Wake Forest from a parent

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
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Anecdotal, but by definition, all of our experiences are. With respect to aid (need and merit), I feel Wake did a nice job our four years. Although we were full pay, they did adjust cost significantly when we added a second kid to college (not at WFU). Was very concerned about this at the time because the calculator indicated a pretty healthy discount, and it proved to be accurate (we should have had twins!).

Based on son’s group of friends, the families that truly needed aid received quite a bit. The ones that were obviously doing well were full pay. There was one kid in his group with significant merit aid. Don’t know his SES, but I would guess upper middle class. All around brilliant kid.

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The problem with Wake Forest, ED, and financial aid is one of timing. If you apply ED and apply for financial aid, their info says you will hear about that aid “as early as Dec. 1”. But ED admissions are made on a rolling basis – there are already kids anxiously awaiting decisions who applied in August – and once you are accepted you have 2 weeks to decide and pay a $1500 deposit. So a student may need to make a decision without FA info – thus ED heavily favors those without need. At least this is the way we understood it when my student was looking.

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Thanks, @DramaMama2021. This helps. There are a lot helping moms on CC :smiley:

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Just seeing this. Colgate, Bucknell, Boston college, (not sure where you are located). Business school is sort of a joke at WF and filled with zombies with little or no interest in the subject. Not saying all the students are like this but many. Not a vibrant learning community or the brightest.

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I honestly have a hard time believing you have a student at Wake Forest, or that you’ve ever been there.

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I don’t know how to respond to a statement like this. Poets & Quants has the Wake Forest undergraduate business school ranked at 13 this year.

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I have no affiliation, but why are you vitriolic towards WF? If your kid goes there such comments neither change or improve the situation.

It can all be phrased more constructively or balanced. Just trying to understand the motivation.

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28

They do and they’re not happy.

http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/t/wake-forest-from-a-parent/3527003

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None of this surprises me. My D applied to a master’s program there that offered her 100% scholarship (she was a strong applicant and they knew they’d be competing with higher ranked programs). Even though there was less than a 5% chance she’d take it, I insisted we visit before turning it down. Everything you said strikes me as 100% accurate, and if anything you may be going soft on some of them.

On the sports piece, it’s worth noting that WF is almost always going to bring up the rear in the ACC in sports other than basketball. Football is always going to be one of the very bottom programs in the conference.

But it is a school that will feel very southern for those from north of the Mason-Dixon line. I think the analogy to SMU is a good one too for a variety of reasons, particularly as it relates to the type of students and backgrounds you’ll find there, but I believe (w/o checking) that WF is a harder admit hurdle. Very fine schools, but there will be many kids there who applied to schools a little further up the ranking pecking order that didn’t make it into them and whose parents can pay.

Worth noting, though, that WF is going to represent you as well as any school in their geographical sphere of influence. I think it’s a strong brand.

FWIW, I found the campus and environs charming, even though D had a definite “no” reaction almost from the beginning. I’ve spent more time in the south and I know what the south offers and appreciate what that is. For a kid who grew up in the PNW, the northeast is a much more comfortable place to be than the southern US, although none of my kids are politically strident people (though tend to lean left). Some of it honestly is the weather.

One thing about Wake that’s worth mentioning is that, along with Bowdoin, they are one of the original TO schools and thus have played a vanguard role there. It’s kind of a progressive element of who they are, and when you read their application material that addresses essays and TO, it makes for an impression of an institution that isn’t as conservative as they might appear.

IDK. As for me, I know I would not have had a problem going to school there. But for my kid, she clearly preferred other environs (ie, New England).

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Agree it’s a good question insofar as it’s pretty unusual in my travels that a parent expresses a lot of disappointment about the school their kid currently attends unless it’s clear that they are looking to transfer. Usually it’s the cheerleader approach. We all tend to justify our own platforms, and where you children go to school is kind of like how people react to your dog: you take it personally either way. :slight_smile:

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She lost me when she made comments that were absolutely not true which is why I questioned if she even had a kid there.

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Have to admit the business school assessment struck me as surprising in that WF business undergrad is one I’ve always assumed was strong by reputation. I’ve not personally been there myself so I have no way of assessing the quality of kids who are in the program.

Having said that, despite some fair criticisms (or criticisms that at least seem fair from my limited exposure), it’s not an easy school to get into regardless of your ability to pay. I think the issues are probably almost all cultural. There is a difference between going to school in the south and everywhere else. It’s not for everybody.

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OP hasn’t been back in over a month.

I suspect and hope things have either improved at WF or he/she has turned their attention to writing extremely damning and scathing YELP reviews of Applebee’s in the Winston-Salem area. :grinning:

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Much of the unhappiness expressed seems self-selecting. More than a quarter of the kids are on aid; it seems likely OP’s child just chooses to socialize with a wealthy and shallow crowd. The business school does well in career placement and rankings, regardless of the OP opinion. The sports criticism seems oddly self-serving; too much emphasis on football but not enough on other sports and athletes not treated well? Why would they be treated differently than any other student?

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One not so minor corrective: the Wake Forest football team is 6-0 and is ranked 16th in the nation. Go Deacs!

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And the men’s soccer team it usually in the top 10. And both men and women’s golf are very competitive. And the basketball team should be on the rise. And the baseball team generally does pretty well (made it to the College WS a few yrs back - a few innings away from going tot he finals)

And the debate team is always one of the nations finest.

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Women’s tennis doubles National Champs! And the golf teams are crushing it. Go Deacs!

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Well, the football junkie in me compels me to be that poster:

2 conference titles, ever, in 1970 and 2006, an all-time record of just over .400, with 15 bowl appearances ever (only one major bowl, which they lost) … in a conference with Clemson, Miami, Fla. State and V Tech … yeah they are an absolute bottom feeder in P5 cfb.

Now, in your defense they are the smallest school in the FBS P5 and have had good BB teams. But FB hasn’t been their thing. I like your optimism though. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

And point well taken on the other sports.

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If we’re bottom feeders Clemson must be horrible. :slight_smile: Go Deacs! And I’m sure lots of teams haven’t been 6-0 since 1944. :slight_smile:

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I love these football posts on CC. First, I don’t think Dabo is worried.

And Wake Forest has beaten who exactly? (rhetorical) And the ACC is known as a “football conference”? :rofl:

The WF Class of 2025 is rated as the 66th best in terms of talent. And so far, the WF’s Class of 2026 is ranked #58.

Let’s take it easy folks. Pump those brakes…just a little bit.

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