Rankings and Facts

Essential Facts

We think and do — and the world takes notice.

As a Research I university, NC State is a key part of the Research Triangle region, which is home to industry leaders such as NC State partners SAS, Cisco, IBM, GlaxoSmithKline and Lenovo.

Raleigh and the surrounding area are consistently rated among the best places to live and work in the United States, and NC State is a driving force for the local, state and national economies.

• 37,800+ students, 2,400+ faculty and 7,100+ staff
• Educating more North Carolinians than any other university
• Student-faculty ratio 15:1
• 12 colleges representing all major academic fields
• More than 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered through 68 departments
• NC State Extension serves citizens in all 100 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
• $2.02 billion endowment, among the top 90 largest higher-education endowments in the country
• $2.035 billion budget for fiscal year 2023

Rankings

• Top 1% of universities worldwide (Center for World University Rankings)
• #2 best public college in North Carolina for value (Money)
• #2 for graduate entrepreneurship in the South (Princeton Review)
• #2 for research commercialization among public universities nationally (Heartland Forward)
• #2 military-friendly school among Tier 1 research institutions (Military Friendly)
• #2 military spouse-friendly school among Tier 1 research institutions (Military Friendly)
• #3 graduate nuclear engineering program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
• #4 for undergraduate entrepreneurship in the South (Princeton Review)
• #5 veterinary medicine program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
• #7 best value among public universities nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
• #8 in MBA programs with the best return on investment (Poets & Quants)
• #11 online graduate engineering program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
• #11 graduate statistics program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)
• #12 graduate engineering program among public universities (U.S. News & World Report)
• #15 online MBA nationally (Princeton Review)
• #18 graduate applied mathematics program nationally (U.S. News & World Report)

Student and Faculty Success

• More than 100 of our students were national scholars and fellows over the past five years.
• NC State students won two Goldwater Scholarships and 20 National Science Foundation graduate research fellowships in the 2022-2023 academic year.
• In 2023, two NC State students were awarded funds to pursue a summer travel-work experience as part of the inaugural cohort for the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, also known as the Voyager Scholarship.
• A record-setting 11 NC State students were awarded Fulbright Scholarships in 2023 through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, which expands student perspectives through academic and professional development and cross-cultural dialogue.
• The Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program groups world-leading educators and researchers into 20 interdisciplinary clusters, including bioinformatics, precision medicine and public science.
• Twenty-five of our faculty are members of the National Academies.

Partnerships and Research

• $476 million in new sponsored research awards for fiscal year 2023 — the highest in university history
• #3 in the nation for the share of our research sponsored by private industry (for universities without a medical school), according to the Association of University Technology Managers
• Lead university for two National Science Foundation Engineering Research Centers:
  • The FREEDM Systems Center, researching smart-grid technology
  • The ASSIST Center, developing wearable, self-powered health monitors
• The first North American location for an IBM Quantum Hub, a collaborative effort to advance quantum computing
• Home to two major interdisciplinary National Science Foundation-funded centers launched in 2021:
  • The NSF AI Institute for Engaged Learning, a $20 million center that aims to create artificial intelligence tools to advance human learning and education
  • The NSF Science and Technology Center — Science and Technologies for Phosphorus Sustainability (STEPS), a $25 million center that studies how to reduce dependence on mined phosphates and the amount of phosphorus that leaches into soil and water
• A hub for driving 5G innovation through the $24 million Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW) project
• A partner in seven of the 16 public-private institutes that make up Manufacturing USA, a federal initiative to revitalize the U.S. manufacturing industry
• Home to the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center, one of nine such regional centers in the United States

Centennial Campus

• NC State’s Centennial Campus is a nationally acclaimed public-private research campus where 70+ corporate, government and nonprofit partners work alongside 70+ research and academic units
• Home to the College of Engineering, the Wilson College of Textiles, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Institute for Emerging Issues, a think tank focused on tackling big issues that affect North Carolina’s prosperity
• Supporting lifelong learning through K-12, graduate and continuing education, distance and online learning, and executive education
• Houses the Office of Research and Innovation, which supports the university’s research and commercialization mission
• James B. Hunt Jr. Library: Winner of the prestigious Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries, and one of the most technologically advanced learning and collaboration spaces in the world
• Offers a wealth of dining options, housing and amenities, most of which are available to the public

