<p>Wake Forest Students and Alumni</p>
<p>Is there any advice that you can share on how to make the most of your freshman year at Wake Forest. Please include advice on signing up for classes, greek rush, joining clubs, organizing your dorm room, orientation, off campus haunts. Things you wish you had known. Thanks for the advice.</p>
<p>Come on, guys, I am another mom waiting for some advice! Speak up, you guys are the experienced ones! Thanks in advance for your advice. :)</p>
<p>Hold your beer in your left hand.</p>
<p>Let's see...I'll probably come up with more later but here's a start.</p>
<p>signing up for classes/academics:
They keep seats for freshmen in some classes (as I found out when I had to raise hell to get into an English class for next semester...) They also open special sections after the rest of us have registered. You'll have to take either the FYS or a writing seminar next semester plus another 3 or 4 classes. I started with about 15 hours and was fine, but I know several people who started with less than that their first semester. If you're premed or even thinking about premed you need to go ahead and get on the "track" - intro chem and comparative physiology or ecological/evolutionary bio. Yes, grade deflation stinks, and don't be surprised if you don't do so hot the first semester. You'll do better the next semester, when you're acclimated and know the way things work.
The whole key to balancing the workload to me is compartmentalizing and organizing what you have to do. When I hear people complaining about all the work they have to do, it kind of annoys me...everyone has a lot of work. If you section it off, prioritize and focus on one thing at a time, it makes life bearable instead of just gaping at the big picture and getting overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Greek rush:
I'm not Greek but I know sorority rush is done in the half week or so before spring semester starts, meaning if you rush, you have to come back a few days early from winter break. It's pretty much how it is at any other school, with the socials, skits, pref night, and bid day. About half the girls are Greek (although it personally seems more than that to me); it's up to your daughter to decide if she wants to do it. Frat rush is done during the semester...and I honestly don't know what it consists of (sorry).</p>
<p>joining clubs:
Don't hesitate to get involved. I've met some really cool people and some of my good friends through clubs. It was a way when I got on campus to get out of the freshman bubble that seems to exist at first (only associating with other freshmen and going around in little herds) and meet some upperclassmen. There's a good selection of stuff to do.</p>
<p>organizing your room:
I would advise keeping the beds bunked. In some dorms (ie, Luter) there physically is enough room to debunk them, but it doesn't leave much space for living. My roommate moved in before I did and she unbunked the beds. Since we didn't communicate very well, it kind of got locked in that pattern and it made very strained roommate relations worse than they already were because of the tiny living space. And other organizing tips: plastic containers/drawer sets are useful. But don't buy before you move in, because it's hard to say what you'll need.</p>
<p>orientation:
It's long and gets a bit boring toward the end, but it's very nice because you're completely acclimated and know the lay of the land by the end and aren't just jumping into classes not knowing how things work or where stuff is or anything. It's very thorough.</p>
<p>off campus:
I spent a lot of time off campus during the weekends (mainly to avoid spending time in my room, haha). The mall is a popular destination of course, as is Wal-Mart/Target for essentials. There's plenty of other shopping places such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls, etc. College kids love food of course, and as your kids will discover, all Wake kids love a fast-food joint known as Cook-Out. They have 40 flavors of awesome milkshakes, flame grilled burgers and other good stuff. Plus it's cheap and they're open extremely late, which makes for a good study break. For off-campus studying, Borders/Barnes and Noble/Starbucks are pretty popular. I meant to go downtown and check out the arts district this spring but I never got around to it. Supposedly it's pretty cool though.</p>
<p>Well, that pretty much covers what you've addressed. If you come up with more questions, I'd be glad to answer them. :)</p>
<p>Thanks so much for you insights. What is a normal weekend like? My daughter visited on a Saturday night so she got some idea. Drinking seemed very much out in the open. Does the administration take a tough stand on alcohol? Wake seemed more laid back with regards to drinking than some other schools my d was looking at. </p>
