We define the notion of a generic Galois extension with group G over a field F . Let R be a communtative ring of the form F [ x 1 ,..., x n ](1/ s ) and let S be a Galois extension of R with group G . Then S/R is generic for G over F if the following holds. Assume K/L is a Galois extension of fields with group G and such that L ⊇ F . Then there is an F algebra map f : R → L such that K ≅ S [unk] R L . We construct generic Galois extensions for certain G and F . We show such extensions are related to Noether's problem and the Grunwald-Wang theorem. One consequence is a simple proof of known counter examples to Noether's problem. On the other hand, we have an elementary proof of a chunk of the Grunwald-Wang theorem, and in a more general context. In fact, we have a Grunwald-Wang-type theorem whenever there is a generic extension for a group G over a field F .