Admissions & selectivity
Western Carolina University Acceptance Rate & Admissions
What is the acceptance rate at Western Carolina University?
Western Carolina University’s reported acceptance rate is 81.8%.
- Acceptance rate · Fall 2024
- 81.8%
Source: College Scorecard · Fall 2024 admissions. Acceptance rates can change from year to year; this figure does not predict the current or next admission cycle.
Source: Western Carolina University Common Data Set 2024-25, C1 · first-time, first-year students.
How to interpret the acceptance rate
Western Carolina University admitted 81.8% of applicants, meaning that rate describes the share admitted from the reported applicant pool. That is above the median of 78.1% for comparable institutions (same type and size).
In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 19,728 first-year applicants and 16,138 admitted applicants.
What SAT and ACT scores do Western Carolina University students report?
In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported that 15% of enrolled first-year students with a reported class rank finished in the highest tenth of their high-school class. 39% finished in the highest quarter.
These shares describe the students who submitted a rank, not the entire entering class. For enrolled students who submitted SAT scores, the middle half scored from 1,080 to 1,270.
The corresponding ACT range is 19 to 25. These ranges describe the twenty-fifth through seventy-fifth percentiles of recent enrolled score submitters, not a minimum for admission.
Applicants can compare their own scores with the university's 1,080 to 1,270 SAT range. The ACT range is 19 to 25. The figures reflect enrolled students who chose to submit scores.
The ranges below describe enrolled students who submitted test scores at Western Carolina University. Use them as academic context, then check the university’s current testing policy for your application cycle.
- Approximate lower endpoint
- 1080
- Approximate upper endpoint
- 1270
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff. The endpoints add section percentiles; they are not verified composite-score percentiles. A separate SAT-equivalent average is not plotted as a median. Source: College Scorecard; sum of section 25th/75th percentiles; enrolled score-submitters.
- 25th percentile
- 19
- 75th percentile
- 25
Enrolled students who submitted scores. This range is not an admission cutoff.
Figures cover fall 2024.
Who enrolls at Western Carolina University?
- Pell Grant recipients
- 34.6%
- Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group
- 33.8%
- First-year retention
- 79.1%
Retention source: College Scorecard; full-time first-year retention.
About these student measures
The entering-student group includes part-time entrants as well as other attendance patterns.
Western Carolina University draws undergraduates through both federal grant aid and transfer entry, rather than a single route into the university. Federal enrollment figures list 10,024 undergraduates; 34.6% receive Pell Grants, and an estimated 33.8% are transfer-in students.
This composition suggests that aid recipients and people continuing prior college study are both part of the undergraduate population. In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 19,728 first-year applicants and 16,138 admitted.
Enrolled students can expect retention and completion measures below comparable-institution medians, although Pell recipients finish at a higher rate than the overall rate. For the first-time full-time cohort, the six-year graduation rate is 60.3%, below the peer median of 65.0% for comparable institutions.
Pell recipients in that cohort have a six-year completion rate of 61.9%, above the overall rate by 1.6 percentage points. First-year retention among full-time bachelor’s-seeking entrants is 79.1%, below the peer median of 83.1%. Both overall measures sit below their peer benchmarks.
Data & methodology
Sources and reporting periods: methodology.
Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.
Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.
Admission rates describe past applicants, not an individual’s chance of admission; confirm requirements and deadlines with the institution.
Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.