Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, North Carolina | Admissions Phone: 336-758-5201
E-mail: admissions@wfu.edu | Website: www.wfu.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 29%
Admission Rate - Men: 33%
Admission Rate - Women: 27%
EA Admission Rate: Not Offered
ED Admission Rate: 41%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -6%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -5%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 37%
Transfer Admission Rate: 5%
# Offered Wait List: N/A
# Accepted Wait List: N/A
# Admitted Wait List: N/A
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 650-710
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 660-760
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 29-33
Testing Policy: Test Optional
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: Yes
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 76%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 92%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 97%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 5,225
% Part-Time: 1%
% Male: 47%
% Female: 53%
% Out-of-State: 78%
% Fraternity: 33%
% Sorority: 59%
% On-Campus (Freshman): 99%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 75%
% African-American: 6%
% Asian: 4%
% Hispanic: 7%
% White: 69%
% Other: 3%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 0%
% International: 10%
% Low-Income: 10%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 10:1
% of Classes Under 20: 57%
% of Classes Under 40: 96%
% Full-Time Faculty: 69%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 94%
Top Programs
Accountancy
Chemistry
Communication
Economics
Finance
Health and Exercise Science
Politics and International Affairs
Psychology
Retention Rate: 95%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 85%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 89%
Curricular Flexibility: Somewhat Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $54,430
Out-of-State Tuition: $54,430
Room & Board: $16,740
Required Fees: $1,010
Books & Supplies: $1,500
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $50,422
Avg. % of Need Met: 100%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $28,107
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 27%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $36,863
% of Students Borrowing: 30%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. MullenLowe Mediahub
2. Gap, Inc.
3. Horizon Media
4. Gartner
5. Goldman Sachs
Notable Internships
1. Bristol-Myers Squibb
2. Aramark
3. Sotheby’s
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Education
3. Finance
4. Operations
5. Sales
Top Employers
1. Wells Fargo
2. EY
3. BB&T
4. PwC
5. Deloitte
Where Alumni Work
1. Winston-Salem, NC
2. New York City
3. Charlotte
4. Washington, DC
5. Raleigh-Durham, NC
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $63,800
EOP (Early Career): $71,500
PayScale (Mid-Career): $114,800
RANKINGS
Forbes: 56
Money: 98
U.S. News: 27 (T), National Universities
Wall Street Journal/THE: 68 (T)
Washington Monthly: 91, National Universities
Inside the Classroom
Founded as the Manual Labor Institute for Baptist preachers in 1834, Wake Forest has roots that sound exaggeratedly and humorously humble. Of course, the current vibe of the university could not be further from its lowly beginnings, save the retention of its Southern charm. Today’s Wake Forest is generally regarded as a bubble of conservatism and wealth—the average student’s parental income is over $220k—and, from an academic standpoint, this school is viewed as one of the top private research institutions outside the Northeast.
All freshmen enter the Undergraduate College that offers forty-two majors and sixty minors. Economics, biology, psychology, finance, and communications are the areas toward which the largest number of students gravitate. Those wishing to attend the School of Business apply prior to their sophomore year. All other concentrations are open to any student. Academic requirements include a freshman seminar, a four-credit writing seminar, foreign language, physical education, and one course in both quantitative reasoning and cultural diversity.
Sporting a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1, classes are kept on the small side with 57 percent of sections enrolling fewer than twenty students. There are a fair number of courses that have twenty to thirty-nine students, but only a minuscule number that take place in large lecture halls. Close to 60 percent of Demon Deacons have the opportunity to engage in hands-on research for academic credit. Wake’s robust study abroad options feature 400 semester, summer and year-long programs in 200 cities in more than seventy countries worldwide. Undergrads participate at a 63 percent rate, good enough for the seventh highest figure among doctoral degree-granting US universities.
Wake Forest is a school with strengths across a variety of disciplines, most notably chemistry, communication, accounting, finance, and international affairs. Overall, the institution has an excellent reputation across the board in both employment and academic circles, and Wake Forest grads are always considered for prestigious postgraduate fellowships. Five members of the Class of 2018 were named Fulbright Scholars, bringing the university’s all-time total to 116, and it produces a Rhodes Scholar about every other year.
Outside the Classroom
Greek life gets top billing when it comes to describing the social scene at Wake. Half the student body joins a fraternity or sorority with women joining sororities at an extraordinarily high rate (59 percent). Roughly three-quarters of students live in university-owned housing with many off-campus upperclassmen flocking to nearby apartment complexes. The Demon Deacons are a powerhouse in NCAA Division I athletics, quite an achievement considering the university’s modest size. Of the sixteen varsity sports teams that compete in the vaunted ACC, men’s basketball and football draw the biggest crowds. The school is brimming with less serious but still dedicated athletes as a whopping 85 percent of the student body participates in intramural athletics. Many non-sports options also are available as there are more than 240 active student organizations on campus, including a full array of political, religious, and performing arts groups. The quaint Southern charm of campus extends into the surrounding small city of Winston-Salem, which offers its fair share of cultural, culinary, and shopping pursuits. However, it is worth noting that safety can be an issue as Winston-Salem has a crime rate 57 percent higher than the national average.
