Richmond seems like a smaller version of SMU with a strong focus on business. Wake tries to keep less interest in business with dropping MBA and no direct entry at undergrad level.
While I agree directionally with this sentiment, Civil War history is something that would have to be factored in when considering attendance at W&L.
Wake Forest dropped their MBA program?
Wake dropped their 2 year full-time MBA many years ago. They offer an executive MBA in Winston-Salem and in Charlotte and several masterâs one year full time programs on campus.
Their undergraduate business school is ranked 15 in the nation by Poets and Quants.
1 Like
Thanks. 
I see that you are trying to prove a point, but maybe donât say confederate south just in general. Thanks!
3 Likes
Ditto with describing students as hailing from the âOld Southâ. Itâs offensive. Iâm originally from Connecticut and have been living in the South for 35 years. Iâve yet to meet a Confederate, a klansman or a proponent of segregation - which is exactly what this terminology conjures up. All of the schools OP is asking about are excellent academic institutions.Yes, they are located in the South and will draw a significant number of students from the South. I donât consider that to be a negative.
7 Likes
Well one has a confederate general in the name, so pretty hard to ignore that connection.
1 Like
Yes, Lee was the schoolâs president after the Civil War and is buried on the campus. I never understand, though, why certain historical figures are cherry picked. Why no equal outrage over Lord Jeffrey Amherst who advocated genocide against Native Americans, and did his part to make that happen by handing out smallpox-infected blankets?
If all you know about a school, or a region, is what youâve read, you know something but certainly not everything about the school or the region.
3 Likes
Sorry @LKLA. Another CC request for helpful advice gone off the rails
1 Like
Certainly in my circles, that could be a list generated by someone who was quite preppy. Not necessarily, of course, but it wouldnât be at all surprising.
Indeed. It got highjacked barely a handful of posts in. 
1 Like
For DD who is a (very happy) first year at Wake, URichmond was another school she liked, and it was one that did allow her to apply to early action even though she had applied ED to Wake (she withdrew her URichmond application when she got in Wake). For her, W+L and Davidson were too small (she visited Davidson and liked it, but too small to make her list; she did not visit W+L). We visited Vandy with her older brother and â for whatever reason â it wasnât her vibe. She wanted a mid-size school (UR was the smallest school on her list), that combined liberal arts with an undergrad business program (ideally), good sports, maybe more of a fun vibe than academic earnestness (though some people have referred to Wake as âWork Forestâ, that was not her sense then or now), a traditional college vibe (coming from NYC, she wanted something different from her experience). I did not visit UR with her â she and her dad went â but they said it was gorgeous and she liked it a lot. The main thing she liked better about Wake was size and sports. I also think Wake has a little more of a liberal arts vibe, even though it does offer pre-professional options. She wanted the mix. UR has a TON of money per student, which can support all kinds of nice things, from merit aid to international travel scholarships. FWIW, other schools that appealed to her were Georgetown, Boston College, and maybe Dartmouth. I donât know if you are set on the south, but those were schools that she found that best checked her boxes. None were safeties, but she knew she liked Wake the best so she applied ED there early before figuring out the rest.
4 Likes
Sorry for my part it that digression. I was reacting to what I consider a mischaracterization of the modern day South and by extension the student body at the schools of interest. My S22 looked at all of the schools on your Dâs list except for Vanderbilt. As a general premise, Wake and Davidson are both known for very rigorous academics. The kids refer to Wake as âWork Forestâ. Davidson students seem to complain a lot about grade deflation. We found both Wake and Richmond to have a preppier, pre professional and work/hard play hard type vibe. Davidson felt the most progressive out of the bunch. I think in recent years it has been drawing more and more students from outside of the South - call it the Steph Curry effect. Iâm pretty sure itâs the smallest D1 school so there is a high percentage of athletes.
4 Likes
Considering Iâm both Native American and Mexican, my outrage is typically more directed in those fields, but weâre already wandering off the subject of the thread. - but feel free to discuss the Spanish monuments in the west and Iâll happily join in.
I was responding to the outrage on language of confederacy and old south when weâre talking about one institution that has no problem with a confederate general in their name - seems awful silly.
And so there is no confusion, my daughter applied to 2 of the schools in the OP and attending college in the south. So I am not suggesting one avoid the region.
1 Like
I totally agree with this post. Itâs concise and accurate IMO. Iâll take a stab at the W&L-Richmond comparistion.
DS and I spent two nights at W&L after touring Richmond. A friend was in development at the school and he got us housed in an old home on campus when I told him that all the hotels in Lexington were booked. The VMI cadets next door fire a cannon every night and, yes, RE Lee is buried on campus. You can feel the pull of history when youâre there. I descend from a slave holding family, so I was very conscious of its import and aware of the contradictions inherent there.
The students looked happy and, without exception, spoke to us as they walked by. They call it the speaking tradition. Academic standards are obviously very high and their business school places well in finance. I think it is a great fit for the right student. DS is 6â5ââ, white, and blonde; his comment was that everyone looked like him. I disagreed, but that was his perception.
Compared to Richmond it felt more traditional and smaller.
Vanderbilt is now in a different class from the others due to the difficulty of getting admtted.
I would have been happy for him to attend any of the schools listed.
2 Likes
I may not the best person to discuss US history or the history of colleges for that matter. Having been to both Richmond and W&L recently, and liking them both, the greater difference was urban verses rural; and that although each school feels southern (to a northerner like me) Richmond feels a bit more NESCAC, but I could feel the progressiveness of W&L as well. Literally, spoke about the great food at the hillel and having itâs own building on campus in the campus tour.
3 Likes
Yes, our Fortune 50 CPG company quit recruiting at Wake MBA when they dropped the program. I think UR is under-appreciated in general but has a stout b-school that gets traction along the East Coast.
re: Jeffrey Amherst- there was enough outrage on campus that in 2017 they changed the mascot from âLordJeffsâ (and âLadyJeffsâ) and replaced with the current mascot, the âMammothsâ.
1 Like
Letâs return focus (and responses) to the OPâs question.
Letâs refrain (and to be clear, compliance isnât optional) from discussing schools not requested, attempting to educate others on US history, reigniting the debate over renaming, or indeed anything that throws this discussion off-topic.
3 Likes