So Im from the north (New Jersey, 15 minutes outside NYC for most of my life, recently moved to Southern NJ) and I would say Im extremely used to diversity, acceptance of other cultures, and being pretty much able to say what I want about topics that can be offensive without worrying about peoples opinions. I began looking into Southern Universities, and I just want to know if there are any “southern stereotypes” at wake. By this I mean, are people extremely religious? (I have no problem with religion, but I dont like it when people push their religion onto someone else) are a large number of people racist or conservative, and are maybe not used to being around different cultures and ideas? Im not asking this to put down southerners, but I know the south can be very different culturally than the north and I was concerned if this might be something that takes place at wake. I am a white male so I wouldnt have problems feeling like a minority, but I would never want to be around people that dont accept people of different races or religions
Honestly, those of us who live in the south get pretty tired of being stereotyped as ignorant racists. Are there some intolerant people in the south? Yes, just as there are some intolerant people everywhere. When we moved from the south to San Francisco, those supposedly enlightened California urbanites made some pretty negative assumptions about us based on nothing more than our origins, and were seemingly surprised that we understood words of three syllables or more. Another stereotype of Southerners is that they are friendly and welcoming. If you do some research on Wake you will find that they have made significant efforts to embrace diverse religions and cultures. However, if you are used to “being able to say what you want about topics that can be offensive without worrying about people’s opinions”, you will find that diplomacy goes a long way in the south or anywhere else.
I absolutely agree, I’ve lived on both coasts, in the MidWest and now in the South. People are people. Some good, some bad, most of them somewhere in between. Treat people with respect and the vast majority of the time you’ll get respect back. I’m not religious and around here it’s very common to invite people to “your church”. I’ve never even had to explain a simple “No, thank you”.
Things may have changed, but when I lived in Manhattan, people also didn’t go around offending others on purpose. There’s such a thing as civilized behavior, it’s pretty universal. Don’t swing so far past “tolerant” that you’re actually “INtolerant”.
i didnt mean to offend anyone with this question, i just have never been to NC or a southern school and im not sure what to expect!! in a book i own (princeton review) it said that the majority of the school is white and religious, so i thought i would ask. never did i say someone was going to “invite me to their church”, what i meant by that is that i dont want to feel like an outcast just because i dont practice religion on campus. nor did i call southerners stupid, because obviously anyone who goes to wake is not stupid at all. there is also a video online saying things about racism at wake, so this is not all coming from something i made up in my head: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2hM7y1y-e4
what im trying to say is this question was not to put down the south in any way or the school, it was just something i was wondering about from what ive heard. im just not sure if i would fit in, and its pretty hard to find out when you live 10 hours away.
I apologize if I overreacted. It’s just that if you scroll down this page, there are a number of threads started saying something like “I am interested in Wake, but worried because it’s in the South and there the students are probably (racist, too conservative, too preppy, etc etc) for me”. And I’ve met a lot of people who pride themselves on their supposed tolerance, but don’t see that they are practicing intolerance in their views toward people that happen to live in the South. It all gets kind of old.
Regarding Wake, my son will be a freshman there next year, so hasn’t started yet. But there are multiple kids from his HS school going there, so I can speak about the Wake kids I know. Of that group, some go to church and some don’t. Some are preppy and some aren’t. They probably lean politically, on average, either centrist or slightly right of center. They are also without exception warm, friendly, and wouldn’t dream of excluding someone because that person doesn’t go to church (though if they go to church themselves, they won’t hide it either). You might also check out cbrand’s posts - her son is a current student and she has addressed this topic a lot.
Hi I am from northern NJ too (about 15-20 min from manhattan, without traffic of course) and I am going to be a freshman at wake in august! I had (and maybe still do) the same concerns as you. Being from the same region, I totally understand your concerns. Truth is, the north has a different culture than the south–and thats OK! I only visited Wake once (but it was an extensive visit) and I would be happy to relay to you my impression.
My first reaction to the school (besides all the obvious things like academics and programs) was how absolutely beautiful it was. I went over my HS spring break and happened to be at Wake on Easter Sunday–which I think was a really good thing. The school had many church services throughout campus, which I am assuming was for different denominations of christianity. I saw a bunch of students with their own families, but I also saw many students simply going about their daily activities, eating in the pit, and chilling with friends. By no means was everyone sitting on a church pew all day praying. I found this really comforting because I think it shows that everyone there isnt overly religious, etc.
I came back again the next day for a general tour. Everyone I met was extremely friendly. I knew I was in the south because everyone said “sir” and “ma’am” and “y’all”. They moved at a slower pace than those in our NYC vicinity but had a refreshing dose of common courtesy like holding open doors and actully saying “excuse me” instead of physically pushing me out of the way. I heard a few “god bless” but no one was praising Jesus every other sentence,
I felt comfortable enough by the atmosphere from my visit to committ–and I am really excited. If you are really considering wake, think about an on-campus interview so you can see the campus for yourself. I still worry about not being able to fit in–for all I know my visit was misleading. However, when I think about how NY, California, and NJ are some of the most represented states at Wake, I kind of figure it really cant be too bad.
@password221 thank you so much for that response! thats really comforting. i hope you are happy with wake in the fall and i think im actually going to tour next month when i take a trip down to south carolina, since im pretty close 