use strict;
use warnings;
use Data::Dumper;

my @status = ("Applied", "Enrolled", "Admitted", "Applied", "Enrolled"
+);
my %statuscount;
$statuscount{$_}++ for @status;
print Dumper(\%statuscount);

__END__
$VAR1 = {
          'Enrolled' => 2,
          'Applied' => 2,
          'Admitted' => 1
        };
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The most elegant way is still to do this in the database:

select item, count(*)
from mytable
group by item
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... but you can do the same in Perl by using a hash:

use strict;
use Data::Dumper;
my %count;

my @status = ("Applied", "Enrolled", "Admitted", "Applied", "Enrolled"
+);;

$count{$_}++ for @status;
warn Dumper \%count;
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Tried and tested:

use strict;
use Data::Dumper;

# original data
my @status = (
    "Applied", "Enrolled", "Admitted", "Applied", "Enrolled"
);

# count keys
my %tmphash = ();
$tmphash{$_}++ for ( @status );

# convert into an array, as requested
my @statuscount = %tmphash;

# display
print( Data::Dumper::Dumper( \@statuscount ) );
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Outputs:

Works like a charm. Thanks. To the previous comment about not doing it in SQL; The query is rather complex and returns a lot of other data I use for processing; Another db query I think slow things down. Thanks for you help! I knew there was a more elegant way of doing this!

Another db query I think slow things down.

My (inexpert) rule of thumb is that if you've gone to the trouble of getting a connection and have run one or more queries then running some more is unlikely to slow things down. The data you need may already be in the db's cache in which case it will be a lot quicker than getting Perl to do it.

Let the db take the strain. As Dolly Parton said, "It's what they're for!" although she was talking about something else. :-)

Are you sure that you can't do it with the same database query?

What is the query you do?

Sorry, I saved only half of the answer.

To do it in Perl I would try:

 
my %statuscount;
foreach my $stat (@status) {
  $statuscount{$status}++;
}
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