<p>Do you really think that Wake Forest deserves its ranking of top 25 University in the country by US News and World Report? It's my safety and I'm thrilled that I can have a safety ranked that high, but I am a bit skeptical about the legitimacy of rankings overall, specifically this ranking. Schools like BC, NYU, etc. I feel should be ranked higher than wake, and I don't think that its really a top 25 university.</p>
<p>I feel the same way about Wake Forest, but my opinion is not based upon any rational facts. For whatever reason, I just wouldn’t be that excited if my kid went to Wake Forest, even though it is highly ranked. Perhaps it is because I am a northerner. Perhaps it is because I am 56 years old, and when I was a kid, I never heard of Wake Forest. I can tell you that a client’s kid went to Wake Forest, and then went on to Medical School. I don’t think the Wake Forest “brand” registers with most people. They could use some public relations help.</p>
<p>When my son added Wake Forest to his list of schools to apply to 3 years ago - I was not impressed. I had barely heard of it and my impression was conservative, southern and preppy with lots of wealthy students. I could not have been more wrong!</p>
<p>He is now a junior - in the business school - and loves it. He is receiving a wonderful education on a gorgeous campus. He is thrilled with his professors and their real world experience. Every Wake Forest employee I have ever dealt with has been polite, warm and friendly. The facilities are amazing - he has been in wonderful suites the past 2 years.</p>
<p>And the football team is off to a great start - which should help with name recognition! :)</p>
<p>I won’t debate the minutia of rankings - find it tedious and meaningless.</p>
<p>I just know that he loves the school - we love the school - and if we had it all to do over - he’d be at Wake.</p>
<p>Apparently Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE - has heard of Wake Forest:</p>
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<p>My son attended this lecture and enjoyed it very much.</p>
<p>I think the only reason it may be ranked that high is because of its reptation of “work forest.” I think the US News personel felt that the more demanding and heavy courseload at Wake made it deserving of a higher rank than schools with better name brands. I too am an applicant of the Business school, and I want a school that will give me recognition in the Northeast, but still be able to be respected in other parts of the country. I will apply to either two or three safeties: my state flagship which is my financial safety, and then between Wake Forest, Bucknell, and Lehigh. I will choose between either one of two of those three schools.</p>
<p>I feel like Wake Forest may be really respected in parts of the south, but for someone that may not want to live there, it may no be the best choice.</p>
<p>I think rankings are a bunch of hooey. </p>
<p>But, I also think that if you trust the rankings as a judge of your reaches and matches, then you should trust them for your safety. </p>
<p>What did you think when you visited? Did you ask probing questions during your interview? Those would have been golden opportunities to really form your own opinion. </p>
<p>Lastly, don’t forget the CC mantra of “Love thy safety.” If you have any doubts, any doubts at all, that you’d be happy at Wake, then it isn’t a proper safety. Especially with a $54,000 price tag. Please think hard about this and discuss it with your parents. </p>
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I can understand your sentiment. That’s kinda how I feel about Pomona and some of the other highly-ranked west coast schools. Never heard of most of them. They have no “brand identity” with me, either. But that doesn’t mean I doubt they’re any good. </p>
<p>As for PR help, why? The school isn’t scadalized, has a nice ranking (for those who care), and it’s not hurting for good, solid applicants. I say leave well enough alone. Not every parent needs to be impressed by every school.</p>
<p>I hate rankings. I think most are skewed in some way. But I’ll still comment on this and preface any student at Wake will have a slight bias, although I’m trying to be neutral in thinking about this.</p>
<p>But I do believe Wake Forest is one of the top 25 private schools in the nation. For “prepurm”, when you look at where the Business School places students, especially the accounting program, I think you can appreciate Wake’s quality. </p>
