<p>Obviously, this question is to all current students at Emory University. (:</p>
<p>What kind of things you regret about Emory.. and what you wish you knew before deciding to attend emory...</p>
<p>and would you could go back in time would you change your mind if you can decide to attend emory or not? and why?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>Be careful when you ask a question like this. It tends to yield a response from some of the most dissatisfied and perhaps bitter Emory students. You have these at nearly every school (especially the non-ivy top 25s where many wanted to go to an ivy to begin with) Thus, I wouldn’t really use it to sway your decision for or against Emory. I would visit and get the vibe from the school first hand.</p>
<p>Either way, here’s my opinion/issues.</p>
<p>I remember the first month meeting all the students who really wanted to get into ivies, but did not. Some were glad that they came to Emory and found that it was perhaps a better fit anyway(like some of my friends), but it seemed as if some were almost bitter to the point where they would attempt to convince themselves that something is seriously wrong with Emory compared to those schools, thus justifying a reason to transfer. It was really annoying to me, and often made me feel out of place. I chose Emory as a top choice because it is awesome academically, and is in a great city not too far from my home (I’m from Savannah, Ga.)
The extreme wealth of many students made me feel out place at times also (unfortunately I’m not of the upper middleclass or anything close). Though they didn’t intentionally flaunt it, it always felt awkward witnessing how easily many students just threw away money. Also, many of those students always talked to me in a manner automatically assuming I was of their economic status (you know, they seem to assume everyone is wealthy). This got annoying at times, but I eventually saw past things like that and made friends with some of the wealthier students.</p>
<p>Aside from some of the students, The University Cafe was OK at first and then got redundant really fast. The quality of the food was rarely grade A and was really inconsistent in terms of quality which is why I’m glad that there are other options on and off campus even if I do have to pay for it. My issue with some of the on-campus places (like Cox for example) is that they close fairly early, especially since the beginning of the recession. Given that things already closed abnormally early on weekends, this makes a general weekend (one without concerts/major events whatever) “on- campus” kind of miserable (kind of perpetuated by the fact that there aren’t any D1 sports tournaments to look forward to). Your savior may be the Emory Experience Shuttles or the frats on these types of weekends. Since the recession, even weekend shuttle service to places like Lennox Mall are restrictive in the sense that they only run till 6pm where they used to run until 10-11pm. You know, the change is inconvenient because of the fact that we would rather wake up and go out later on weekends.</p>
<p>But despite these flaws and all, I still love my experience at Emory, thus I love the school. I’m only a rising sophomore, but I had so many opportunities in my freshman year and took advantage of most of them. It made for an awesome year despite any of potential drawbacks listed above. None of these drawbacks are enough to change my decision at all. I just work around them. Emory has many opportunities, the result of the pursuit of them is what will make or break an experience once you’ve decided to attend. And I ask that people please do pursue. Don’t sit around bored and b**ch and moan about how lame Emory is compared to (insert name). Even if it wasn’t a top choice, you have to take advantage of the things that even made it a consideration in the first place. </p>
<p>The clear message here is to create your own experience, Emory gives you the tools to. </p>
<p>Note: Honestly, you still have those that have a bad experience because of things they couldn’t control. But given that “all” institutions are imperfect (hardly nothing in life is perfect), just as I said before, there will always be those, for good reason, disenchanted.</p>
<p>Just take various replies to this question with a grain of salt, including my own.</p>
<p>Thanks 
i just don’t want to visit until i actually get in… If i do. I don’t want to get my hopes up too much before even applying… :)</p>
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<p>So true. That goes for every university. I hate the whiners…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Emory students are intellectualy curious, but they’re not intellectuals. They have a sincere interest in learning whatever is required for a class, and have some intellectual interests outside of the classroom. But their interest stops well-short of going onto to receive a PhD like about 1 out of every 8 students from UChicago does.</p></li>
<li><p>What the college guidebooks say is true: The pre-med and b-school programs are the shining stars of Emory’s undergraduate education. Those programs are pursued by the most driven, hard-working students, have the best faculty, and offer a gateway to the lucrative side of the real world.</p></li>
