The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill welcomed 2,514 master’s and doctoral students to campus in August. Graduate students make up 29 percent of Carolina’s total student enrollment.
Among the 15,550 individuals who applied for fall 2017, 5,156 applicants were accepted for admittance.
| Applied | Admitted | |
| North Carolina | 1,783 | 1,110 |
| Out-of-state | 13,767 | 4,046 |
| Total | 15,550 | 5,156 |
The share of new graduate students identifying themselves as a race or ethnicity other than Caucasian is 37 percent. Other race or ethnicities include: Asian, 12.8 percent; two or more races, 9.6 percent; African American, 7.2 percent; Latino or Latina, 6.8 percent; American Indian or Alaska Native, less than 1 percent; and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, less than 1 percent.
Eighty-five percent of the new graduate students are U.S. citizens, and 12.3 percent are international students. The top countries of origin for new international graduate students are China, India, the Republic of Korea and Brazil. International graduate students represent about 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.