Career Services
The Office of Personal and Career Development (OPCD) at Wake Forest is staffed by thirty-tree full-time professional employees who serve as career coaches, employer relations specialists, and counselors who work on personal and professional development with alumni. That equates to a student-to-advisor ratio of 158:1, which ranks among the best of the institutions included in this book. The OPCD is not only generously staffed; it also operates with the clear mission of readying every single Demon Deacon for a meaningful next step in life.
In a single year, career coaches met with over 4,000 members of the student body to engage in 1:1 career planning sessions and/or small workshops. Career treks took students to New York City, San Francisco, and DC to meet with alumni in their places of business. Perhaps the office’s most unique feature is that it runs a sequence of for-credit College-to-Career courses. Having an actual academic program dedicated to career prep affords the OPCD the chance to teach large numbers of students about matching their personalities to fulfilling careers, finding internships, developing cover letters, considering cost-of-living issues postgraduation, and so much more. Almost one-quarter of graduates take at least one of those courses. Employer relations at Wake are also strong, and they host a number of well-attended job fairs. Additionally, more than 12,000 job and internship postings go up each year. All freshmen are introduced to the services offered via the OPCD Orientation that alerts students to the wealth of career-prep resources available to them from the moment they step on campus. Overall, Wake Forest’s career services office is held in high regard, a view backed by the fact that almost every single graduate achieves a successful outcome within months of exiting campus.
Professional Outcomes
The members of the Class of 2018 didn’t take long to arrive at their next destinations. Within six months of graduation, 98 percent had either landed their first professional job or were already matriculated into a graduate program. Employers landing the highest numbers of alumni included national and multinational corporations IBM, Siemens, Volvo, Goldman Sachs, Disney, Deloitte, Dell, Gucci, PepsiCo, EY, and Nike. Over 40 percent of graduates remain south of the Mason-Dixon Line; most of those who do exit the South head to the Mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast. By the start of midcareer Wake Forest alumni earn the second-highest median salary of any school in North Carolina, behind Duke but ahead of Davidson and UNC-Chapel Hill.
Just shy of 30 percent of graduates went directly from donning their caps and gowns to pursuing advanced degrees. Students attend a wide range of schools from a selectivity standpoint, but there is a strong representation of elite institutions. As one example, an examination of recent history majors shows acceptances at elite institutions including the University of Chicago, Emory, Duke, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Harvard, Yale, and the London School of Economics. Many biology majors headed to PhD programs or into medical school at locations such as UNC, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, and Emory; Wake Forest’s medical school takes in many of its own graduates. There were 125 medical school applicants in the Class of 2018 alone.
Admission
Applicants to the Class of 2022 were accepted at a 29 percent clip, a bit lower than five years prior when 34 percent of applicants were successful. However, the average profile of an admitted student has barely changed in that time. Applications may be on the rise, but the requirements for admission have stayed fairly constant.
Wake Forest is a test-optional school, but among those attending students who submitted scores, the middle-50 percent ranges were 1310-1470 on the SAT and 29-33 on the ACT. Over three-quarters of the freshman class finished in the top 10 percent of their high school class, and 92 percent were in the top 25 percent. Those statistics jibe with factors that the admissions office self-reports as being “most important”: rigor of curriculum, GPA, class, essay, and character/personal characteristics. If being a Demon Deacon has been your lifelong dream, then you should strongly consider applying early decision to gain an edge on your competition. In 2018, Wake accepted 41 percent of ED applicants compared to 27 percent in the regular round. Further, those accepted ED comprised 56 percent of the Class of 2022. Landing a spot on this gorgeous Winston-Salem campus is a straightforward proposition that is made even simpler by the university’s decision to jettison standardized testing back in 2008. Nonetheless, 41 percent of applicants still submit SAT results, and 45 percent submit ACT scores. Applicants should bring stellar grades to the table, be situated among the very best of their respective high schools, and should use their ED card to their advantage.
Worth Your Money?
Wake Forest only awards need-based aid to 30 percent of its undergraduates, a low number compared to other top schools, but when it does offer aid, it does it right. One hundred percent see their full demonstrated need met for an average annual grant of $50,422. On the flip side, the school awards massive amounts of merit aid, an unusual practice for a school of its caliber. Over one-quarter of current undergraduates are recipients of merit-based awards that average $28k. The list price cost of attendance for Wake Forest is greater than $75,000, so those packages help make the school a bit more affordable for the non-wealthy. However, Wake grads still end up with debt loads that exceed the national average. Individuals required to take out a significiant amount in loans should consider their career plans and other competing offers before deciding to attend Wake.