<li><p>It’s also true a lot of students are the sons and daughters of the financially successful. While this is true for many other universities thought to be prestigious, it seems particularly true and noticeable at Emory. Not only are they wealthy, but there seems to be a certain snobbishness that accompanies this wealth.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Yeah, I notice that many of my pre-med peers have parents that are either doctors or pharmacists or have a career within the subject they are majoring in. I often wonder if not having parents from such lucrative backgrounds puts me at a disadvantage, but I guess I just won’t let it (I try the best I can and get pretty solid results.). Again, that’s a point where I feel slightly out of place. I’m also an outlier because I actually am interested in pursuing a PhD, while most of my peers are on some pre-professional track. At one point, I was wondering if I should have maybe gone to Georgia Tech because of that, but I really love the rich, liberal arts tradition that Emory holds onto that allows me to dabble in several humanities that I wouldn’t have access to at Tech.</p>
<p>But, yeah, what you said is definitely truth at an overwhelming extent.</p>
<p>How much do pre-med freshman have to study outside of class everyday(on average), in order to make a A or A- in a class(I know this varies from person to person, but how much have successfull pre-med’s study)…</p>
<p>Re blaze’s comment.</p>
<p>I don’t disagree that many of Emory’s undergrads are premed or business, but I don’t think he/she gives enough credence to the majority of students who do not have these interests. Many, many of us do or did (in my case) study the liberal arts or sciences without any preprofessional aspirations, and I would hate for a prospective student to think that side of Emory didn’t exist. It does, and it thrives, in my experience.</p>
<p>Also, the PhD is a professional degree. Becoming a professor or doing research in a lab is a profession just like practicing medicine or becoming a CPA. In fact, there are PhDs in medical fields (see an MD/PhD program in medical school) and in business, and I would venture that many Emory undergrads do eventually pursue those degrees at some point.</p>
<p>Lastly, there are many liberal arts programs that are as respected as the business or premed programs (Poli Sci, English, Women’s Studies, Psych, etc.). Some of Emory’s eminent professors are in these fields (Ken Stein, Deborah Libstadt, Salman Rushdie, Natasha Tretheway, Frans De Waal, etc.). You just don’t hear about them as much because they’re not flashy programs like premed and business.</p>
<p>I think for a while, I actually forgot that most people at Emory are actually in the humanities. The shine that pre-med and pre-bus. get kind of gives you a distorted perception of the Emory undergrad. student body.</p>
<p>dgebll,</p>
<p>I affirm that Emory is a liberal arts college at its root. Like you mentioned, the majority of students graduate outside of the pre-med and b-school tracks. The curriculum is a liberal arts curriculum, all-be-it a loose one that has requirements that can easily be fulfilled in a year or two and allow students to fulfill each one by taking any one of a long list of classes. The average class size is impressively small, and professors are known to be friendly and accessible. The medium-sized student population, the residential and relatively small campus, and division III athletics all hammer the point home that Emory is a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>While I think that Emory students who major in the liberal arts (the one’s who don’t take pre-med classes) are serious, smart students who are legitimately interested in what they major in, I don’t think, on the whole, they are particularly committed to academia. Again, I point to the percentage of these students who go onto to receive a PhD. While I have been able to find this statistic for other universities, I haven’t found it for Emory, but judging from my personal experience, I imagine the percentage is quite low. Moreover, it is worth noting that lots of liberal arts majors who aren’t pre-med were pre-med or pre-business at one time, but dropped these programs because they couldn’t make the grades or for some other reason. I knew several Sociology, Pyschology, etc. majors who fit this mold. These students are hardly less pre-professional – unless the spirit of pre-professionalism is formed by classes rather than aptitude – than their peers who were successful or dedicated enough to keep in these pre-professional programs. Moreover, a large percentage of liberal arts majors at Emory see undergraduate as a stepping stone to law school or some other professional graduate school. While there may be many liberal arts majors who don’t have any developed preprofessional interests, I don’t think this says all that much about Emory’s students passion for the liberal arts. The reason many don’t have pre-professional interests is not because they are too passionate about their academic interests to consider such things or because they want do research or teach after college, but rather because they don’t know what the heck they want to do with their degree after college. </p>
<p>My argument is not that Emory College offers a bad liberal arts education. On the contrary, I think Emory offers a good liberal arts education. Particularly, I think there are great opportunities for student-professor interaction. And all of the other things about Emory – Atlanta, the beautiful campus, etc. – make for a great place to attend college. </p>
<p>But my point is, I don’t think Emory College’s liberal arts program make it stand out from many other colleges that charge over forty thousand dollars per year. There are tons of liberal arts colleges and other national universities that offer comparable liberal arts educations. Whereas the liberal arts (both classes as well as general environment) at some colleges – the Ivies, UChicago, Reed, etc – does stand out and above from Emory and countless others.</p>
