By Sue Luse

Location

Asheville is a city in western North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains. It’s known for its vibrant arts scene and historic architecture. Its Downtown Art District is filled with galleries and museums, and in the nearby River Arts District, former factory buildings house artists’ studios. UNC – Asheville is only a mile from town and has a gorgeous campus – beautiful view of the mountains.

Academics

This is a public liberal arts colleges which requires a liberal arts core. Their psychology and environmental science programs are nationally ranked. They have a very strong music technology program. Also offer unique atmospheric science and meteorolgy programs. BTW Asheville, and North Carolina in general, are known for their crazy weather patterns – they can range from the 70’s one day to snow the next.

Large variety of programs, departments, majors and minors. Undergraduate research is huge here. UNC Asheville founded one of the top conferences in the nation – the National Conference on Undergraduate Research – and to this day more than 60 percent of students complete original research on a topic of their choice. Also UNC Asheville overlaps with Appalachian State, Clemson, Warren Wilson, UNC Willmington (on the coast), Wofford, Furman, High Point and Elon.

Student Life

Student Body

UNC Asheville’s student body leans towards progressive and the city of Asheville is a more liberal city than others in this bible belt area.  The students here seem to yearn for a more liberal and tolerant atmosphere. There is 15% diversity which reflects the western North Carolina area. About 15% of students are from out-of-state. They have a small Greek system – about 5%. All freshman have to live on campus and 42% overall live on campus, while the rest of the students live in apartments close by.

Activities

Music and theater are very popular here and students are welcome to be involved in Asheville’s theater as well. There is a very active student government. Outdoor recreation is also huge at UNC Asheville, including canoeing, climbing and hiking. Plenty of recreational activities and student organizations to be involved in.

Athletics

While they don’t have football, they have 15 NCAA Division I teams. Their newest athletic complex – the Sherrill Center – includes a 3,800 seat Kimmel Arena, home of Bulldog Basketball (they almost beat Syracuse in 2012). The swim team is nationally ranked.

Admissions

• • Utilize Common App and require letters of recommendation
  • Holistically review applications

• Average GPA 4.1 weighted where 5.0 is the highest (which means students take 2-3 honors classes)
• For unweighted, the average GPA is 3.3
• They don’t look at class rank
• Average ACT is 23-28 (they do not superscore and they require the ACT with Writing)
• Early Action deadline is Nov. 15
• Regular Decision deadline is Feb. 15
• Last year (Class of 2015) they had a wait list
• Most kids that apply here in these ranges so their acceptance rate is 77% which is high
• Tuition is $40,000 for out-of-state, which is a bargain

What Kind of Student Would be Happy Here

A student seeking a broad-based liberal arts education who enjoys being a critical thinker while maintaining and enhancing their creative abilities.