What is the process to becoming a business major at Wake? My son was just accepted to Wake Forest and we are very excited for him to attend but need a little more information about picking majors. Some of the other schools he applied to admitted him directly into their business schools. At Wake, we notice you don’t pick a major until Sophomore year. How does that work–would there be a chance he wouldn’t be able to declare business as his major? Is there a minimum GPA he’d need to keep to be able to select a business major? Is there a set core curriculum he would take Freshman and Sophomore year or can he take Business classes those first 2 years? Thank you in advance for any information!
Congratulations to your son!
The undergraduate School of Business is very competitive and there is a very selective application process. Here’s a link to everything you need to know.
https://business.wfu.edu/undergraduate-programs/undergraduate-admissions/
While I agree with WakeDad that the School of business is amazing and WF itself is very selective, once you are admitted to Wake there is a 80-90% acceptance rate into the business school. I was admitted two days ago RD into WF, and I asked this very question during my interview. I was told this acceptance rate and that most student who complete the prereqs successful are admitted.
Thx for this. Interesting. Am thinking of applying to Wake but is interesting their approach relative to other top undergrad business schools like Notre Dame and Michigan that admit students out of high school into the b school directly. Am 4.2 gpa and 35 act one sitting. But seems risky to commit to wake when other top if not better ranked schools don’t use this approach.
Admissions people typically have very vague responses to questions. However, when I asked this he made it seem as if the few not accepted maybe did not complete all prereqs or almost failed one. Essentially, I was under the impression nearly all students got in. Wake Forest is very selective just to get into, and they truly want the students to succeed so I would be shocked if a great student like @DG didn’t get in. But I do understand how nice it is to be admitted out of HS bc it removes all doubt.
We asked the same questions and got the same answers as @adog10. It was a concern at first, but then we realized that at pretty much every “good” business school, if you grades are poor after 2 years, you are asked to change majors/schools so it ends up as basically the same thing. It seemed clear in talking to the Wake business faculty and students that the same kids that don’t get admitted there are the same ones that would get kicked out of the business program in schools that accept kids directly into the program.
S is a sophomore and was recently admitted into the B school. The average admitted student has a 3.6 overall gpa and 3.4 within the prereqs. If you do the work, you’ll get in. Acceptance is actually 2/3 - 3/4 but many who don’t make it self select out. They decide it’s not for them or they can’t handle the accounting prereq. S knows kids that dropped the class (it’s tough).
Bottom line, if you were solid enough to get in to the school and you are focused on getting in to the b school, you very likely will.
Good luck.
I concur with @rickle1 my son was just admitted to the B school and if you have good grades it is very likely you will be admitted to the business school as long as you take the prerequisites needed and do well. It is a different process than some other schools but it seems to work for Wake. Good luck and welcome to the Forest!!
Ditto what @lbf and @rickle1 said. D was accepted into the B school and is also majoring in English. If a student can handle the coursework they’ll likely be accepted.
There is also an option to continue on a conditional acceptance path in hopes of improving one’s grades.
Welcome to the Forest as well. It’s a wonderful school.
Does anyone know what exactly makes the Accounting class very hard? Also, is the Economics class very demanding?
I think the accounting class is hard at almost every college. It is just a lot of information and some say it is a weeder class for the B school. My son actually took it during summer school and he did very well. His roommate took it fall semester this year and did well also. By the time they take it first semester sophomore year they are used to school and the workload. Sorry can’t help on Econ he didn’t need to take it because of AP.
Introductory Econ classes are weed-outs for the business school at Wake, and regardless of what the school’s marketing department has to say, admission to the business school is competitive. Our student took intro Econ to satisfy one of her divisional requirements, not realizing it was a b-school weed-out course and it really tanked her GPA. Several of her friends who were very solid students failed to get into the business school. Once you’re in, there are significant advantages such as vastly superior career planning services compared to what’s available for liberal arts majors, but getting in is the tricky part. I would dispute statements that there is an 80-90% acceptance rate–I seem to recall being told it was more like 70%
There are three prereqs and one or two tracking classes (spring of sophomore yr while waiting for acceptance into B school). Prereqs are Econ, Calc, and Intro to Financial Accounting. The tracking classes are intro Finance and some Stats class. S’s experience (was admitted) was the accounting class was the big weed out as it was VERY challenging.
There is some self selection out of the B school based on these classes. That’s not a bad thing. Rather learn early that it’s not for you. The admit rate is approx 70%. It generally comes down to having good grades (3.5 minimum which isn’t a guarantee at WFU) and being active on campus with a few ECs.
@lbf did your DS take accounting in summer school at Wake or somewhere else?
At Wake, I’m pretty sure it has to be taken at there. It was a 5 week class and he is glad he did it that way it was all rising sophomores and the only thing he had to focus on was that so it was nice.
Accounting has to be taken at Wake (either during regular semester or over the summer). I believe all of the accounting classes have to be taken at Wake as they have a very strong and challenging program. Wake does not have a stand alone UG accounting degree. It must be part of the MS Accounting program which provides the additional 30 credits to make one eligible for the CPA. Their accounting program is known to be quite rigorous, has 100% job placement (many with multiple Big 4 offers), has a unique Transaction Advisory track (many students hire straight in to the financial transaction advisory practice - not just audit), and has the highest first time CPA test pass rate of any program in the country for something like 13 out of the last 17 years. Quite amazing actually. Because of all that, they want all the classes taken with Wake profs.
@rickle @lbf @marrast -
Did your DC go with the PC instead of the Mac when they purchased their laptop? The woman who led the business school breakout session at the Wake admitted student day in April mentioned that some of the software for the B school classes was not compatible with Macs. However, my DS has used a Mac throughout middle and upper school and is loathe to change to a PC. Would love your thoughts. TIA.
@GnocchiB my son is an avid Mac (apple) user as well and hasn’t had a problem so far. He got it his senior year of HS so we weren’t getting a new one for college. He has only taken a few business classes but that seems crazy to me that the software they use wouldn’t work with a Mac, I’m sure plenty of kids have them and they must have a way to work it out? Sorry I’m not more help.
@GnocchiB I asked my son and he said most people he knows have Macs, not sure if that matters but thought I would share 
@GnocchiB my daughter has a Mac purchased through Wakeware and has had no issues.