<p>What makes Emory special, in my view, is the b-school and pre-med program. That’s what the college guidebooks say. The fact, moreover, that pre-med and b-school are so often discussed on this CC forum says a lot. On other top CC university forums, threads asking, “Is university X really only good for pre-med and b-school?” don’t come up like they do here. It seems to me that Emory students who regularly post on this forum try to deny or play down stereotypes about Emory’s education. This counter effort is a good cause, which is backed by the force of much truth, but I think the counter is often way exaggerated. There is lots of truth to the stereotypes; the rich student body, the high concentration of Long Islanders, the lack of school spirit. These are aspects of Emory that I hope every applicant seriously considers. And the generalization that “Emory is only good for pre-med and business” is poorly stated and offensive, but there is some real wisdom concealed behind it. It is important we recognize that the pre-med program and b-school are the gems of Emory’s education. Not many other universities, even the most pretigious in the natiuon, have a b-school like that of Emory’s. Nor do many other of these universities have such a prominent pre-med program.</p>
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<p>True at most of the top ~25 colleges or so. </p>
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<p>According to the accepted students’ day, an counselor from the career center said that approximately half of the matriculating frosh were pre-health (med, dent, vet) or prebiz…accounting for the nursing program, that means that less than half are not.</p>
<p>btw: I thought it was perhaps telling that for the accepted day student tours, there were only two choices: those for pre-biz, and those for sciency-premeds. While I understand the purposes is that the tours finish as the b-school or science labs, respectively, an option for humanities-types tour was not even offered, almost as if they are an afterthought.</p>
<p>Just my gut feeling of that day.</p>
<p>blue bayou - I used to give tours. The reason that they give a tour for the business school is that it’s a separate college in the University. There are many differences between Emory College and the B school, so it’s appropriate to explain those differences in a focused way. By offering separate tours for prebusiness students, they can get a taste of the bschool from students who are enrolled there. You can also take a tour of the nursing school, but since the UG nursing program is so small, it’s not as well known. Also, most nursing UGs are transfers, so few freshmen are even interested in it.</p>
<p>The only difference between the science tours and the general tours involve a walk-through of the chemistry labs and Math/science building. Obviously, you need special facilities for those subjects, so it makes sense that Emory would show those to perspective students. In the humanities, we don’t need anything but a stack of books and a computer. All tours include a tour of the library, which is the most important facility, and as a humanities major, I can’t really think what else would be important. </p>
<p>Blaze - I’m glad we’ve had this discussion, because I agree that it’s an important one for perspective students to have. I don’t think we’ll agree, but I maintain that the humanities thrive at Emory. Anyone interested in studying them should note the wide range of speakers available on an almost daily basis. Most notably, the Richard Ellmann lectures in Modern Literature is one of the most prominent lecture series in the US. Past lecturers include Seamus Heaney, Henry Louis Gate, Salman Rushdie, and Mario Vargas Llosa, among others. In addition, the expansive special collections library in literature, religion, art history, and other subjects places MARBL as one of the top special collections libraries in the US. And I don’t think that’s an exaggeration. I could go on and on with examples, but I think everyone gets the picture.</p>
<p>Perhaps the presence of the humanities is not felt by students outside that niche at Emory, but I can promise you that it is there. And it thrives. The faculty is first-rate and accessible, and I found my fellow students engaged and interested intellectually. I don’t think the humanities gets the respect that it’s due, and I really do think they are some of the brightest stars at Emory. Sadly, I don’t think that’s the prevailing point of view of many perspective students. However, I think it’s one of the things that you realize once you’re involved as a student. I encourage any perspective student to message me if they have any questions. And most importantly, visit Emory yourself and set up a visit to one of the departments. Sit in a class, meet students and faculty, and see for yourself.</p>
