<p>Frankly, I don't understand why Wake Forest is rated as highly as it in in USNWR. When I think of Wake forest I think of med school, but there's isn't even good. There law school isn't good, there business school isn't good, I don't think they have an engineering program. Someone please enlighten me! Why Wake Forest?</p>
<p>Because they teach you the difference between “their” and “there”. Their undergraduate business (Calloway) is ranked 14th in the nation. Their MBA Accounting is ranked near 15th. Their Med and Law schools are top 50 or less and no, they do not have an engineering program, but many great colleges and universities don’t either (Boston College for example). Wake is known as a strong academic institution where students have a very personal undergraduate experience. Great D1 sports. What are you looking for in a college or university?</p>
<p>
Good one! </p>
<p>OP, clearly WFU isn’t for you. It happens.</p>
<p>Frankly you don’t even merit a response dear. </p>
<p>You are talking about graduate schools. We have top 40 Business and Law schools and our Medical School is very highly regarded, for what it is worth. </p>
<p>However, our undergraduate education is great. Our business program has the #1 academic quality in the country.</p>
<p>I will not feed the ■■■■■… I will not feed the ■■■■■…</p>
<p>I’m not trying to be a jerk. Other than being small, what is Wake Forest good at? Programs that barely rank in the top 50 don’t count. BTW thanks for the spelling corrections</p>
<p>As an accepted student, I do think this is a legitimate question. I believe the reason why very few programs at Wake are ranked is because it is one of those few schools that is a hybrid LAC/Research University.</p>
<p>Schools similar to Wake would be Tufts and W&M, and both of those schools have very few (relative to their general rankings & prestige) ranked programs of study. Much of rankings are mainly due to research, not teaching. Schools like Wake, Tufts, and W&M primarily focus on undergraduate teaching.</p>
<p>What is Wake best at in undergrad? From my research, their undergrad business school and pre-med program are top notch, and probably the best programs at the school. Pre-law send students to T-14 schools every year, and the average Wake LSAT score are at the 75th percentile – or around 159.</p>
<p>I believe that Wake has the highest pass rate for the CPA exam so I would say that they have a pretty strong accounting program.</p>
<p>It is a fair question, but an incorrect one. Wake is in essence a large liberal arts college with a Uni wrapper, which means its pretty good at everything it does. But, as a LAC, it has few doctoral-research programs which generate academic “prestige”. One thing that does stand out is participation in study abroad, which is one of the highest for colleges.</p>
<p>
The programs are GRADUATE programs sweetie.</p>
<p>I believe we were talking about undergraduate. Wake Forest University is only Wake Forest College and Calloway School of Business and Accountancy. Wake Forest is unique, because as someone mentioned it is both a small LAC and a research school with ACC athletics. Wake Forest gets a ridiculous amount of people into Medical School (It is over 95% that get into their 1st or 2nd choice I believe), and for other pre-professional programs like Law and Business it is very good. </p>
<p>You just sound very ignorant.</p>
<p>What some of the responses above are pointing out is that the US News rankings to which most people refer are rankings of undergraduate programs only. US News has separate specific-discipline rankings of graduate programs in selected fields. So if, for instance, you’re comparing the rankings between UVa and William & Mary and you’re inclined to say “But U.Va. has the benefit of the med school and the law school and the business school . . .” - no they don’t. Those schools get their own sets of rankings.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While undergrad is the focus of USNews’ August tome, unfortunately, the grad programs cannot be divorced from it. The largest single criteria for ranking undergrad colleges is the Peer Assessment factor, which represents 25% of a colleges’ total score. And, I would submit that the PA is very prestige-driven, and prestige arises from Grad programs, which explains Cal-Berkeley’s lofty PA score of 4.8 for its undergrad program. Of course, the undergrad rankings of Harvard, MIT, Stanford et al are also heavily influnenced from having top-notch grad programs (which is why the LACs have their own ranking list). Unis like Dartmouth and Wake, with few grad programs, don’t fare as well in the Uni rankings, since their PA scores take a hit.</p>
<p>Let me enlighten you kiddo;</p>
<p>Probably a “legit” question, but it was phrased with a confrontational bent (or are we still just defensive from the March Madness bball forums?) and makes you look pretty idiotic. If you’re going to ask people about the selective school they are connected to, at least be respectful. And no, it didn’t come across in a way that was.</p>
<p>That said, you seem to be confusing grad school and undergraduate. You don’t just go to Law or Med School. You get a degree in UG then apply again. The bottom line is that we are a liberal arts institution. We don’t do a whole lot of research, as someone has already pointed out; rather, our profs are in the classroom, giving office hours, or helping out their students. THAT’S what makes our school unique. We can’t beat state schools in comparisons of major research projects. What we do well is offer an outstanding quality of UG education from committed professionals and scholars. We don’t really have “TA’s” here. </p>
<p>I’m not knowledgeable enough about our Law and MBA programs to comment on their rankings. But to say that our business school is “not good” is absurd. Calloway is 14th in the country, and would DEFINITELY be in the top 8-10 had the school not bribed their students to lie about their opinion of the school a la Notre Dame and UVA. They all gave the school low ratings because of grade deflation, and had they not, that area of the ranking (like, 37th or something) would have had a comparatively positive impact on the school’s ranking.</p>
<p>I think you are foolish to rely solely on rankings when A.) you don’t seem to understand what they mean and B.) there are intangibles to a university that aren’t accounted for by a purely numerical system. I’m not going to rehash why Wake is an outstanding institution; do a little research on here and see for yourself.</p>
<p>bluebayou - Good point.</p>
<p>Wake is a great school if you want a large LAC, D1 athletics (winners in football,soccer, Bball is a bonus), great students, great weather, great TEACHING faculty. USNWR is a joke to anyone who isnt naive. PA highly correlates to grad programs which is of zero help for a high schooler trying to pick an undergrad experience and education. Rice, William & Mary, Tufts, Georgetown also fall into this underappreciated category. I would send my child to Wake before any of the “higher rated” research U’s that have 15000+ students. In my opinion that is more of a factory than a college.</p>
<p>Wow, as a mom of a D who was very close to going to Wake, your attitude makes me feel a little bit better about her not being there. Come on, bribes? Factory? We talked to lots of people who weren’t paid to say anything, many who loved a “factory” school and will tell anyone that. We personally know people who hated the smaller schools and transfered. Once again, it comes down to personal choices. Don’t knock other schools while trying to make yours look better. Stick to pointing out the good things about your school and what you love about it and people may listen to your point of view.</p>
<p>
The truth hurts.</p>
<p>Thank you all so much for clarifying undergrad and grad school. I thought I applied to law school fresh out of high school bypassing undergrad all together! To think I could have saved my parents almost $200,000! I was asking about the strengths of the overall university which obviously includes undergrad and grad school. A friend of mine is going to Wake Forest next year and I always ask him why because he applied early decision to Wake out of nowhere when he could have gone to some great schools. He is extremely arrogant whenever he talks about Wake just like you’ve all been to me. And I have trouble believing Calloway’s academic quality is better than Wharton, Ross, Cornell, Stern, Sloan, McIntire, Haas, Goizeta, Kenan-Flager, or Mendoza when its overall ranking is so weak.</p>
<p>GoBlue,
Why don’t you ask some easier softball questions like about acceptance rates at WFU like you do in the U of Michigan forum?</p>
<p>Asking about a university’s strengths is as straight forward as it gets</p>