<p>My roommate is a senior accountancy major–3.05 gpa (not exactly a high gpa)–he has offers from all of the Big 4 accounting firms and will be interning with Ernst and Young next semester, then working for them after that. And no, he has no connections or any ECs to speak of.</p>
<p>As for me as a history major, I think the professors have been great and I don’t think I’ll have any problems finding a job out of college. I’ve really been challenged (something that didn’t happen at the first university I went to).</p>
<p>All my friends from home go to top 25 schools, and just from talking to them, I think Wake Forest’s education quality is right up there with the other schools. I think Wake Forest might even be a little LOW b/c it has a higher acceptance rate than some of the other schools, like NYU.</p>
<p>I think Wake Forest needs to do some public relations.</p>
<p>It is doing a disservice to its students if it doesn’t spread the word about how good it is, because its students will be looking for job in a national marketplace, and not just in North Carolina.</p>
<p>A few months ago, Grinnell had a big article in The New York Times.</p>
<p>I agree FloridaDad. Wake needs to get its name out more, especially in the North. But it’s reputation is pretty solid in some circles.</p>
<p>I mean the Dean of the Biz School is the former CEO of Pepsi</p>
<p>I guess it’s all a matter of perspective. I’m actually surprised by how much I come across Wake publicity. I guess because I have a vested interest, my eyes and ears are tuned in to it.</p>
<p>DougBetsy:</p>
<p>To me, Wake Forest is almost invisible in the “marketplace”. I bet many people out in California have never even heard of it.</p>
<p>floridadad, our discussion has reached a level of opinion and speculation now. (“I guess” “I think” “I feel” “to me” “I bet”) If we were face-to-face this could be a lot more fun and constructive. But, here, it just grows tiresome. Let’s call it a draw. :)</p>
<p>Would any of you guys say that Wake Forest’s strenght is in the business program. I foung it interesting that US News ranked wake forest #25 out of every single national university in the country, but then ranked it #28 in terms of undergrad business. I mean, HYPS and other top notch schools like the ivies and Duke don’t even have business so they wouldn’t even go ahead of Wake. I think this shows two things:</p>
<p>How bull ***** Wake Forest’s ranking at #25 overall for Universities is,</p>
<p>and the lack of strength/prestige/name brand of the under grad business program.</p>
<p>I think its both.</p>
<p>heres the link</p>
<p>[Rankings</a> | WFU Schools of Business](<a href=“http://business.wfu.edu/default.aspx?id=37]Rankings”>http://business.wfu.edu/default.aspx?id=37)</p>
<p>^^^^^
Sounds like you already have made up your mind- there are lots of other schools for you.</p>
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<p>Our family is 100% satisfied with Wake Forest and with Calloway. If you are not impressed - that’s fine - apply elsewhere.</p>
<p>Wake forest has only two undergrad schools,the business school and the college. So if its overall ranking is a 25 and its business ranking is 28, than how does this make sense?</p>
<p>prepurm, it’s becoming obvious that Wake is not for you. You shouldn’t have to try this hard to justify a safety. You should love it. </p>
<p>You listed 4 safeties: Wake, Bucknell, Lehigh and your state flagship. You don’t need that many. Cross off Wake. Bucknell and Lehigh are excellent schools. You can’t go wrong with either.</p>
<p>Agree with a few other posters, prepurm – Wake is not the school for you. In case you’re interested, though – the same architect designed both Bucknell and Wake. Good luck.</p>
<p>Yes. </p>
<p>That is all.</p>
<p>Ahhh NO…for the price we pay, for the torture of workload that we endured, the ranking should be WAYYY higher. Newsweek’s ranking is more accurate based on workload. And it sucks, because you go to Wake, you get low grades due to the 0 grade inflation, you apply to graduate schools, and because the school is small and ranked 25th and not in the top 10, they don’t even show you an ounce of understanding for the low GPA. A few of my friends were valedictorians and salutatorians in high school and didn’t get into medical schools because of low GPA. The fact that they came from Wake does not carry any weight. It sucks! Wake needs to either gain more recognition so that our hard work is actually recognized, or ease up on the grading system. If you’re not even ranked in the top #10, there should be no reason to make the workload harder than those in the top #10!</p>