For the right candidates, applying in Round 4 to the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business is by all means a worthwhile endeavor, the school’s admission director assures us. We spoke yesterday with Sherry Wallace, who has led admissions at the Chapel Hill business school for close to two decades. “Every year we get as many as 10 to 15 percent of our applicants in Round 4, and we fully intend to admit from this round,” she says.
In fact, the school will continue to accept applications beyond the March 11th Round 4 deadline if the class is not set at that time, and most of the time it’s not, Wallace says. “We don’t want to discourage anyone who happens to find us late to apply even then,” she says. To be clear, there are not a ton of seats still available after the Round 4 deadlines, she says. “But for the right candidate who finds us late, there can definitely still be a spot.”
The school’s final round is positioned by design relative to the enrollment deposit deadlines for the second and third rounds, Wallace explains. Kenan-Flagler’s deposit deadline for Rounds 2 and 3 is April 15th, as it is for many schools. “So by the time we are making decisions on Round 4, we know what we have yielded for the other three rounds,” she says. “I can remember maybe one year in the 17 or so that I have been doing this when we were overflowing and couldn’t make any offers in Round 4.” But she absolutely does not want anyone to believe that there is no chance of admission in Round 4. “Wouldn’t that be kind of mean to offer a round if no one would be accepted?” she asks.
Wallace also wants to address concerns on the part of international applicants about applying in the final round. “I can say that international students who are admitted in our last round should have no problem getting visas—we haven’t had that be an issue,” she says. “Now, if they don’t react right away—if they sit on the offer for a while—then they may have issues,” she says. “But as long as they act as soon as they get a late-round acceptance, they should be fine.”
Wallace is very pleased with application volume so far, noting that it has matched last year’s volume, resulting in a second consecutive year of double-digit increases. “Our domestic pool is slightly bigger this year, but we still also have really strong candidates from outside the U.S.,” she says. “I am happy with the quality of the students who have accepted thus far and have every reason to believe we will have a really strong class,” she continues. “If I were looking and thinking about whether I might want to join Kenan-Flagler, I would think this is a great year.”
Don’t miss our latest admissions tip for more on applying to business school in the final rounds.
