Western Carolina University Review

Western Carolina University, located in Cullowhee, North Carolina, enrolls over 9,000 students. It offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, as well as online programs, continuing education and enrichment classes for the local community.

Western Carolina University Overview

Founded in 1889 as a secondary school, Western Carolina University (WCU) later expanded into a junior college. In 1929, WCU was chartered as a 4-year institution under the name of Western Carolina Teachers College. In 1967, it was finally designated a regional university and adopted its current name of Western Carolina University.

Western Carolina has more than 120 major programs, including online programs; the university's online entrepreneurship graduate program was ranked as one of the top five programs of this type in the U.S. by Fortune Small Business in 2007. It also has an award-winning teacher education program that received the 2007l Christa McAuliffe Excellence award given by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. Popular majors at Western Carolina include education, criminal justice and nursing.

Admissions and Enrollment Overview

In order to become a student at Western Carolina University, applicants must graduate from high school high school, submit their ACT or SAT scores and complete the online application. A transcript copy from the applicant's high school is also required. Once WCU has made its decision, a packet will be sent to the student with more information regarding housing and orientation.

At Western Carolina, 74% of students receive financial aid. Students must first apply for the FAFSA, which allows WCU to determine the amount of financial aid--usually consisting of loans, grants, scholarships and work study--for which the student may apply. Western Carolina has 49 university-specific merit- and need-based scholarships, two development office scholarships, ten Office of Financial Aid scholarships and many other scholarships per each department in the school.

Campus Learning Environment and Facilities

Western Carolina University houses the Hunter Library, western North Carolina's largest library. It has over 700,000 books, 1.5 million microfilm units and 23,000 e-books.

WCU also has a fine and performing arts center, a high-tech medical simulation lab, network-quality digital TV and recording studies and a fine arts museum. It also has a physical therapy lab for analyzing human movement and, for nursing and health sciences students, a health care simulation lab. The class ratio at WCU is 13 students to one faculty member.

Western Carolina University Colleges

  • College of Business
  • College of Arts & Sciences
  • College of Fine & Performing Arts
  • College of Education & Allied Professions
  • College of Health & Human Sciences
  • Kimmel School of Construction Management & Technology

School Contact Information

  • Address: 102 Camp Building, WCU, Cullowhee, NC 28723
  • Phone Number: (828)227-7317