Info for the Class of ’28
Becoming a Demon Deacon
We want this page to be your one-stop destination for all the information you need to experience Wake Forest and our Pro Humanitate philosophy. It will be updated regularly as you move into your final year of high school.
Admissions is about communicating—learning about you as you learn about us—and one of the best ways to keep that relationship going is to make sure you’re receiving regular updates from us.
We hope to see you soon!
Let’s get started.
Advice & Guidance
We asked Wake Foresters their guidance for seniors in high school.
View Our Advice »
The “To Do” List
Applying to college brings up a lot of questions. Wake Forest Admissions is here to help you with some guidance. Make note of the following deadlines and follow this checklist to make applying to Wake Forest a smooth process.
Fall 2023 Important Dates & Deadlines
| Event | Description | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 Admission Application | https://admissions.wfu.edu/apply/applynow/ | Fall 2025 admission applications are available. | Aug. 1 |
| Interviews | https://admissions.wfu.edu/connect/interviews/ | You may request a virtual interview (optional) after you have submitted your application for admission. You must do so within five days of submitting your application. | Early Aug. – Early Dec. |
| Video Interview Question | https://admissions.wfu.edu/connect/interviews/ | You may submit a video (optional) answering one of three prompts after you have submitted your application for admission. | Early Aug. – Jan. 8 |
| Need-Based Financial Aid Application | https://financialaid.wfu.edu/types-of-aid/need-based-aid/ | For Early Decision I applicants | Fall 2024 |
| Early Decision I | https://admissions.wfu.edu/apply/first-year/ | Application deadline if Wake Forest is your first-choice college | Nov. 15 |
| Early Action for First-Gen Students | https://admissions.wfu.edu/apply/applynow/#early-action | Early Action admissions is available for first-generation college students. | Nov. 15 |
| Merit- and Talent-Based Scholarships | https://financialaid.wfu.edu/types-of-aid/scholarships/ | Scholarship programs that recognize extraordinary achievement, leadership, and talent | Nov. 15 |
| Interview Request Deadline | https://admissions.wfu.edu/connect/interviews/ | The last day to request an optional virtual interview | Nov. 18 |
| Early Decision II | https://admissions.wfu.edu/apply/first-year/ | If you meet the ED II deadline, you will receive an admissions decision from us by February 15. | Jan. 1 |
| Regular Decision | https://admissions.wfu.edu/apply/first-year/ | Regular Decision applications are not binding, and you will receive an admissions decision from us by April 1. | Jan. 1 |
Your Senior Checklist
You have plenty to think about your senior year, and we know applying to college is going to be on your mind a lot. As you navigate your way through your final year of high school, here are a few things we encourage you to do before applying to Wake Forest:
- Sign up for our mailing list.
- Plan a campus visit.
- Attend an in-person and/or a virtual information session.
- Begin working on essay/short-answer prompts.
- Ask a teacher if they’d be willing to write a recommendation for you.
- Make sure you’re aware of all important dates and deadlines.
- Familiarize yourself with our application materials and requirements.
- Explore the Undergraduate Admissions Viewbook.
Apply
We went test-optional more than a decade ago, so we know options work. That’s why Wake Forest Admissions wants to give you even more. You know you best, so you’ll decide the best way to tell us the story of you.
This year’s application will offer you choices about how to communicate your personality, perspective, and academic passions, whether it be through conceptually provocative essay questions, an interview, or a video submission.
First-Year Students
The time has come. We know you have done a lot to prepare, and we’re here to help you finish your application to Wake Forest.
International Students
International applicants may find information, specific to your needs, explained thoroughly by our Admissions team.
Transfer Students
We think you’ll find what you’re looking for at Wake Forest. Wake Forest Admissions will work with you to explain how our curriculum lines up with your transfer credits.
Interviews
The option to do a virtual or video interview with us will only be available to seniors who have applied for the Fall 2024 semester. Once you have applied, you are eligible to request a virtual interview with us or submit a video response.
Important!
If you choose to request an interview or submit a video, you must do so within five days of submitting your application.
Please note that the last day to request an optional virtual interview is Friday, November 17. This means that, if you submit your application between November 13 and November 17, you will have fewer than five days to request a virtual interview. Again, the last day to request a virtual interview is November 17. This deadline does not apply to video submissions. Video submissions will still be welcome after that date.
Interview FAQs
No; they are optional. They are simply another opportunity for us to get to know you better. Plenty of people will be admitted without an interview or a video submission. Again, they are not required.
After you submit your application, you may request a virtual interview. Interviews are generally 25 minutes long. We’ll ask you questions about your high school and classes, your academic interests, your most treasured books, your talents, your service work, what you think about, and what you are studying!
So before you interview, think of things you want to make sure we know about you. This is your chance. Think about what you are most proud of, most energized by, most concerned about, most looking forward to about the future. Try to work those things into your interview responses. We always end our interviews with, “What have we forgotten to ask you that you need to tell me?” And happily, the response is usually, “Not a thing. You got it.”
Check out our blog where we give you steps in the right direction!
Plain and simple: we interview and invite video submissions because we want to know as much about you as possible in the admissions process.
And not just what’s on your transcript or your recommendation letters or the essay that may have had some editorial suggestions from Mom or your English teacher.
Wake Forest is a place that values intellectual curiosity, character, community, inclusion, and open-mindedness, and, in the course of our virtual-interview conversations or our video-essay question, we’re going to explore that.
