Wake Forest Scholar's Weekend Recap

Wow, what a weekend! Scholar's Weekend was an excellent time. I met all the other scholarship students, lots of faculty and staff and current students. It was a lot of fun and very informative. I'm already looking forward to going back in April for Red Carpet Weekend!

Friday morning I headed out to the aiport for my flight to Greensboro. I was met by a representative of the hotel and, along with another prospective, driven to the place. Now, I never knew this place existed, but it was awesome! Graylyn is one of the coolest hotels I've ever stayed at. After checking in and dropping my stuff off at the room, I went down for the welcome reception. There were 16 total scholars there, maybe half of whom had already submitted their deposits. Like any new social scene, things started off awkward and nervous; most topics tended to be your name, where you lived, where you went to undergrad, what job do you currently do and what your future industry will be. After a few hours of schmoozing and boozing, we were broken up into groups and driven to dinner. My group went to Mozelle's and it was excellent. Two current Deans Scholars were there, along with three other admits and a wife. Food was good, conversation was good. Afterwards a few of us ventured to a bar.

Saturday was a very early morning! Breakfast started at seven and the scavenger hunt began at eight. My team worked well together and ended up tying for correct answers. We then were shuttled to campus for a mock class...on statistics...at 9:30AM. But it was actually good! The professor was very engaging. We then had a panel with alumni ranging from 2000 to 2008 and I took away alot of good stuff from that. We then had lunch and a speech by the dean on the future of the school. I think he inspired a good number of people. We then had a break before heading over to the dean's house to watch some basketball and have dinner. These hours were the highlight of my trip.

Before we left, a few of us wandered the grounds in search of stuff to do. We raided the ice cream room (free ice cream!) then walked around for awhile. At the dean's, conversations started getting onto other subjects, a sure sign that people were relaxing a bit more and opening up. Dinner was excellent. Afterwards we went out to a bar and met some other current students. I had an early flight so I left around 11.

Overall, the trip was excellent. I met some very cool people and got a better feel for the program. It's always good to be back in Winston-Salem and to see how much it's changed since I was there last. I'm pretty sure my decision has been made!