An Update from Admissions

Today is the day!

Later this evening, we will release admissions decisions to all remaining, complete first-year applicants. You should first expect to receive an email, prompting you to check your status page, where you can review your admissions decision. 

To those of you who will be admitted, congratulations! We look forward to connecting with you over the coming weeks. Please keep an eye on your email inbox for additional details about on-campus and virtual programming between now and “Decision Day” – May 1. (We hope to hear from you by then!) If you are applying for financial aid and have not yet submitted the necessary documents, please do so as soon as possible. FAFSA Simplification has caused national delays to federal student-aid processing, but Wake Forest is able to provide estimated-aid notifications to students who have submitted their CSS Profile and tax documentation. Students admitted through Regular Decision, who have submitted the necessary application materials, can expect an aid notification release on March 29. If you were admitted through Early Action or Early Decision and have submitted the necessary documentation, you should have already received an estimated aid notification – check your status page for more information. If you don’t see an update in your application status portal, please email us at admissions@wfu.edu.

This year, we reviewed almost 19,000 applications for admission – which represents both a slight increase from last year’s total and a new record for us – for a new-student class of approximately 1,400 students. A significant portion of our admitted class is near the top of their respective high school class (96% in the Top 20% for those attending schools that rank), and, while Wake Forest is test-optional, nearly half of our applicants chose to submit their SAT and/or ACT scores: the averages were 1450 and 33, respectively. 

Last summer, institutions across the country were preparing for a decision from the Supreme Court that would impact how applications would be received, processed, and evaluated for admission. (At Wake Forest, we were also working through the details of our version of an Early Action application round, intended for first-generation college students.) A few weeks later, the Department of Education officially shared delays to its plans to completely overhaul the systems and processes by which federal aid is awarded. And even in recent days, some colleges and universities are moving away from an “optional policy” regarding standardized tests like the SAT and ACT.

While these “moments” represented significant changes for us in admissions and enrollment, we recognize the challenges that you – as students, parents, counselors, and advisors – have needed to navigate to get to this point. These challenges may not make the headlines of major news publications or serve as the topic of conversation around the dinner table, but they matter and are significant to you. And for all you’ve navigated, and all you have accomplished, we’d like to take a moment to applaud you, and to thank you for your efforts and energies in completing an application for admission to Wake Forest. 

While we celebrate those students initially admitted to Wake Forest, we recognize that the news of not being admitted may bring about a variety of emotions. Selecting students to whom we will offer admission is difficult, and this year was no exception. In the coming days, through this blog and via email, we will have more information for those invited to join the waitlist. And for those students who were not offered admission or an opportunity to join the waitlist, we do hope you find the place that you will soon call “home.” 

With kind regards, 
Wake Forest University Office of Undergraduate Admissions

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