Applicants, Acceptance Rate, Yield Trends at Western Carolina

At Western Carolina University, the average acceptance rate over the past 11 years is 55.30%, and 2024's acceptance rate is 87.00%. Western Carolina's acceptance rate has been higher every year for the past 3 years.

The average yield (enrollment rate) over the period is 23.08%, and the 2024 yield is 13.00%.

The number of Western Carolina applicants decreased by 1.48% (266 applicants) compared to the previous year.

Acceptance Rate Changes

The average acceptance rate over the last 10 years is 55.30%, and this year's acceptance rate is 87.00% at Western Carolina University. By gender, men students' acceptance rate is 55.76% and women students' rate is 55.03%.

The following table and chart illustrate the acceptance rates changes at Western Carolina University over the past 11 years (2013-2024).

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Men	Women
	2013-14	37.66%	38.71%	36.92%
2014-15	43.11% 5.45%	44.43% 5.71%	42.21% 5.28%
2015-16	40.27% -2.84%	40.88% -3.55%	39.85% -2.35%
2016-17	40.69% 0.42%	42.18% 1.30%	39.68% -0.18%
2017-18	38.84% -1.85%	41.71% -0.47%	36.99% -2.69%
2018-19	39.66% 0.82%	42.35% 0.65%	37.94% 0.95%
2019-20	68.71% 29.05%	68.78% 26.42%	68.66% 30.72%
2020-21	48.48% -20.23%	49.29% -19.49%	47.98% -20.69%
2021-22	79.00% 30.51%	79.00% 29.71%	80.00% 32.02%
2022-23	84.84% 5.84%	83.07% 4.07%	86.10% 6.10%
2023-24	87.00% 2.16%	83.01% -0.06%	89.00% 2.91%
Average	55.30%	55.76%	55.03%

Admission Yield (Enrollment Rate) Changes

The average admission yield of the last 11 years is 23.08% where the current academic year yield is 13.00%.

The following table and chart illustrate the changes in yield at Western Carolina University from 2013 to 2024.

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Total	Men	Women
2013-14	27.16%	28.91%	25.88%
2014-15	26.45% -0.71%	28.91% 0.00%	24.69% -1.19%
2015-16	23.00% -3.46%	25.21% -3.70%	21.46% -3.23%
2016-17	25.84% 2.85%	27.89% 2.68%	24.36% 2.90%
2017-18	26.53% 0.68%	28.37% 0.48%	25.18% 0.82%
2018-19	28.65% 2.12%	30.84% 2.47%	27.09% 1.91%
2019-20	27.56% -1.09%	30.03% -0.81%	25.89% -1.20%
2020-21	25.01% -2.55%	27.87% -2.15%	23.16% -2.73%
2021-22	18.00% -7.01%	21.00% -6.87%	16.00% -7.16%
2022-23	12.71% -5.29%	14.10% -6.89%	11.83% -4.17%
2023-24	13.00% 0.29%	15.00% 0.89%	12.00% 0.17%
Average	23.08%	25.28%	21.60%

Applicants, Admitted, and Enrolled Headcount Changes

Over the past 10 years, The average number of applicants is 16,357, the average number of admitted is 8,894, and the average number of first-year enrolled students is 1,886.

The number of Western Carolina applicants decreased by 1.48% (266 applicants) compared to the previous year.

The following table and chart show the changes of applicants, admitted, and enrolled headcount at Western Carolina University from 2013 to 2024.

• Trends Table
• Interactive Chart
• Downloadable Chart

Year	Applicants	Admitted	Enrolled
2013-14	15,231	5,736	1,558
2014-15	15,398 1.10%	6,638 15.73%	1,756 12.71%
2015-16	17,699 14.94%	7,127 7.37%	1,639 -6.66%
2016-17	18,297 3.38%	7,445 4.46%	1,924 17.39%
2017-18	19,391 5.98%	7,532 1.17%	1,998 3.85%
2018-19	19,344 -0.24%	7,672 1.86%	2,198 10.01%
2019-20	11,128 -42.47%	7,646 -0.34%	2,107 -4.14%
2020-21	15,036 35.12%	7,290 -4.66%	1,823 -13.48%
2021-22	12,308 -18.14%	9,723 33.37%	1,750 -4.00%
2022-23	17,917 45.57%	15,201 56.34%	1,932 10.40%
2023-24	18,183 1.48%	15,819 4.07%	2,056 6.42%
Average	16,357	8,894	1,886

Compare Acceptance Rate Change to Similar Colleges

The following table compares acceptance rate changes from last year between Western Carolina University and similar schools.