Freshmen - Undergraduate Admissions (2024)

On this Page

Dates & Deadlines

Last year, more than 28,000 high school students applied for a fall freshman class of about 4,000. Our advice to you: apply early! We offer rolling admission, so as soon as your application is complete we will review your credentials and get a decision to you.

Application Deadlines

• October 15, 2024: Application deadline to be eligible to apply to the Honors College (see Honors College section below)
• December 15, 2024: Application deadline to be eligible to apply for other merit-based university scholarships
• April 1, 2025: Final freshman priority application deadline

How to Apply

Required application materials:

• Completed online application – ECU Application, CFNC, or Common App
• Nonrefundable $75 application fee
• Official high school transcript including senior year courses in progress and current grade point average
• Students with a weighted high school GPA less than 2.8 are required to submit an ACT or SAT score.

**Note: Please use your full legal name and the same email address throughout the admissions process. If you applied via CFNC or Common App, create an account using the same email to view your application status.

Apply Now >

Official documents should be sent to:

Office of Undergraduate Admissions
Mailstop 517
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858-4353

All official transcripts must be either sent electronically to admissions@ecu.edu or sealed in an envelope, by the institution. We will not accept transcripts that are issued directly to students and then provided to us, as they will be considered unofficial.

Required High School Courses

To be considered for admission as a freshman, you must have completed the following courses upon high school graduation:

• English:4 units
• Mathematics:4 units including Algebra I and II, Geometry, and a fourth unit of math beyond Algebra II
• Science: 3 units including a life or biological science, a physical science, and a laboratory science
• Social Studies:2 units, one of which must be U.S. History
• Foreign Language: 2 units of the same foreign language is encouraged but two additional academic courses from English, mathematics, science, social studies, or computer science can be used to satisfy this component.

If you did not meet all of the minimum course requirements as indicated above, please view the Transfer Admission Guidelinesto see how to gain admission to ECU.

If you are a graduate of a Cooperative Innovative High School (Early College), please read more about your application options in the Supplemental Notices.

Updates for Fall 2025

Standardized Test Scores

Students applying for the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 terms who have a weighted high school GPA less than 2.8 are required to submit a standardized test score (ACT or SAT). Students with a weighted high school GPA of 2.8 or higher are not required to submit a test score.

To submit test scores, our school codes are as follows:

• SAT – 5180
• ACT – 3094

Honors College

In order to be eligible for the Honors College, you must submit your completed ECU undergraduate admission application by October 15. High school transcripts and/or test scores (only if you selected to have test scores reviewed as part of your application) must be received by this date as well.

For more information about eligibility criteria and the Honors College application process, visit the Honors College website.

Residency Determination

The Residency Determination Service (RDS) has been established by the North Carolina State Legislature as the centralized service for determining residency for students. If you are an undergraduate student applying for admission and claiming in-state residency for tuition purposes, you must visit NCresidency.orgto verify your residency.

If you’ve already completed the residency verification process and obtained your Residency Certification Number (RCN), you can enter your RCN when filling out our application. If you do not already have your RCN, you may submit your application and then come back and enter your RCN once you have it.

For more information, visit the Office of the Registrar’s Residency page, or contact RDS at 1-844-319-3640 orrdsinfo@ncresidency.org.

Placement Credit

East Carolina University grants course credit for CLEP, DANTES, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate exams. See the corresponding course list here.

Supplemental Notices

Graduates of Cooperative Innovative High Schools (Early College)

Graduates from North Carolina Cooperative Innovative High Schools have an important decision to make when seeking admission to East Carolina University. According to House Bill 97 Section 11.16. (a) “any student who graduated from a cooperative innovative high school program with anassociate degree and who applies for admission to the constituent institution has the option of being considered for admission as a freshman or as a transfer student.” You can see if your early college qualifies by reviewing the list of Cooperative Innovative High School Programs (PDF).

If you meet the criteria listed above, please consider the following information when selecting which applicant status you would like to be evaluated for in the admissions process.

Important Note: Cooperative Innovative Graduates will still be submitting a freshman application, but will be given prompts to select how the applicant would prefer to be evaluated: Early College Option – Freshman or Early College Option – Transfer.

• Freshman criteria includes an evaluation of all high school coursework, test scores, as well as your college coursework. We will weigh both as we make an admission decision.
• Transfer criteria includes an evaluation of all college coursework; however, we still require applicants to submit high school transcripts. Students will also have the option to submit test scores, but these are not required for Spring 2024 or Fall 2024.
• Regardless of what criteria you select, you will still be bound by the freshman residency requirements as well as be required to attend all freshman orientation activities.

If you have any questions about which applicant status to select, please call our office at 252-328-6640 before submitting your application.

Professional Licensure Disclosure Statement

All ECU academic programs prepare students to sit for applicable licensure in North Carolina. In order to comply with U.S. Department of Education regulations regarding distance education and professional licensure, ECU is required to make the following disclosure with respect to professional licensure outside the state of North Carolina. ECU cannot confirm whether a particular program meets requirements for professional licensure outside of the State of North Carolina. Please contact applicable licensure board(s) in any state you may want to pursue licensure prior to beginning the academic program in order to determine whether the program meets licensure requirements. It is the student’s responsibility to confirm program eligibility for licensure in any state outside North Carolina.

Important Note to Residents Outside North Carolina

Admission of applicants outside the State of North Carolina to an online degree, certificate, or individual online course offered by East Carolina University is dependent on ECU’s ability to secure authorization from the applicant’s state of residence, if such authorization is required. Read the full notice.