“The nation's largest HBCU and the top producer of Black engineering graduates.”
North Carolina A&T State University is a public, land-grant, historically Black research university in Greensboro, North Carolina, founded in 1891. With a total enrollment above 14,000 students, N.C. A&T is consistently the largest HBCU in the United States and has been ranked the nation's top public HBCU by the Wall Street Journal. The university holds R2 Carnegie classification today, but it already exceeds R1 thresholds for research expenditures and doctoral production and is positioned to become the first public HBCU elevated to R1 when Carnegie publishes its next cycle. U.S. News ranks A&T as a top-three HBCU nationally and No. 232 in National Universities for 2026. A&T's academic reputation is anchored by its nationally recognized College of Engineering, which for more than a decade has been the single largest producer of Black engineers in the United States at both the bachelor's and doctoral levels. The college offers ABET-accredited programs in Industrial, Mechanical, Electrical, Civil, Chemical, Computer, Biological, and Computational Data Sciences & Engineering, along with the flagship PhD pipelines that fuel A&T's research portfolio. Beyond engineering, the Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences (including Nursing), the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (a strong land-grant legacy), the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and the College of Science and Technology round out an expansive academic catalog with more than 100 undergraduate majors. Campus life at A&T revolves around Aggie Pride — a fiercely proud student culture that ties together the Greatest Homecoming on Earth (GHOE), the legacy of the February One sit-in movement, the Aggie Marching Machine, Division I MEAC/CAA athletics, and a vibrant Greek Life rooted in the Divine Nine. Greensboro offers a mid-sized Southern city setting with a lower cost of living, easy Triad-region career access, and close proximity to Research Triangle Park employers. For international students, A&T offers a supportive, affordable gateway to US engineering and agricultural sciences education, with a dedicated Office of International Affairs, English-language partnership pathways, and strong co-op and research placements with federal agencies (NASA, USDA, DOE) and industry partners (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, IBM).
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
National Universities
US News 2026
Top Public Schools
US News 2026
Research Activity
Carnegie Classifications (2021)
Most Innovative Universities
U.S. News & World Report, 2024
Largest HBCU
U.S. Dept. of Education
Research Classification
Carnegie Classification
HBCU Ranking
US News Best HBCUs 2026 (peer-score tier with Howard, Spelman)
Engineering (PhD-granting)
US News Best Engineering Schools 2026
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceEarly Action
Non-binding; earliest scholarship consideration
Regular Decision
International — Fall
Final deadline; I-20 processing requires all documents submitted by deadline
International — Spring
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Domestic
$6,813
/yr
Out-of-State / Intl
$20,673
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
4 years
A top-20 nationally ranked undergraduate industrial engineering program (US News) with direct co-op pipelines into Boeing, Honda, Caterpillar, and Amazon operations.
4 years
ABET-accredited, STEM-designated program with research concentrations in cybersecurity, AI, and data science. Eligible for the 36-month STEM OPT extension.
5 years
Interdisciplinary doctoral program bridging A&T's engineering and data-science strengths; graduates are recruited by national labs and tech firms.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $20,673
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
