On Thursday, July 24, UNC-Chapel Hill announced in a release that it will begin giving out admissions decisions sooner for early applicants from North Carolina.

In-state first-year applicants for the Fall 2026 semester who meet the October 15, 2025 early action deadline will receive their decisions by December 20. Previously, all early action decisions were released in late January.

“Speeding up our decision timeline is part of our commitment to the state and people of North Carolina,” said Rachelle Feldman, vice provost of enrollment at UNC-Chapel Hill. “Many North Carolina high school seniors are excited about attending Carolina but can find the college application process stressful. By notifying our North Carolina early action applicants before the December holidays, we hope to ease the stress of decision making and planning and give admitted students more time to explore all that Chapel Hill has to offer.”

Alongside the change for in-state students, out-of-state applicants can expect their early action decisions by February 10. The regular decision deadline of January 15 and the admission decision date of March 31 will remain the same, as will the May 1 deadline for students’ enrollment decisions.

In a February conversation with 97.9 The Hill, UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts spoke on the need for increased admissions at UNC, and the housing changes that would come alongside such an increase. As of July, UNC has 20,885 enrolled undergraduate students. The class of 2025 had 4,358 undergrads.

UNC’s student body is already comprised primarily of in-state students. In 2024, 4,608 of the school’s admitted students were from North Carolina and 1,016 were out-of-state and international students. There were 73,192 total applicants.

In its statement, Carolina encouraged all students to consider applying by the early action deadline in order to receive an earlier decision, and to have a better chance of receiving scholarships and other academic benefits.

 

Featured image via Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill

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