WFU academic standards? Too tough to be competitive?

[deaconhoops]

They have 8 semesters (sometimes 10, maybe even 14 if we count one summer session for four years) to complete physics. If they can't take it one semester they don't have to take a "harder" class. Apparently the Communications department offers PLENTY of classes for athletes to complete their degrees.

And, yes, there are little classes hidden here and there for athletes.

Dont disagree that the classes aren't there, just that there are not enough of them offered to get through a major and all the core requirements for athletes. Compare to Duke, where somehow bball players miraculously graduate in 3 yrs. Larger schools have more options to help athletes get by than Wake does. IMO, that is what makes it harder at Wake.

 

[DeaconCav06]

Valedictorians flunk out of Wake. I bet most of us hit a brick wall our first semester. The idea that bringing in a few more "exceptions" will hurt the university is ludicrous. Maybe that's just more kids who will genuinely benefit from the Wake experience as opposed to rich kids from the best high schools getting another rubber stamp through life.

I think they used something a little nicer than rubber on my diploma.

 

[scooter84]

Valedictorians flunk out of Wake. I bet most of us hit a brick wall our first semester. The idea that bringing in a few more "exceptions" will hurt the university is ludicrous. Maybe that's just more kids who will genuinely benefit from the Wake experience as opposed to rich kids from the best high schools getting another rubber stamp through life.

I'm not sure where you are going with this post, Ph... This is not a rich vs poor situation, but a qualified vs non-qualified situation.

I agee that we should be giving opportunities to kids who have demonstrated the willingness to do the work required at WFU and at least the potential aptitude to succeed, even if they don't necessarily meet all the other objective critieria we normally would require - that applies to athletes as well as non-athletes. But, granting exceptions to non-qualified athletes without having some sort of evidence that they can succeed academically is not doing anyone a favor, including the student. You are simply setting the student up for failure, or worse, temptation to take shortcuts or improper actions in order to stay eligible.

 

[wfu22fan]

It's not the standards, it's the infrastructure. Using the Football Physics class as an example, I assume it is one class offered in one time slot. Any scheduling conflicts means that a student has to take another, presumably harder, class. Multiply that scenario by roughly half the football team every semester, and all of a sudden Wake becomes "harder" than Duke, Standford, Northwestern and the rest. Those schools have at least double the student population and the infrastructure to better hide 80+ football
Not saying that we have to go the UNC create-a-bogus department for athletes, but it's the limited class schedule not the standards that make athletics more difficult at Wake.

Agree. I attended WFU from 1977 to 1981 and then WF law school . There were only a handful of really easy courses , such as voice and diction . I found the undergraduate school to be more demanding than law school.

 

[RChildress107]

Spoke to an official last night, 6-7 is the total number of athletic exemptions allowed for all athletics, in addition, if Coach Grobe wanted an exception he had to personally go before a faculty committee to explain why the exception was needed, I asked if someone from music needed to do this for an exceptional cellist to get them in and was told no. I know Caldwell had many more exceptions available but finally chose not to use them because most flunked out.

Wake AD logic: Damn the music department, they get EVERYTHING! Plus it totally makes sense to compare an athletic program to an academic program.

 

[PhDeac]

I'm not sure where you are going with this post, Ph... This is not a rich vs poor situation, but a qualified vs non-qualified situation.

I agee that we should be giving opportunities to kids who have demonstrated the willingness to do the work required at WFU and at least the potential aptitude to succeed, even if they don't necessarily meet all the other objective critieria we normally would require - that applies to athletes as well as non-athletes. But, granting exceptions to non-qualified athletes without having some sort of evidence that they can succeed academically is not doing anyone a favor, including the student. You are simply setting the student up for failure, or worse, temptation to take shortcuts or improper actions in order to stay eligible.

Not sure where you're going with this. Are your saying there's no relationship between rich-poor and qualified-non-qualified? What is even your definition of qualified? SAT score? What is willingness to work?

 

[Marietta Deac]

High School grades are a start. If you are just skating by in high school, C average, your chances of succeeding at Wake are slim.

 

[scooter84]

Not sure where you're going with this. Are your saying there's no relationship between rich-poor and qualified-non-qualified? What is even your definition of qualified? SAT score? What is willingness to work?

Those are all determinations that admissions officers get paid to make. Sure there is some relationship between the resources available to a student (rich vs poor) and the extent to which they are well prepared for college (qualifications). But, we are only talking about students who do not have the objective qualifications we typically look for - grades, rigor of classes taken in HS, extracurriculars, standardized scores - whatever. Within that pool of kids, when you are considering accepting a kid who would be considered an 'exception', you have to make judgment calls. Which kids have made the effort - taken harder courses in HS, demonstrated a serious commitment to their education, been involved in extracurriculars outside of sports (I know that is difficult for some kids) - whatever. Again, it is not my job to know how to make those judgment calls - but they have to be made.

To the extent you start throwing around too many of these types of exceptions, by trying to give more kids the opportunity to go to Wake, all you will give some of them is the opportunity to fail. And, at the same time, you will be denying that opportunity to another kid who was objectively qualified. All tough decisions.

 

[wake4us]

Work Forest: Where your best hasn't quite been good enough since 1834


graduated in the last 5 years, and Wake was basically an extension of the grueling busy work that kept my life occupied in grades 6-12 but honestly didn't teach or prepare me for much...

Wake needs to teach its kids to work and think smarter. "hard" work is generally "dumb" work.

groom innovators and entrepreneurs, not desk clerks.