Wake Forest University has released its 2026-2027 admissions essays for applicants to the Class of 2031. This year, applicants will reply to one 100-word Why Wake Forest prompt and have the option to reply to one of four short response questions that vary in length. What should Wake Forest applicants keep in mind while formulating their responses? You’ve come to the right place to find out!

2026-2027 Wake Forest Topics and Questions

All Wake Forest applicants must answer the following prompt in 100 words:

Why have you decided to apply to Wake Forest? Share with us anything that has made you interested in our institution.

As far as Why College essay prompts go, they don’t get any more straightforward than this. To put it simply, Wake Forest doesn’t want to admit students who haven’t done their homework on the institution. Students who have no idea why they’d like to attend Wake Forest in particular will likely spend their four years on campus sitting around wondering how they should spend their time. That’s not what Wake Forest wants to see in an applicant.

Instead, Wake Forest admissions officers value applicants who can outline the specific things they’ll do once on campus, A.K.A. students who have demonstrated their interest in attending. Yes, this means you must cite examples drawn from research into the many things that Wake Forest has to offer. Perhaps you’ll join a Samba dancing group, or participate in a model rocket competition. Maybe you’ll apply for a research fellowship or attend a weekend lecture series. With the limited word count available to respond to this prompt, you should ensure that every sentence is dense with WFU specifics and proper nouns that can only apply to Wake Forest.

And by specifics, we don’t mean specific courses or professors. These details are subject to change from year to year, and they thus don’t capture the enduring essence of the institution. Instead, focus your response on the things that have come to define the WFU experience over time.

Optional Short Answer Questions

The following four prompts are optional, and applicants are invited to choose one to respond to. However, note that optional never really means optional on a college application, and students who really mean business about attending Wake Forest had better choose one.

1. List five books you’ve read that intrigued you. (150 character limit per line)

For this response, you simply fill in the blank: Title, Author, and whether this book was required reading. When compiling a list, try to put forward a narrative: what inquiry, topic, or theme could admissions officers put together from this list? One that supports your singular hook, we hope. And don’t just go for the low-hanging fruit, the books that were part of your English class syllabus or that every student has encountered at one point, like To Kill a Mockingbird.

In fact, Wake Forest is asking whether the texts you list are required reading because they want to discern the students who read independently from those who just begrudgingly read the texts they’re assigned in school. In other words, it behooves you to choose books that weren’t required reading, as this demonstrates a love of learning.

2. 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 words)

The experience or text you choose in your response should serve as a jumping-off point for describing how you’ve pursued your singular hook. This is the unique discipline, passion, cause, or topic that you’ve devoted your high school years to pursuing, and it should be supported by multiple activities and extracurricular experiences listed in your activities section. So even though you may have described an experience related to your hook in your Personal Statement, you should have at least one other such activity to draw from to answer this question.

And if not, you might consider an influential book related to your hook that you read and can write a critical reflection about, one with primarily intellectual stakes that shows Wake Forest you’ll arrive on campus replete with ideas about how you can forward this inquiry on campus.

3. 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?

This prompt offers students with a background as an underrepresented minority student to pick a Dr. Angelou quote that allows them to express how difference has shaped their lived experience. In other words, this prompt is a direct response to the Roberts Loophole, which is an exception to the 2023 SCOTUS outlawing of Affirmative Action. Chief Justice John Roberts gave these students carte blanche to describe their identities in the written parts of their applications and thus circumvent this ruling. But even if you’re not from an underrepresented community, you can still describe a community that’s important to you told through the prism of the quote.

But describing the community from which you hail, whether it invokes the Roberts Loophole or not, is just one half of this prompt. The second half probes the Why Wake Forest specifics that will allow you to cultivate community on campus. Translation: what specific extracurricular opportunities related to the lived experience invoked by the quote you choose will you participate in if given the opportunity to choose Wake Forest? Maybe you’ll join the South Asian Students Union, or explore the Queer Students Alliance. In any case, do your research, and don’t be afraid to name proper nouns without overlapping with the previous response.

4. Give us your Top Ten list. (The choice of theme is yours). (100 character limit per line).

Applicants are given 100 characters per line, meaning there’s no space for complete sentences. Instead, list nouns that spell out a narrative that ties into your love and passion for your singular hook. Yes, we know we sound like a broken record on this count, but it’s true! Wake Forest wants to admit students who are highly passionate about their respective interests and thus form a well-rounded class full of individual experts and specialists. 

So, if your hook is astrophysics, you might consider making a list of your favorite exoplanets with the potential for supporting life. If you’re the economics kid, you might consider listing the theories of trade that form the bedrock of modern capitalism. You get the picture. Either way, don’t just assemble a hodgepodge of unrelated things. Strive to tell a story!

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Wake Forest Essays

If you’re interested in submitting essays that will wow the Wake Forest admissions committee, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch to outline our college admissions counseling services for seniors.