Hi all,
I was accepted RD to Wake Forest and then just got off the waitlist for Hamilton. I almost ED’d to Hamilton and have always had an affinity for it, but I ended up committing to Wake with no regrets. I love everything about Wake but am anxious about the people that go there - I didn’t apply because I thought it would be a good fit for me (no matter my feelings on it now), I applied because my parents wanted me to. Hamilton, on the other hand, I found on my own and applied because I really liked it. I want to know about peoples experience with the two - specifically the social scene at either school and how bad the winters are in NY.
Thanks so much!!
Hi! I’m an incoming Hamilton freshman from NY state. It isn’t super duper cold- it’s the warmest of the northernmost liberal arts schools. However, we do get rain and snow quite often. From what I hear, Wake is more party-esque/mainstream typical college. Hamilton is more artsy/nerdy. Both are excellent schools! Feel free to reach out.
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I can’t provide much insight about the schools that would be helpful, but I can tell you that my daughter (2024 college graduate) attended the college she chose for herself, not one that I put on her list. It was the best decision in many respects, and I think the fit was accentuated by her feeling of ownership and accomplishment of finding it on her own.
Would your parents have any objections to Hamilton, if you were to choose it? Are both similar financially? Have you visited both?
Loving everything about Wake but the people who attend is a pretty big but!
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Another thing to note is Wake is over double the size of Hamilton and has D1 sports. Hamilton is D3 and only 2k students.
Have you visited Hamilton? Do you have time to visit before you need to respond? This will probably make the choice easy.
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Wow. Everything you say tells me Hamilton. I agree that the student body at each school are pretty different, except that both schools enroll smart and accomplished students.
Wake feels a little southern to me and my kids; Hamilton is a classic northeastern LAC. Both beautiful campuses, Hamilton being somewhat remote relative to Wake (though Winston-Salem isn’t exactly the center of the universe).
We toured both, I liked both (I’m more geographically flexible than are my kids). We had recruiting going on at Hamilton, so that makes it a bit more of a personal experience and I felt like we got a good hard look with an adult on the campus payroll trying to get you to target their school.
If you like/prefer Hamilton, and it’s entirely reasonable to have that preference (I would probably have that preference too), then I don’t think you need to hear too much more. Tell your parents where you want to go to school and go become a Continental!
Paging @ProfSD @merc81 @Crosbylane … these, among other posters, can give you a more in-depth view of Hamilton. It’s a tippy top school on a really nice campus. Lots of people would choose it over Wake (and lots of people would choose Wake). So nothing for which to apologize when you make your choice.
Good luck!
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I am visiting over the weekend and I have until Wednesday evening to decide, so hopefully a visit will clear everything up!
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Wake is giving me substantially more money - enough so that I am able to afford to bring my car with me to campus whereas Hamilton is giving me close to nothing. I’ve visited both, and am going to Hamilton this weekend to visit again.
I’m more so anxious about the type of people that would be at Wake rather than already disliking them, I’m worried that Wake’s student body would be more politically right and less open minded than Hamilton’s student body, though both campuses (when I visited) seemed to be fairly preppy.
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Ah. I seldom jump into the affordability discussions, but close to free and a quarter of a million dollars is not something to blow off. You’re right to have that hesitation. It means you’re thoughtful.
I assume the money is not an afterthought for your parents as well.
I won’t speak to the “open minded” part of your comment, because that’s a debate. But I think you’re right that you will run into a more conservative student body on the whole at Wake than you will at Hamilton. Still, I hate to generalize too much because you’ll find “the other” at both schools. Wake struck us as more preppy, southern and overtly wealthy than did any of the NE LACs, though there is a ton of wealth at the latter (perhaps just a bit more understated).
Setting finances aside (which is a huge set-aside here), I’m betting Hamilton is more your speed.
But still … will you have financial support for grad school if your parents pay for Hamilton? Do you see yourself being really unhappy at a place like Wake? It’s a really good school and arguably the perfect “mid-sized” university. Some grad school, mostly at the masters level, and professional school. Main focus there is undergrad. At Hamilton, that’s the sole focus.
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Our town, about five states away from Wake, sends a number of kids there every year. All are full pay, conservative leaning kids of doctors, lawyers, and finance guys. Most would likely go through rush. Saying that, I think you can find your people anywhere. I do remember seeing one stat for WF that 70 percent or so of the first-year class is full pay. That was a few years ago.
But you cannot discount the money factor. At all.
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It seems like you now have two great, but somewhat different, options: mid-sized Greek-heavy research university in the Southeast v. small Greek-light liberal arts school in the Northeast. You’ll have unique experiences at each one.