<p>Yeah, I must agree dgbll after evaluating my freshman experience. I have to say, that even as a freshman, I really enjoyed my Comp Lit. class. I need not mention the religion class I took, and it was only Religion 100. It was amazing. I still stick with my science major, but as a non-premed, I will be dabbling further in the humanities. I mean, when registering for English I really did come to thinking, “wow, what if I went to Mercer or something? I seriously doubt I would get to choose the topic of my freshman lit. course”. For that reason, I chose not to use my AP credit for English. I don’t regret it either. Having talked to my friends at institutions like UGA and Mercer, I really was like, “I can’t believe I almost matriculated to Mercer even after admission to Emory”. Not too much offense to Mercer, which is pretty awesome for a GA private school. However, it finishes a very distant second to Emory. Perhaps too small, or too conservative. Yep, I love Emory. Both the science and humanities (Emory also seems big on interdisciplinary learning too, which is awesome in my opinion) are awesome, plus my experience is awesome as said before. Again, I don’t regret my decision and the humanities are part of the reason why.</p>
<p>dgbell:</p>
<p>I thought I clearly posted that I understood why Emory makes a point of two tour groups. But, what (obviously) was not clear was my point that it was ONLY two groups. There wasn’t even an acknowledgment that humanities kids might even be the in the room as in, ‘if you aren’t a science major and aren’t a biz major, you are welcome to tag along on either tour’. Or, "as a humanities major, you “don’t need anything but a stack of books and a computer” so feel free to take a break bcos the library is closed’ (which it was for finals, so no visitors allowed in, even those who are about to spend $55k.). </p>
<p>Of course, that would have gone over like a lead balloon, as does your point, IMO. I realize that you don’t mean it that way, but do you really think Amherst or Williams or Davidson tells future humanities majors the same? </p>
<p>As a parent (observer), that omission was glaring, intended or not.</p>
<p>I have never actually been on a formal tour when I was a prospective student. I came to this acceptance program for minorities, thus didn’t need such a tour as I lived there for 3 days. But aside from that, are you serious that they didn’t even emphasize some of the majors and programs home to buildings on the quad or in Tull Plaza? You know, places like Callaway, Bowden Hall, Tarbutton, Pitts Theology. If they did not, you’re right, that is something that needs to change. It does become kind of bad when it is seems as if it is assumed that nearly everyone is pre-bus. or premed, and that assumption is then reflected in the tour. Or something weirder, they assume that everyone already knows about our strong liberal arts and humanities, so let’s just focus on the more publicized “stars” of the school; you can tour other places on your own. Both are lame approaches and assumptions. Guess it’s important to realize that something as small as a tour can contribute largely to the perception of an institution. I guess we have to present the school in a fashion that actually shows that all of these programs contribute equally to the quality and curriculum of the school.
It seems like I’m straddling the fence, but If your experience is indeed that described above, then I guess I can agree with both of you on some things.</p>
<p>I agree with bernie. If that was your experience, then it’s certainly not the best way for Emory to present itself. I remember there being a general tour, plus a science and business tours.</p>
<p>Of course my comment about books and a computer was meant to be taken with a grain of salt. Emory sponsors numerous programs that enrich a humanities major’s academic experience. One is not limited to class, reading, and writing papers. But when you get down to it, we don’t need the multi-million dollar labs that science majors require. </p>
<p>My point was simply that investment in facilities for science majors is a great selling point for those interested in those subjects. You can’t really show students interested in comparative religion or women’s studies a lecture series, the special collections, the CVs of the faculty, the coffee shop discussions with fellow students about those subjects, and the opportunity to complete original research and write a thesis with a SIRE grant and/or as an honors student in a one hour tour. You can however show a prospective chem major the newly renovated Organic Chemistry labs in Atwood Hall. It’s just a great selling point that, unfortunately gave you, and perhaps others, the wrong impression. Unfortunately, there really isn’t anything as visually stunning to show the humanities students. (Though the tour guide should have mentioned things like the writing center, EPass tutors, and library facilities, which are more humanities-specific)</p>
<p>By the way, I don’t fault Emory for closing the library for visitors during and in the week leading up to exams. I’m glad that the needs of their current students are their foremost concern, even if it isn’t the ideal situation for a perspective student. The main library is pretty amazing, by the way. I wish you had had the opportunity to visit it.</p>
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<p>Absolutely true, and also send the message, perhaps inadvertently, that’s a focus area of the college (bcos that’s where it puts its money).</p>
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<p>I disagree. Yale shows off its private collection and an original Guggenheim bible. Dartmouth’s rare book collection is open to the public. </p>
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<p>Indeed. I hope it was just a bad day and not representative at all of the message that they try to portray.</p>
<p>Re the special collections: </p>
