<p>With the so I have heard limited social scene due to the high number of frat's and the small classes filled by mostly white people is Wake too much like a suburban high school?</p>
<p>Hello EFlo,</p>
<p>I'm not sure exactly how to answer your question, but I will address the diversity issue at Wake.</p>
<p>Overall, most students are middle-to-upper class and white. However, that does not mean Wake has no diversity. Wake students come from all over the US and world. My roommate freshmen year was from Florida, sophomore year from Atlanta, and my next roommate is from Alabama. I am from Maryland. </p>
<p>Also, Wake is definitely addressing the diversity issue. Here is a link from the student newspaper which basically says Wake is improving but it is still behind other universities:
<a href="http://ogb.wfu.edu/07/index.php?/ee/article/diversity_prevailing_on_campus/%5B/url%5D">http://ogb.wfu.edu/07/index.php?/ee/article/diversity_prevailing_on_campus/</a></p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>EFlo, I see from another thread that you are attending Wake in the fall. Congratulations! If you are into golf, you're coming to a great school... last week, we won the club golf tournament (beating out ACC rivals UNC, Duke, and GT, among others).</p>
<p>i'm a big proponent of the greek scene, so this is biased, but i think any genuine response would be.</p>
<p>i wouldn't describe the social scene as "limited" by any means. yes fraternities tend to dominate the social scene, but this really just means that there's almost always something to do; and if that isn't your thing, there are plenty of other things to do too. rather than being a polarizing force, i'd say they're a great way to meet people, whether as a member or simply by attending events.</p>
<p>furthermore, i've observed that the small classes (and small size of the school in general) allow you to meet and get to know more people, as well. for my friends at larger schools, if they randomly meet someone they get along with, they would have to go out of their way to hang out with them and get to know them if they wanted to. at wake, if you meet someone, because the school is pretty small it's very easy to stay in touch, and you'll most likely hang out again. as a result my friends at larger schools have a much smaller group of friends with whom they essentially do everything, whereas i think wake has given me the opportunity to become close with a larger range of people.</p>
<p>First off, you will find that all societal interaction is like high school. </p>
<p>As far as diversity I would correct the above statement and say Wake is overwhelmingly Upper-Middle Class and Upper Class. Greeks are a problem if you are a guy and expect to go to parties past 1st semester and aren't Greek. If you do go Greek you'll be much happier at Wake, otherwise you start to burn out on the social scene by second semester sophomore year. It isn't like high school because it is too big for you to know everybody but you'll know a lot. Still the problems I mentioned are something to consider.</p>
<p>I am an international student from India, and compared to other schools I find that diversity is lacking. Many internationals they claim to have here at wake are just Americans who went to high school in other countries. I have such friends at Wake from England, Japan and Germany. With all due respect, I feel they are more American than English or Japanese or German.</p>
<p>I sincerely hope that the incoming class is more internationally diverse. There is a fair amount of national diversity. I feel that there are people here from most states.</p>
<p>The social scene is dominated by Fraternities and since I'm greek, I have no complains. This does not mean my non greek friends have no social life. Infact they party in their rooms, even go to parties/bars. IMO join a fraternity, its beyond just the social life. Everyone may tell you pledging is hard, but its worth it. All pledging does is bring your pledge class closer together.</p>
<p>hmmm. Saket's post above is quite interesting. I am one such international who he would claim to be 'American'. I suppose having an American accent doesn't help. I totally respect his comments. I however, am really tired of this claim that Wake is "not diverse'. People seem to have different ideas on what diversity is. Sure Wake doesn't have as many internationals as say Harvard, but they are here. Most of the non-American internationals I know are from Africa, France, and India. It would be cool to have more internationals here, but regardless the place is pretty awesome as it is.</p>
<pre><code> Diversity thrives at Wake. I feel privileged to meet many people I have met here. Diversity essentially means: coming from different walks of life. I have met people who are first generation college students in their families, people who have overcome illness, people who know more than two languages, people who have beautiful dreams, people who have gone to amazing places and people who want to help. If you want to embrace diversity you have to seek it. Ask people about their lives. I doubt if people knew my life story they would call me 'typical American'. Then again, what is a typical American?
I guess Wake's Greek life and abnormally athletic student body (my roommate spent 3 hrs plus at the gym!!!) gives some people the idea that Wake is 'preppy, conservative, and white'. That’s an image. Every school has an image. The challenge is looking beyond the image. As member of Greek life I can see how hard it is not to succumb to the “preppy party.” Certain people in Greek life are old school and think you have to look and act a certain way. Not everyone is like this. The majority should not be judged by the minority.
