The 25 Most Desirable Large Schools

The nation's first state university, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is on Newsweek's list of most desirable suburban schools and most desirable large colleges, at Nos. 16 and 6, respectively.  
 
In the fall of 2009, the public university enrolled 3,960 first-year students from a record 23,047 applicants--a 21 percent increase over the past five years, the school says. Close to 80 percent of those students were in the top 10 percent of their high-school classes.  
 
The undergraduate population is nearly 17,900 students, with 59 percent women. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill retains 96 percent of its first-year students, and the overall graduation rate is 86 percent.  With one president, four senators, one Fortune 100 CEO and two billionaires claiming UNC as their alma mater, the school snags rank No. 13 on Newsweek's list of schools for future power brokers.  
 
NCES data shows that 49 percent of UNC Chapel Hill students do not receive financial aid--a surprising figure given that tuition for in-state students for the 2009-2010 school year was $3,865 and $21,753 for students who come from outside North Carolina.