<p>Sorry let me clarify that statement. They are open to the public and there are almost always one or more exhibits highlighting various recent acquisitions somewhere in Woodruff library. However, because of MARBL’s (Manuscript, Archive, and Rare Books Library) location on the 10th floor of the stacks, it’s hard to show that space on tours while keeping the tour length reasonable and without bothering those studying. Fortunately, there are plans to build a new building dedicated to housing MARBL’s collections on main campus, which will increase its visibility tremendously. However, fundraising has just begun, so it’s several years off. </p>
<p>I don’t think visitors are necessarily as aware of the strength of the special collections, sadly. I also think it’s more difficult to communicate why those collections are important to high school students than it is to show a new lab. One may not appreciate what it means to have two copies of the first edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Langston Hughes’ manuscripts, and the largest manuscripts and rare editions of modern Irish literature outside of Ireland (among many, many other things), but most everyone can appreciate investment in new facilities. That’s what I meant by my previous statement.</p>
<p>If you do visit Emory, take a look at MARBL. You’ll be wowed. Plus, you can see for miles and miles from the 360 degree balcony surrounding the 10th floor.</p>
<p>Now that I’ve beaten this topic to death, I think I’ll leave it here. Sorry for hijacking this thread. Hopefully the discussion has been useful, though.</p>
<p>I disagree with Blaze’s statement that Emory’s liberal arts program is average/unremarkable compared to the Ivies/UChicago/etc. And not in the sense that “Emory is just as good”, but more of the “most liberal arts programs are the same and it’s what you make of them” sense. And seriously I’m not doing this out of some irrational love for Emory, because as an Emory student I don’t even like it here that much.</p>
<p>Yes, Ivies have famous professors with nice degrees, but in the end I find that people like Blaze view these top-ranked schools with rose-colored glasses. I tend to think that it’s the students around you that mold the “liberal arts education”. In addition I’d also say that most professors are very knowledgeable and very smart, and if you get to know them well enough it doesn’t matter what school they teach at. </p>
<p>I find it sort of ridiculous that people here sit around and nitpick “how good is Emory’s libarts compared to Northwestern’s?”, when it’s probably the SAME for god’s sake and it’s up the student to make the most of it. I mean obviously I have not taken classes at both Princeton and Emory (I doubt anyone else on this forum has either), but I fail to believe that for some reason Princeton’s professors are magically much more amazing than Emory’s, or any other well-ranked university’s. A good teacher is a good teacher.</p>
<p>In the end the only REAL difference is the amount of prestige that comes with the diploma, but again, real life usually weeds out the freeloaders. </p>
<p>So yeah anyways back to the OP’s original point</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Like I said, the students make the experience. And there are a lot of pre-professionals at Emory, who are really obsessed with getting good grades. I DO agree with Blaze’s statement that Emory’s students are intellectually curious but not intellectuals. Most students will do what it takes to make the grade but beyond that won’t spend hours pursuing more knowledge on the subject because they “love learning” or something. </p></li>
<li><p>If you’re interested in pursuing some sort of creative art seriously, don’t come here. Emory has respectable enough art/theater/creative writing/etc. programs but is staunchly libarts/premed/pre-business. i.e. If you’re interested in art as well as some academic major go to WashU. </p></li>
<li><p>For reasons I can’t explain Emory reminds me of high school. It’s not as if the school IS like high school, it just reminds me of high school. I think it’s because the students here to tend to just form good “friend groups” and stay with it. Everyone is friendly and nice but they’re in a friend group. idk if that’s just my experience though. Like honestly during my first year I would hear people discuss whether someone was “part of the group”. </p></li>
<li><p>There is no overwhelming school spirit. Anyone who tells you otherwise is blissfully sheltered away within the JAP community or Greek community.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>But keep in mind the good points:
<p>And in general I want to address the “ivy reject” rep Emory has. Yes a lot of students at Emory were rejected from Ivies, and probably a lot of them are name whores and grudgingly came to Emory. But most student get over this within the first semester (unless they a) transfer or b) are complete tools) and I wish the rep would just die already.</p>
<p>Thanks for your brutally honest opinion gkc4 :). Similar to mines except that I like it lol. One thing I dislike and failed to mention is the cliques. Those are annoying. Saw this Campus Movie Festival mini-film on You Tube where a girl tried to prove it. In the end she was “disproved”. However, I realized this mini-film is far from reality, and Emory students are indeed very cliquish typically along ethnic lines. The University, I believe, has initiatives working on and discussing some of these very issues regarding race at Emory. I’m skeptical of the idea of these leading to any action, but it’s a step forward I guess, and I am willing to get involved provided undergraduates are allowed a part.</p>