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UNC-Chapel Hill welcomes 2,700 new graduate students
(Note: The following statistics are preliminary. Final fall semester enrollment figures will be available in September.)
(Chapel Hill, N.C.— Aug. 25, 2017) – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill welcomed an estimated 2,700 master’s and doctoral students on campus this week. Graduate students make up 29 percent of Carolina’s total student enrollment.
Among the 15,697 individuals who applied for fall 2017, 4,980 applicants were accepted for admittance.
| Applied | Admitted | |
| North Carolina | 1587 | 911 |
| Out-of-state | 14110 | 4069 |
| Total | 15697 | 4980 |
As of Aug. 10, the share of new graduate students identifying themselves as a race or ethnicity other than Caucasian is 36.5 percent. Other race or ethnicities include: Asian, 10.7 percent; two or more races, 10.7 percent; African American, 7.9 percent; Latino or Latina, 6.7 percent; American Indian or Alaska Native, less than 1 percent; and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, less than 1 percent.
An estimated 89.5 percent of the new graduate students are U.S. citizens, and 10.5 percent are international students. The top countries of origin for new international graduate students are China, India and the Republic of Korea. International graduate students represent nearly 14 percent of Carolina’s total graduate student population.
“Graduate students are vital to UNC-Chapel Hill’s reputation as a world leader in research and they are great mentors to undergraduates. As alumni, they are strong ambassadors of Carolina’s excellence,” said Steve Matson, dean of The Graduate School. “We live in an increasingly complex world, and employers representing many, many professional fields are seeking their specialized knowledge and leadership skills.”
The Graduate School, in collaboration with faculty and programs campus-wide, recently established a new initiative to help graduate students build professional skills, while pursuing new knowledge in their academic fields.
In summer 2017, the Graduate School began accepting applications for its new Graduate Certificate in Business Fundamentals, which focuses on helping graduate students further develop their professional skill set. Courses in writing, oral presentation, project management, leadership and accounting are included in the certificate program.
According to Matson, graduate student interest in these types of courses has increased significantly during the past five years, and the certificate responds to both student interest and the needs of the workplace.
The Graduate School features diverse programs, development opportunities, awards and fellowships. More details can be found here.
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About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, is a global higher education leader known for innovative teaching, research and public service. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina regularly ranks as the best value for academic quality in U.S. public higher education. Now in its third century, the University offers 77 bachelor’s, 111 master’s, 65 doctorate and seven professional degree programs through 14 schools and the College of Arts and Sciences. Every day, faculty, staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service to meet North Carolina’s most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties. Carolina’s more than 318,000 alumni live in all 50 states and 157 countries. More than 167,000 live in North Carolina.
The Graduate School contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-6326, saine@email.unc.edu
University Communications contact: MC VanGraafeiland, (919) 962-7090, mc.vangraafeiland@unc.edu