We want to hear from students who can speak about their intellectual interests!
Campus Tours
We welcome you to our campus! Many Wake Forest graduates say it was when they first visited campus that they knew this school was their first choice. It’s a wonderful experience to walk the Magnolia Quad, visit Wait Chapel, and speak with the faculty, staff, and students that make Wake Forest the special community that it is.
Student-Led Campus Tours
We are delighted that you want to see Wake Forest’s beautiful iconic campus, and take a student-led tour to gain insight to the undergraduate experience. Come take a tour and see what your future home may look like.
Self-Guided Tours
Visitors are allowed to visit campus to take a self-guided tour. Stop by the Porter Byrum Welcome Center to pick up a self-guided tour book or download it below. We look forward to welcoming you!
Virtual Campus Tour
We understand that many of you may not be able to make the trip to North Carolina to visit our campus in person. That’s why we’ve created online resources to let you experience the beauty, community, and academic rigor of Wake Forest University.
Affordability
We should talk about money. It’s a difficult conversation, but, when it comes to college, it’s unavoidable. College is expensive. So let’s talk about that. Sooner rather than later.
First of all, Wake Forest is committed to meeting 100% of demonstrated need with a combination of grants, scholarships, work study, and loans. We are committed to making a Wake Forest education accessible.
2023-24 Cost of Attendance: $87,556*
*Estimated. Includes: Housing, meal plans, books, expenses, and other fees.
Need help determining your eligibility for need-based aid? Try using our Net Price Calculator to help you with that. Wake Forest also offers merit-based scholarships, which are very selective, but we encourage you to learn more about them to see if you’re a good fit.
If you have questions, reach out to our Student Financial Aid office. They will be happy to assist you!
Information Sessions
A liberal-arts education is about freedom. And we want to offer you the freedom to choose a number—or all!—of our online information sessions, featuring voices from throughout Wake Forest’s campus. Please take a look below for more information on our online offerings.
Distinctively Wake
Our live online session is a conversation where you can engage with Wake Forest University admissions representatives and a current student. These 45-minute live online sessions will be offered once a week and will alternate between Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. (ET).
Advice & Guidance
Advice for those applying Early Decision
For students who apply Early Decision I, you should receive your admissions decision at the end of the following month; however, it’s important that you heed this guidance from Associate Dean Thomas Ray.
Advice for prospective applicants
One parent recently asked us what good advice we had for her rising senior in high school. Here was our advice for her—and for you:
- don’t specialize too much academically in high school; explore all subjects with equal fervor and see how they connect,
- be sure to maintain academic rigor in your senior year,
- visit college campuses of all kinds—whether in person or virtually—just for the exposure,
- do something productive, constructive, and engaging during your school breaks, while, of course, taking time to relax, recharge, and read, and
- start thinking about what teachers you will ask for recommendation letters.
Advice from WFU Alum Emily Hellwig (’23)
As a tour guide and student ambassador for WFU Admissions, my #2 most-asked question (behind, of course, “Why Wake?”) is if I have any advice for prospective students, specifically high school seniors. Here’s what always comes to mind:
From what I remember, the experience of endless campus tours and Common App essays was exciting, yes, but also very draining. On one particular college information session during my senior year, I received a piece of advice that was a bit daunting. A prospective student behind me in the auditorium raised their hand and asked, if they wanted to be accepted to an academically rigorous institution, should they take an easier class in high school and get an “A” or take the harder option and receive a lower grade? The admissions representative said blankly, “Take the harder class, and get an ‘A.’”
To be honest, this encounter alarmed me a bit. It made me feel like there was no room for error, even when I was already so overwhelmed. But I do think there is a valuable lesson to glean between the lines of this intimidating advice: don’t stop trying. I advise you to take the classes that challenge you and be prepared to try your best. This effort can be easily identified in an application. Demon Deacons are constantly striving to be their best selves, which often means not shying away from any challenges that may come. Embody this spirit in high school, and you’ll already be in good shape for the future.
You may want more practical advice on how to actually express yourself and these valiant efforts through your application. If so, allow me to steal a tip from my current Communications class: Writing for Public Relations and Advertising. In this course, we have been slowly making our way through the book Everybody Writes by Ann Handley. She provides some sincerely useful writing advice that can be applied to the world of college admissions. In your application and beyond, make sure to “show, not tell.” This means providing stories, vivid details, and relevant examples to back up your statements. Your essays will become more personable, effective, and compelling, transforming your words into a picture of who you are. Also, your reader will become more invested in your writing and, subsequently, more invested in you as an applicant.
Overall, the most substantive piece of advice I can offer may sound a bit cliché, but here it goes: always stay true to your authentic self. Pick an essay topic, visit schools, join organizations, and make friends that are in service of that. You don’t want to surround yourself with anything other than what allows you to flourish as your amazing, unique self, anyway. I believe this authenticity will allow for the easiest college decision and the most fulfilling four years of it!
The rest is pretty much trial and error, but your experiences might help you form your own pieces of advice for the future high school seniors that follow you 🙂
Best of luck, and Go Deacs!
Admissions Blog
Let’s start with your getting to know us – and our getting to know you. Our blog shares information about our application questions, optional interviews and video submissions, and admissions procedures. We then let you know all the ways you can share with us your talents and accomplishments, thoughts and ideas, and motivations.
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