I think you’re probably right that there will be a larger number (and percentage) of “politically right” students at Wake Forest, but I’m sure you can find your community at either place. I also wouldn’t exclusively connect “preppy” with “right wing,” and also NE Preppy and SE Preppy can be very different. 
Without more information, it is difficult to understand the financial impact for you and your family at either place, and I’m not sure you’re going to find someone with deep knowledge of both campus experiences. I will note that looking at your other posts, the schools you were targeting and applied to/were excited about look more like Hamilton than Wake Forest.
Hamilton is great and it’s clear that you felt more of a fit there than at Wake Forest, even if you’re comfortable with that now. I’m not sure how your visit this weekend is going to feel, since students are finishing up finals this weekend and Monday, but you’ll certainly learn something. Ask students about their winter experience! It’s cold and windy and everyone is in it together.
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Hi! I’m a current sophomore at Hamilton and would be happy to answer any questions that you want to ask individually
OP: Your posts reveal acceptances to Franklin & Marshall, Bucknell, Wake Forest, Colorado College, and Hamilton College. Why WFU over F&M and Bucknell and Colorado College ? (The reasons may help OP to see more clearly her preferences.)
Intended major ?
Desired career ?
Can you/your family afford Hamilton College without loans or financial stress ?
P.S. Without more info. regarding intended major/desired career, this is simply a matter of personal preference.
Bucknell & F&M are more similar to WFU than to Hamilton.
FWIW Outside of the South, Boston College is an overlap school with WFU according to WFU.
Hamilton’s top 8 overlap schools all LACs.
Hamilton & WFU offer a significantly different college experience due to size of student bodies, location, sports divisions, and temperament of liberal versus moderate/conservative.
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The winters in upstate NY are brutal.
It’s freezing from Mid November -March.
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I can’t speak to Wake, however, my daughter is a freshman at Hamilton and having a fantastic experience. She chose it over many other great schools based on feel, campus, students, coaches, and faculty she met. It’s a great mix of students and an extremely friendly campus (friendliest student body we met, by far). It’s also gorgeous! Even though it’s smaller than Wake, it has the largest NESCAC campus; beautifully spread out and lush. I think it’s great you’re having another visit. Graduation is this weekend, so just keep that in mind. Truly, I can’t say enough good things!
Edited to add: My daughter did not find it the winter weather terrible. If you’re familiar with New England weather, NY state weather, etc., it’s similar. We live in NYS and according to her, Hamilton got less snow. I think the weather there tends to be exaggerated in terms of snow volume and cold.
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Hamilton, in Brief
Legacy of having been two colleges of complementary characteristics and emphases manifests in enhanced academic, social, spatial and architectural dimensions and balance. Access to suburban amenities, proximity to Adirondacks. Academically strong across humanities and fine arts, sciences and math and social sciences. Rarefied student profile. I know some people who don’t like snow, but I’m not sure I trust them — find your inner Buck. Surrounding area of ~10,000 residents among the safest locations anywhere, with zero violent crime reported in a recent year. A writers’ college, for those who wish to enhance this skill.
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I have a student at Wake, on the whole, the kids are moderate and not particularly engaged politically. My student is very liberal, comes from a diverse city, and loves Wake. Happy to answer any other questions to the extent I’m able to as a parent. There is a difference in size between Hamilton and Wake, something to think about during your revisit.
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Go where you feel like you will have the best fit. No one else can tell you what that is. My daughter started at Hamilton in the fall, didn’t find it was what she had been hoping for and is transferring. On paper it was exactly what she had said she wanted. (her application results were overall not what she’d hoped and Hamilton had been a last minute add). No one here can answer this for you. You can get opinions from people who love a school and from people who didn’t click with a school to people who hate a school and it is all based on their own individual experience.
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The OP asked to help them decide between Hamilton and Wake Forest. If the OP was seriously considering any of the other colleges to which they were accepted, they would have included them. Please keep to providing the advice the OP asked for, not advice about other colleges.
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Regarding campus size, Hamilton is a few times larger than Wake Forest, should you want to consider this characteristic.
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I don’t know Hamilton well, but I know Wake pretty well.
Wake is more Southern. By that, I mean
- more school spirit/sports culture
- more Greek life
Again, I don’t know about Hamilton, but my Wake friends tell me that you had better be ready to work hard. It is a work-hard, play-hard kind of place.
Everything that I have read (and my Wake friends tell me) indicates that Wake is 50-50 in terms of student body politics and more like 85-15 liberal leaning in terms of the professors. That is counterbalanced by a lot of the school’s big donors being conservative. The combination apparently makes for a less political campus than is likely the case at Hamilton.
So your political concerns are probably unfounded. In fact, I would guess that Hamilton is WAY more likely to be a political echo chamber than Wake.
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