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Is Wake Forest worth the money?

Palmettodeac

Palmettodeac

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As an alum from years ago who has donated money to the school and participated in the admissions process with prospective students, I have to ask this question as I have children starting to think about college.

The cost of attending Wake Forest has skyrocketed to astronomical levels since I attended, and I honestly don't know how to answer this question. One of my daughters will likely attend college on an athletic scholarship. Wake is a possible, but not a probable, destination for her. My other daughter has declared Wake as her favorite despite only setting foot on campus once. A lot could change, but I still find myself struggling to answer my original question.

Wake has opened a few doors for me in my career. A decent GPA and a degree from Wake Forest gives people comfort that you have your wits about you. However, it does not necessarily carry the gravitas of an Ivy league school and may be considered a step below, reputation and recognition, of other similar schools like Duke, Vandy and Stanford.

Can someone more familiar with the school today help me out?
 
Forgot to add -
This came up after the Pitt thread on the sports board, but something that I have been thinking about since my youngest daughter spoke up about attending Wake. My wife and I would love for my daughter to attend Wake, but we are obviously having difficulty with the price tag.
 
If you have it, yeah. If you don't, no.
 
Same struggle here. I will always contribute to WFU's capital campaign because I know that the % participating is important for attracting corporate contributions, but I don't see that that it makes sense to send my own kids there unless they get a significant price cut (scholarship, for whatever reason) or somehow I end up with more money than God (not looking good, so far). Go Heels.
 
TownieDeac said:
If you have it, yeah. If you don't, no.
Click to expand...


This. The answer is, "It depends".


For me and my kids, without significant scholarship money the answer is no. Now, I think Wake is a great school and place. And if I won the lottery tomorrow, no problemo.
 
As you mentioned, the money would most likely be better spent on an Ivy league education if that is an option for your daughters. If not, I'd definitely say that Wake is a fantastic school even though it falls short of Ivy league reputation. If the decision is between Wake and a public school and you can reasonably afford it, I would pay for Wake in every scenario. That's not so much a jab at public schools as it is a praise of the private school environment. As you know, with Wake you have the invaluable benefits of smaller class sizes, personal relationships with professors, discussion based learning, and IMO most importantly is the fact that you will be surrounded by intelligent people. Of course there are smart, hard-working people attending virtually every school in the country, but their concentration at Wake is much more dense than at a large public school.

Obviously Wake has become very expensive over the years. But after you have plenty of food and a roof over your head, I don't think there's any luxury that should take priority over your children's education.
 
I think it'd be worth it to have a discussion with your daughters about what it costs to go there, what it would take (loans, scholarships, etc. compared to how much you would be paying out of pocket), what they want to do after college, and things of that nature. It could really help in the college search process as a whole to put goals, expectations, and price tags all on the table. My parents and I had this sort of conversation, and it really made me feel like an adult that my parents would have that sort of discussion with me, ask for my input, and that sort of thing.

It might seem strange to talk to a 17/18 year old about what they want to do out of school, but the way that the modern college experience has developed, it's very important to take into account what sort of career aspirations your daughter has. If professional school is in her future, and loans are a possibility there as well, then a state school's honors program might be a good fit (and I will say that many of my law school friends went to state schools and were in the honors colleges there and were just as prepared for law school as i was).

So, I know this doesn't really answer your question, but there's just a lot to consider and including your daughter in the discussion can only help.
 
Somebody break out the search function please. This has already been discussed multiple times on this board.
 
I will add that is very disturbing to know/realize the educational opportunity presented to many of us WFU graduates can/will no longer be passed onto our children.

It's very, very troubling to realize that your child will likely never experience a WFU education. However, there are many other options available.

ETA: I'm a 3rd generation Wake graduate and I'm not certain there will be a 4th generation graduate. This part really sucks.
 
coredeac said:
I will add that is very disturbing to know/realize the educational opportunity presented to many of us WFU graduates can/will no longer be passed onto our children.

It's very, very troubling to realize that your child will likely never experience a WFU education. However, there are many other options available.

ETA: I'm a 3rd generation Wake graduate and I'm not certain there will be a 4th generation graduate. This part really sucks.
Click to expand...


Same here, exception I AM certain there will NOT be a 4th, and yes, that sucks.
 
I'm going to keep donating what I can afford and encourage my fellow alums to do the same. Hopefully, Wake finds a way to make tuition affordable for all students. I think it is definitely something the administration is concerned about and is hopefully working diligently to address.

One thing to emphasize for the OP with the daughter looking at schools. Most private schools are now in Wake's tuition range. So what it really comes down to is in-state public school vs out of state public/private school.

Some ACC examples (tuition+ room and board):

Wake Forest $56,236
Duke $55,690
Maryland - $39,804 (out of state)
Florida State $36,050 (out of state)
Virginia $49,608 (out of state)
Miami $56,512

Others:
Vanderbilt $59,248
Emory $55,992
 
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Wow didn't realize we were more than Duke now. That's pretty sad. I don't think we match up in terms of academics, or resources. I guess our chicks are hotter.
 
I plan to make enough money to send my kids wherever the fuck they want to go.
 
Its on the expensive side sure, but ask any of my bosses or my professors post Wake and they can tell the difference between my work and the product of most other schools.
 
Davidson is certainly comparable in terms of academics, and how hard they work their students, and they are a good 6k less a year at $49,723.
 
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