<p>I am seriously considering Emory as one of my top choices next year, and I have a few questions about the atmosphere/student life:</p>
<li><p>How prominent is the Jewish population on campus? Are Hillel/other organizations active?</p></li>
<li><p>How southern is Emory REALLY? I used to live in Alabama so southern doesn’t bother me, but I’m just curious.</p></li>
<li><p>How is Atlanta for a college student? Is the city compatible for students and work with the campus (if that makes sense)? Do students go into the city often or just stay around the Buckhead area?</p></li>
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<p>I’m visiting Emory Friday (& super excited about it!) so if you have any suggestions of things to see that would be great!</p>
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<li><p>I really dont think Atlanta the city itself is the "southern" but Emory gets students from all over the country. So expect anything</p></li>
<li><p>My brother went GA State and I went down ther elike every two weeks. Trust me you college kids walking down the streets all the time. This is actually downtown downtown, Emory is a kinda close but not exactly downtown. There are like fiv colleges in the area 3 HBCUS(Spelman, Morehousse, and Clark Atlanta) then two states(Georgia state and Georgia Tech) and then ther's EMORY.</p></li>
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<p>Suggestions: aquarium: go if you want to since its the largest, but not that interesting, the rialto etc. if your into theater. Just about everybody who lives in ATL has been to the varsity downtown your choice go.
there the coca-cola center, underground atlanta, fivepoints, and little five points. The Louvre is at the High.
shopping: its Lenox(really expensive) and Mall of Georgia (biggest mall in GA), atlantic station
just go to this site it these sites if you want to know more</p>
<p>The identified Jewish population is approximately 30%, and the Hillel appears to be very active. My daughter will be a sophomore at Emory this fall, and she has a variety of friends. My impression is that the Jewish population can range from orthodox to secular. There seems to be a place for everybody Jewish at Emory.</p>
<p>There's a lot to see and do in Atlanta. Personally, I enjoyed touring the CNN Center. The Georgia Aquarium is new, and as well, the NEW World of Coca Cola just opened up (a must see for Emory students who want to know their benefactors). When my daughter has ventured off campus, it has been to the Lennox Mall/Phipps Plaza shopping area; also Atlantic Station for shopping and eating out. Downtown is easily accessible; ditto a funky part of town known as Little Five Points. The small town of Decatur is only a few miles away for dining out options.</p>
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<li><p>The Jewish population is very prominent at Emory. As far as Judaism is concerned, one can certainly make it apart of one's life by joining student groups and Hillel. That said, many of the Jewish students at Emory are secular, and unless one seeks it out, Judaism doesn't impact the day-to-day course of events of a student.</p></li>
<li><p>In my estimation, Emory is probably one of the least southern places in the entire Southeast. For one, many students are from the Northeast or California. Secondly, while most students are neverthless from the South, they generally aren't that southern in terms of their personality/characteristics, coming from big metropolitan areas in the south like Atlanta, Miami, Columbia, Charleston, or any major city in Florida. These cities are in the south, but their populations aren't as southern as that of smaller cities/towns. To clarify, when I say 'southern', I am talking about stereotypical southern characteristics such as religious, conservative, white, having a soutern accent, and capturing in-whatever-way the "essence" of the southern stereotype. In short, Emory is located in the south, but by-and-large it is not a very southern school and the influence is not felt. If you truly want southern, go to Vanderbilt.</p></li>
<li><p>Atlanta is great! Professional sports, Buckhead, World of Coke, great weather, Stone Mountain, proximity to both Smoky National and ocean, Olympics Park -- yada, yada, yada. Many things to do for a college students, so long as the student has a car. It is like los angeles in that it is a "car-city."</p></li>
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<li><p>A lot of Jewish people here. Not many are involved with oncampus activities. The Hillel center is pretty bad, although i think they are trying to raise money to build a new one.</p></li>
<li><p>The area around emory, "Emory Village" is pretty bad- there is nothing to do. the Buckhead scene has really shut down because major developers have decided to buyout all the clubs and bars there. As a freshman you spend almost all of your 1st semester going to the Frats. then 2nd semester you rush and then that takes over most people lives.</p></li>
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<p>ya, i would say the "village" is my biggest complaint. generally, university villages are a huge part of the college experience, not to mention the additional eating options they're supposed to add, but that's completely absent in the emory experience. visit a school with a real village, maybe even spend a night there, and see if it's something you'll miss.</p>
<p>yeah, I did notice that the village was more like a strip mall than a thriving scene. The admissions guy said they were renovating it to make it more like Atlantic Station, but who knows when.....</p>
<p>I've visited Ann Arbor, and will still visit Northwestern, Brandeis & Tufts so hopefully I'll get to be exposed to different things to make sure Emory is what I really want</p>
<p>yeah there are A LOT of Jews at Emory. It’s also known for self-segregation. Also, as far as Atlanta goes, the city is great! No need to worry about any southern stereotypes.</p>
<p>“Emory Village” is not the only area around Emory. That’s unfair. Druid Hills is the area around Emory and it clearly ranges from middle income to very wealthy (this is mostly the case). Emory village is just a failed attempt to add a more classical “town center” (which is basically Clairmont, little 5, and the Toco Hills area now) this portion of Druid Hills, and it really only went downhill once a theater burned down a decade or more ago. Right now they are putting some small efforts in to revitalize it. Admittedly, w/o The Village, the Emory area would look a lot better. Just saying that it’s unfair to say that considering that some of our peers are literally located in areas, where anything surrounding the “collegetown” or shopping district directly adjacent truly sucks and looks run down. This is hardly the case here.<br>
And the admissions person over-exaggerated and/or doesn’t really understand what is going on (I add and b/c they could have intentionally done it to get prospectives’ hopes up). Currently they are indeed attempting to do aesthetic improvements (such as a round-a-bout and some stonewall along the sidewalk connected to the shops), so as to eventually attract better vendors and businesses to the area, and thus strengthen the vitality of the area. If I’m reading your interpretation right, you admissions person made it seem as if this is more immediate and drastic than what it is. If the pre-cursor project is successful, Emory Village will be more like an upscale, yet suburban towncenter (perhaps with a small green/park area or mini-pond or something), not the urban oasis that is Atlantic Station.</p>
<p>That’s not accurate Bernie. There is a master plan for the village that calls for replacing it most of the buildings (except for Everybodys and one or two others) with 4-5 story buildings (ground fl retail and apartments above). This cannot take place until the road improvements are complete. See the alliance to improve emory village website for details.</p>
<p>I’ve seen it before, and I still agree with the way I describe it. That’s what they hope for. They have no degree of certainty that it will occur. They’ve been struggling for quite a while to even get the round-a-bout started.<br>
They hope that this can happen provided that the right businesses are attracted after this first phase (guess we’ll see if it looks much better next fall). It is not as if they are going to immediately start rebuilding the village after the round-a-bout/North Decatur project is complete. Also, some 4-5 story buildings does not quite=Atlantic station. If anything, It will be more like a new version of the highlands as the architecture can’t be but so modern/urban in the village due to the “historical character” preservation laws and stuff. Due to zoning and these sorts of laws, the transition into the town-center like atmosphere is going to be difficult even after the road/aesthetic improvements.<br>
Comparing the plans to Atlantic Station is a gross exaggeration (actually that may not be fair, but due to intrinsic differences in location, it is more like comparing an apple to what “may” develop into an orange). However, it’s impact, if successful, could be similar. What’s unfortunate, is that the “Emory Pointe” project has fallen apart. That seemed to be an idea with great potential as that land has not been developed at all. Such new construction is much easier to handle (except for in a tough economy obviously), and could allow for something a little different.</p>