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Advice for students starting at Wake this fall

DemonDeacon92 said:
He wants to study abroad, but he's a big sports fan and wants to be pre-med, so 2 strikes against that. I'm guessing the courses he would take would just be electives, right? So it will be tough to squeeze all the required courses in and go abroad.
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I graduated in 07, so it's possible things have changed, but I was(am) a big sports fan and did pre-med, and studying abroad is totally doable. It just takes a little bit more planning. By far my biggest regret was not studying abroad. A couple things:

1. The easiest way to do the pre-med thing is to major in bio or chem. a lot of the pre-med requirements will overlap with major requirements and you"ll cut down on the number of extra credits you have to take to get everything done.
2. If you don't major in one of the core sciences (I didn't), it's slight harder but still very doable if you are smart about scheduling (slightly bigger course loads a couple semesters, strategizing classes that are offered abroad, or taking a summer for examples)
3. I was a huge fan at a relatively great time to be at wake sports wise, but studying abroad >>>>>>> sports. If you go abroad, there's a tiny chance you miss a once in a lifetime season (and even then, my friends that studied abroad during the orange bowl season had a blast finding bars in random countries that would show games in the middle of the night). If you don't go abroad, it's basically a lock that you are missing a once in a lifetime experience.
 
General question back to the OP - are you going to try and tell your son all of this stuff, or is this thread kind of assuaging your own fears about sending someone to college at this point? I think a huge part of the process for your son will be figuring all of this stuff out as he goes. He'll make friends, he'll forge his own path... aside from generalities (get involved, stay balanced) and generally supporting his time there, it seems weird to try and pass on all of this info.
 
palmab03 said:
#leebsparentingadvicefail
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seriously though, i can't imagine my parents sitting down with me and trying to tell me all of these specific things to do. maybe some kids need more direction, but if the kid's normal enough, he's going to be totally fine. there's a learning curve for everyone, then he'll find his groove.
 
Don't have a BF or GF coming to Wake or leaving Wake.

Ice Cream Social - number close on 3 diff sets of girls.

Don't eat the Pit's chicken.
 
lbE08 said:
seriously though, i can't imagine my parents sitting down with me and trying to tell me all of these specific things to do. maybe some kids need more direction, but if the kid's normal enough, he's going to be totally fine. there's a learning curve for everyone, then he'll find his groove.
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I thought the reason people had kids is because they want to tell their kids how to do stuff
 
My first year seminar was awesome - probably the best class I had all year.

As for studying abroad, as a Computer Science major with an English minor it was very difficult to find a way to go abroad for a semester and still graduate on time without making my life miserable. I ended up doing the BUNAC program and working in London. They get you a 6 month blue card which is essentially a temporary work visa, and it's geared towards recent grads. Everyone who did it loved it, whether they worked within their field (I worked for a dot com startup) or had BUNAC help them get a more "just pay the bills" type temporary thing and just enjoy touring Europe. It was definitely one of the better decisions I ever made, and made the transition to the "real world" much more palatable. Others used it to bridge the time between undergrad and grad school and found it equally beneficial.

All the new dorm and party stuff is too recent for me. Only other piece of advice I'd have is if he does join a fraternity, be sure to join another group or club or something outside of it so he doesn't become to fraternity-centered. I liked that Wake was 50/50 so there wasn't crazy pressure to be in fraternity, some seemed to make it their whole world and missed out on the other half of Wake.
 
DCDeac said:
My first year seminar was awesome - probably the best class I had all year.

As for studying abroad, as a Computer Science major with an English minor it was very difficult to find a way to go abroad for a semester and still graduate on time without making my life miserable. I ended up doing the BUNAC program and working in London. They get you a 6 month blue card which is essentially a temporary work visa, and it's geared towards recent grads. Everyone who did it loved it, whether they worked within their field (I worked for a dot com startup) or had BUNAC help them get a more "just pay the bills" type temporary thing and just enjoy touring Europe. It was definitely one of the better decisions I ever made, and made the transition to the "real world" much more palatable. Others used it to bridge the time between undergrad and grad school and found it equally beneficial.

All the new dorm and party stuff is too recent for me. Only other piece of advice I'd have is if he does join a fraternity, be sure to join another group or club or something outside of it so he doesn't become to fraternity-centered. I liked that Wake was 50/50 so there wasn't crazy pressure to be in fraternity, some seemed to make it their whole world and missed out on the other half of Wake.
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Totally agree with the work/internship options offered through the study abroad office. I got to work on the London Olympics campaign in London during my summer abroad, and since they didn't pay me (only downside) I got to make my own hours so I traveled how I wanted to. Amazing resume booster and a fantastically good time.
 
dashionista said:
Totally agree with the work/internship options offered through the study abroad office. I got to work on the London Olympics campaign in London during my summer abroad, and since they didn't pay me (only downside) I got to make my own hours so I traveled how I wanted to. Amazing resume booster and a fantastically good time.
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I didn't go through the study abroad office - just contacted BUNAC directly - but that sounds like a great opportunity as well.

The nice thing about the BUNAC thing was that you could do it up to 12 months after you graduated - maybe it's the same with study abroad opportunities through Wake now but it wasn't back when I was graduating.
 
I might be in the minority here (insert joke of your choice here) but I think your son should study what interests him, and worry about finding a specific career path later. I didn't know that I was going to become an actor until the end of my time at Wake, or that I would be teaching a decade later, but the experiences I had at Wake and in Winston-Salem helped prepare me for those opportunities. So he should just focused on being involved in the community, and try to learn as much as possible (which is different than having to get an A in everything).
 
