Explore@UNC Registration

Regardless of when a family submits their form during the pre-registration period, we will sort all students into placement tiers according to the guidelines below.  

Tier 1: All rising seniors (Class of 2028) and rising juniors (Class of 2029) who primarily reside in North Carolina. 

Tier 2: All rising seniors (Class of 2028) and rising juniors (Class of 2029) who primarily reside outside of North Carolina in other U.S. states, territories, or international countries.  

Tier 3: All rising sophomores (Class of 2030) and rising freshmen (Class of 2031) who primarily reside in North Carolina. 

Tier 4: All rising sophomores (Class of 2030) and rising freshmen (Class of 2031) who primarily reside outside of North Carolina in other U.S. states, territories, or international countries. 

Please note:  

• Any returning students who have attended Explore@UNC in previous years will be elevated one level from their original tier. 

• Any students who are primary dependents of current UNC Chapel Hill Staff and Faculty will be elevated one level from their original tier. 

• For families pre-registering multiple students for the same session, all siblings in the family will be assigned to the tier corresponding to the oldest student.  

Upon selecting your session(s), the form will list the track offerings for that week. You must rank the tracks according to your preference.

For each session you would like your student to attend, you will rank the available tracks from 1 (most preferred) to 10 (least preferred). Remember that during each 1-week Explore@UNC session, students will participate in two separate two-day tracks. Following our general programming on Monday, students will take their first two-day track on Tuesday and Wednesday and then will switch into their second two-day track on Thursday and Friday. All students MUST have two tracks to fill their weekly schedule so when you are ranking your choices, be sure to list your more desired tracks at the top. For more information about the program’s structure, please see the “A Week at Explore@UNC” section on our website.

If you submit a form and later wish to change your preferences, you may submit a new form and indicate that you are replacing your previous submission. If multiple forms are submitted with conflicting rankings for the same session, we will use the latest submission as your final track rankings.

Some tracks are offered across several sessions due to high demand. However, students may only take the track once during the summer. So, if a student pre-registers for multiple sessions and ranks the same track highest each time, (i.e., always ranking Pre-Med as #1), the student will only be placed into that track for one session. For the remaining sessions, the students will be placed into the next highest ranked courses.  

Also, please only pre-register for weeks that you intend on accepting if offered a spot. Removing unwanted pre-registration weeks requires significant work for our team and will impact other students’ placements, so your consideration is appreciated.  

Based on the tiers described above, all pre-registered students will be placed into two tracks according to their preferences as space permits. If the number of students in a tier exceeds the number of seats remaining in a track, all students in that tier who requested that track will be placed into a lottery and will chosen randomly. Once space in a track fills, students will be placed into their next two highest ranked tracks with availability, and they will automatically be placed onto a waitlist for all higher ranked tracks that were full. 

Depending on the demand of the track, no or very few seats may open from the time of placement until the start of programs. If space opens in a track, the first student on the waitlist will be moved automatically into their higher-ranked track and will be notified of the change. Inquiries into a student’s position on a waitlist can be sent to explore@unc.edu. 

All pre-registrants will receive an email on Monday, January 25th notifying them of their two track placements, as well as whether they have been placed on a waitlist for a higher-ranked track. This notification will be sent to the parent email provided at the time of registration. 

The notification email will also contain a link to our Event Registration system where you will accept your student’s placements by submitting your payment via TouchNet.  

All students who receive placements on Monday January 25th will have until 11:59pm on Wednesday, January 27, 2027, to accept their placements and officially register for the program by paying through the TouchNet portal. If a placement is not accepted via payment by the January 27th deadline, the student will lose their place in their tracks.  

If a student is waitlisted for a preferred track, payment is still required to accept the assigned tracks and register for the program.  

The pre-registration tiered-priority process will not apply in the Open Registration period.  

All registrations received during the Open Registration period will be time-stamped and will be processed in the order received. Students will be offered placements on a rolling basis as space permits. 

Open registration placement offerings will be sent beginning on February 3. After February 3, notifications will be sent within 5 business days of the registration submission date. If families are offered placements, they will then have 48 hours to accept their placements via payment. Once all tracks reach capacity, everybody remaining in the queue will be notified that registration has closed. Inquiries about queue positions may be sent to explore@unc.edu.

Explore@UNC Intensive placements will be sent beginning on January 11. If families are offered placements, they will then have 48 hours to accept their placements via payment.

Depending on the demand of the track, no or very few seats may open from the time of placement until the start of programs. If space opens in a track, the first student on the waitlist will be moved automatically into their higher-ranked track and will be notified of the change. Inquiries into a student’s position on a waitlist can be sent to explore@unc.edu.