Reply to Wake

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Wake"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]Nothing about the quality of Wake Forest has changed. It remains an excellent private R1 University.

What has changed is the methodology used by USNWR and other publications that "rank" these schools.

I consider it a reminder to view these lists with a heavy dose of critical thinking. Yes, there is some valuable information to be had in there. But there is also a lot of valuable information NOT included in the analyses, including class size, which happens to be a Wake strength and is important to some/many students and families.

All that said, you do you, OP. If sending your kid to a T50 school is important to you, you might want to skip Wake, which seems to be hovering around that line in various publications due to changes in methodologies.

More info:

October 3, 2025

"For the third year in a row, Wake Forest has dropped in the U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best National Universities list. After falling dramatically from a top 30 spot in 2023, Wake Forest is now below the top 50 line.

Wake Forest tied with five other universities for the No. 51 spot — Case Western Reserve University, Florida State University, Texas A&M University and Virginia Tech.

Most of the metrics were consistent with the 2023 methodology, which introduced a new way of ranking schools, changing 17 of the 19 measures.

In 2023, Wake Forest’s ranking dropped 18 spots from its No. 29 spot. This was the first time the university has been ranked out of the top 30 since 1996 and its lowest ranking since joining the National Universities list. This year, the university dropped from No. 46 to No. 51.

Beginning in 2023, U.S. News no longer considers factors such as small class sizes, instruction by professors with a terminal degree, alumni giving average, graduate debt or students’ high school standings. Wake Forest highlights and prioritizes many of these elements, according to Vice President of Communications & Chief Communications Officer Brett Eaton.

The algorithm change in 2023 also added seven new indicators — four related to faculty research, two related to first-generation graduation rates and one related to graduate income.

U.S. News said it did not alter its formula this year, besides small adjustments."[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics