Western Carolina University Business Programs

Located in Cullowhee, North Carolina, Western Carolina University is a public institution. Cullowhee is a great place for students who enjoy small town life.

Western Carolina University Rankings

Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at WCU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#8	Best Value Hospitality Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Value Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Value Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Value Entrepreneurial Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Value Management Information Systems Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Best Value Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#41	Most Popular Online Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#46	Best Value Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#111	Most Popular Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#154	Most Popular Business Administration & Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards WCU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#26	Best Value Colleges for Marketing/Marketing Management, General	College Factual
#38	Best Value Colleges for Marketing	College Factual
#48	Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Accounting	College Factual
#49	Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Business Administration & Management	College Factual
#58	Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Business, Management & Marketing	College Factual
#74	Best Value Colleges for Finance & Financial Management	College Factual

Where Is Western Carolina University?

Contact details for WCU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	Highway 107, Cullowhee, NC 28723-9646
Phone:	828-227-7100
Website:	www.wcu.edu
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/WesternCarolinaUniversity
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/WCU

How Do I Get Into WCU?

You can apply to WCU online at: www.wcu.edu/apply/undergraduate-admissions/apply.aspx

Admission Requirements for WCU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	considered but not required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into WCU?

You'll need to do what you can to make your application stand out if you plan to apply to WCU. The school screens its applicants carefully and has a fairly low acceptance rate of 48%. So, don't just throw your admission packet together at the last minute!

Approximately 39% of accepted students are men and 61% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 49%, and the acceptance rate for women is 48%.

Average Test Scores

About 46% of students accepted to WCU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 510 and 620. Math scores were between 510 and 600.

WCU received ACT scores from 65% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 19 and 24. Math scores were between 18 and 25. Composite scores were between 20 and 25.

Can I Afford Western Carolina University?

The overall average net price of WCU is $18,207. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At WCU, approximately 61% of students took out student loans averaging $6,480 a year. That adds up to $25,920 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at WCU is 5.2%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Western Carolina University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 10,517 undergraduate students at WCU, with 8,760 being full-time and 1,757 being part-time.

There are also 1,726 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 8,760 full-time undergraduates at WCU, 45% are male and 55% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Western Carolina University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	111
Black or African American	428
Hispanic or Latino	728
White	6,888
International Students	107
Other Races/Ethnicities	498

Geographic Diversity

North Carolina students aren't the only ones who study at Western Carolina University. At this time, 25 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 36 countries are represented at WCU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Canada.

Online Learning at Western Carolina University

In 2019-2020, 9,903 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at WCU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 4th most popular in North Carolina for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of WCU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Western Carolina University was $4,285 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $8,285. The following table shows how WCU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Other Marketing	#1	#1
Finance	#1	#1
Finance & Financial Management	#4	#1
Marketing	#7	#39
Interior Design Management	#7	#31
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	#10	#59
Human Resource Management	#19	#74

Online Growth Rankings of WCU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Western Carolina University was 12.4%. This is the #1,156 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at WCU regardless of major.

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at WCU ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at WCU.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Other Marketing	#13
Finance	#61
Finance & Financial Management	#92
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	#114
Interior Design Management	#124
Marketing	#181
Human Resource Management	#206

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Western Carolina University Business Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
General Business Administration and Management	242	0	24	266
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	84	0	0	84
Accounting	54	0	21	75
Interior Design Management	0	31	36	67
Other Marketing	35	0	24	59
Finance	51	0	0	51
General Management Information Systems	42	0	0	42
General Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration	0	0	35	35
General Hospitality Administration/Management	33	0	0	33
Entrepreneurship	12	0	0	12
TOTAL	553	31	140	724

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics

More about our data sources and methodologies.