Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:44     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
Anonymous wrote:I see people at the checkout line in Publix constantly arguing about Wake Forest's academic chops.


It’s even worse at the Piggly Wiggly!
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:42     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
Anonymous wrote:Honestly, who cares. I feel the same way when this goes down on other posts. There are elite schools, strong schools, average schools. Who cares if someone else likes it. Most NC would choose in-state because it’s cheap, but some that can afford it will choose WF or whatever other state’s equivalent as they like what it has to offer and the size may be better for their student versus a large public. No one questions anyone choosing an average public and defends its the student not the school, yet many privates get heat for no good reason.


The only reason I could see this info being useful is if someone’s OOS DC is hoping/planning to stay in NC after graduation and wants to know how the job market will perceive/value a Wake degree compared to the other schools mentioned.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:40     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
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That type of snobbery is way out of date.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 ….
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:36     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
Anonymous wrote:As an NC native, I view WF well below Duke, Davidson and UNCCH. Unless something has really changed, and the rankings certainly don’t indicate that they have, the caliber of students that attend WF is simply not in the same league. It’s a very solid school and more on par with Elon and Richmond.


Is your knowledge current? My understanding is that Wake is now so much more heavily OOS than it was even 15 years ago, and the stats/caliber of the average student at Wake has gone way up as a result. On par with Lehigh, not Elon.

BTW, this is not disparaging N.C. students at all, obviously. I just recognize that UNC and NCS (engineering) are super appealing for high-achieving NC students, which siphons a lot of in-state talent away from an expensive school like Wake.

This is very different than in NY, for example. SUNY Binghamton is a great state school and an excellent value. But it obviously doesn’t have the same appeal for in-state NY students as UNCCH has for in-state NC students. My understanding is that the kids who go to Wake now (including from places like the NY and DC suburbs) are much higher stats than the kids who went to Wake 15 years ago.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:30     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
UNC is a great school and very reasonable in state. The arguments would be UNC to NC State. Most UNC applicants would not be applying to Wake/Duke or Davidson based on tuition numbers unless they were sure they could get full FA. Any of those schools offer excellent education.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:30     Subject: Re:Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Winston-Salem. I agree with the poster who said it is generally viewed as behind UNC and Duke academically (significantly so in the case of Duke, slightly so in the case of UNC). I remember a number of kids in my graduating class who went to Wake who didn’t get into UNC. Not to say it didn’t happen, but I don’t recall anyone going to UNC after not getting into Wake. Most years there were also a few elite kids (HYPS-competitive) from my school or Winston who would go to UNC on Morehead or Robertson scholarships, whereas I don’t ever recall those kinds of kids going to Wake. All of that added up to it being viewed as slightly below UNC academically as I recall (whether fairly or not). Sort of a school for kids who had good grades, but also didn’t exactly blow you away in terms of how smart they were.

That said, I also agree that it was viewed as ahead of every other school in NC with the possible exception of Davidson. Davidson was very much a peer school, and I recall a LOT of kids whose top two choices were Wake and Davidson. A lot of those same kids would apply to Elon as a back-up option. But basically no one who got into Wake or Davidson picked Elon.

The only other thing I’d add is that, at least at the time (15 or so years ago), it definitely had the reputation—like Duke—as being heavy on kids from the Northeast, which wasn’t always viewed as positive thing within NC…

Most people I know who went there really liked it. But, more so than with a lot of other schools, it seemed to have a clear “type” — from wealthy families, gung-ho about Greek life, reasonably smart but not especially nerdy/intellectual. Basically everyone I know who went there fit that “type,” so it wasn’t a surprise that they ended up liking it. (And to be clear, I don’t mean any of the pejoratively — some of those kids were good friends, and I had some fun weekends at Wake with them).

It’s a nice little campus, but kind of cloistered and not really integrated into Winston very well. And Winston isn’t much of a fun college town.

There’s ACC sports (some of which are quite successful), but no one would mistake the atmosphere for an SEC school (or even UNC or NC State).

Hope that’s helpful.

I also grew up in the Triad and could have written this post, down to the point of our top student going to UNC on a Morehead.

But why do you care, OP? If you’re in-state (NC), you’d know. If you’re OOS and your DC is looking to stay in NC post-graduation, then it might matter….but, end-of-the-day, Wake is a good, small, private school. If you can afford it, go for it!
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:29     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
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.


There's no "perhaps" to Davidson. Wake Forest is a great school, but it's not ahead of Dsvidson. .
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:21     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
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 dog in this race, but in what way is UNC behind Wake?


LOL apparently with respect to reading comprehension.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 09:01     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
I see people at the checkout line in Publix constantly arguing about Wake Forest's academic chops.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 08:37     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
Honestly, who cares. I feel the same way when this goes down on other posts. There are elite schools, strong schools, average schools. Who cares if someone else likes it. Most NC would choose in-state because it’s cheap, but some that can afford it will choose WF or whatever other state’s equivalent as they like what it has to offer and the size may be better for their student versus a large public. No one questions anyone choosing an average public and defends its the student not the school, yet many privates get heat for no good reason.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 08:31     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
Anonymous wrote:At a time when standardized scoring submission was a prominent aspect of college admission, Wake Forest's profile placed it after Duke and Davidson and before UNC–CH. In relation to a Virginia school, Wake Forest placed after Richmond.

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9

Wake has long been test optional, while others haven't.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 07:03     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
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.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 06:35     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
At a time when standardized scoring submission was a prominent aspect of college admission, Wake Forest's profile placed it after Duke and Davidson and before UNC–CH. In relation to a Virginia school, Wake Forest placed after Richmond.

https://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 05:55     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
Anonymous wrote:A lot of people at Wake got rejected from Duke and Vandy. No harm in that. Gorgeous campus and people I know who have gone there have loved it


But they’re not from NC and this thread is on NC’s views on Wake.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2025 02:43     Subject: Wake Forest and how it's viewed, especially in NC
OP, curious why you’re asking for in-state impressions? Sometimes in-state aren’t the most objective as obviously financials are going to make impact perception, especially in a state where the publics are very affordable. It’s a great school, but it’s also very understandable why many choose otherwise due to significant cost difference.