Here are the best colleges and universities in North Carolina. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you.
Among these schools are over 60 public colleges and universities, including the state’s largest school, North Carolina State University, which serves almost 30,000 students. Tuition costs average about $9,000, just below the national average, and students also have the option to enroll in over 1,000 online courses. Another notable public school is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is one of the country’s oldest universities.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
The 25,000 students who attend UNC will walk the same halls as Francis Collins, Thomas Wolfe, and former president James K. Polk. North Carolina’s private schools have also made a name for themselves, including the well-known Duke University located in Durham. Here, students can earn degrees in some of the top programs, like nursing, political science, and business. Additionally, students can attend one of the many small schools which serve less than 5,000 students, like Campbell University in Buies Creek, or a religiously affiliated school, like Mid-Atlantic Christian University in Elizabeth City.
From its coastal beaches to its lush forests, it’s no wonder the Wright Brothers dreamed of taking flight over North Carolina. This state is rich with history, scenic views, and famous people who once called it home, like John Coltrane and Nicholas Sparks. Students hoping to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree also have the option of choosing from over 100 schools in the Tar Heel State.
Whether you prefer ocean views or wooded forests, North Carolina has something for everyone. Discover more about the state’s higher learning options.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we call “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Every fall, more than 2 million high-school graduates will enroll in colleges and universities across the United States. Finding the best college for your educational, personal, and professional goals may be challenging. The purpose of this ranking is to help you manage this challenge with an accurate, objective, and up-to-date ranking of the best colleges and universities in North Carolina for earning a bachelor’s degree.
We’ve identified a total of 49 colleges and universities in North Carolina, 25 of which meet our criteria. The list below of the best schools in the state focuses on those that offer four-year undergraduate degrees, includes both public and private colleges and universities, and also meet the following two conditions:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
8%
Graduation
96%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1525/34
Duke University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
25%
Graduation
91%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1405/30
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
32%
Graduation
89%
Student body
8K
Wake Forest University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
20%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1397/31
Davidson College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
46%
Graduation
84%
Student body
31K
Median SAT/ACT
1335/29
North Carolina State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
49%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/20
Guilford College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
42%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1177/25
Warren Wilson College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
57%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/24
Queens University of Charlotte’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
73%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/25
Appalachian State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
52%
Graduation
56%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1025/20
Catawba College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
49%
Graduation
44%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
881/16
Johnson C. Smith University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
65%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1205/24
University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
83%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1240/27
Elon University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
65%
Student body
24K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/22
East Carolina University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
59%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/22
University of North Carolina at Greensboro’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
56%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
Campbell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
66%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1025/19
Salem College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
69%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/25
High Point University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
62%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/24
University of North Carolina at Asheville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
64%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/21
Meredith College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$4K
Acceptance
48%
Graduation
64%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/22
Western Carolina University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
74%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1245/24
University of North Carolina Wilmington’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
52%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/20
Barton College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
49%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1030/20
Wingate University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$22K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
46%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1000/19
University of Mount Olive’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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