SmooveDeac said:
I might be in the minority here (insert joke of your choice here) but I think your son should study what interests him, and worry about finding a specific career path later. I didn't know that I was going to become an actor until the end of my time at Wake, or that I would be teaching a decade later, but the experiences I had at Wake and in Winston-Salem helped prepare me for those opportunities. So he should just focused on being involved in the community, and try to learn as much as possible (which is different than having to get an A in everything).
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This is an interesting question. A lot of my friends at Wake were sold pretty hard on just studying what interested them and picking a major they were intrigued by. Then out in the real world they were like, "You know, when I was choosing a major, I kind of wish someone had walked through the realities of salaries, job opportunities, where the top markets were located, etc."

There's probably a balance in there somewhere, but I definitely knew some people who really regretted going the "just do what you enjoy" path a few years later.
 
DCDeac said:
This is an interesting question. A lot of my friends at Wake were sold pretty hard on just studying what interested them and picking a major they were intrigued by. Then out in the real world they were like, "You know, when I was choosing a major, I kind of wish someone had walked through the realities of salaries, job opportunities, where the top markets were located, etc."

There's probably a balance in there somewhere, but I definitely knew some people who really regretted going the "just do what you enjoy" path a few years later.
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Yeah, it's a tough thing to figure out. I almost wish that those kind of questions were a class/seminar by themselves. I was a politics major, and no one talked to us about those kind of things ever.
 
That's sort of what I was getting at in my post. You need to be much more discerning about choice of major these days - especially if you've got student loans to pay - and not just major in something that will leave you with no foundation of practical knowledge on which to build a career. The unfortunate reality is that we are living in a global economy where information is marshaled competitively. So education now is less about broadening the mind and more about survival.
 
lbE08 said:
General question back to the OP - are you going to try and tell your son all of this stuff, or is this thread kind of assuaging your own fears about sending someone to college at this point? I think a huge part of the process for your son will be figuring all of this stuff out as he goes. He'll make friends, he'll forge his own path... aside from generalities (get involved, stay balanced) and generally supporting his time there, it seems weird to try and pass on all of this info.
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Yeah, you nailed it. I loved my time at Wake. I am so excited for him, but I worry about what has changed, will it be as special a place for him as it was for me? This thread has allayed those fears, thanks to you all.

I'm gonna let him figure out his seminar course (and encourage him, if he asks, to stick it out with the one he was registered for, as he may never meet this professor or discuss this topic otherwise), enjoy his assigned dorm (what else can he do?). He can figure the social life out for himself. It sounds like that hasn't changed that much (except for needing a case of condoms, wtf, RJ), so I can advise him, if he asks.

After this and the other thread, I will also encourage study abroad (the summer idea is a great one), when I was prepared to try to dissuade him from this.

I saw the tag "helicopter parent", that's not me (but totally is my wife). I just hope he has a great experience. He's always made great decisions in life, and has not asked for the first bit of advice about Wake (he's probably heard enough over the years), but I'm here if he needs it.

Thanks for the great advice.
 
inspectah said:
That's sort of what I was getting at in my post. You need to be much more discerning about choice of major these days - especially if you've got student loans to pay - and not just major in something that will leave you with no foundation of practical knowledge on which to build a career. The unfortunate reality is that we are living in a global economy where information is marshaled competitively. So education now is less about broadening the mind and more about survival.
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Right - you need to hone in on something specific that has a place in the US job market. If you're headed into computer science right now for example, becoming a great coder and heading out into the world to be a developer puts you right smack in competition with the 2 million guys from India who will do the same (or better) work for half of the salary you'd want. But if you just become proficient in coding, then dedicate your last year or two towards focusing on something like DevOps, or scalable architecture, or open stack solutions, or Agile project management - nobody's going to care what your grades were. There's still a huge demand for skilled, intelligent college grads across most career paths - but structured education tends to teach what was valuable 5 years ago and it won't distinguish you enough. Then you're forced into grad school early, you tack on more debt, etc. And I think grad school in general is far more rewarding and useful when you've already been in the real world for a while.
 
DCDeac said:
Right - you need to hone in on something specific that has a place in the US job market. If you're headed into computer science right now for example, becoming a great coder and heading out into the world to be a developer puts you right smack in competition with the 2 million guys from India who will do the same (or better) work for half of the salary you'd want. But if you just become proficient in coding, then dedicate your last year or two towards focusing on something like DevOps, or scalable architecture, or open stack solutions, or Agile project management - nobody's going to care what your grades were. There's still a huge demand for skilled, intelligent college grads across most career paths - but structured education tends to teach what was valuable 5 years ago and it won't distinguish you enough. Then you're forced into grad school early, you tack on more debt, etc. And I think grad school in general is far more rewarding and useful when you've already been in the real world for a while.
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so much this. there's so much demand right now that we've had trouble keeping our dev. team for the past couple of years. Every few months, the 22 year old newbies will demand some outrageous number that our leadership can't give them, and then they look for 2 days, get it from someone else and leave. it is insane how easy it is to get big bucks if you're a particular kind of developer.
 
Go said:
Don't have a BF or GF coming to Wake or leaving Wake..
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I disagree on the second part. Started dating a girl spring of senior year. We've been married 17 years and counting. There's so much upside to having another Wake grad as a spouse.
 
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