<p>Also do students have a problem getting tickets for basketball or football games?</p>
<p>Unfortunately, that's an area where I don't have a whole lot of experience. I don't drink and never really went to any of the parties...maybe somebody else can come along and add more light to the topic than I can.</p>
<p>I do know that if the RAs see you in the hall drunk or with a drink in your hand or come to your room on a noise complaint and see alcohol they will write you up, but won't go purposefully searching through your belongings for alcohol. I don't think the frat parties are "officially" supposed to serve alcohol to underage people, as they are supposed to only have parties in their lounges for people "of age" but it's not impossible to drink. In summary, if you want to drink, there's ways you can (and a lot of people do); but if you don't want to, you don't have to. And I do think that everyone knows that kids are drinking underage, but they tend to be pretty covert about it. The administration can only handle what it sees out in public. Like if you were running across the Quad publicly drunk, you're taking your chances on getting caught. As far as sanctions go, they obviously increase the more alcohol violations you get and can go as far as getting kicked out of housing, but I know the first sanction is usually $75 and alcohol education class.</p>
<p>Football and basketball tickets are pretty easy to get. I'm in the band so I'm automatically at every game anyway :) Football tickets are free - they mail out athletic passes which allow you to get into the games. But most people join the Screamin' Demons which is good for both football AND basketball and gives you a different shirt to wear for both - a yellow "Wake Forest Football" one and the infamous tie-dye. Although football games are easy to get into anyway, basketball is harder. Becoming an SD is about the only way to get tickets in a good season, so that's why most people join (a few tickets were available at the ticket office in Benson this year for b-ball, but that's only because it was a bad season). It's only $25 a year. They're supposed to be strict, taking roll by scanning your pass at the gate. You're supposed to only be allowed 2 absences per semester or you get kicked out. But when the b-ball team kind of fell apart this season, they relaxed the rules a bit and didn't really crack down on people skipping (which kind of made some diehards mad because the student support was dwindling). But as both basketball and football are projected to improve this year, I think it is probably worth joining the Screamin' Demons. Many of the freshmen do.</p>
<p>Thanks for the detailed and thorough respones, juba2jive. I'm coming from Texas next year and one of my big concerns is whether or not to bring a car. Will I ever need to use it next year? Would I be some sort of chauffeur for other freshman? I've heard that if you join Screamin Deacons its handy to have a car to get to the games. Any response would be great.</p>
<p>I brought a car, but then again I'm from NC. I probably would have thought twice about bringing a car all the way from Texas. It is good to have a car or somebody with a car to get to the games as Groves Stadium and the LJVM are a mile or so off-campus. It's not unheard of for freshmen to walk to football games, but it's sort of a long way...</p>
<p>But at least half if not more of the freshmen bring cars. Therefore it's pretty easy to make a friend that has a car and is willing to take you places (to games as well as on Wal-Mart runs, etc.)</p>
<p>any advice for what meal plan i should take? how's the food at wake?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Let's see, freshmen are required to buy at least 14 meals a week, right? I would get that. As an upperclassman, I had the option of an eight meal/week meal plan, and I didn't actually eat all of those meals. For people who regularly eat breakfast, the 14 meals per week plan seemed good, but I don't really know anyone who bought more meals than that.</p>
<p>I second ginnyvere. I went with 14 as a freshman and had plenty of meals left over. The food is edible, but I got tired of it toward the end of the semester (but I'm a picky eater).</p>
<p>Can you discuss the dorm rooms further? Basically a desk set and a bed per person. Do you have to share a closet? I'm going to be a transfer from Rutgers and from the pics I've found, the rooms are unbearably tiny compare to the suites here. Are there inspections to keep the rooms clean? Are the bathrooms in the hallways? How are they divided by gender?</p>
<p>Do you have pay for a laptop when you already have one? </p>
