Wake Forest - Yes/No?
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Anonymous
| DD recently visited Wake and plans to sign up for summer interview. School does fit what DD is looking for. Does anyone have constructive thoughts/comments/suggestions based on their experience? |
Anonymous
| It is what it is. A good school but pretty southern and greek. If that's what you're looking for great, but this thread will probably devolve into people criticizing it because it's in NC and isn't called Duke. |
Anonymous
| Yes. Great school with plenty of happy alums. High retention and alumni giving rate. Good choice. |
Anonymous
| Super liberal, queer, and a minority grad here. There were others as well. The school itself including the faculty was pretty open minded and comfortable. The issue is the student body...very white, religious, southern, and greek. Do not underestimate the greek. But I loved my education and the opportunities it afforded while there and beyond. The campus is gorgeous and Winston Salem is charming. I'd do it again. I have two post graduate degrees and it is by far the best edu experience I've had....quite rigorous. The class sizes are tiny too compared to those of family and friends who went to unc or duke. So, as long as she goes in with open eyes she'll provably be fine. You did not specify your reservation but if it is social, like I said, they may be underrepresented vis a vis Berkeley but there are people there to suit all tastes in friendahip and beyond. Good luck! |
Anonymous
|
I attended in the 90s and had an amazing experience. But, I went on a full academic scholarship (a Carswell) and at the time all full academic scholarship kids had the option of living in the same 70 person dorm for all 4 years. So I had a wonderful, but atypical social experience. Otherwise, I think I would have been unhappy with the atmosphere, which was greek, whealthy, conservative and white.
I was humanities all the way, and the academics were very rigorous. I had a 40 person science lecture my first year, and after than, no class above 25-- 15 for major level seminars, and some classes had 5 or fewer students. I was never taught by a TA. Professors went out of their way to invite students to their homes and offer them extra opportunities. I also got involved in interdisciplinary honors, which was a great program. Wake also has at least 3 "houses" overseas where the students can go for a semester and live and be taught by Wake Forest professors. So I have nothing but great things to say about the education. On the other hand, my husband, who also attended, was interested in physicas and computer science, and was not impressed by the quality of the STEM educaton (but this info is very dated-- especially on computer science, which was a new department back then), and he regrets going. He wishes he had gone to a Va Tech, Ga Tech, NC Sate type school instead. Most students I know were preprofessional (doctor, lawyer, acounting, business & even a couple clergy), and had no problem going on to be accepted at highly regarded professional programs. Very few went on for advanced degrees (masters or PhDs) in humanities. |
Anonymous
My BIL attended Wake and was a humanities major. Probably politically he would be center right, while his profs were liberal. That would be ok, except for the most part professors expected students to agree with their positions, and if they didn't tow the line the student got punished with lower grades. Ultimately my BIL changed schools. This was a while back so hopefully it was just an isolated occurrence and not the norm now. |
Anonymous
| Both my DCs applied. One was accepted but chose another school. It's a beautiful school, nice size, good academics. My kids liked the Greek thing and both joined Greek life in their colleges. It has a reputation as being a hard working school, and hard grading. |
Anonymous
| "Work Forest" don't underestimate this school -- tough academically, and very well respected. |
Anonymous
| $ not an issue? What other options do you have? |
Anonymous
| It's a good school, but my kid wasn't interested because the campus culture seemed very white, preppy, and lots of Greek life. Too reminiscent of his private high school! I do know kids who have gone there and loved it though, so it's obviously a good fit for some. |
Anonymous
| It has gone up in the rankings on US News and I have no dog in this fight. I work with a guy who went there and liked it. But, he was the typical white, preppy, Republican kind of guy. |
Anonymous
| Alum here, and my phi beta kappa from "Work Forest" has certainly impressed grad school admissions officers and people reading my resume and gotten my foot in the door. But then, like all adults, I have to interview, take the class, perform the job, and continue to prove myself daily. |
Anonymous
| Business Grad from Wake. Loved it, really small classes -- had one history class as Sophomore with 6 people. Very unusually for anyone to skip class but it wasn't that difficult. Graduated with 3.6 and came from MCPS. Went to Georgetown Graduate school. In retrospect, did lack diversity. Not great reputation for Math or Engineering or probably Science but everything else has very good reputation. Pretty vibrant arts community (considering in Winston-Salem). Anyway, it is really small, not diverse, conservative student body in general but can be a great education. Good Luck. |
Anonymous
| OP here: Thanks all for the great comments. DD is interested in the Liberal Arts program(s). Not entirely sure of intended career (are they ever at this point)? But keep those very helpful comments coming! Thanks all very much. Will revive thread post interview early summer. (We are told that at WF, the interview DOES mean something). |
Anonymous
| Too Greek |