Nearly 4,200 first-year students and more than 850 transfer students arrived at UNC over the weekend, joining returning students as classes begin at the university on Tuesday.

This year’s incoming class – which the university said is 60 percent female – is “the most geographically diverse and globally engaged group to enroll at Carolina,” the university said when announcing the class. UNC, for the 14th year in a row, set a record for the number of applications received for this group of first-year students.

UNC reported 45 percent of new first-year students ranked in the top 10 students in their high school class, 77 percent ranked in the top 10 percent and 94 percent have taken five or more Advanced Placement of college-level courses while in high school.

Ninety-seven of North Carolina’s 100 counties are represented in the incoming class along with 42 states and 50 countries. Among all first-year students, 19 percent will be the first in their families to pursue a bachelor’s degree.

The top five intended majors among the incoming class are biology, business, computer science, political science and biomedical and health sciences engineering.

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