<p>Can anyone tell me anything about how you feel about Wake Forest?<br>
My daughter is looking into studying Education administration possible minor in History/English. She also wants to play vb. Any info would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I went there in the 70s and have stayed in touch through the years. It was a wonderful place then and has since improved in educational quality. Wake is an unusual combination of small undergraduate college (4000) in the context of a major university - similar in scope to Dartmouth and Rice. Some would say that that's the best of both worlds, and it can be. In all honesty, I'd probably say that being an in-between size may have been neither world for me; too large to have the intense personal support of a small LAC and not large enough to have all the physical resources of a large campus. There's a strong sense of school spirit and a student body that generally has high aspirations. It has a definite Southerrn feel, which means that Greek life is huge, cliqueishness (is that a word?) is part of the package, and attracting diversity is a challenge. Wake has its own study-abroad facilities in Venice, London and Austria (at least) where its students stay together, and my biggest regret is that I didn't take advantage of that opportunity. You'll love the campus - the architecture and grounds have the quintessential Southern college look and feel.</p>
<p>My D chose a smaller LAC over WF but really did like Wake. It is a D1 school in terms of athletics. She was told by several sources (some, current students, some alums) that WF is currently in a grade deflation mode, although it's always been a great school academically. </p>
<p>WF has a large portion of students that live on campus (75-85%?). Greek Life is about 50%. The sororities don't have residential houses but instead have wings/suites in different dorms. Sorority recruitment isn't held until January so that the freshmen have a chance to bond as a class and so that one full grading period has occurred. </p>
<p>The school is in Winston-Salem and I believe that decent airline connections can be made in Greensboro (not too far away).</p>
<p>Some of the best years of my life were spent at WFU. I so look forward to touring Wake with my rising h.s. senior this summer. Although our older daughter chose Duke and is extremely happy there, I always felt like she would have really fit in well at Wake. It does have the best of all worlds, and every student that I know who currently attends there absolutely loves it. Many top kids from our NC high school choose Wake every year.</p>
<p>The academics at WFU have always been exceptionally challenging, there is grade deflation, the curriculum is very much straight-forward liberal arts as far as basic requirements for all, and most students discover immediately that they are not as smart as they thought they were! Grad schools do highly respect Wake's academic rigor, however, and they expect Wake GPAs to be a little lower than those from other universities.</p>
<p>Beyond academics, Wake has an amazingly beautiful campus. Of all the campuses we toured with our older daughter, Wake's was by far the best maintained as far as grounds and facilities. Even the older dorm we toured seemed to have been painted recently and was very clean.
And ... all dorms are air-conditioned!</p>
<p>To me, Wake is a perfect size school. It is not too small so that you know everybody in your class and have nobody new to meet after a year or two, yet you will probably "know of" the majority of your classmates by the time you graduate. Class reunions are fun to attend because there will always be many people there that you knew well as a student, and yet, you always make friends with others that you merely "knew of" while at WFU.</p>
<p>I went to Wake's sister and smaller institution (Furman) in the late 70s but now live where many students my son's age attend Wake plus my S was admitted there but went elsewhere last year. He stayed with current students and attended classes. He would have been happy there and gotten an excellent education, which is what he felt about every school on his list. Students were very gracious to prospectives.
An issue for me at Furman a generation ago was religious diversity and cultural diversity in the student body although I greatly benefited from mentoring professors who were cutting edge and progressive at Furman. Wake's faculty is progressive and demanding. Bright student body but they have to work hard to meet expectations of faculty.<br>
Wake and Furman cut all ties to the Southern Baptist convention in the 80s as many smaller colleges are doing now to insure academic inquiry as a core value. I think Wake offers an educational atmosphere that is also thoughtful about community service, ethics and personal principles that would be fine for students from any religious or cultural background now. Smaller classes dominate. My S noticed teachers knew the students by name in the three classes he attended to observe, plus a Chem prof was gracious enough to chat after class seriously with a prospective student to describe his dept. Standards are high and students study hard as grades are indeed not inflated at all. Wake benefits from the handful of fine graduate programs which serve to give a longer view to younger students. The business accouting track is also stellar with high pass rates on accounting exams.<br>
Students are Southern in manner but also plenty of kids there are Middle Atlantic state in background.<br>
One thing my S liked about Wake was the high level of fitness on campus and a sense of fun that prevailed on Thurs/Friday. Everyone is behind the Wake sports teams and most kids are outside in intramurals or relaxing after a hard week of class. There is more school spirit and school pride than you can find at many colleges if that matters to your S or D. Winston is quiet but has good relations with Wake students for evenings out and NC has a good economy with plenty of job opportunities. As gadad stated, their foreign study houses abroad are great..I know Wake grads who considered that the highlight experience of their four years.</p>
<p>Tori's Mom-- we vsiited there last month, and although WF was not to my son's liking, I thought it was a fantastic school. Lots & lots of school spirit evident, and everyone I've spoken with who now goes to WF or has attended there recently is very positive about the experience (including academics). One of those not-too-big, not-too-small schools. Also seemed very self-contained, perhaps a real attribute to many, but this was the quality my son did not like.</p>
<p>My son will be a sophomore at Wake this fall. He found freshman year to be very demanding and as a previous poster stated, immediately found out he was not the brightest in class as he was used to in high school. It took adjustment, but by 2nd semester he couldn't imagine himself any place else. Yes, all his profs knew him by name. Several profs had the class to dinner at their homes. He also would stop by some of his favorite profs' offices just to chat or they would see him at dining hall and join him to eat. A couple times the president of Wake joined a group of them at lunch "just to shoot the breeze". Communication between professors and students was great. </p>
<p>Grade deflation does seem evident when he compares his school to say friends at Chapel Hill. I know in one of his Bio classes, only one A was given and course was curved in order to give that one A. He has never worked harder academically, but has also never been more enthused about learning.</p>
<p>He also required emergency surgery first semester (appendectomy) and the school and profs were very supportative and made the experience as easy as possible.</p>
<p>Wake is known not to be very diverse, but his closest friends are from NY, NJ, NC, CA and China. He worked with a research group that included students from Japan, Mexico, China, India and a mid eastern country that I can't remember.</p>
<p>The campus is gated, so is somewhat isolated even though it is in town. He likes that feature as there is very little problem with theft, car break ins, etc.</p>
<p>He has always said he would move off campus as soon as school allowed, but now he is talking like he might like to remain on campus all four years---we'll see how he feels after this year which is the soonest a student can live off campus.</p>
<p>mkm56..great to hear your S is happy as are my son's three classmates now there..one premed grad, one accounting grad and another in premed now. Re Wake's grade deflation rep, which is accurate I think, I wanted to mention that at a parent/faculty/prospective student mixer a Chem Prof told us that letters to grad schools from Wake references include the fact that Wake has chosen the zero grade inflation path. I believe this reality is factored into grad school decisions when Wake students apply. I have a few friends who are docs now who say undergrad schools they attended that were rigorous made med school later much more managable and doable.</p>
<p>Thanks soo much for all the info. Greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>One thing that hasn't been mentioned (I think) is that Wake Forest is located near a historical landmark- Old Salem. It's a Moravian village that's interesting to visit, and I believe the archaeology laboratories at Wake have done some fieldwork there. It may interest your daughter, if she's interested in that aspect of history.</p>
<p>Old Salem! The Williamsburg of North Carolina :) Excellent historical site...</p>
<p>O That sounds wonderful... My d would love that. "My" only thing is that it is far from home. Talk about separation anxiety.... wahhhhhhhhh.. hehe
REally though it sounds like a perfect school.</p>