Student Experience
Our college is home to opportunities — and a community — you won’t find anywhere else.
A Complete Education
Many institutions offer a textiles program or two. Only our college offers a comprehensive textiles education, backed by unmatched experiences you make your own.
Here, you can tap into the high-impact learning, extensive industry connections and worldwide engagement that are unique to us — not to mention all the resources of North Carolina’s largest university. From student-run fashion shows to senior design projects for brands like Under Armour or Red Bull, you can lead with like-minded peers.
Develop your passion for sustainability, pursue undergraduate research or study overseas in cities from Manchester to Melbourne. Tailor your experience to the things you care about. Then turn them into a fulfilling career.
Pause your doomscrolling, take a deep breath and let’s go on a stroll through our favorite place.
At Wilson, even the small moments are special ones.
Traditional jeans can take over 3,000 liters of water per pair to produce. Meanwhile, the jeans De’Asia Brodie (FTM-FDPM ’28) worked on at her internship used none!
This summer, De’Asia was a product development intern at Triarchy, a sustainably driven denim brand based in Los Angeles.
“Seeing firsthand how innovation can dramatically reduce water consumption while still achieving authentic denim aesthetics reinforced why I want to build my career in sustainable fashion,” De’Asia says.
Swipe through to see what being an intern at Triarchy really looks like!
A rice bag and a lot of imagination — that’s all our Senior Design teams needed to create innovative products!
The Rice Bag Challenge teaches students how to take a low-cost, everyday material and engineer items designed to improve lives in developing countries.
What would you make with a rice bag? Tell us in the comments!
What does a summer at Under Armour look like for Wilson students?
For Alexis De Castro (FTM-FDPM ’27), Ava McRorie (FTM-BMM ’27) and Mikyla Ruhland (TE ’27), it meant getting a behind-the-scenes look at the industry while putting their skills to work on real projects.
Alexis brought precision to technical design, Ava flexed her style strategy in brand house merchandising and Mikyla engineered the next big thing in product innovation.
And that was just the work! Rookie Week, team projects, volunteering and plenty of opportunities to connect with Under Armour teammates made for a summer full of learning and fun new experiences.
Swipe through for a glimpse into their summers!
The ✨ newly redesigned ✨ Senior Studio is where the designers are!
This place wasn’t the same without you, and we are excited to welcome you back. Even though the semester has just begun, we are eager to see the incredible collections you make!
Click the link in our bio to learn more about Threads, the fashion show our students are creating collections for in Senior Studio!
North Carolina fall fire season may be a few months away, but the Milliken Textile Protection and Comfort Center (TPACC) is always ahead of the game. 🔥
Every day, firefighters risk their lives as they run into burning buildings and face the deadly power of wildfires. They also deal with the long-term effects from smoke, soot and toxic chemical exposure. Cancer now ranks as their leading cause of death, according to the International Association of Firefighters.
TPACC is working hard to develop and test equipment to protect the firefighters who protect us. Researchers are improving personal protective equipment: gear that keeps out smoke and soot, hoods that protect faces and necks, and fire shelters that offer the last line of defense against an approaching wildfire.
Behind every piece of protective gear is a person counting on it. The people come first, and that’s why the science behind the gear is so important.
Nine credits, five weeks and four countries. No one does “work hard, play hard” quite like our students!
This summer, Katie Watson (FTM-BMM ’29) had the opportunity to study abroad at ESB Business School in Reutlingen, Germany. She completed three Poole College of Management courses through the Accounting and Financial Management program, allowing her to work toward her Business Administration minor.
Katie’s highlights include traveling to Croatia, Switzerland, Austria and cities throughout Germany.
Katie tells us, “I highly recommend studying abroad as an opportunity to step outside your comfort zone, experience new cultures, make lifelong friends and grow both personally and academically.”
Want to study abroad? Learn more at the link in our bio!
Join Josh Enoch (PCC ’28) for a day in the lab as an REU student!
Under the mentorship of Assistant Professor Jialong Shen and Graduate Student Fatemeh Heydari, Josh conducted research this past summer analyzing the real-time activity of immobilized carbonic anhydrase using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) with pH-sensitive fluorescent dyes. Thanks to Research Associate Mariusz Zareba, and the Cellular and Molecular Imaging Facility (CMIF) for making the CLSM experiments possible.
Josh looks forward to continuing his work with the Sustainable Polymer Research Group in the coming semesters and cannot wait to “Think and Do” more!
#HeyWilson, welcome back! 🐺
Andrea Castillo (FTD-FD ‘28) got the inside scoop on the goals you’ve set for the semester ahead. We can’t wait to cheer you on as you make all your ambitions a reality!
Here’s to the best semester yet!
A Whole World of Textiles
Our college is tight-knit, which means everyone knows your name and you can find your niche. But you can also access everything you’d expect at one of the nation’s leading public universities, from a wealth of student organizations to world-class wellness and recreation facilities to the best entrepreneurship programming in the Southeast.
And your opportunities don’t stop at our campus in Raleigh. We’ve developed ties with some of the nation’s best companies — over the course of more than 120 years — to ensure you can pursue exciting internships and gain invaluable real-world experience. Our global reputation will open doors for you around the world.
In fact, only one other college at NC State sees a higher proportion of its students pursue study abroad — and they make it a requirement. For us, it’s one experience among many designed to maximize your college journey and prepare you for life.
Study Abroad
A Community Behind You
Whatever you choose to do here, you’ll have the support of faculty, staff and other students who share your values and care deeply about your goals. From the moment you arrive, we’ll work with you to dig into your passions, map out a career path and help you access all the tools, support and guidance you need to thrive.
As a college with deep ties to the surging global textiles industry, we do everything we can to ensure our students hit the ground running after graduation. And we stay committed to your success with lifetime career services and an incomparable alumni network. Once you’re with us, we’re behind you all the way.
