Wake Forest is a strong small research university with undergraduates in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They offer 49 majors, and are especially well known for cultivating thoughtful future leaders in the spirit of their motto: “Pro Humanitate” (For Humanity). The vast majority of classes — — have fewer than 50 students, and the acceptance rate is . This makes Wake Forest a great ‘foundation’ school for high achieving students drawn to their close community and mission of purpose.
Wake Forest offers a bunch of different avenues for admission, including Early Decision, Early Action (for first generation college students only), Early Decision II, and Regular Decision. First-year admissions is , meaning that you are not required to submit the SAT or ACT. Just of accepted students submit SAT or ACT scores, and we recommend that students submit scores if they meet our minimum thresholds for a competitive Wake Forest application. The SAT you should submit is a 1470, and the minimum ACT is 33. These aren’t actual minimums set by Wake Forest, but we base them on the scores of recently accepted students.
Ultimately, grades matter most – 95% of accepted students are in the top 20% of their high school class. After you have the grades (and maybe the scores) on lock, and you’ve developed you interests and passions, it’s time to write the Wake Forest supplement. The Wake Forest supplement offers an amazing opportunity to spotlight who you are and what you care about. It is the single most impactful qualitative aspect of your application to Wake Forest, so it’s crucial that you make the most of it. In this post, we’ll give you some of the guidance that we provide to our students, guiding you towards your strongest application possible.
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The Wake Forest supplement is longer than most but shorter than some. We love it because they give you a variety of ways to share who you are and what you care about, without bogging you down with long word counts or super obtuse prompts that cause a headache. Instead, Wake Forest asks straightforward questions to which they want honest answers. Now, let’s get into it.
List five books you’ve read that have intrigued you. (150 character limit per book title).
The biggest challenge we’ve faced with this prompt, and others like it, is when a student doesn’t read except what is assigned in class. Take this as your warning: start reading. If all you have to list here are the most recently assigned books for Junior year English, that is a problem. Including one or two assigned reads is ok, but beyond that it becomes generic and expected. Why? Because most high schoolers read many of the same books in school. As you don’t have much room to explain why the book intrigued you here, that’s a problem if this prompt is going to achieve the role of differentiating you in some way. So, read.
Next, let’s talk about that 150 character limit. The prompt says to list books, but they also give you about twice as many characters to work with, or more, than the vast majority of book titles include. So, what can you do with that space? The easy answer is to list book title and maybe the author, and then be done with it. The more fun route is to make it your own. Add a detail from the book, something that stood out to you in particular, and incorporate it into the item on the list. For example, “Normal is a terrifying and unpredictable reality in Colson Whitehead’s Nickel Boys.” That is 83 characters, for the record.
Tell us what piques your intellectual curiosity or has helped you understand the world’s complexity. This can include a work you’ve read, a project you’ve completed for a class, and even co-curricular activities in which you have been involved. (150 word limit).
This prompt leans into the theme of the previous one. Wake Forest works to attract and develop students who are deep thinkers, and this prompt works to identify those exact sort of students. Importantly, there is no ‘right’ answer and no ‘correct’ perspective. Rather, they want to see that you are thinking. What matters most, far more than the what, is the why of your response.
We like to communicate this ‘why’ through a focused story that highlights how you think, as well as how you engage with others around complex ideas. The secret to a successful answer is to keep it uncontroversial. Pick something to focus on here that is a big idea, but not a big fight. Only 150 words is not enough space to break down a complex political situation or geopolitical conflict, no matter how passionate you are about it. Instead, look close to home. Maybe it’s mapping a situation in your community onto a reading you did in school, and drawing connections. Or maybe it’s a project that you undertook in an attempt to make sense of a confusing situation or set of circumstances. Whatever you pick, keep it focused and tell it as a concise story.
Dr. Maya Angelou, renowned author, poet, civil-rights activist, and former Wake Forest University Reynolds Professor of American Studies, inspired others to celebrate their identities and to honor each person’s dignity. Choose one of Dr. Angelou’s powerful quotes. How does this quote relate to your lived experience or reflect how you plan to contribute to the Wake Forest community? (300 word limit).
For this prompt, you have much more space — 300 words — to work with. However, it also lays a bit of a trap. Many students, when faced with this prompt, proceed next to their preferred search engine, and type in “Maya Angelou” quotes. The problem with this starting point is that what comes up first isn’t necessarily best, or even true. There are many incorrectly worded, imprecise, or even fully made up quotes falsely attributed to Maya Angelou.
So, if you want to sound smart, take a different approach. Our preferred option is to actually read a book by Maya Angelou like “The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou” or “And Still I Rise.” You could also watch a talk by Maya Angelou, like her . Basically, go straight to the source.
From there, and once you have a quote in hand, you need to tell your story, connecting the quote to your lived experience and, crucially, how you will contribute to Wake Forest. The key is to keep this focused. You want to highlight one thing about yourself that doesn’t show up anywhere else in your application, and tie to one specific way that you want to contribute to Wake Forest. This could be building community, living in service, letting collaboration be your guide, challenging preconceptions, or any other way that you have been contributing meaningfully to your community at home.
As you brainstorm and write, remember that this is not a “hardship test.” The applicant with the most tragic tale does not ‘win’ this prompt. They want to see you, the real you, and feel connected to you, not to simply pity you or feel bad about your life circumstances. Write to make the reader feel motivated and inspired for the future, not sad about a challenge in your past.
Give us your Top Ten List. (The choice of theme is yours.) (100 character limit per line).
This prompt is pure fun, and we encourage our students to treat it as such. Yes, you can take it super seriously and sometimes that is okay, but it’s also an awesome opportunity to have fun, share your sense of humor, or spotlight a passion that won’t find its way onto your application otherwise. If you are really into fly fishing, what are the 10 best flies? If you care deeply about a good cookie, what are the 10 best recipes you’ve ever tried? If you are a late-night study snack connoisseur, what are your go-tos? Stay out of the classroom and have some fun here.
The Wake Forest supplement is the perfect mix of serious, sentimental, and fun. They give you ample opportunities to show different sides of yourself, and we love that. To make the most of it, give yourself time to brainstorm and draft before you finalize and submit. Often, the best ideas develop over a couple of tries. That’s not just normal, it is a critical piece of the college application process.
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