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<p>If you say there is no diversity at Wake, you won’t find it. If you say there is, you will seek it. This is what college is all about. For me at least, Wake Forest has given more than what was bargained for.</p>
<p>To an extent, I agree with what you saw about diversity. Diversity is more about the thought and experiences than skin color.</p>
<p>Meh, my high school was 97% white. Wake is really diverse as you ask me :). But I agree with Fluffy, I really get tired of people saying over and over
"OMG Wake is so white and rich and fratty!"</p>
<p>its not that diverse will. i wouldnt go that far as saying REALLY DIVERSE.</p>
<p>FluffyFluff, kudos to you. </p>
<p>I always love the 'is this diverse?' question. College is what you make of it. Yes, there are problems, and Wake is certainly trying to work on it, but isn't there yet. There are downsides to a small school - one is name recognition! Academically, Wake is one of the best, but it's not big enough (surprisingly) to garner attention from across the world. You have to realize that a school like Wake will not sacrifice academic integrity for having people of 'diversity' on campus. For example, you simply cannot accept a student with a 1000 on their SAT with average grades and activities over a caucasian with a 1400-1500 with great grades, activities, and honors. As a former student and an individual who has worked in admissions, there were simply not enough qualified minorities to admit. I happened to live with a Chinese roommate freshman year but joined organizations that enabled me to meet friends from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Kenya, the list goes on. Many schools do not have great abroad programs. You want diversity? Reach out to different people. Also, study abroad. My caucasian friends were brilliant, and it was an honor for me to go to class with them - my suitemate senior year graduated at the top of the class, it's amazing what he did. If you truly want diversity in your circle, you will find it at Wake, in Winston, and if you go abroad (which I highly suggest).</p>
<p>The Greek scene does nothing for me, but I made an effort to develop a good mix of quality friends. By senior year, we did go out, ditched anything that had to do with Greek life, and had a great time. Frats and sororities do nothing for me and you can argue each way on what it does for Wake, but nonetheless, they are ever-present.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
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its not that diverse will. i wouldnt go that far as saying REALLY DIVERSE.
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well that comment was more toungue-in-cheek :) as I was comparing it to my HS in which 97% of the people were white. obviously it isn't like Rutgers or Cal, but it just gets a bad stereotype. I know someone who chose JMU over Wake b/c JMU was so much more diverse being a big state school. If you look at the stats they are both the same, perception does not equal reality.</p>
<p>reading this forum makes me smile. The question has nothing to do with "Is Wake diverse or isn't it?"</p>
<pre><code> The question you all are posing is: Does diversity refer to difference race/country of origin/culture or does it mean difference in perspectives? It is kind of a catch-22 here because both intertwine. I mean we are all different because we have all experienced different lives. Heck, identical twins can even learn a lot from each other. Now I agree with other posters here in saying Wake doesn't have so many minorities/internationals to say it is 'above-par numerically diverse'.
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<p>Now consider that Wake is in Winston-Salem and that the campus community is quite tight knit. Some of my good friends attend schools in the city (NYU, Carnegie Mellon, Tufts) and they do not really know many people on campus compared to the amount of people I know at Wake. I think Wake makes up for its misconceived lack of diversity because you get more opportunity to know people (even of other cultures) than you’d otherwise know at those so called ‘diverse universities’. </p>
<pre><code> I could keep going on. I think it’ pretty clear what I’m trying to say. I’m trying to defend a notion that diversity thrives at Wake.
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<p>Saketm, I understand where you are coming from. I see what you are saying. I know you too and I think you agree with me more than you admit. You are a ‘real’ international and that partially molds your perspective. I wish Wake had more internationals, true ones. I think Wake would benefit from sending representatives to Fulbright fairs, more recruiting etc etc to achieve that goal. </p>
<p>It is not fair to say Wake isn’t diverse. Diversity cannot be measured. Measuring is subjective. So the response “its not that diverse will. i wouldnt go that far as saying REALLY DIVERSE.” Actually means “ Wake needs more internationals, it seems like there aren’t many’. Wake is diverse. I guess you can say Wake is not ‘internationally diverse’, but it is. Maybe it isn’t ‘internationally diverse enough’.</p>
<pre><code> What is the value of ‘internationally diverse enough’ anyways? I don’t feel like I’m missing anything… I wouldn’t trade the friends I’ve made here if admissions could swap them with internationals. I think admissions does its job well. We are pretty --------= cliche = ‘diverse’ for a school below the Mason-Dixie line. Americans are different than people abroad and I think Saketm would agree… sometimes its frustrating when you don’t have someone else in the room who has shared a specific experience that you have. Sometimes its hard to share who you are when there are less of people ‘like you’
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<p>Alright, so I’ve spent an abnormally long time on CC for someone past high school. Sorry for the length … obviously I have strong feelings on the topic</p>