<p>As a visitor I have spent a few hours in Winston-Salem and I think it has cute little artsy shops, some nice restaurants (my suggestion: “Sweet Potatoes” gets a rave review from me). In general, the people are very nice and friendly. Also, we had to visit a hospital in Winston Salem and this is one of the only hospitals that I have been to where there is person to open and close your car door and to welcome you with southern hospitality. Too bad that the welcome was to a hospital! I just need to take ghostbuster’s side and defend poor Winston Salem here!</p>
<p>I thought you said Winston-Salem State at first, and I was like…duh.</p>
<p>But Wake Forest. Honestly at this point I would be choosing based on the atmosphere and what you liked. If I could do college all over again, Wake Forest would be near the top of my list - I’m a bit of a Southern girl at heart (I grew up partially in Atlanta) and I would’ve jumped at the chance to go to a larger co-ed university in a small town in North Carolina, where people stay on campus during the weekends, as opposed to my small women’s college in Atlanta where people all moved off campus after the 2nd year and were never around on the weekends. It’s nice when you don’t have a car but your friends are still around on the weekends to hang out, study, catch a movie, whatever. Even if you did have a car, it’s still nice when everyone doesn’t clear out on the weekends, and I feel like that tends to happen more often at urban schools.</p>
<p>As for the debate, I live in New York and people know Wake Forest up here. It’s not unknown by any means, and it’s not limited only to the South either. Also, those pharmaceutical companies need managers, right? Raleigh is constantly cited as one of the up-and-coming cities in which to live and work. Just because it doesn’t have a Wall Street or isn’t some huge East Coast city doesn’t mean there aren’t economics jobs opportunities. Every city needs business people and job forecasters.</p>
<p>And as a last thought…I never saw the beauty in smaller cities with lots of cultural attractions until I moved to New York. I loved the busyness of the city, the lights, the traffic, the crowds…at first. I’ve heard that Pittsburgh is fantastic, though, so honestly OP you really can’t go wrong here.</p>
<p>I never meant to bash Wake, nor Winston Salem. I know that Wake has a great atmosphere, however, the OP was asking about job opportunities. Wake has great grad-school placement, considering you do find quite a lot of students already going to Wake with law/medical school in mind, but the OP never mentioned if she wishes to do either.</p>
<p>Again, I repeat, I am not anti Wake or Winston Salem. However, I also know multiple other people who simply never heard of Wake before moving to NC. This includes friends, friend’s parents, etc etc. </p>
<p>And Ghostbuster, you seem to have gotten too touchy. If I recall from previous posts, you’re also the parent whose daughter resorted to Fordham after being rejected from her top choice, and who was exceedingly offended and angry at your daughter’s choice school for rejecting her, when they might’ve had good reason to. Perhaps a grad and parent bitter at having to choose good-but-not-quite-top-schools? Especially if you found the need to ask bayou’s school, even though he or she was simply commenting on Winston and not Wake. There was no need to question my mother’s credentials, which I personally find no need to defend to some antagonistic individual online, especially one who’s apparently a grown person who feels the need to fight with teenagers to defend his or her pride.</p>
<p>I know Wake is a good school with a good atmosphere and good rankings, but personally I believe she would have better opportunities at UPitt since that was the purpose of the thread. If she also wants to compare other things, that’s up to her to ask afterwards, where I would then respond accordingly.</p>
<p>Again, I repeat that I am NOT anti-Wake. That was simply one personal example that I found relevant to the OP’s wishes. I am willing to admit that I might’ve been wrong and the experience was from maybe a dozen or two people in the midst of thousands of Wake grads, however, I didn’t see the need for there to be such a hostile reaction on ghostbuster’s part. YOUR negative spirit -not karma- is showing, as it has in multiple other posts.</p>
<p>Metallika, anyone can sketch on people here on CC and go back and look at posts.</p>
<p>Yes, my D1 was hosed by a southern school she was highly qualified for but we have long moved on and no, its not a bitterness thing, certainly not here on this thread with you. I get my dander up when people make commentary about cities or schools they know little or nothing about, that is all. </p>
<p>Bayou, I didnt trash talk LA or Southern California but made a distinction. And yes, where you went to school is highly relevant because often times it reveals a competitive agenda, particularly in the ACC. Other than that, I don’t care if you went to Harvard or Stanford or Ohio State. </p>
<p>Its not a big deal people. I appreciate the support people gave here for Wake and Winston Salem. Its time to move on. </p>
<p>and I havent posted a negative spirit in numerous other posts. Another gross over exaggeration and inaccurate post on your part Metallika. In fact, I get pm’s frequently from people thanking me for an honest, forthright, balanced and supportive point of view. If I have ANY agenda at all, which I have freely admitted and posted, its an agenda against the rankings obsessed and elitists who sometimes post on CC (people who think going to a top 10 school makes them better people, smarter people and more likely to make a millions dollars etc.) </p>
<p>If you are not in that crowd, then it doesnt apply to you.</p>
<p>I like to help people, particularly those who truly need help discerning between schools, locations and those whose stats and scores are below 1350SAT and face a highly competitive environment in their college search. </p>
<p>I came after you because of your commentary, not to harass you but to correct the record. </p>
