Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I view it as a rich kid school. Kind of like Vanderbilt.

Yes, but much lower in prestige. Like a Tulane, U-Miami or SMU. Though probably ranked higher than those 3?

Rich kid schools outside T20 (in order of prestige):

USC
Wake
U-Miami
SMU
Tulane

Does that seem right?

SMU?!?!? SMU is not at the level of any of these schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:UNC is now Bill Belichick U. Getting a lot of publicity-today’s Washington Post.

The Belichick hiring is backfiring and making the school look ridiculous. They could win a national title this year and they would still look ridiculous. The situation with the girlfriend is awful. Someone needs to tell her to step out of the spotlight. All attention is not good attention.

That being said, if I were in state and had the choice of in state UNC vs. full freight for Wake, I would choose UNC. From out of state I would probably pick Wake, though it would depend on feel, area of interest, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No on Davidson. Sorry no.

It's just a prestige thing - considered much more selective than Wake. But it's not everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure.

Davidson takes the same kids as Wake does at our private. Duke and UNC (oos) much harder admits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:UNC is now Bill Belichick U. Getting a lot of publicity-today’s Washington Post.

The Belichick hiring is backfiring and making the school look ridiculous. They could win a national title this year and they would still look ridiculous. The situation with the girlfriend is awful. Someone needs to tell her to step out of the spotlight. All attention is not good attention.

That being said, if I were in state and had the choice of in state UNC vs. full freight for Wake, I would choose UNC. From out of state I would probably pick Wake, though it would depend on feel, area of interest, etc.

As a local I find it embarrassing. Cringe when I read the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No on Davidson. Sorry no.

It's just a prestige thing - considered much more selective than Wake. But it's not everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure.

Davidson takes the same kids as Wake does at our private. Duke and UNC (oos) much harder admits.

UNC is a harder admit because OOS seats are so limited. My friend teaches there and tells me that the overall quality of the students is typical of any large state school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No on Davidson. Sorry no.

It's just a prestige thing - considered much more selective than Wake. But it's not everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure.

Davidson takes the same kids as Wake does at our private. Duke and UNC (oos) much harder admits.

UNC is a harder admit because OOS seats are so limited. My friend teaches there and tells me that the overall quality of the students is typical of any large state school.

Correct, same as UVA and UofM etc.

[Anonymous]

State, Duke, Wake, ECU fans love ❤️ the Belichick news!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No on Davidson. Sorry no.

It's just a prestige thing - considered much more selective than Wake. But it's not everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure.

Davidson takes the same kids as Wake does at our private. Duke and UNC (oos) much harder admits.

UNC is a harder admit because OOS seats are so limited. My friend teaches there and tells me that the overall quality of the students is typical of any large state school.

Correct, same as UVA and UofM etc.

Sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No on Davidson. Sorry no.

It's just a prestige thing - considered much more selective than Wake. But it's not everyone's cup of tea, that's for sure.

Davidson takes the same kids as Wake does at our private. Duke and UNC (oos) much harder admits.

UNC is a harder admit because OOS seats are so limited. My friend teaches there and tells me that the overall quality of the students is typical of any large state school.

Correct, same as UVA and UofM etc.

Sure.

This is why UVA gets harassed on here, truly insufferable.

[Anonymous]

Wake used to be seen as the private Baptist kid school in NC, and is now seen as a wealthy kid from out of state school in NC.

Ranks below UNC, Duke and NC State.

[Anonymous]

In the tar heeel state its the billionaires of Duke and then the couch money crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As someone who has lots of family in NC and went to UNCCH I would say that most people would view Wake as behind UNCCH and Duke and ahead of all other schools in NC except perhaps Davidson, but that is a liberal arts college. I don’t know any people who look down their noses at Wake and I have several UNC and Duke alumni as relatives.

No offense…but what other NC schools are there, especially if you claim they are behind Davidson?

I guess ahead of Elon, Highpoint and ECU et al?

NC State. As the kids at Duke say, “if you can’t go to college, go to State.”

This comment sums up why I’d never send my kid to Duke.

That type of snobbery is way out of date. As in circa 1990. And my understanding is that it’s actually an old UNCCH taunt from the 80s ….

No one, and I mean no one, calls it UNCCH. It’s either Carolina or Chapel Hill or UNC. Please stop. So when people write UNCCH it shows they don’t really know the school (or area) at all.

