7/9 Weekly Update: Academics and Registration
Bottom Line Up Front:
- Upcoming key dates or action items for families and/or students
- Thoughts on course registration
- Pre-Wall Street Career Track
- Make a Plan for Your Student to Have a Laptop (Consider WakeWare!)
Dear parents and families of incoming students,
We’re bringing you the weekly email with FYIs, due dates and other considerations for you as your student gets ever closer to beginning their Wake Forest experience. Here’s what you should know this week.
Upcoming key dates or action items for families and/or students
Here’s what you should know this week.
For families:
- Family Weekend event registration begins tomorrow (July 10) at 10 a.m. on the Family Weekend website. Here is the tentative schedule for the weekend:
- Registration (i.e., packet pick up) for Family Weekend will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday morning, September 27th. We will host our annual Deacon Family Festival that afternoon, have dinner options around campus, and special dining discounts at select Winston-Salem eateries (no advance registration needed). We will end Friday with the Night of Student Entertainment in Wait Chapel.
- Saturday the 28th will feature a variety of activities, which include access to the student tailgate area before the Wake Forest vs. Louisiana football game.
- Join your student at the DEACTOWN Student Tailgate prior to the football game vs the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns! Located at the outdoor courts of the Miller Tennis Center, the student tailgate begins three hours prior to kickoff. The space features live music, food trucks (free while supplies last) and fun with other families.
- On Sunday the 29th, we conclude the weekend with a farewell brunch (tickets required; purchase during registration) and Club Sports Jamboree.
- Other activities and experiences such as tours, lectures, presentations and the like are in the works and will be added to familyweekend.wfu.edu. For those still looking for hotel accommodations, please peruse the Visit Winston Salem website for current hotel listings in the area; also consider Airbnb, VRBO, etc. in the Piedmont Triad area (i.e., Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem).
- We will be updating the list of activities and Winston-Salem dining discounts on Friday, September 20th, when we receive notice of kickoff time. We look forward to having you with us in September!
- Want to learn more about learning accommodations and on campus academic resources? Join CLASS (Center for Learning, Access, and Student Success) Director Dr. Michael Shuman for an informal question and answer virtual session.
- Dr. Shuman will review the academic accommodations process and answer any questions you may have. He will also outline tutoring and academic coaching options available to all students.
- Dates and times for CLASS Meet the Director Q&A are July 17 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and July 31 at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Register here.
- Student insurance enrollment or waiver process is now open:
- Every year, you must enroll or waive coverage in our student health insurance plan (i.e., you complete a waiver to show your student has acceptable insurance coverage through your policy).
- If you do not formally enroll or waive coverage, you will be charged for the WFU student insurance plan, even if you have sufficient coverage on your own policy.
- While not due until September 15, you can enroll or waive coverage now.
- We are excited to announce our policy will include (2) preventive dental visits with an in-network provider and a $200 vision allowance for glasses or contacts.
- The cost is $2,758.00 annually or $1379.00 per semester. For questions, please call 1.833.207.7430 or visit University Health Plans for details.
- Tuition must be paid by August 1. Parents and families who need to know how to make tuition and other payments should register for our upcoming, virtual demonstration about how to engage with your student’s financial information in Workday: 7 p.m. (EST) on July 16. The following step-by-step guides are also available:
- Consider Storage Scholars for move-in: Move-in day is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that should be memorable and stress-free. Save yourself time and headaches by shipping items to our partners Storage Scholars over the summer. They will receive your student’s packages, notify you, and deliver everything to your student’s room before they arrive on campus, so you don’t have to lift a finger! Read more about how to use Storage Scholars.
For students:
- Writing Course Decision Tool is due today
- Fall course registration is the week of July 8-12 (most new students will register starting July 10).
- Login to Workday as soon as possible and complete your Onboarding tasks. You will not be able to register until you complete all onboarding tasks. Once all tasks are completed, your onboarding hold will be removed.
- Instructions on how to complete student onboarding tasks can be found in Onboarding Tasks for Undergraduate Students.