<p>I’m done here on this thread. Everyone have a good day and best of luck in your search.</p>
<p>IMO, if you compare graduates from any of the USNWR Top 30 colleges, a large number of the students that come out of Wake Forest are as well prepared as any college graduate you’ll find in the USA. They call if “Work Forest” for a reason and employers respect the demands that the faculty places on the students and the accomplishment that they have scored upon graduation. </p>
<p>Beyond the issue of preparedness, IMO the Wake grads are probably the most grounded individuals of nearly any of the USNWR Top 30. They don’t have a lot of airs, they don’t carry a sense of entitlement, they don’t look for a promotion after six weeks on the job, etc, etc, etc. They just show up, work hard as heck, interact constructively with their co-workers, etc, etc, etc. They’re a credit to themselves…and to their college. </p>
<p>As for Winston-Salem, I will actually agree with the less enthusiastic comments. It’s not a great town, but can be interesting in spots, if also a little shady in spots as well. Job-wise, however, it’s not a big factor for Wake grads, the vast majority of whom are heading to larger cities in North Carolina and elsewhere mostly along the East Coast. </p>
<p>By contrast, U Pittsburgh is a different kind of place from Wake. For starters, it’s a lot bigger (17.5k for undergrad vs 4.5k at Wake). Plus, it’s an urban setting and Wake is not. Third, its surrounding city is still a major city and undoubtedly a greater source for job placement than would be found for Wake grads in W-S (if they were looking there). I like U Pittsburgh and think its Cathedral of Learning is pretty neat and unique, but it’s a very different feel from what you’ll experience when you walk on Wake’s quad and look at Wait Chapel. </p>
<p>As a city, IMO Pittsburgh is an underrated city because, believe it or not, it’s a very interesting and flavorful place. But it’s not presently known for its job creating power. Like many other cities of the old industrial Midwest (yes, Pittsburgh is much more a Midwestern city than an Eastern one), it has struggled to replace a lot of the industry that has left it over the past 3-4 decades. </p>
<p>The city has some very interesting neighborhoods (Oakland, Strip, North and South Sides) and this is all available to venturesome Pitt students. Pittsburgh has tried, with mixed success, to create some high tech employers in the area and there is some healthcare VC (Pittsburgh HC Greenhouse), but mainly the top employers are oldtime American companies like Alcoa, Heinz, Allegheny, PNC, Mellon, PPG, Calgon, and others. </p>
<p>With that kind of lineup, U Pittsburgh students could have many local options if those companies are hiring. The problem is that, for the last several years, many have not. Pittsburgh is losing population and the city’s finances are in trouble. </p>
<p>Anyway, as others have posted, go to the school that you like better and don’t worry about the job prospects in the local region. Demographics would probably argue for Wake and North Carolina, but it’s not like U Pittsburgh grads can’t also get jobs in their region.</p>
<p>ghostbuster:</p>
<p>sorry, no ACC grad here, although I have visited/toured most of them and would have been more than happy to have attended (more than one). I even tried my darnedest to convince my D to attend WF (but she turned it down bcos of W-S).</p>
<p>Bayou…well, I am sorry to hear her feelings on that regard. I appreciate Hawkettes thoughts as well. I would not call Winston Salem “shady in spots.” That would be Durham…as in Duke, right outside the east gates. Durham doesnt offer much to Dukies, so they go up Route 15 towards Chapel Hill for good eats and entertainment…but DARE NOT go bars on “Franklin Street” or they will get into fights. </p>
<p>For those who don’t know Winston Salem, I suggest you investigate further, the lovely neighborhoods full of million dollar homes, the phenomenal YMCA system in town, the amazing soccer leagues, the youth orchestras, the Symphony, the Piedmont Opera, the North Carolina School of the Arts (ranked just below Juilliard) which boasts a world class conservatory, dance school and film school, the amazing variety and class of restaurants from the very elite (Meridien, 1703, Ryan’s Restaurant (not the chain), Reynolda Village, Twin City Chop House, Bernardin’s, on and on…) to the eclectic like Sweet Potatoes already mentioned and the grand variety of barbecue joints. They built a new 68 million dollar minor league baseball stadium which is perhaps the best facility in the minor leagues around the nation according to many comments from visiting teams, they have the Joel Memorial Coliseum for major entertainers and Wake Basketball games, Wake has a new Football Stadium which is simply incredulous and offers fine dining all year, every day, for the public from the private boxes. If you are looking for neon and a gazillion taxis and honking cars and 300 theatres, its not Winston Salem. Major employers are two ENORMOUS hospitals and their healthcare system including Wakes Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Reynolds American Tobacco, Hanes Brands, Targacept Pharmaceuticals, and a myriad of high tech small companies, and Wells Fargo Wealth (the old Wachovia), and headquarters for BB & T bank, a major regional financial institution. Winston Salem is loaded with money and retirees select Winston Salem to retire and settle because of the arts scene, quality of life, relative moderate climate and “its not Florida!” </p>
<p>It has low income areas like all cities do. I also love Charlotte and Raleigh by the way, but for very different reasons. </p>
<p>Now I do sound like a salesman and that contradicts my earlier protestation, so I apologize for that and ask your indulgence. I just want people to know that Wake and Winston and lovely places.</p>
<p>For the record, my D1 visited several school campuses and for some it just didnt work (names withheld to protect the innocent) and said, “this isnt me and left.” It happens. Every person is different in their needs, views and opinions or impressions.</p>