How strong are the science departments at Wake Forest?

[Bryozoan]

<p>Wake Forest is actually quite strong in all the sciences (except geology). If you search for old posts, you’d find some more info. </p>

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@Me

Wake is a small school, and it truly has a focus on undergraduate education. I visited several times, and the thing that always struck me the most was the amazing friendliness of the student body. Almost everyone said “hi,” and a few people asked me if I was lost. One student even went out her way to show me the chemistry department. Speaking of which…the science facilities at Wake are excellent. I only toured the biology and chemistry departments, but I was very impressed by the displayed research (most of which was done by undergrads) and the clean, well-equipped labs. The chair of the chem department told us that 90% of chem majors at Wake are admitted to their first choice for graduate school! The biology department is also great and offers a wide range of courses and options. A popular option is the SEA semester, where you spend a semester on a ship. I’ve heard the physics program is every bit as good, but I can’t vouch for it personally. A smaller and lesser known but excellent department is anthropology. Among other resources, students have at their disposal the Museum of Anthropology on-campus, the archaeology laboratories, and the opportunity to do archaeological excavation at Old Salem! The English and History departments are probably among the most popular (along with business), and needless to say, they’re first-rate. I can’t say much about foreign languages, but I was very impressed with their German program. If I recall correctly, Wake Forest has study abroad centers in London, Vienna, and Venice, and study abroad is fairly popular. The campus is very well-kept, and beautiful if you like magnolias (if you don’t, learn to like them). I’m not sure how to describe the architecture, but it’s mostly brick with white decorations/pillars/etc. Some of the buildings are fairly old (e.g. some of the science buildings), but others (like the library and Reynolda hall) are very nice indeed. A current student can tell you a lot more about food than I can, but I ate lunch at the “the Pit” when I visited, and it was fairly tasty. I only saw the substance-free dorms, and they seemed to be decent-sized. Dorms come with air conditioning (at least some of them do), and you get a “free” computer and printer. During your junior (or senior?) year they switch your computer for a newer model, which you get to keep. If you know anything about basketball at all, you probably know that Wake students are very enthusiastic! Reputation wise…Wake Forest is very highly regarded in the South, but I can’t comment about it elsewhere. In the academic world, Wake certainly gets respect. Students work hard, though- it isn’t known as “Work” Forest for nothing! Freshmen can have cars, but you can’t park on campus, and enough people have one that you probably don’t need one.

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@Observer28

I would disagree about the chem program being “stronger” than the physics program at WFU. It may be more popular in terms of majors but not necessarily stronger. My nephew is a physics major on the campus and it is amazing the stuff that he talks about that they are doing there. The profs are very accessible, highly engaging in terms of incorporating students into their personal research and they have good facilities. </p>

<p>Some of their recent moves as a department have been very impressive including hiring away the entire Center for Nanotechnology from Clemson I believe. A lot of state of the art laser research is being done and one of their most recent hires is a Biophysics professor who made millions as the head of her own biotech company but now just wants to teach. Came from out in Cali if I am not mistaken for all those CA residents.</p>

<p>Bottom line I guess is that the physical sciences are alive and well at WFU from what I have gathered since my days in the bio classrooms on campus…ranging from the most popular bio to chem and physics.

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@Faline2

My S also was admitted to Wake and liked many aspects of the campus…the chance for intimate relations with science lab teachers (Outstanding at Wake), small classrooms where teachers know your name and actually make sure you keep up, the big focus on physical fitness, the high school spirit for sports (female and male teams)…and the way everyone was outside playing intramurals by Friday at 3pm…we watched this one Friday. Big issue at Wake: Famous institutional stance on Grade Deflation, which most certainly deflates the egos of half the kids there pronto. (your son has weathered this one beautifully) Although Wake has some good geographic diversity in its student body, it is not exactly New York City and has some cultural limitations in its student body makeup…We have a local friend who is a senior at Wake right now. He is a doc’s son and his mom is nurse practitioner extraordanaire here. He is such a straight up cool principled and kind person who wants to be a doctor and always puts out 100%. Here is what happened to him his first year at Wake. He went through frat rush with another home town boy. He was cut and not offered a bid. The other fellow got a bid and got swallowed up into frat world. OK…that was a bummer experience, ugh, so he joined the Biking Club and guess what found a much more satisfying peer group. He also faltered in one academic course…Wake is a tough school and then he had to go to summer school for a redux. Not great on the ego. Today he is ready for med school with a great circle of friends and he loves Wake and has made friends with many of the very caring teachers on staff.

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<p>You also might want to look into Davidson; their physics program is fantastic with superb grad placement.</p>