Wake Forest University | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Lisa

Class: Sophomore
Major: Communications
Gender: F

High School:
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The best thing about Wake to me is that I can walk across the mag quad and I'll always be able to say hi to someone, but I know that over my four years I won't ever be able to walk across it and know everyone. There is a lot of racial tension and division, and while it is getting a lot better it is still something that proves to be frustrating. I came from a southern, all-girls high school. I thought I wanted a much bigger institution but ended up coming to Wake rather randomly, and it ended up being a perfect transition. When I tell people that I go to Wake, the reaction is usually along the lines of, "Wow, smart!" (if they've heard of it that is.) Most of my time I spend on campus is on my hall, in Benson, or in the library. The area around Wake isn't the greatest- there are a lot of muggings and break-ins, but on campus is generally pretty safe. It isn't a college town persay, but the restaurants in Winston-Salem are to die for, and there are some pretty cute areas downtown and some nice gardens near campus as well. I would say there is a decent amount of school pride. Screamin Demons is a good idea and a lot of people participate, but there is also a sort of stigma that goes along with it, especially during football season where the Greek population is usually more interested in sundresses and ties and tailgating. That being said, we have had great turnouts at our bowl games. I do know that just about everyone is proud of the institution itself as well- its hard and we know it, and that makes us feel better than the state schools and other schools around our academic level. One unusual thing about Wake is the way the Greek system is set up. With the exception of one, the fraternities and sororities have halls and lounges on campus instead of actual houses. This prompts a lot of off campus parties at satellite houses. There are also a lot of old traditions that are specific to Wake Forest as well, such as the transition from societies to sororities.

Academic Life

My least favorite class was Calculus 112. I got a five on the AP Calculus AB exam (somehow) and in return received four credit hours and was placed into the higher level calculus when I got here. My adviser recommended that I go ahead and take the class, but when I did I had a terrible teacher. He hardly taught and had incredibly confusing exams. I ended up failing the class. In class participation is extremely stressed. Most of my classes include participation as a large portion of the grade and nearly all of them have attendance policies. For older students Wake has required a ridiculous amount of core classes. The students just coming in don't have to take nearly as many, but also don't receive credit for their AP's anymore. I personally would have rather not received hours for AP exams and had less core classes to take. That being said, most majors and hours are not hard to attain, nor are they very restricting. I'm a communications major and while there are concentrations, you can pretty much do what you want with it. The ones that really want to kill themselves are the business majors.

Student Body

Most of the racial students that I think of are athletes, and if they aren't a lot of them still hang out with the athletes. There is definitely a division and a lot of tension. Jeans and tee shirts are pretty typical to class, although some people dress up and some dress down. Rain boots are a must though when its raining- the campus floods. Most students are from the south. More are well to do than others but that can be attributed easily to the cost. The four tables I would have to say go as follows: the Greek table, the athlete table, the Screamin Demon table, and the table of the people you always wonder why they decided to come to Wake Forest.