International Students

At Wake Forest, international student status is based on citizenship rather than where you attend school or your permanent residence. You are considered an international student if you will need a visa sponsored by Wake Forest for the duration of your studies.

If you are an international student attending high school in the U.S., you must submit additional information required of international applicants.

If you are a citizen of the U.S. studying abroad, this additional information is not necessary. Students who have received their permanent residence card or “green cards” are considered U.S. citizens and “can” apply accordingly.

Student Visa

Admitted international applicants who pay the admission deposit will be issued an I-20 form. Upon receipt of the I-20, the student may apply for an F-1 visa for study at Wake Forest University. The Center for Immigration Services and Support will assist you throughout the matriculation process.

Special consideration for all international applicants

• Certified transcripts are required from each secondary school, college or university attended. A record of at least four years of schooling is needed in order to evaluate the application. Detailed information concerning courses taken and grades received must be listed on these records. If necessary, transcripts should be translated into English with the originals sealed and attached.
• All international students whose first language is not English and/or are attending a school where English is not the medium of instruction are required to submit an English Proficiency score. (i.e. TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo). We accept self-reported test scores.
• In addition, international students are encouraged to share their voices using our optional video interview question or submit a video interview through other video platforms such as InitialView or Vericant.
• Wake Forest does not require applicants to submit an SAT or ACT score in the admissions application. If submitting scores, please know that we accept self-reported scores.

All international students who have received credit from a post-secondary institution and would like to apply to Wake Forest must apply as a transfer student. This includes applicants who wish to enroll with first-year status and/or zero credit transfer.

In addition to the items outlined above, transfer applicants must submit the Dean’s Statement for Transfer Students. Students applying for transfer are required to have all official transcripts translated into English. There is no guarantee of credit transfer.

Unfortunately, Wake Forest cannot offer any financial or scholarship assistance to international transfer applicants.

Visit our Transfer Students page for additional information.

Regrettably, Wake Forest University does not offer any need-based financial aid to foreign national students. Unless a foreign-national applicant is offered a merit scholarship (see below), he or she must show sufficient support with the Confidential Financial Information for International Applicants Form before the University will consider an applicant for admission.

International students are eligible for most merit-based scholarships, including a number of our full-cost awards (Carswell, Gordon, Reynolds, and Stamps Scholarships). The regular application also serves as a scholarship application, so there is no separate form to complete.

There are a small number of highly selective, signature scholarships offered by Wake Forest. Competitive applicants for those awards have achieved unusual distinction in the classroom and beyond. They may also be creative leaders who are able to influence others in directions likely to benefit society. They will have achieved unusual distinction in the classroom and beyond.

Successful applicants have pursued the most challenging curriculum available to them and have achieved grade point averages (often the top 1 percent) and testing scores that place them in the top few percentage points in comparison to their peers. Further, potential candidates have typically been leaders in a variety of extracurricular pursuits and won recognition for their abilities at the regional, state, or national level. Finalists will be notified by March 1.