North Carolina State University (Take 2)
NC State University (visited 3/23/24) (Click here to see my post from my 3/2012 visit)
Fun fact: State sells more Chic-fil-a than anywhere else on the east coast.
“This school isn’t as hard to get into as the one down the street – but it’s harder to get OUT of! A lot of people have no idea how intense the academics are here,” said one person we talked to. During the student panel, we asked them why they chose State over their other choices.
- “The reputation; it’s academically rigorous, but there’s also an emphasis on inclusion, sports, and other things.”
- “We can tell that the professors love what they’re doing. I’ve found them really approachable. They’ve been willing to help out.”
- “There are ways to create smaller homes on this large campus. You’ll find your people.”
Along those lines, we asked them how their view of NC State changed since arriving:
- “I didn’t want to go here; I didn’t see it before I got here because of Covid. I ended up loving it! I give tours and recruit people, so that should tell you all you need to know. People here are spirited and passionate. There’s a lot of school spirit.”
- “The campus continues to grow. They’re trying to improve things. We’re currently putting up a building to help do more research.”
A rep told us, “No one is going to do it for you here. It’s a big public university. We have all the resources and want to help you, but no one is going to tell you that you have to.”
In 2023, they received 43,878 apps, admitting about 17,900 of them (for an incoming class of about 5,600 first-year students). “We have room for out-of-state students, not like some other colleges I won’t name. [NC requires that their public institutions enroll at least 82% NC residents]. We’re not as popular yet for students coming from other states.” Their in-state acceptance rate was about 45%; acceptance for non-NC residents was in the 35-40% range.
Each application is read by 2 admissions officers. “We aren’t quite as holistic as we’d like to be since academics are at the forefront of our decisions.” During the admission process, they recalculate GPAs to the NC scale (adding 1 point for AP and .5 for Honors). The averages for admitted students last year were: 4.22-4.48 weighted GPA/3.84-4.0 unweighted GPA. The readers can see the last 3 years of decisions from an applicant’s school which helps them put the students and their schools into context with what was offered and how students have done in a similar academic environment. “We’re trying to compare apples to apples as much as possible.”
This is the state’s land-grant institution, so of course their agricultural, animal sciences, and related fields are strong – but they offer amazing opportunities across the board. Students list a first and second choice major on their application. Admissions pays attention to this because of space issues and because some majors have specific prerequisites that students must meet to be successful in the program. Some majors that have gotten (or remain) popular based on applications numbers.
- Animal Science: 1507 apps for ~180 spots. Within the major, they offer Industry, Science, and Vet Bioscience concentrations as well as certificates in Swine Science and Animal Nutrition.
- Psychology: 2215 apps for 100 spots: they’ve seen a huge growth in the last 5 years; “it’s overwhelmed the department!”
- Sport Management: 1127 apps for 100 spots.
- For STEM majors, students MUST have taken pre-calc – and they prefer to see calc. “Sometimes there’s wiggle room, but sometimes we have to place them into a 2nd choice major or the Exploratory Program because we think they need to figure some things out before declaring a major or to see if they’ll be successful in what they say they’re interested in,” said one of the reps.
- All students coming into the School of Engineering start in the First-Year Engineering program, completing a Common Core of classes. This includes the Computer Science majors.
- Comp Sci is one of their most popular majors (as it is at a lot of schools!). Last year they got 3185 applications for 400 spots.
- NCSU recently got a $50m grant to grow their engineering program, much of which went to CompSci. This may help alleviate some of the space issues, but they anticipate that this will remain highly competitive.
- For undecided students, there’s an intentional, high-touch First Year Inquiry program so students can figure it out. They offer several “First Year” Programs within different schools geared to help students figure out majors and career paths:
- Environmental First Year Program.
- The Life Science First Year program got 5765 applications last year for a yield of 594 students. Students get to explore Biological Sciences (including microbiology), Biochem, Genetics, Nutrition, Plant Bio, and Zoology.
- They’re looking for a Social Science (and some other) First Year programs – “but that takes about 3 years to roll out,” said one of the Deans.
