I’m a student at UW Madison right now, but I’m strongly considering transferring. I’m from the suburbs of Chicago, a pretty liberal area. I thought Madison would be a good fit for me, but now I feel like I can’t relate to the student body. Most of the kids here are from rural white Wisconsin, and I feel like an outsider. What is Wake Forest like? I know it’s a lot more southern, so is the vibe at all similar to stereotypical southern schools like Mizzou or Alabama or more like Northwestern or something of the sort? What do people dress like? What types of music are popular on campus? I know this question is suuuupper broad and may be asking for too much of a generalization, but I’m not sure how else to see if I would be able to fit in on campus. Thanks
@YJWheler First off, I’m sorry that UW is not feeling like a good fit for you. It’s a great school and I know some folks who have really enjoyed their experience. That said, no experience is best for everyone. Mother So Dear (WFU) will be very different from UW. It’s a smallish school, ~5000 undergrads, not nearly as intense sports despite having solid D1 teams especially in non-revenue sports, 3-year living requirement on a campus that’s 350 acres outside of a smaller city of 250,000, and small classes (20-25) with only a handful of large classes. WFU is nothing like Mizzou or Alabama; I don’t know Northwestern very well, but I’d guess closer to that (WFU is less students, bigger campus, smaller city). WFU is way more diverse than when I attended a decade ago, but I’m assuming still less diverse across the board than Northwestern. I think the opportunity to engage professors and study abroad at Wake are among its best features.
That said, even when I went there and it was ~85% white and much less diverse across all indicators, I still enjoyed it. Feel free to peruse old postings of mine to see how I describe my experience, as I think my posts in the past have gone more into detail on things about which you might care. Then, I definitely encourage you to visit and see if you have contacts from high school or friends of friends that are there now cause my experience is still dated. Regardless of where you go/stay, I hope you have a good experience and look back fondly. As always, #GoDeacs!
I appreciate the response, and I’ll definitely consider Wake Forest more seriously then! I’ll definitely look into more of your posts, and thanks for the help
@YJWheler If you are looking for a more liberal school, I don’t know if Wake is the best fit for you. From my experience so far, there is a significant conservative presence on campus. With what students wear, a lot of people wear vineyard vines and Lily Pulitzer and are very preppy.