- a Tar Heel

UNCCH is a decent school

[Anonymous]

Interesting takes on here. I'm a NC native who went to Wake over UNC. Chapel Hill was a safety for me. I applied to Duke too but didn't get in (true to the stereotype). My sister went to Chapel Hill. My family thinks I had a much better experience at WFU than my sister did at UNC.

Chapel Hill's reputation is enhanced by its substantial alumni base,* fantastic athletic brand, low OOS admission rate. But it's much easier to get into in-state (~40% admit rate, but it depends on what high school you attend and what region of the state you're from; it's a tougher admit from better high schools) and at the end of the day it's a large public school that provides a large public school education. Chapel Hill (i.e., "UNCCH" to the yankee posting above me) has some undergrad programs that are clearly ahead of Wake (e.g., the b-school), but on the whole you're going to get a much better education at Wake Forest from professors focused on teaching classes with fewer students than at Carolina. The administration at Wake will take the time to get to know a student and solve problems if they need to, unlike at Carolina. There's no getting around that.

The facilities at Chapel Hill aren't as nice, the campus is huge, and the administration has its hands full. On the other hand, Chapel Hill as a town is way more fun than W-S. Carolina has a great national brand, lots of alumni, and it's much cheaper to attend than Wake Forest if you're in-state.

Reading some comments on here have been . . . an experience. I've never heard anyone say that Wake is on the same level as Elon or below NC State. I wouldn't say the data bears that out, but it's interesting to hear that at least one person thinks that (or is a troll).

* Large alumni base = more online boosters, more fellow alumni to run into, larger chance of having high-profile alumni that enhance the brand of the school (all of which are admittedly valid considerations when deciding what school to attend).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting takes on here. I'm a NC native who went to Wake over UNC. Chapel Hill was a safety for me. I applied to Duke too but didn't get in (true to the stereotype). My sister went to Chapel Hill. My family thinks I had a much better experience at WFU than my sister did at UNC.

Chapel Hill's reputation is enhanced by its substantial alumni base,* fantastic athletic brand, low OOS admission rate. But it's much easier to get into in-state (~40% admit rate, but it depends on what high school you attend and what region of the state you're from; it's a tougher admit from better high schools) and at the end of the day it's a large public school that provides a large public school education. Chapel Hill (i.e., "UNCCH" to the yankee posting above me) has some undergrad programs that are clearly ahead of Wake (e.g., the b-school), but on the whole you're going to get a much better education at Wake Forest from professors focused on teaching classes with fewer students than at Carolina. The administration at Wake will take the time to get to know a student and solve problems if they need to, unlike at Carolina. There's no getting around that.

The facilities at Chapel Hill aren't as nice, the campus is huge, and the administration has its hands full. On the other hand, Chapel Hill as a town is way more fun than W-S. Carolina has a great national brand, lots of alumni, and it's much cheaper to attend than Wake Forest if you're in-state.

Reading some comments on here have been . . . an experience. I've never heard anyone say that Wake is on the same level as Elon or below NC State. I wouldn't say the data bears that out, but it's interesting to hear that at least one person thinks that (or is a troll).

* Large alumni base = more online boosters, more fellow alumni to run into, larger chance of having high-profile alumni that enhance the brand of the school (all of which are admittedly valid considerations when deciding what school to attend).

I agree with you on many points. One of my kids was a finalist for the full-ride at WF. We got to know the school pretty well during that process. They had no interest in UNC due to size. They ended up in Northeast, but I think they would have had a better premed experience there. I seem to recall my kid asking about the med school pre-req courses and they said they were about 50. That’s incredible and I can very much see how that would make a huge impact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wake is looked as the rich kid school.

Interesting to note that UNCCH is 85% North Carolina residents, but WF is only 20% North Carolina residents. obviously that’s because it’s a private school, but it leads to different dynamic than half of your high school being on campus with you.

Grew up in NC, and I'd say a combination of this and the other comment about it being behind Chapel Hill and Duke. It's a good school but it's not as big a part of the consciousness as UNC or Duke. My high school always sent one or two kids to Duke and a bunch to Chapel Hill but mostly didn't send many to Wake.

It's also the a while since their basketball team mattered which means something in NC.

Also graduated from a high school in NC and went to UNCCH and I agree with this (that Wake is seen as a rich kid school and maybe a safety to someone who likes Duke).

Basically my entire AP English went to UNCCH with me. I think we sent 40-50 students there (the top 10 percent). Our salutatorian went to Davidson, no one went to Duke, some of my AP Calc peers went to engineering school at NC State instead (though they got into UNCCH).

No one went to Wake that year.