I just visited Wake Forest and thought that the campus was gorgeous and the student life seemed amazing. However, I’m interested in pursuing a CS and Business double major. How is the CS program at Wake Forest and its job prospects?
Bump. Any CS students or grads from Wakeforest have any input?
Father of a freshman . Can’t speak to CS but there business school is great. He will be applying to that in his 2nd yr. So far loves everything about Wake. Really feels the sense of community on campus.
Although I can’t be of help re the CS program, I do know the Office of Personal and Career Development (career services) is quite innovative. They have taken what most schools do through a business program and applied it to the entire university. What does that mean? Kids with traditional liberal arts degrees (history, PoliSci, English, etc.) actually get good jobs. Some go the traditional route and others end up in consulting, banking, etc. They have been able to connect the employers with the best students, not just the best business students. Top employers want smart kids with great skills in critical thinking and communicating who work well on teams. Certain jobs require technical skills, but many entry level quality jobs can be filled with many different majors. Wake has done a good job connecting the student, the academic department, and the employer. The head of their career services came from Stanford and served as the head of career placement services for Stanford’s business school. He has a great track record.
Computer Science is really hard to get into, especially as a freshman. The intro class fills up pretty quickly, and the freshmen have the worst registration times.
However, the program is exceptional. It’s not the best, seeing as it’s not the focus of the school (most are pre-med or pre-law) it holds itself much better than, say, the education department.
Also rickle is right, there are a lot of chances and opportunities to get involved and make connections, even if the student isn’t there for business. Again, it’s pretty cutthroat, so they will have to be quick and deliberate in their choosings.
Good luck! Though, I have to admit, Wake isn’t entirely all it seems at face value. make sure that if you choose here, you really want to go here.
CarriesBakers - what do you mean by “Wake isn’t entirely all it seems at face value”?
@wildcat1967 Wake has got some problems that they don’t necessarily put on their New Student Newsletter. I would rather not speak of them here and derail this person’s post.
If you have questions about Wake you can PM me or start a thread under Wake Forest’s section on CC.
Hey! Current CS major at Wake here. It seems like you are concerned with three things: program strength, job potential, and campus life. I will try and divide my answer into those three categories for you.
Program Strength:
The CS department at Wake right now is a little above average when you look across the nation. Certainly, we are no Stanford/Berkeley, but we do well. The problem in the department right now is that the majority of our professor population are grey beards who have been at Wake for 15-30 years. They are some of the most brilliant people, yes, but times have changed. The good news, Wake CS is expanding like mad…when I got here 2 years ago (I am a junior now) we had 15-20 CS majors…now we have over 100. What does this mean? It means we are hiring a many new, younger, professors. Most notably we just got a professor, Grey Ballard, who did his PHD at Berkeley and won the ACM runner up for second best thesis in the Nation. Wake has a lot of money and they are not afraid to throw it at talent. I foresee in the next 3-5 years with the emergence of the engineering program we will be a top 20 CS school.
I noticed others mentioned difficulty getting into courses. This is really only a problem for the intro (CSC 111) course because right now people can take it instead of a math course. I am working with the department to change this, so hopefully quite soon there won’t be a problem. That aside, if you want to major in CS and can’t get into the class just go talk to a professor and explain your situation. That is one of the benefits of having a tight community like Wake…we can do that. I am willing to say 9 times out of 10 they will let you in.
As far as coupling it with a business major, plenty of people do. It sets you up quite nicely for a career in business analytics.
Job Prospects:
First and foremost, if you’re worried about finding a job as a CS major…don’t. If you have a decent level of competency you will easily find a job. Moreover, Wake has one of the best career offices in the NATION. They have flown me to San Francisco twice, set me up with multiple interviews, its incredible. Go to them early and you will be rewarded. I received an internship after my Freshman year, one after my Sophomore, and I currently am sitting on a job offer from the NSA. Day 1 I went to them and told them I wanted a career in the government and we made it happen. That brings me what you’re probably wondering…who the hell recruits CS majors at Wake?
FBI: Chief of staff of the cyber division is a graduate from Wake. She visits quite frequently recruiting…don’t do drugs and that is a sure job.
NSA: I don’t want to humble-brag, but I have increased their recruiting presence at Wake and am happy to help anyone interested in working there.
Workday: A bay area company that has hired a countless number of my friends
LinkedIn/Microsoft: A Wake CS grad was high up in LinkedIn before the acquisition, no we have a connection at both!
Google: Tons of Wake there
Need I continue?
The super cool thing about Wake and jobs is Wake is a small school, with a small alumni network. The CS department, until recently, has been very small so shrink that network even more. The CS graduates you find on LinkedIn will 9/10 give you help, a recommendation whatever you want. For reference I had 5 referrals to Facebook, 2 to Google, 1 to Apple, 1 to Amazon, and 1 to Microsoft in a weeks search! They can get you interviews, at that point, just don’t suck (my motto).
Campus Life:
I do not know what kind of background you come from, but the campus is very wealthy. I personally come from a lower-middle class home and had some trouble my freshman year finding my niche. My best advice if you’re like me is don’t feel pressured to join a fraternity. Greek like is big, but often times it’s not what you want, its just what seems like the easiest way to make friends. I’d recommend you hangout in the CS lounge, get a campus job, go to events Student Union does, and sure go to parties. You can make friends on your own accord, you don’t need to join a fraternity. There are student’s from all kinds of backgrounds, just spend some time looking for people like you, don’t try to fit in as someone your’e not.
