Anonymous
04/22/2026 13:56
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:From our private:
Wake is seen as more desirable than Emory for the socially extroverted kids.
Emory is seen as more desirable for premed kids.
That makes sense but Emory is not at all popular at our private, maybe one to two kids total attend each year and they are never in the top 20 percent of class. Wash U seems to win that rivalry by a good margin and also gets some kids higher in the class.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 13:44
Subject: experience with Wake this year
From our private:
Wake is seen as more desirable than Emory for the socially extroverted kids.
Emory is seen as more desirable for premed kids.
Wake is seen as more desirable than Emory for the socially extroverted kids.
Emory is seen as more desirable for premed kids.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 13:43
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:Emory>Wake>Tulane though I wouldn't fault any kid for breaking that hierarchy as the differences aren't huge (the gap between Emory and Wake is greater than the gap between Wake and Tulane - they are very close). Historically Wake was less appealing to northern kids but that has been changing. Wake and Tulane are probably a bit more social than Emory.
Hard disagree. Wake and Emory historically ranked in the same 20-30 group by US News for most of the last 3 decades and that includes the ten years Emory admitted to fudging its data. They take the same level of kids at our private. Tulane is a very good school but I’d put it a tier down with Miami.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 13:25
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Emory>Wake>Tulane though I wouldn't fault any kid for breaking that hierarchy as the differences aren't huge (the gap between Emory and Wake is greater than the gap between Wake and Tulane - they are very close). Historically Wake was less appealing to northern kids but that has been changing. Wake and Tulane are probably a bit more social than Emory.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 13:08
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Their yield is solid - 38ish%. Demonstrated interested is clearly a big deal to them but they get to yield at parity with Tulane and a touch below Northeastern without the manipulative games that both of those schools play. They still encourage ED for sure, but unlike NEU and Tulane, they admit plenty from RD.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 13:02
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our counselor told us it is a high reach and the next "Emory, Duke etc." and we thought based on the ranks it was more attainable. Curious about experience applying. A was surprised a few kids who applied from our public school did not get in but maybe the waitlist will move?
Wake is not a high reach for anyone who is really in range for Duke, it is a match or likely depending on where the student is in the class.
Wake would be very similar to Emory as far as reach vs match, for the individual student.
Students who apply RD to Wake are usually top -20% students and use it as a backup to T20. The ones near the bottom of this group usually get WL at Wake for RD and sometimes wish they had ED'd when no T25s come through. Students below that have to ED to have a chance at Wake.
Wake ED is around the same difficulty as Emory ED and BC ED, From our school the classic ED success at Wake has 1350-1450 scores, great but not max rigor(8-10AP but only 1-2 of the hardest 5). The ones who get in to Duke or Vanderbilt in RD almost always get into Wake in RD unless they did not demonstrate interest in Wake. The RD green dots are almost all 1450-1600, GPA consistent with top 10-15%, and they all get in UVA EA in state.
Interesting. At our public Wake seems to be easier than Emory or BC, but hard to generalize
Anonymous
04/22/2026 12:53
Subject: Re:experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My son with strong stats got into UVA and William & Mary (in-state) but was waitlisted at Wake Forest. I was surprised tbh.
We see this all the time at our private.
WL at Wake, but into Ivy.
WL at Wake, but into Northwestern and Michigan.
WL at Wake, but into Amherst and Middlebury.
I think they can somehow "read" strong applications? My guess is for RD, you want a slightly messier, less spiky, more organic and natural application.
Weird, I know a lot of Ivy admits that also got into Wake, but attended the Ivy. That’s why I said they don’t yield protect.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 12:50
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:Our counselor told us it is a high reach and the next "Emory, Duke etc." and we thought based on the ranks it was more attainable. Curious about experience applying. A was surprised a few kids who applied from our public school did not get in but maybe the waitlist will move?
Wake is not a high reach for anyone who is really in range for Duke, it is a match or likely depending on where the student is in the class.
Wake would be very similar to Emory as far as reach vs match, for the individual student.
Students who apply RD to Wake are usually top -20% students and use it as a backup to T20. The ones near the bottom of this group usually get WL at Wake for RD and sometimes wish they had ED'd when no T25s come through. Students below that have to ED to have a chance at Wake.
Wake ED is around the same difficulty as Emory ED and BC ED, From our school the classic ED success at Wake has 1350-1450 scores, great but not max rigor(8-10AP but only 1-2 of the hardest 5). The ones who get in to Duke or Vanderbilt in RD almost always get into Wake in RD unless they did not demonstrate interest in Wake. The RD green dots are almost all 1450-1600, GPA consistent with top 10-15%, and they all get in UVA EA in state.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 12:42
Subject: Re:experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:My son with strong stats got into UVA and William & Mary (in-state) but was waitlisted at Wake Forest. I was surprised tbh.
We see this all the time at our private.
WL at Wake, but into Ivy.
WL at Wake, but into Northwestern and Michigan.
WL at Wake, but into Amherst and Middlebury.
I think they can somehow "read" strong applications? My guess is for RD, you want a slightly messier, less spiky, more organic and natural application.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 12:38
Subject: Re:experience with Wake this year
My son with strong stats got into UVA and William & Mary (in-state) but was waitlisted at Wake Forest. I was surprised tbh.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 12:14
Subject: experience with Wake this year
I've seen private school kids rejected with what appear to be quite good stats, but of course I didn't see their essays, teacher recommendations or the application. In other words, it's impossible to know why a kid didn't get in (and, for that matter, why they did get it).
Anonymous
04/22/2026 11:47
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Will Wake not accept a spiky student in ED0? Do they prefer well-rounded?
That seems to be the trend. They like private school kids, they like very good test schools (even though they are ostensibly "test optional," they seem to be "test preferred") and they like well rounded applicants.
Have you seen a private school kid rejected for being spiky?
Anonymous
04/22/2026 11:44
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:Will Wake not accept a spiky student in ED0? Do they prefer well-rounded?
That seems to be the trend. They like private school kids, they like very good test schools (even though they are ostensibly "test optional," they seem to be "test preferred") and they like well rounded applicants.
Anonymous
04/22/2026 11:30
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Will Wake not accept a spiky student in ED0? Do they prefer well-rounded?
Anonymous
04/22/2026 11:28
Subject: experience with Wake this year
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Yes - I think they have a very early rolling ED round so you can be in very early - not sure if it is before other ED deadlines though.
yes, one girl at our private school (standard student, not recruited athlete) got her ED acceptance by end-September. she was studying "entrepreneurial studies".