<p>As a parent of a daughter who is debating over attending Wake Forest does anyone have any impressions they want to share after attending Campus Day? We attended on Monday. The campus is beautiful, well wired and the professors seem top notch. My daughter wants to study abroad and it sounds like they really put alot in their study abroad programs. My two concerns are the lack of interest groups on campus and that most of the kids have cars. We are also dealing with the location as we are in the northeast. Did anyone attend the volunteer session? I would love to hear other people's impression after visiting.</p>
<p>HI, Momograd06- What do you mean "interest groups" ? I am not familiar with that term. I am thinking you are talking about clubs? I thought clubs (intra-murals, chess, ect) were well attened at Wake. Did you find out differently? My son will be attending from N.J. this fall. According to a great student/poster here on CC there are tons of things to do on campus. Help ou here, Ginneyvere!) My son has spent most of highschool working at his deli job, and doing schoolwork/volunteering. He plays Basketball with friends on Monday nights, and goes out for coffee or a movie with friends once in a while. His idea of fun is going to Barnes and Noble, looking around and then having a Latte. I think it depends on your child, and what they are used to doing. Although we are from N.J., we live a simple, charmed life! Good luck, I am sure many will post.</p>
<p>P.S. There are lots of kids w/o cars, where did you get the car info? Was it from a student or the school itself? Thanks.</p>
<p>By interest groups I did mean clubs or organizations. The intramural program is big but I did feel the volunteer opportunites and other clubs are limited. If you go onto the student organization link the the Wake site you will see that there are not as many choices as some other schools my daughter is considering. The big focus is Greek life and so many of the kids may do their volunteering through them.</p>
<p>HI, again- I did look at the student organizations. For my son, anyway, there is more than enough. (I hope :)) I do know you really have to stay on top of your studies at Wake. A boy from my son's highschool here in N.J was a little too "relaxed", and his Mom is not happy about it! A perfect SAT boy, too.....</p>
<p>That's funny you say that, my daughter visited a freshman this weekend. Really smart, did really well at high school. I guess he is failing 2 classes.
Don't get me wrong we love Wake, just trying to see if our impressions on student activities are correct.</p>
<p>Mmom06grad...which special interest seminar did you attend. There was one on volunteering and that is a HUGE part of life at Wake Forest. In fact it is something that almost every student on campus is involved in. The motto is "Pro Humanitate" or "In service to humanity" after all. There are also over 150 clubs so students are incredibly involved. It's actually much easier to get involved than at many schools because of the size and the myriad opportunities. All you have to do it say "I'd like to do this" and so the possibilities are only limited by a student's imagination. Also, all students are allowed to have cars, but about half do. Wake isn't a suitcase school and almost everyone stays on the weekends. I've found it's a thriving community.</p>
<p>'but I did feel the volunteer opportunites and other clubs are limited.'</p>
<p>We visited in October for my junior. We came away with a totally different impression about volunteering. It was one of the big draws for my child. (that and the Venice house :))</p>
<p>Thanks for you input. We attended the study abroad section. The webiste lists 90 clubs and most of those are frats/sororities. My daughter is considering two other schools of similar size and they seem to have a lot more activities. Glad to hear your impressions. This weekend was the first time we had seen Wake. She was able to spend time on campus Saturday during the day and night, but I guess we missed some of the essential information as the accepted student tour was so short. Thanks for your impressions.</p>
<p>I was actually discussing the interest clubs with a friend last week. Like most high school students hoping to go to a good college, we were both involved in a ton of extra-curricular activities in high school. I stayed after school at least four days a week in high school, and many weeks it was all five days. We were both mentioning that, here, there tends to be more pigeonholing, for lack of a better word. We're no longer involved in 20 different clubs, but we're more involved in the ones we're in. I have four clubs that I regularly attend, and I'm in a leadership position in three of them. </p>
<p>This system where most of the people in the clubs are really, really into the clubs does, I think, lead to slightly smaller clubs than what most people are used to, but more usually gets accomplished. We also tend to be better friends with the club members than I found in high school because all the members are people who are genuinely interested in whatever the club is about.</p>
