<p>bball-</p>
<p>Everyone knows that you have to be smart to go to Wake. Who cares what US News says. That ranking is a joke and every thinking person knows it. Its more about research and money than education. Tarhunt is correct;Wake, W&M, Rice, Tufts, Georgetown have reputations that far exceed their "ranking". Sadly, Wake will be perceived better as their football team wins more games. Such is life in America.</p>
<p>I agree. Wake Forest actually fares much better than many similar schools in terms of reputation because they are in the ACC which gets a lot of exposure via television and newspapers and magazines. For example, I had no awareness of Bill & Mary until I moved to DC and same thing for Reed College until I moved to Seattle. Many people are unware of Williams College and it routinely is rated the best LAC. Unless you are in academia, you have no reason to be aware of a lot of these great small schools unless you live in the geography. Division I athletic success really gets the name out there with oftentimes big impact on admissions selectivity. As an example Boston College was considered a commuter school for B students back in the 60s and 70s. Their move to the ACC and success on the football field has really vaulted them forward in terms of prestige and name recognition.</p>
<p>Wake Forest is generally the second favorite of fans of the other in-state ACC schools (Duke, UNC & NCSU). Wake has the third smallest undergraduate population for NCAA Division I FBS football, after Tulsa and Rice.</p>
<p>Academically, WF is excellent. It is among the finest schools in the South. That being said, as far as perception goes, from what I've come across, it would see a very bad place for non-WASPs, in partcular Jews, who make up .019% of the undergraduate student body, and even less of the graduate student body.</p>
<p>how could it be .019%. that's 2 for every ten thousand kids. there's only 4000 students there and has to be more htan 2 jewish kids</p>
<p>that's like seven tenths of a jewish kid at Wake</p>
<p>Hm. Tag.</p>
<p>Perceptions from AR</p>
<ol>
<li>Nice school in NC</li>
<li>Work Forest</li>
<li>Conservativishness</li>
<li>Prestigious but not gonna be like "Wow, its Duke/Rice/etc"</li>
<li>People prefer Davidson and Duke over it at my school; crapload of people applying to NC schools.</li>
</ol>