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Appalachian State University Data & Information Overview

1,287 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
80% Acceptance Rate
Find out more about how Appalachian State University ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below. Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

How Well Is Appalachian State University Ranked?

#339 Best Colleges in Nation
#8 Best Colleges in NC
Commercial Photography Highest Ranked Major

2023 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Appalachian State University was awarded 1,287 badges in the 2023 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is commercial photography.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2023 analysis, Appalachian State is ranked #339 out of 2,241 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This is an improvement over the previous year, when Appalachian State held the #516 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

Appalachian State also holds the #8 spot on the Best Colleges in North Carolina ranking.

See all of the rankings for Appalachian State University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Appalachian State?

80% Acceptance Rate
62% Of Accepted Are Women
39% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

When it comes to admittance, Appalachian State University is somewhat selective. Its acceptance rate is 80%, which means you'll face some strong competition during the admissions process. Do what you can to make your application stand out.

Average Test Scores

About 39% of students accepted to Appalachian State submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 630. Math scores were between 530 and 610.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Appalachian State University  ( 540 to 630 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Appalachian State University  ( 530 to 610 )
200
800
Appalachian State received ACT scores from 43% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 22 and 27.

ACT Composite Scores for Appalachian State University  ( 22 to 27 )
1
36

Learn more about Appalachian State University admissions.

Appalachian State University Faculty

16 to 1 Student to Faculty
78% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

With a student to faculty ratio of 16 to 1, Appalachian State University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it's a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Appalachian State University is 78%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  78 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Appalachian State University

86% Freshmen Retention
52% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

Appalachian State University has a freshmen retention rate of 86%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  86 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Appalachian State the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 52%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  52 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Appalachian State University.

Appalachian State University Undergraduate Student Diversity

16,905 Full-Time Undergraduates
17.6% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
57.3% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 18,061 undergraduates at Appalachian State with 16,905 being full-time and 1,156 being part-time.

How Much Does Appalachian State University Cost?

$13,989 Net Price
47% Take Out Loans
$27,280 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of Appalachian State is $13,989. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Appalachian State

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$7,354 $9,940 $13,769 $18,770 $19,368

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Appalachian State, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Appalachian State, approximately 47% of students took out student loans averaging $6,820 a year. That adds up to $27,280 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Appalachian State is 3.6%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Appalachian State University.

How Much Money Do Appalachian State Graduates Make?

$45,602 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from Appalachian State make around $45,602 per year during the early years of their employment. That's great news for Appalachian State students since it is 7% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Appalachian State University make the most money.

Location of Appalachian State University

North Carolina State
16,905 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Appalachian State University is a public institution situated in Boone, North Carolina. The location of Appalachian State is a good match for students who are interested in living in a college town while they pursue their degree.

Get more details about the location of Appalachian State University.

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Contact details for Appalachian State are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 287 Rivers St, Boone, NC 28608
Phone: 828-262-2000
Website: www.appstate.edu/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/appalachianstateuniversity
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/appstate

Appalachian State University Majors

74 Majors With Completions
4,368 Undergraduate Degrees
666 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 74 majors graduated from Appalachian State University. Of these students, 4,368 received undergraduate degrees and 666 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
General Psychology 307 $24,806
Business Administration & Management 233 $38,477
Health & Physical Education 228 $23,141
Teacher Education Grade Specific 223 $35,815
Design & Applied Arts 167 $34,417
Marketing 166 $39,491
Public Relations & Advertising 157 $32,168
General Biology 148 $27,318
Nursing 143 $59,623
Teacher Education Subject Specific 138 $35,741

Learn more about the majors offered at Appalachian State University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Appalachian State

95% Take At Least One Class Online
16% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2019-2020, 18,957 students took at least one online class at Appalachian State University. This is an increase from the 4,490 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2019-2020 18,957 3,281
2018-2019 4,490 979
2017-2018 3,806 1,056
2016-2017 3,130 978
2015-2016 2,666 951

Learn more about online learning at Appalachian State University.

If you’re considering Appalachian State University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against Appalachian State? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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