Thought on Wake Forest?

[Anonymous]

Please share your experiences/thoughts on Wake Forest University.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I taught there many years ago. Great school, rather quiet. Upscale and a good education. Congrats if you got in. The small town of Winston-Salem is not the back water it appears at first glance. I have met people from WS all over the world when travelling -- always somebody from WS -- evn in Goa, India! Mnay other places as well.

[Anonymous]

I have spent time there over the last few years and agree with the prior poster. Nice campus, seems to have a rising profile, and the town has quite a bit going on. Students seem quite happy there though it is also very Southern and might not be everyone's cup of sweet tea.

[Anonymous]

I will be interested to read responses to the post. I went to Wake in the 90s. Academically it was excellent, with small classes, thoughtful class discussions, and very rigorous grading standards -- they don't call it "Work Forest" for nothing. Socially, however, it was a terrible choice for me. It was very, very Greek dominated: fraternities and sororities formed the bulk of the social scene and, while it was possible to exist outside the Greek system, you definitely felt like an outsider. It was not the most progressive environment. Without elaborating more, I will say that the KA fraternity had an "Old South" formal. Lots of money, lots of girls who made their debut after freshman year. This was admittedly a while ago, and I am sure some things have changed -- I will be interested to hear how much.

[Anonymous]

Up and coming. Now top 25. Kids have to work hard "work force"

[Anonymous]

I grew up in Winston-Salem and found the city to be rather dull frankly. I left as soon as I could get out. My BIL attended wake for two years and then transferred because he couldn't stand it. A number of the professors that he had were hard core left wing (as in avowed Marxist/communists who admired Castro) and they expected you to parrot their beliefs. Granted this is going back to the dark ages (mid 80s) so things are probably different now, but if you're interested in NC schools I would look at UNC, NC State, or Duke before Wake Forest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Winston-Salem and found the city to be rather dull frankly. I left as soon as I could get out. My BIL attended wake for two years and then transferred because he couldn't stand it. A number of the professors that he had were hard core left wing (as in avowed Marxist/communists who admired Castro) and they expected you to parrot their beliefs. Granted this is going back to the dark ages (mid 80s) so things are probably different now, but if you're interested in NC schools I would look at UNC, NC State, or Duke before Wake Forest.

that's funny. You can "look at" Duke all you want. Only 14% are admitted. Wake Forest closer to 40 percent. And NC State, you gotta be kidding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Winston-Salem and found the city to be rather dull frankly. I left as soon as I could get out. My BIL attended wake for two years and then transferred because he couldn't stand it. A number of the professors that he had were hard core left wing (as in avowed Marxist/communists who admired Castro) and they expected you to parrot their beliefs. Granted this is going back to the dark ages (mid 80s) so things are probably different now, but if you're interested in NC schools I would look at UNC, NC State, or Duke before Wake Forest.

that's funny. You can "look at" Duke all you want. Only 14% are admitted. Wake Forest closer to 40 percent. And NC State, you gotta be kidding.

Agree! Looking at Duke is about as far as most get these days...

[Anonymous]

Wake Forest is a nice cozy little school. I would be much more comfortable having my DC there than at Duke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wake Forest is a nice cozy little school. I would be much more comfortable having my DC there than at Duke.

moot point innit? So tell us Duke isn't an extreme reach school for your DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wake Forest is a nice cozy little school. I would be much more comfortable having my DC there than at Duke.

moot point innit? So tell us Duke isn't an extreme reach school for your DC.

Hey, Stoney Brook boy. Your trolling here is really boring for the rest of us.

[Anonymous]

I went there in the mid-late 90s. It is a good school, but I found the student body very conservative and a little too uppity. They had to restart College Democrats while I was there. I did have a few hippie professors (I think it was just the age of the profs), but I felt the rest of them were pretty moderate.

I did the greek thing, but I also had friends outside of the system. Yes, the parties on campus were all run by the fraternities.

Sadly, it used to be a great basketball school, but no more.

I had a good time and have some great friends I met there. But I probably won't be pushing it on my child as she gets older - it is way too expensive now.

I never had any inclination to attend Duke. Ever. It just wasn't a place for me.

[Anonymous]

is wake going to be the next southern school that north easterners flock to thereby driving down acceptance rates?

[Anonymous]

It already had a big northeastern/middle atlantic student population when I was there in the 90s. Quite a few of my friends were from NJ, MA, PA, NY and MD.

The acceptance rate has always been high in comparison to other similar schools. Not really sure why that is - I believe there was a lot of self selection in the applicant pool, to be honest.

Plus, the application essay questions were ridiculous. I did the Common Application to avoid them - they sent me an addendum I had to fill out. I think I was forced to answer at least one of the questions on that to complete my application packet.

[Anonymous]

WF is #27 on the US News + World Report college rankings...it's come up from the 40s...so it must be moving in the right direction. I hate the south though so I'd be non=plused if my kid ever wanted to go there.