Wake Forest Tuition Trends

tigerswood said:

You're saying if Wake cost $5-10K less than Harvard maybe 10% instead of 1% would choose Wake? I don't think that's the case at all.

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Toogs said:

I wasn't, but I might be convinced to argue that. I'm saying basically none choose Wake with costs being about the same.

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This is an interesting question: if wake's reputation stayed the same, how much lower would the price have to be to have someone forgo an offer from somewhere like Harvard?

(Again I think Harvard is a poor example bc it's just so far ahead of everyone else in reputation and money. Plenty to criticize, though that's the topic for another thread)

The way I see it, brand and reputation mean too much to discount the advantages you'd get from going to a place like HPY (if money is not an issue). This primarily goes for people after the most elite jobs and grad schools, but a mediocre Harvard graduate will still get more looks then a top 10% student at Carolina or a top 1% student at App. You can still do it, but you're going to need to be spectacular. For the rest of us, going for the rest of the jobs, that distinction matters less.

Personally, I try to think of reputation separately from something like (the outcome of a school's) "rigor" because one gets you into grad school or a job and the other partially determines how you'll perform there.

wakephan09 said:

(Again I think Harvard is a poor example bc it's just so far ahead of everyone else in reputation and money. Plenty to criticize, though that's the topic for another thread)

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Agreed it's for another thread, perhaps a sheep question. What is the best comp? Furman offered above, but most people don't know what that is. Wake having nationally recognizable basketball may be the differentiating factor there. The best comp I have come up with is UVA, but even that is not really great given the weird in between public/private status and UVAs slightly higher name recognition and many more rapists (allegedly). Duke, if not for K would be a better one but they are so many miles ahead name recognition wise and Wake is sooooo much less douchey.

Toogs said:

Agreed it's for another thread, perhaps a sheep question. What is the best comp? Furman offered above, but most people don't know what that is. Wake having nationally recognizable basketball may be the differentiating factor there. The best comp I have come up with is UVA, but even that is not really great given the weird in between public/private status and UVAs slightly higher name recognition and many more rapists (allegedly). Duke, if not for K would be a better one but they are so many miles ahead name recognition wise and Wake is sooooo much less douchey.

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Probably Vandy, I'd say. Same general geographic area, good academic pedigrees (Vandy's higher), historically poor football, generally good non-revenue sports, etc.

Vanderbilt is my usual go-to comparison. To add to tigerwood's list they've also got a similar enough law school, med school, and undergraduate curriculum. But they're also slightly bigger (7k undergrads, I think we're heading that way) and a much bigger research school.

Rice is a good comp, though with slightly smaller student body (4k), smaller student:faculty ratio, and (perhaps surprisingly) much bigger research output.

Another intriguing comparison, though with a superior reputation, is Dartmouth. But no big-time sports, obviously.

Toogs said:

Agreed it's for another thread, perhaps a sheep question. What is the best comp? Furman offered above, but most people don't know what that is. Wake having nationally recognizable basketball may be the differentiating factor there. The best comp I have come up with is UVA, but even that is not really great given the weird in between public/private status and UVAs slightly higher name recognition and many more rapists (allegedly). Duke, if not for K would be a better one but they are so many miles ahead name recognition wise and Wake is sooooo much less douchey.

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BC without the southerness, Tulane without the city, Emory with sports, SMU, Villanova.... we wish we were Vandy, Dartmouth or Duke academically.

Someone above said it best, its the anger of not being able to give our children the same opportunity that we had to attend Wake. For 70 grand you want to be able to justify it as elite of the elite. Saving 30-50 grand a year and talking yourself into comparable majors somewhere else or a state school with a good reputation is a smarter financial decision.