<p>Is it difficult to find a work study job on campus? Can a job conflict with study? </p>
<p>How hard is it to adjust to Wake? I'm afraid of the grade deflation. I guess I'm going to have to say good bye to my easy 3.83 gpa at Rutgers. </p>
<p>I'm planning to visit very soon, but honestly, the plane rides are uber expensive to take the entire family and a 10+ hour long drive for just 1 school is near-suicide. So, does anyone know anything about transportation? </p>
<p>Just to let Freshman know, English classes at any college will be no joke. Out of all my classes (full course load of sciences and calc honors) I spent the most time on english and it still came out to be my lowest grade both semesters. It would have helped to know beforehand which professor was the disproportionally difficult one. You want to pick teachers who will obviously challenge you, but not hurt you later on even though you did a lot more work.</p>
<p>My son just finished fresh year. He lived in Collins. Rooms were small, you are best to keep beds bunked or loft them. Two closets, good sized. Hall baths--halls are single sex. No room inspections, at least not on his hall. The laptop is issued to you whether or not you already have one (included in tuition). </p>
<p>Academics are rigorous, so just don't get behind and you will be ok. Use the library for study so that you are not distracted by others in the dorm. Also professors were great to meet with students---take advantage of this if you have questions or material you don't understand.</p>
<p>He took the 14 meal plan and also had many left over. He also had a car on campus (we are from NC too). He said he didn't use it much, but came in handy for runs to WalMart, BestBuy or to CookOut.</p>
<p>He really enjoyed the gym and worked out several times a week. Also enjoyed pickup basketball on the courts outside Collins.</p>
<p>Students vary in their recs on ECs. My son didn't formally join much his fresh year as he was concerned about study time and preferred to do things that didn't demand a schedule, ie weight lifting and pick up games, etc. Other students say they were happy to have joined many groups and it helped them to meet more students and feel part of the school earlier. Think it just depends on your personality and your work load.</p>
<p>Yeah, the dorms here are really small, but if you're a transfer student you might be housed in the upperclass dorms, which are slightly bigger (only slightly, but they are bigger). I'm not sure where Wake houses transfer students, actually. In most dorms you will have to share a closet, but some dorms have two closets.</p>
<p>Are there large rooms available for freshman, or are there specific dorms that have larger rooms? I am absolutely terrified of getting a small room and bunk beds.</p>
<p>Friend of son lived in Piccolo (right name ginny?) and said they were somewhat bigger, but they are much more inconveniently located.</p>
<p>How do the kids loft their beds? Are there vendors that sell lofts on move in day?</p>
<p>No, no one sells lofts, unfortunately. Wake tells people that if they want to loft their beds they have to buy or build their own lofts, which is really inconvenient because the first time that you can make measurements is move in day. The housing website says that, for lofting beds, you can call Wake and they'll send you a packet that includes instructions to build your own loft, but the packet is basically useless.</p>
<p>My roommate and I wanted to try lofting our beds last year, but we both decided that we didn't really like the idea of building something that we had to trust enough to sleep on it, and so we scrapped the idea and left our beds bunked.</p>
<p>If you're really against bunking beds, I think that there is probably room in all the dorms to do unbunk the beds, but there would be essentially no other space in the room after all the furniture.</p>
<p>My son and his roommate did build their own loft and had alot of fun doing it. Of course his roommate had construction work experience so that helped alot :)!</p>
<p>I lived in Luter and my roommate and I were able to unbunk our beds and still have enough room. When people unbunk, they usually place the beds in an 'L' shape and flip the frame of the bottom bed over so that it is higher off the ground for more storage space. Between my roommate and me, we had a ton of stuff, and we were able to store it all okay. The rooms in Luter are decent sized, and they share a bathroom in between every two rooms (suite style). My hallway was coed, but that usually doesnt happen. I think the rooms in Babcock are bigger than the ones in Luter, but they aren't suite style. If you look under the residence life and housing section on the Wake website, they have approximate measurements and photos of all the dorms.</p>