Economic Impact

• 190+ startups and spinoffs based on NC State research, attracting a total of $1.7 billion in venture capital
• #1 nationwide for active licenses and options; #2 nationwide for startups launched among universities without a medical school
• 1,500+ patents issued in the U.S., yielding 600+ consumer products
• The Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN) matches NC State alumni investors with promising university-affiliated startups to facilitate mentoring, support and angel investments for entrepreneurial businesses. WIN members have invested more than $13 million in 23 NC State startups.
• The Milken Institute, an economic think tank, cited the collaboration and innovation fostered by NC State — and particularly by Centennial Campus — as key reasons why Raleigh is one of the best-performing large cities in the United States.
• NC State and its students, alumni and associated startups generate $6.5 billion of North Carolina income annually.

Alumni

• NC State has more than 250,000 living alumni, approximately 160,000 of whom live in North Carolina.
• The NC State Alumni Association provides opportunities for all NC State alumni to engage with and stay connected to our ever-expanding Wolfpack.
• Wolfpack alumni stay in touch via more than 50 regional networks around the United States.

Philanthropy and Giving

• Supporters contributed $212 million in new gifts and pledges to NC State in FY22.
• NC State’s fifth annual Day of Giving in 2023 raised more than $34 million from 16,774 gifts — the most gifts NC State has ever received on a Day of Giving.
• Alumnus Frederick Eugene Wilson Jr. and the Wilson family gave the transformational gift of $28 million to name the Wilson College of Textiles in perpetuity.
• Alumni Edward P. Fitts Jr. and Edgar S. Woolard jointly gave a $25 million gift allowing the university to break ground on Fitts-Woolard Hall, which will house programs and facilities of the College of Engineering.
• Alumnus John W. McRary made a $10 million gift to the College of Sciences Foundation — the largest estate gift in the college’s history — creating the $6.5 million John W. McRary Physics Graduate Support Endowment and the $3.5 million John W. McRary Mathematics Graduate Support Endowment.
• An extraordinary gift from Bill and Frances Henry funded the restoration and completion of the Memorial Belltower, including the installation of 55 bells.
• A group of generous supporters of NC State athletics made a $5 million pledge to name the James T. Valvano Arena in Reynolds Coliseum.
• The Think and Do the Extraordinary Campaign — the most ambitious fundraising effort in NC State’s history — surpassed its $1.6 billion goal two years early, raising a total of $2.1 billion by the campaign’s end in 2021.
• Donors created some 2,100 new funds and 636 new scholarships and fellowships through the campaign.
• Of the 234 endowed faculty positions at NC State, 104 were created during the campaign.

Recent Accolades

• Four NC State students — physics and mathematics graduate Mia de los Reyes, chemical engineering and economics graduate Chris Cooper, physics and computer science graduate Ana Sofia Uzsoy and computer science and genetics graduate Nikhil Milind — have earned prestigious Churchill Scholarships for graduate study at elite universities in the United Kingdom. NC State was one of only two schools in the country with two scholars in the 2020-2021 academic year.
• In 2023, three NC State faculty members were recognized with the prestigious National Science Foundation’s Early-Career Development Program Award.
• Fred Kish, M.C. Dean Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.
• Rodolphe Barrangou, Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, was elected to the National Academy of Inventors Hall of Fame.
• Hollylynne Lee, professor of mathematics and statistics education in the NC State College of Education and senior faculty fellow at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, received one of the nation’s top teaching awards, the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.
• In 2022 and 2023, eleven NC State faculty members were elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
• The National Science Foundation awarded its prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship to 20 NC State students in 2023. The fellowship program recognizes outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines.
• In 2023, two NC State students won a Goldwater Scholarship, presented to outstanding undergraduates preparing for careers as mathematicians, scientists and engineers.