<p>I am most likely applying ED this summer, and I have a question for current students. What is the workload like, particularly for a Biology major? Do you feel like WFU has given you a good balance between work and play? I'm not afraid of the work, but I really don't want to feel unprepared if there is more work than I'm expecting.</p>
<p>The sciences are known to be tougher, but there is a good balance, a “work hard, place hard” mentality. As for whether you are unprepared, WFU is not going to accept you if they don’t think you can do the work. With this said, it may not be easy, but certainly manageable.</p>
<p>Wave- I am not sure I have heard the expression “work hard, place hard.” Do you mean “work hard, play hard” mentality?</p>
<p>The problem with the science majors is time. If you’re majoring in a science, you’re going to spend a ton of afternoons in labs, which will kind of eat into study time. A four credit-hour course (which is technically three hours for the lecture and one for the lab) is actually three hours of lecture/week plus 3-5 hours of lab/week. It’s definitely not impossible to major in a science and do well in your courses, but I felt like I had to spend more evenings studying than some of my friends because of the extra mandatory lab time in the afternoons.</p>
<p>This whole “Work Forest” question/issue seems to come up about once a year on this thread. If you do a search, you can find previous discussions.</p>
<p>I find it interesting that Wake Forest is called “Work Forest” while there is little discussion of the academic rigor at many other top schools. Perhaps this is because a heavy workload is expected at many schools but not at Wake. Just a reminder that Wake Forest is one of the top schools in the country and applicants should expect to be challenged. </p>
<p>Future college students, regardless of school, should expect a far more demanding experience than high school.</p>
<p>I agree with pragmaticdad. I frankly tire of the same discussion, as I know that most kids at top schols work very hard! My older son is at Vanderbilt and he has friends that sleep very little in order to complete their work. Grade deflation is a reality there and the stress level is high, yet there is rarely a discussion about how “hard” it is. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s just an easy play on words- “wake” to " work"?</p>
<p>Agreed with the above posts. Can we please end the “work forest” threads? They come up every month, not every year.</p>
<p>In sum: Wake is tough, it’s not impossible, so are a lot of other schools. Deal with it, it will prepare you for the real world.</p>
<p>There are simply some schools that give more work than others. Many transfers at Wake have commented that the Wake workload is very heavy. However, Vanderbilt, University of Chicago, Cornell, etc, all have very heavy workloads as well. It is just how things are. </p>
<p>Honestly, expect to work hard if you are going to any top 50 school (or top 25 in Wake’s case).</p>