<p>And I've gone two years without a car here, and I've never had a problem. There are enough people with cars that if you need to go somewhere, you can always find someone to take you.</p>
<p>Mom06...I talked with my nephew, who graduated from Wake a few years ago, about this one and he pointed me to another website you might want to check out. <a href="http://student.wfu.edu/directory/%5B/url%5D">http://student.wfu.edu/directory/</a> </p>
<p>I think some of the Greek organizations you are seeing are also honorary and academic organizations that are using Greek letters but are not frats/sororities. From what he told me also, the Volunteer Service Corps is pretty much the overarching body for NUMEROUS volunteer opportunities on campus including international service trips to places like India, Vietnam, etc. So, I don't think that your daughter would have any problems at all finding strong outlets for what she wants to do.</p>
<p>I don't know so much about other students but my son is finishing up his freshman year and he really didn't have alot of extra time for activities. He preferred to do things that didn't require a set time commitment like pick up ball games, weight lifting, extra research hours. Perhaps when he is more settled in academic life he can work in structured volunteer activities, but this year he felt his studies would suffer. He was somewhat interested in a frat but felt that it too would take too much time. Granted it looks like he will finish up his year with about a 3.8 so he has put his classes first.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your comments. I know they will help in making the right decision.</p>
<p>I know this issue has been beaten to death but I just thought I'd share by two cents...</p>
<p>Wake has an outstanding volunteer community on campus. If you go to the website that Observer28 offered, click on the Volunteer Service Corps. This is the "umbrella organization" for most volunteer opportunities on campus...so you may not find 100 service listings on the activities home page, but you will find 100 on the VSC website.</p>
<p>Wake is not perfect, but I would not say that one of its problems is the lack of service opportunities.</p>
<p>I know I'm a little late here and a little off the track, but if anyone can answer, I'd really appreciate it. My son has it narrowed down to Wake and one other school and one of the things I'm worried about at Wake is everything I've heard about the incredibly tough workload and ridiculously hard grading system. Can some of you at Wake give me an idea if this is just rumor or really true? </p>
<p>Don't get me wrong, I want him to have a good education and be challenged, but I don't want it to kill him. There are so many schools that "grade-inflate" and that seems to give an unfair advantage when you're out in the job market for the first time. (I went to a school that did not grade inflate, so I know the deal.) I want him to have a college experience where he can grow academically and socially and have time for both. What is really the deal at "work forest"?</p>
<p>Just as a side note, I'm not worry about the service and volunteer opportunities - it seems like thsoe are plentiful.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>lovemykids:</p>
<p>My D is a freshman this year and the work load and grade deflation do exist. I think it is more prevalent in areas like the Sciences. But - it is manageable and there is time for other activities. And we feel a degree from Wake is worth the extra effort. She has enjoyed her first year tremendously and the small class sizes afford her the opportunity to get to know the professors and get support and help when needed. It is a fabulous campus and a great community. She had many excellent choices and she is happy she made Wake her choice. Good luck to your son in his decision and hope he chooses Wake!!!</p>
<p>Hey Maryland Mom-</p>
<p>Did your daughter pledge a sorority? How does Rush work? Is there lots of competition to get in certain soroities? I heard Wake is low key with the whole sorority thing. Is that true?</p>
<p>Mom06Grad:</p>
<p>Yes - she did pledge a sorority . The girls filled out applications and paid a fee before winter break and then returned to campus a week early from winter break to complete rush. If memory serves it lasted about 5 days. Each day they went to a party at each of the sororities and the following morning learned which had cut them. Since I had never been exposed to this I thought it a little brutal but then that is just me. She ended up in a one of those she was interested in so all is okay I guess and she is enjoying it. It is quite expensive but then her group is one of the newer one's on campus and I think that drives the costs up. I paid about $1,000 this semester for dues, pins, tee shirts etc. There is great competition for some of the more well know groups and some students don't make it into any of them. I don't know about low key - it seemed to be a big deal - there is a large Greek presence there.</p>