Thoughts on Course Registration
- Registration for fall classes begins at your student’s assigned time — which is accessible in Workday — July 10-12 (while technically Registration week is July 8-12, most new students will register beginning July 10.) Your student may begin at their assigned registration time and continue until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 12.
- The Office of the University Registrar sent this comprehensive message out to students on June 25. Encourage your student to read it thoroughly and carefully.
- Registration can be a high-stress time for students, and it is easy for families and loved ones to feel that stress too. Here are a few tips that we hope might make this process easier:
- Let your students take the lead on researching classes to take, and what they sign up for.
- Reminder: there is a high-level overview video on academic requirements we created for families (and students), just so you understand the basics.
- If your student knows what they want to study but is not sure which class(es) to prioritize this fall, Departmental Course Guides for New Deacs can help.
- Urge students to use the resources from Wake Forest when they have questions or need help. Those Wake Forest staff have expertise and broad understanding of our requirements, which positions them to best assist our students.
- Make sure your student is aware of the Course Completion Checklist and understands that they have options when it comes to completing divisional requirements.
- There are also ample academic resources on the New Students website related to registration; urge your Deacs to read through all of the Planning for Registration information, as well as the Class Registration page, which has step by step registration instructions (including where they see their registration day/time).
- Help your student be open to alternatives: classes at a different day or time than they hoped, or with a different faculty member. Remind your student that every class they take — even if it was not their first choice! — will help advance them to the 120 hours they need to graduate.
- Remind them to trust the process. Things have a way of working out in the end.
- Know that there will be a drop/add period if your student wants to make changes to their Fall 2024 schedule: they can make adjustments to their Fall 2024 schedule during New Deac Week on August 23 after consulting with their Lower Division Advisor during their individual advising meeting. At that time, your student’s advisor should remove the advising hold which will allow your student access to make adjustments to their course schedule.
Pre-Wall Street Track
- Parents/families and students of the Class of 2028 are invited to attend an information session on August 1 at 5 p.m. via Zoom to learn more about the Pre-Wall Street Career track. The track is open to first-year students interested in exploring a career in the financial industry.
- The Pre‐Wall Street Career Track provides early and focused professional preparation for qualified Wake Forest students intending to pursue careers in Investment Banking, Asset Management, Sales & Trading, and Private Equity on a global basis.
- Please join us by registering for the Zoom call to learn more about the opportunities via the track. The session will be recorded and provided upon request for families who cannot attend.
- For questions or to request the recording, contact the Program Director, Marty Malloy, at malloym@wfu.edu.
Make a Plan for Your Student to Have a Laptop (Consider WakeWare!)
- Ensure your student has a plan to have a laptop, as they are required. Visit WakeWare, the student laptop program, to order a laptop. WakeWare is a robust student computing program that recommends highly configured, insured, and supported personal computing devices at a negotiated price for our undergraduate students.
- There are some distinct benefits to a WakeWare laptop that new families should be aware of:
- WakeWare computers are insured for four years with an extended warranty and accidental damage protection. Students can call, email, chat, or stop by to work with one of our Service Desk Analysts at The Bridge.
- If your student’s WakeWare laptop is ever in need of repair, they can drop off their laptop at The Bridge Service Desk, conveniently located in the atrium of the ZSR Library, and one of our licensed technicians will handle their repair.
- Students will be issued a loaner laptop for the duration their WakeWare laptop is being repaired.
- You can also see what the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) requirements are if your student has a laptop they are considering bringing to campus.
- Technology Grants are awarded to incoming undergraduate students who receive need-based, merit, or athletic scholarship funds from Wake Forest during their first two years of enrollment. Students eligible to redeem a Technology Grant from the WakeWare Program Manager were notified in late May at their WFU email address.
Please continue reviewing all the sections of the New Families section of the New Students website
Keep checking the New Students website and the New Families Checklist is your go-to place for all the particulars of onboarding and preparing for your student’s start at college.
We also recommend you review all the sections of the Advice for Families page if you have not already started.
Parting Thoughts
We’ll be back again on Tuesday with another update. Until then, if you missed anything, you can review our archived weekly messages.
With best wishes,
Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)
Executive Director of Family Communications