<p>Hello,
I have been reading these forums over the last few months and they have really been useful. However, I need some help. My two choices at this point are Wake Forest or Bucknell, and I only have a week left to decide. Bucknell gave me enough FA so that it would be approx. 10,000 a year to go there. Wake Forest tells me monday how much I will recieve. I did an overnight stay at Bucknell and loved it, and I visited Wake in the summer. Both campuses were very nice. I have heard that both schools are also very similar, which only makes my decision harder. I think the main questions I have are this: I am undecided, and my possible interests are computer science, business/management, and engineering. Which school would be better considering I don’t know what to major in? How do my above majors compare as far as which school has the better programs for them? Also, as far as the whole “Work Forest” thing goes, would the workload at Wake be significantly harder? I am by no means lazy, but the idea of doing work for its own sake seems silly to me. Finally, how “southern” is Wake Forest? If anyone could help with out with some of these questions, or point me to someone who can, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, any other information comparing the two colleges would be a great help as well.</p>
<p>Bucknell has a dual degree program where you can do management and engineering in 5 years, so that would be nice if you decided you didn’t want to decide. (I’m not sure if you would have had to apply to that specially already though.) We have a computer science engineering program as well as, I believe, a regular BS in computer science, and all of our engineering programs are ranked among the best in the country. Our school of management is in the process of transitioning into the college of management, and it’s really great; my friends who are management majors love it and our management 101 class is actually patented it’s so cool.</p>
<p>Bucknell is also really helpful in deciding what to do. Though it’s not as easy as coming into the College of Arts and Sciences undecided, your advisor(s) can help you balance classes until you come to a decision as to what you want to do.</p>
<p>my first thought: you can major in engineering at bucknell. you cannot major in engineering at wake forest. depending on your level of interest, this could be a major strike against wake forest.</p>
<p>bucknell probably has a stronger computer science department as well, based on faculty size (despite being smaller, bucknell has more tenure-track faculty) and phd productivity (bucknell has produced three times as many cs phds in the last decade).</p>
<p>both schools have good business programs, but wake forest might have an edge there. im not sure that edge would manifest itself in better job opportunities outside the south, however. </p>
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<p>culturally, wake forest is definitely more southern. how southern? thats a hard question to answer because its highly dependent on your reactions to cultural mannerisms. for example, im quite liberal and thus looked at many of the super-liberal northeast lacs in my college search. i couldnt stand many of the students; they just seemed fake to me. one of my high school friends, also very liberal, clicked with the environments at those schools. she ended up loving her four years at bard. </p>
<p>so if wake forest is ultimately a contender, id definitely revisit.</p>
<p>Bucknell gave me a very similar financial aid package with about 6,000 in loans. However, Bucknell does not include the cost of books, student costs, transportation costs, and they also would charge me 1,800 as a parental contribution. The following from Wake includes all of the above but they do not charge my parents. </p>
<p>WFU Sch to Cap Borrowing $6,000.00
Wake Forest College Sch $32,600.00
Federal Pell Grant $5,550.00
Federal SEOG (grant) $1,500.00
Federal Work-Study Employment $2,000.00
Federal Perkins Loan $4,000.00
Fed Direct Sub Stafford Loan $2,510.00</p>
<p>Total award:
$54,160.00</p>
<p>So in summary, Wake’s financial aid package is better than Bucknell’s by a few thousand. However, one question I have is this: does an outside scolarship reduce my “WFU Sch to Cap Borrowing” first or my workstudy/ loans?
I really like Wake for its better weather and southern feel, as well as the FA. However, I believe that Bucknell is better for being undecided… help!</p>
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<p>here is the relevant comment from wakes financial aid faq:</p>
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<p>you really need to contact wake finaid for a solid answer, but based on this my GUESS is that since your need has been met, outside scholarships would first reduce the grant you mentioned by half the value of the scholarships. i could see both perkins and institutional grant money being reduced for any scholarships beyond $12000. but thats just my hunch.</p>
<p>again, please confirm with bucknell finaid, but my understanding is that bucknell will allow you to keep all scholarship monies until you have reached the comprehensive fee with scholarships and grants, at which point your bucknell grants will be reduced in one-to-one correspondence with any additional scholarship money.</p>
<p>since the two schools policies and comprehensive fee calculations differ, this is really something youre going to a) need official clarification on and b) sit down and work out.</p>
<p>Your correct about the different schools’ financial aid policies. I called them both yesterday. This is a big deal, as although Wake has a better all around fin aid package, at bucknell I could potentially eliminate all of my loans through outside scholarships. Right now I am really leaning towards Wake, primarily for its location. It might be silly, but since I visited Wake, Duke, and UNC in the summer I wanted to go to a “southern” school. For one its warmer… but are people in the south actually more friendly? Thats one thing Ive heard alot and I’m not sure if it is a stereotype or not.</p>
<p>Two of my children go to a southern school (Vanderbilt) and the people are definatly more polite and considerate.We are from the northeast and I think people here are friendly but not as polite. The weather is a plus if it is important to you. Good Luck they are both great schools!</p>
<p>go with bucknell!!</p>
<p>I say go with Bucknell too! Their engineering dept. is highly respected and they are very helpful when it comes to being undecided. Everyone at Bucknell is very nice and helpful. I am a southern girl living in the NE, and I can tell you that there really is no difference with this aspect especially at Bucknell (mayber other places but not in Lewisburg). They also have a terrific alumni network. Good luck deciding!</p>
<p>Lewisburg is absurdly considerate; the other day I was waiting on market street (the main street here) to make a left turn and the car going the other way actually waved me to go in front of him. That may not seem like a big deal to some people, but I’m from Baltimore and you never see that sort of consideration on the roads there.</p>