Wake Forest University Overview

Located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Wake Forest University is a private not-for-profit institution. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life.

What Is Wake Forest University Known For?

• Students at Wake Forest University have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 2%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The doctor's degree is the highest award offered at Wake Forest University.
• In 2017-2018, 77% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Wake Forest University with a bachelor's degree make about $63,800 a year. That's 56% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• The average Wake Forest University student graduates in 4.1 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

Wake Forest University Rankings

According to our 2022 analysis, Wake Forest University is ranked #55 out of 2,587 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country. It is also ranked #4 out of 113 schools in North Carolina.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Wake Forest University has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#30	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#53	Best Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Wake Forest University.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#5	Best Philosophy & Religious Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best English Language & Literature Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#10	Best Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Psychology Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#15	Best Business, Management & Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#20	Best Health Professions Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#30	Best History Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#33	Best Communication & Journalism Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#51	Best Education Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Wake Forest University has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#2	Best Nursing Schools	Nursing Degree Search
#15	Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools	College Factual
#19	Best Psychology Schools	College Factual
#30	Best Education Schools	College Factual
#40	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual
#46	Best Health Professions Schools	College Factual

Where Is Wake Forest University?

Contact details for Wake Forest University are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	1834 Wake Forest Road, Winston-Salem, NC 27106
Phone:	336-758-5000
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/wfuniversity
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/WakeForest1834

How Do I Get Into Wake Forest University?

You can apply to Wake Forest University online at: admissions.wfu.edu/

Admission Requirements for Wake Forest University

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	recommended
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	neither required nor recommended
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Wake Forest University?

Wake Forest University has a fairly low acceptance rate of 32%, which makes it more selective than most schools. Take time to make sure you submit all the requested materials and you prepare the application in full. You don't want to get denied right off the bat due to an incomplete application!

Approximately 44% of accepted students are men and 56% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 33%, and the acceptance rate for women is 31%.

Can I Afford Wake Forest University?

The overall average net price of Wake Forest University is $59,262. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Wake Forest University, approximately 18% of students took out student loans averaging $12,821 a year. That adds up to $51,284 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Wake Forest University is 1.6%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Wake Forest University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 5,441 undergraduate students at Wake Forest University, with 5,367 being full-time and 74 being part-time.

There are also 3,348 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 5,367 full-time undergraduates at Wake Forest University, 46% are male and 54% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Wake Forest University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	192
Black or African American	328
Hispanic or Latino	437
White	3,693
International Students	492
Other Races/Ethnicities	225

Geographic Diversity

North Carolina students aren't the only ones who study at Wake Forest University. At this time, 47 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 70 countries are represented at Wake Forest University. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Saudi Arabia.

Online Learning at Wake Forest University

In 2019-2020, 7,591 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at Wake Forest University has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 53rd most popular in North Carolina for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of Wake Forest University

The following table shows how Wake Forest University is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Legal Professions	#52	#52
Legal Research	#69	#69

Online Growth Rankings of Wake Forest University

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Wake Forest University was 62.3%. This is the #578 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at Wake Forest University regardless of major.

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Wake Forest University Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Business Administration & Management	0	0	245	0	245
Accounting	42	0	121	0	163
General Biology	96	0	57	5	158
Law	0	0	0	151	151
Political Science & Government	146	0	0	0	146
Economics	139	0	0	0	139
Communication & Media Studies	113	0	12	0	125
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	30	0	94	0	124
Medicine	0	0	0	115	115
General Business/Commerce	112	0	0	0	112
General Psychology	104	0	7	0	111
Finance & Financial Management	108	0	0	0	108
Student Counseling	0	0	104	0	104
Allied Health Professions	0	0	84	0	84
Health & Physical Education	70	0	7	0	77
Computer Science	45	0	9	0	54
General English Literature	49	0	5	0	54
Legal Research	0	1	47	4	52
Sociology	51	0	0	0	51
Mathematics	39	0	11	0	50
Statistics	35	0	6	0	41
Philosophy	35	0	0	0	35
History	34	0	0	0	34
Theological & Ministerial Studies	0	0	34	0	34
Chemistry	27	0	0	3	30
Romance Languages	27	0	0	0	27
Nursing	0	0	24	0	24
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	18	0	0	4	22
Teacher Education Grade Specific	10	0	11	0	21
Anthropology	21	0	0	0	21
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	0	0	17	2	19
Liberal Arts General Studies	6	0	11	0	17
Fine & Studio Arts	17	0	0	0	17
Biomedical Engineering	0	0	6	8	14
Religious Studies	10	0	3	0	13
Area Studies	12	0	0	0	12
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	0	0	11	0	11
Sustainability Science	0	0	10	0	10
Physics	9	0	0	1	10
Ethnic Studies	9	0	0	0	9
Germanic Languages	8	0	0	0	8
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	0	0	8	0	8
Drama & Theater Arts	8	0	0	0	8
Mental & Social Health Services	0	0	7	0	7
Public Health	0	0	6	0	6
Physiology & Pathology Sciences	0	0	0	5	5
Classical Languages & Literature	5	0	0	0	5
East Asian Languages	3	0	0	0	3
Genetics	0	0	0	2	2
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	2	0	0	0	2
Music	2	0	0	0	2
General Engineering	0	0	0	0	0
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	1,442	1	957	300	2,700

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By JHMM13 under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.