- Students coming into the Business School take the intro classes for all the concentrations!
- There are no majors in music, but minors. Students can rent instruments and take lessons. There are practices rooms: “I’d recommend using them or you’ll become a future tour story!” said our tour, adding that her freshman year roommate would practice in the room which annoyed a lot of people trying to study.
Students are going to have large classes; there’s no getting around them. For the students on the panel, their largest classes had: 200, 120, 265 and 205 (both Intro to Chem), 120 (Comm), and 200 (Intro Business). I asked what their favorite class has been and why they liked it so much:
- Audio Productions: “I didn’t think I was going to take it but ended up loving it. He had such a great attitude and was so passionate. I didn’t think I’d be good at it, and now want to do it for a career.”
- Data Communications: “This put in perspective how to talk to outwards to people outside of the STEM field. We had to improvise and be in the moment. There were only 8 people in the class! It was so much fun. We also did a book club through the class. Now I’m looking to take “Data for Dancers.” I have no idea what that is but I’m excited to try it.”
- Equitable Teaching Practices: “It had a lot has to do with the professor. I look to see if she’s teaching something, and I’ll even sign up for an 8:30am class – and that’s a strong statement coming from me! We looked at national legislation and what that looks like on the classroom level. How does it affect 5-year-olds? It was mixed at all levels – elementary and secondary so we learned about a lot of different perspectives.”
- Interpersonal Communications: “This was a 120-person class because it’s required in the dept – but the professor was all about no tech – it was so tedious taking notes and everything by hand, but I’ve never absorbed so much! It was totally engaging, and I learned a lot of niche facts.”
- Intro to Paper Sci Engineering. “The Professor was amazing and had really high energy. It was stuff that I knew I’d need to know someday.”
- Business Law: “This is kind of a beast. The prof had been a lawyer and was really passionate. I ended up finding the law so interesting.”
We asked the students how easy it was to get an internship and what supports were in place to help them:
- In Communications, students have to do one. “It’s a class; students have to have certain pre-reqs before they can do this, but there’s a lot of support.”
- Engineering works to get students in career pathways. “I had interviews lined up in the first month of my first year and an offer in the 2nd month.”
As you’d expect for a school this size, campus is huge. Train tracks cut through campus (and a couple trains passed through while with were there); there are 3 tunnels under them for students to get back and forth. One of them is the Free Expression Tunnel with all sorts of painting.
- Centennial campus, about half a mile from the main campus, houses the engineering and tech departments.
- They have a beautiful Humanities Quad; “we used to have a tree for every county in the state. I’m not sure if that still holds,” said the tour guide. They’ll light the quad red for victories like when a prof gets a grant.
- Their gym is a block long! They have 2 Olympic sized pools, a nutritional kitchen (students can take classes there), a 3-story rock climbing wall, camping equipment and kayaks. Students do have to take 2 fitness classes – “The first one is basic; the other can be more advanced. I’m taking a bunch just because they’re fun and actually skills that I’ll use.” They offer everything from snowboarding to scuba – the students are taken on trips.
Students are required to live on campus for the first year. They have multiple options for housing (including a couple “hotel-style” buildings). The Housing quads “are great – there’s always something going on,” said the tour guide – including competitions to get to call the volleyball court the “X Beach” (after whichever dorm wins). Students can’t choose their dorm as a first year, “but the Living Learning Communities are a bit of work-around on that.” Students told us that campus housing for upperclassman is hard to get unless you’re in Honors or a leader on campus, “but that’s kind of the case for any large school.” Food, students agreed, was generally pretty good – but “I wish the dining halls were open longer. There are some late-night labs that don’t get out until 10:15.” Another said, “I wish we had more meal exchanges at local restaurants just for some more variety.”
We asked students what Raleigh was like:
- It’s a young, up-and-coming city. It’s pretty cool. There’s plenty to do – I’d consider staying after graduation. I’ve never been bored. The art museum is impressive. As a freshman, I didn’t have a car and there are ways to get around.
- There’s a lot of diversity here, and a lot of companies are coming here.
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