of things that get people into top schools (and hoard opportunity).

Since when is UNC-CH not a great university?

I was in-state, where the acceptance rate is around ~50%.

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