Is UNC harder to get into than Tulane?

Yes, for most applicants UNC is harder to get into than Tulane, especially if you are applying from out of state. UNC Chapel Hill is a public flagship that gives a strong admissions preference to North Carolina residents, and its out-of-state spots are limited by state policy. Tulane is also selective, but its process is shaped more by heavy interest tracking and application strategy than by a residency cap.

For a North Carolina student, the comparison is closer. UNC is still a very selective school with a large, high-achieving applicant pool, but in-state applicants are in the group the university is built to serve. For a student outside North Carolina, UNC becomes much tougher because you are competing for a relatively small share of the class.

Tulane tends to fit students who are strategic about the way they apply. It pays close attention to demonstrated interest, and its Early Decision round can matter a lot. That means some applicants with strong interest in Tulane may have a more realistic path there than they would at UNC, where residency status and broad academic strength carry more weight than interest signals.

So if you are trying to judge raw difficulty, UNC is usually the more difficult admit for out-of-state students, while for North Carolina residents it is still highly selective but not automatically tougher than Tulane in every case.