“I don’t own a pair of Uggs or Sperry’s; I wear skinny jeans,” freshman Laura Chin said. “All the students here have a similar interest in academics and we all have different drives, so I don’t think this change in the freshman class solely depends on the university’s efforts but the change in style and confidence is a trend happening all over.”

Now that over a semester has passed since the welcoming of the class of 2013, first year students like Chin seem to have set a new presence on our university’s campus by not appearing to be in the “mold.”

First year student Chin, a New Jersey native, said applying to the university was a gamble on her part simply because she had applied to mostly north eastern schools.

“When I came down here for my first tour, I absolutely loved it; I knew instantly this was where I wanted to go,” Chin said. Chin said that her style may differ but her interest in academics, like other students here, is on the same level.

When we take just a moment to pause and observe the appearance of our student body, we generally see an assortment of polo shirts, khakis, Sperry boat shoes, cardigans and rain boots. For a university that is stereotypically labeled as “preppy,” we now see more students with a different approach to fashion (skinny jeans, piercings, multi-colored hair, etc.), and they seem to come mostly from the freshman class – even though this may not be the foundation to this change.

In light of the change in requiring the SAT for freshman admissions, has this influenced a call for “diversity” among our students?

With the same size of enrolled freshmen as last year – 1,200 students – the removal of the SAT and the requirement of the interview process, what appears to be taking flight, though not drastically, is the university’s push for making a more eclectic campus through the admission’s process.

Upperclassmen remarks:

With a change in fashion among the freshmen class, many upperclassmen have certainly taken notice of this trend.

“The biggest thing I’ve seen with the freshman class is the way they dress; I have never seen this many students on campus with piercings, multicolored hair and trendy looking outfits,” junior Sequoyah Stamps said. “I mean, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that; it’s quite refreshing, if you ask me.”

While fashion may be the most widely discussed speculation about the freshmen, the overall confidence the freshmen seem to project has, too, been a topic of interest.

Junior Madison Gattis has noticed that the freshmen in her classes first semester were simply more friendly, approachable and academically confident than she had seen in past years.

“The freshmen always get involved and don’t shy away from speaking up in class. When I was a freshman, it seemed that we really focused on conforming to university stereotypes,” Gattis said. “This group of students really seems confident and comfortable, and smart.”

According to junior Lauren Falvo, an executive member for the campus radio station, Wake Radio, her organization obtained more than 40 interested freshmen (Chin being one of them) just during first semester alone – numbers like this for the station are unheard of.

“The current freshman class is incredibly motivated and exceptionally eager to be involved on campus…we have had an influx of student participation that I’ve not seen before at Wake Forest,” Falvo said. “Wake Radio already had plans and goals to be a bigger name on campus and the freshman have made accomplishing these goals that much easier.”

The stats:

From a visual and vocal standpoint, the university’s students can take note of changes in the current freshmen class; however, speculation and perception is only subjective and relative. From a factual, objective approach, the class of 2013 has increased student variety somewhat.

As far as academics are concerned, according to university data, 75 percent of the freshmen class graduated in the top 10th percentile of their graduating high school class. This is a bit of a jump in comparison to last year’s class with 65 percent in this bracket.

Out of 1,200 students, 74 percent of enrolled freshmen submitted their SAT scores and 26 percent chose not to.

Of the non-submitters, though, 83 percent sent unofficial scores after enrollment upon request for research purposes. Forty-six students total chose not to send in their scores upon request.

This is to be expected for being the first class not being required to submit their SAT scores, showing that these students still chose to be on the cautious side.

According to university data analysis, the SAT 25th percentile midrange average for submitters and non submitters this year was 1220-1380, which is not statistically significant in comparison to the 2008 freshmen with 1270-1390. The ACT scores remained the same for both years with a midrange score of 27-31.

Though not monumental changes in numbers, the statistical evidence supports an increase in academic performance which, in turn, appears to bring forth students that are more academically and intellectually confident.

Professor commentary:

“The current first year class is unquestionably and objectively the most diverse class Wake Forest has ever had socioeconomically, racially and geographically,” said Joseph Suarez, professor of sociology.

In comparison to 2008 accepted students, the minority rate has gone up to 23 percent as opposed to 18 percent; the international rate has increased from 1 to 2 percent; and the first generation college student number has moved up from 8 percent to 10 percent.

For the past six years Suarez has taught an introductory sociology course, Sociology 155: Public Culture in America, and says this year’s class has 31 total students with 20 being registered freshmen, 4 registered juniors or seniors and the remaining being questionable sophomores as a result of the fact that some are freshmen with sophomore standing from Advanced Placement high school credits.

“More than half of the class are first year cohort and are doing better than last year’s classes. More people are getting A’s than ever before with the same difficulty of tests and assignments I have provided in the past; my grading has not gotten any easier,” Suarez said.

Suarez also notes from his personal point of view that there has certainly been a change in racial diversity and fashion trends that the current freshmen embody.

“I’ve had students come in with blue and orange streaks in their hair and had someone for the first time bring a skateboard to class,” Suarez said.

According to freshman writing seminar professor Melissa Jenkins, she has not noticed a difference in her freshmen students.

“There tends to be a wide range of skills and abilities in every freshman class, because high schools vary so much.,” Jenkins said. “My strong students are just as strong as previously, and the number of struggling freshmen has remained constant too.”

Though not seeing much of a difference yet, Jenkins agrees that the change in requiring the SAT was a very smart decision on the university’s part.

University perspectives:

University admissions director, Martha Allman, said she strongly believes that requiring the interview process, something that was optional before, was one of the best decisions the university could make for increasing campus diversity.

“I think the interview process helped us find students who were not only strong academically but whose backgrounds, viewpoints and talents could enrich Wake Forest,” Allman said.
“(SAT optional) also brought into our applicant pool students who had excelled in high school but because of a lower test score, would not have considered applying to the university in past years,” she said.

Allman agrees that by requiring face-to-face meetings and expanding the writing portion of the application process helped admissions evaluate the applications even more intensively and holistically than in the past.

Provost Jill Tiefenthaler agrees that the less admissions focuses on numbers and the more it pays closer attention to “the whole student package” the more motivated the applicant will be.
“Something we should also consider is that the world has changed dramatically since last year, so I think everybody is more motivated,” Tiefenthaler said. “I was informed by the dean of the library that our attendance in the library is up 37 percent, so that can’t all be first year students. That stress is a negative influence but that motivation is a positive, I think.”

In response to the speculations on the change in style and appearance, Tifenthaler emphasizes that the best educations are when all a person’s views and ideas are challenged. Though upperclassmen may see the freshmen as a “different” class, it clearly does not make them socially unaccepted.

“At any institution like ours you’re trying to build a class, not just admit students; we do not want upperclassmen to make them feel they are not welcome. They are a part of our institution now and in that respect it doesn’t make them any different than the upperclassmen,” Tifenthaler said.

With a speculated fashion sense and overall confidence level, the university’s class of 2013 seems to be bringing forth some change that the university has not seen before.

As with any incoming class, there will always be differences and speculations that follow. What does seem to be taking place is the university’s efforts to increase diversity is slowly moving forward, the freshman are arriving with higher GPAs and the students seem to be a bit more interested in participating in class overall. As far as appearances go, hearsay will always continue as a result of the constantly changing world of fashions and trends.

According to Allman, “unfortunately, body piercing or hair color data cannot be provided on the freshman class.”