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FAQs

Full-Time, Part-Time, and Evening Course Options

Wake Forest’s Sustainability Graduate Programs offer an interdisciplinary, comprehensive curriculum. You’ll have the opportunity to learn from top industry experts and world-class faculty to gain the skills that set you apart. You can join our vibrant academic community in person or online.

Wake Forest offers two core pathways to earn your degree in a way that works best for you. Choose from real-time online courses that suit your lifestyle and complete the degree remotely without compromising your other commitments. Or, choose an in-person pathway and take classes at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem to experience campus life. You can also blend your mix of on campus and online classes to diversify your experience. Any way you choose, you’ll earn the degree that advances your purpose and your calling.

The MA in Sustainability degree can be completed entirely online or through a hybrid model. We make sustainability education more accessible to diverse people in diverse places by offering more elements of our program online. Our dedicated faculty and staff empower you to lead and thrive where you are. This program helps you get where you want to go. As a collective, we bring Wake Forest to the places you live and work beyond the campus. Our ethos is all about focusing on building relationships, making connections, and supporting you as an individual. Our focus on leadership, skill-building curriculum, and unique real-world experiences empower you to create change and impact in your organizations, your community, and the world.

Do you have any questions we haven’t answered? Reach out to us at msus@wfu.edu for more info!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What do you mean by online?

When we say online, we don’t mean sitting behind a computer watching pre-recorded lectures, only turning in papers, and never interacting with another person, student, or instructor. Students enrolled in our online classes meet in real-time, face-to-face virtual classrooms, interacting with classmates and instructors just as they would in an in-person classroom. Our small class sizes also mean that you won’t be scrolling through pages of faces!

How will I get to know my classmates? Are there opportunities to meet in-person?

Before the start of the semester, we hold a multi-day new-student orientation on campus in Winston Salem, NC. During orientation, students have the opportunity to meet their new classmates, program faculty, and alumni through social gatherings, team-building workshops, and academic programming. Throughout the year, students are able to participate in team-based projects, travel courses, and on-campus events.

Our program’s ethos is all about connections and relationships that matter. We focus on creating places, programs, and spaces that facilitate connection!

What if I want to take classes in person? Is it all online?

Students have the option to take electives in-person or online (or a combination of both). Our program offers a variety of in-person electives that are offered across the Wake Forest campus. You can take classes that align with your interests and professional goals from GIS, environmental finance, coral reef conservation, sustainable corporations, and environmental policy - just to name a few. A series of electives are available online for students who would like to complete the full MA degree entirely in a distance-based virtual format.

Students can also participate in travel courses that meet online during the semester ending with a week or weekend in-person travel component. Come study coastal conservation and resiliency on North Carolina’s historic Outer Banks or environmental policy in Washington DC.

I’m an international student. What does this mean for me?

International graduate students are required to enroll in at least 9 credit hours for the Fall and Spring semesters. No more than 3 hours of online credit can count towards that full-time enrollment requirement. This means that during Fall and Spring, F-1 students would need to enroll in at least 6 hours of on-campus credit hours, plus the 10 hours of core sustainability course work. Summer session is considered a vacation (optional) term. Students can enroll in on-campus courses, online courses, some combination of the two, or no courses at all.

Do you have any questions we haven’t answered? Reach out to us at msus@wfu.edu for more info!