Schools Comparable to Wake Forest?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>What schools are comparable to Wake Forest? In terms of academics especially.</p>

2

<p>Boston College? Bucknell?</p>

3

<p>William & Mary and U of R (Richmond).
W&M is a small public that I believe has a similar feel (beyond just academics) as it concentrates on undergrad education and research. UR may be similar as well.</p>

4

<p>Furman University</p>

5

<p>Wake would be part of the Southern Ivy group.</p>

<p>Duke
William & Mary
Davidson
Washington & Lee
Vanderbilt
Rice
Emory</p>

<p>Larger similar schools would be UVirginia and UNorth Carolina</p>

6

<p>There is no ‘Southern Ivy’</p>

7

<p>There are a number of schools around the country (the south included) that are known as “New Ivies”. Vanderbilt and Rice, etc. are part of the “new Ivy League”. Not sure if Wake Forest has that title.</p>

8

<p>Being around Wake Forest a lot, the most comparable school to it (in the South) would be the College of Williams & Mary in my opinion. Although Winston-Salem and Williamsburg are pretty different, the schools are fairly similar in what departments they are strong in, similar feel, etc.</p>

9

<p>I agree William & Mary is most similar with BC, I personally was admitted by both and visited their campuses.</p>

10

<p>Wake is definitely not comparable to Duke…</p>

11

<p>Patriot League colleges are similar in size and academics and also have division 1 sports: Colgate, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Lafayette, etc</p>

12

<p>Lehigh???</p>

13

<p>

</p>

<p>I’d argue that Wake is VERY comparable to Duke. Of course Duke is more prestigious academically, but both are small, private ACC schools located within an hour of each other. Duke and Wake have a LOT in common.</p>

14

<p>well the OP did ask for an academic comparison</p>

15

<p>Just curious, but what do you mean by “academics?” Are you talking about the research reputation of the faculty? If so, look at USNWR PA scores for some general guide. But if that’s what you’re looking for, then Wake is not your place. To a greater degree than the vast majority of the schools in the USNWR Top 50, Wake is focused on undergraduate education and the development of its undergraduate students. They do research, but it’s not their institutional priority. </p>

<p>If you meant by “academics” that you are looking for a school of similar selectivity and similar feel, then I think that swish gave you some good comps, eg, </p>

<p>Duke
William & Mary
Davidson
Washington & Lee
Vanderbilt
Rice
Emory</p>

<p>All of these schools have a higher degree of interest in serving their undergraduate population than building a reputation built on research in more-prioritized graduate departments. As a result of that, probably all are underrated by USNWR due to their comparatively low PA scores.</p>

16

<p>“Peer assessment” means that representatives of other “National Universities” (typically large research Us) evaluate you as their peer. Accordingly, smaller major universities with unusually undergrad-focused offerings (Wake, W&M, Rice) are IMO underestimated on PA scores.</p>

<p>If you remove the PA scores from the U.S. News rankings and recalculate the schools solely on the quantitative data, Wake is tied in the rankings with Berkeley.</p>

17

<p>Washington and Lee, Richmond, William and Mary, and Furman are all pretty similar to Wake.</p>

<p>Wild guess here. 314159 has a New Jersey connection.</p>