I hope this helps. If you’d like to talk more feel free to message me. I am more than willing to bring you to a CS class or two and get some meetings between you and professor or two.
I see that as quite a stretch. CS departments across the nation are growing at similar rates as Wake, though of course not all are. I think Wake has the potential to crack the top 30-50 range or so in that time and be considered a second tier school for CS (not the top tier / top 10 but not unknown for CS). Right now I think that a lot of schools offer more robust CS programs that companies know better, particularly when it comes to tech schools and other secondary schools known for CS outside of the big names like Rice, Brown, Rutgers, Tufts, RPI, WPI, NYU etc to name a few that I think Wake would struggle to compete with even in 5 years.
Re companies, there are 5 software engineers at Wake listed as currently working at Google. Compare that to 144 at a selected tier 2 CS school (RPI). Of course, the number of CS majors graduating both is different and is hard to take into account fully, but to say that Google has tons of Wake grads is a stretch to say the least, using the information above. Alumni networks help in CS but only go so far, and larger companies will usually focus recruiting efforts at larger or more known schools, which Wake looks to be still in the process of developing.
I think generally the job prospects are more a function of the desirability for CS students and for those at good colleges. Wake’s general strength I am sure helps in that department over say local school X, which may have a similar level CS program when it comes down to it.
My takeaway from the above post is that doing CS at Wake will not hold you back in the slightest, and the department is expanding rather than being left as is or for dead as is happening at some schools. Make sure to look at Wake (and any other school you consider) beyond just the CS department. As said above, Wake is generally a very good school, and that helps your education and job prospects arguably more than the CS strength in this case.
@rickle1 Thank you for sharing info. on b-school. My daughter applied for its accounting program and we love the university even though we never visited the campus. Can you please explain more how great business school is? Say, how is the faculty of the business school? How hard is the course work? Is it easy or difficult to get into the business school after enrolling in the university? Thank you in advance.
@maplefall - Please understand I don’t have first hand experience in that I am a parent of a freshmen who will be in the business school. Wake’s process is to apply to the business school in sophomore year. The business school consumes junior / senior/ and fifth yr (accounting - if you plan on getting the Masters in Accounting. I believe the vast majority of accounting majors go that route as the accounting track is designed to provide both Bachelor and Masters and prepare students for the CPA exam).
B- school admission: There are prereqs that must be completed before acceptance into the B-school (Calculus, Econ, and intro Accounting. I believe they take a fourth class that is tied to analytics / stats). Accounting is a big weed out class. Some do poorly and others decide it’s really not their thing. Being a small school dedicated to small class size and student / professor interaction, they have to cap admission to fulfill their value proposition. This is generally in the 250 (either side) range. My understanding is roughly 60% - 70% of applicants are accepted. Important to have a good GPA, especially in the prereqs. Rule of thumb, a 3.5 at Wake with good results in prereqs should suffice.
Once admitted, the coursework is demanding (which is good). The reward is these students are well prepared for the CPA exam and the workforce. During their program (accounting), they typically have at least one internship and are heavily recruited by the Big 4 and other national / regional firms. The “Work Forest” reputation helps in this regard. They may not like it in real time, but the firms know that a kid who did well really worked hard.
Track record: Impressive CPA pass rate. They have been a leader in first time pass rates for a long time, literally being the top school in the nation for many years (something like 13 out of 17 years - I forget- but it’s a big number). Also, they recently (past few years) have a 100% job placement record meaning you will intern, you will pass the CPA exam, and you will have a job offer at a major firm (many times well ahead of graduation as the offers come right after internships). They have a reputation of graduating smart, hardworking kids that perform well on teams. That’s essential in today’s business world.
Finance also has a strong track record. Heavily recruited in southern banking (Charlotte is a major banking center) for investment, corporate, and commercial roles. Decent exposure to NYC but greater in the south.
Decent amount of kids going into consulting (primarily division of Big 4 firms).
Summary: Not overly difficult to obtain admission into business school. If you’re smart and do the work it’s quite likely you’ll be accepted. You will work hard, acquire a lot of skill, have numerous opportunities to network - student must engage, have meaningful internships, pass the CPA, get a good job. That is the norm. What each student does with that is up to them.
Just checked something on the “Bulletin” which is their requirement list, class description, etc (available their website).
Accounting is a mandatory 5 yr program which includes both bachelor’s and master’s degree. You cannot take a standalone bachelor’s program. The CPA requires 150 credit hours so the master’s provides the additional 30 credits.
@rickle1 Thank you again for sharing your knowledge of the b-school. The five-year accountancy program is well designed and very impressive. What I want most now is that my daughter gets admitted into program first and works hard to graduate smoothly.
My son is looking at a CS major at NC State, Chapel Hill and Wake Forest. Initially, we counted Wake Forest out after being accepted to the other two, because of the cost, as well as the size of the computer science program.
Did anyone else look at Chapel Hill and NC State for Computer Science and then choose Wake Forest? If so, why?