Chance Me Emory ED Please!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
1

Hi! so here are my stats:

UWGPA: 3.66 ( no weighted, no class rank, but a competitive international school in China)

SAT 1: 2190 ( 760 Math , 700 CR, 730 WR)

SAT 2: Math 2 800
ACT: (none)

AP Scores: 5 psych, 5 micro econ , 5 macro econ ,4 comp sci , 5 us history,

Awards: School Athlete Scholar (2 years)
AP Scholar with distinction (not very impressive)

Ethnicity, Gender: Asian Male

Major intended: Economics, Computer Science (either double major or major-minor)

EC’s:
4 year varsity swimming
varsity table tennis
varsity badminton
programming club
relay for life (3 years)
30 hour famine (3 years & group leader)
Teaching teachers Chinese (3 years)
Volunteer at local school to help Chinese kids learn English
(over 100 hours so far)
creates iPhone Apps (for fun kind of.) using swift (self taught) and will publish soon.

Summer:
have gone to many summer camps including some for undergraduate credits, total of 8 under grad credits.
mostly revolved around computer programming and one marketing class.
more volunteering (mentioned above)

Hooks: not much I guess

Financial Aid situation: not applying for it

Recs: asked math and econ teachers, should be decent

This is ED 1 by the way. My Senior year course load is very heavy and my GPA is on a general upward trend, (4.0 last semester of Junior Year)

So I just want opinions on both emory CAS as well as oxford college iif you guys wont mind!

Thanks!

2

bump!

3

Yes for Oxford (I would think-but Emory and Oxford are now really close score wise. The only thing different is the number of apps. and thus the acceptance rates which also differ because of differing yield, but an ED candidate should have more mercy) and maybe/hopefully for ECAS. Are you going to market your interest in CS in the essays (especially the supplements)? I would. BTW, since you like designing apps., you may be interested to know that Emory hosts the largest hack-a-thon in the southeast (of the US-Schools that you would expect to have large or bigger ones but don’t are: Duke, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, NCState…I say that because these places have engineering schools and we do not- their engineering schools or CS depts tend to hold smaller events essentially for those entities whereas Emory’s has grown to include anyone interested and is business focused, thus has very high turn-out. We also benefit from having our friend, Georgia Tech, across town). Check it out: http://news.emory.edu/stories/2014/11/er_take_note_hack_atlanta/campus.html and a more in depth article:http://emorywheel.com/hackatl-sparks-innovation-collaboration/. There is also a growing entrepreneurship scene that is trying to be institutionalized more or less. In fact, one of the freshman dorms has the theme of social entrepreneurship (and there were some surprisingly big things that came from some of the freshmen there): http://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/02/er_entrepreneurship_ecosystem/campus.html and http://goizueta.emory.edu/events/summit/

These are things you should think about when a) applying or b) thinking about essays (naturally the school will want you to explain your interests and how Emory can facilitate the pursuit of them :wink: )

4

Yea I heard about it! Thanks for your help bernie12! I really like emory even though its cs department isn’t that strong because I really want to pursue economics/entrepreneurship as well and combine them. So just out of curiosity, do you think that there is an advantage applying for a field that is not “specialized” (eg pre-med, business, which are Emory’s strengths) ? Thanks!

5

Could be as the school wants academic diversity, but keep in mind that of those two you mention, while Emory is known for “pre-med”, it isn’t a particular strength in my opinion (it is pretty standard for an elite school…the only difference is all of the interdisciplinary majors developing around some form of healthcare and the fact that departments like psychology and NBB actually have at least 1 course that are basically clinical practicums or for undergrads, so one can maybe claim that pre-med is more ingrained into regular curricula which makes it “desirable” but not necessarily super strong training wise, though if you take the right instructors, the training that a good pre-med who is not trying to cut corners can get, is pretty up there even among elites). I believe that the departments associated with key pre-med courses (and how these courses are strong) are strong, but overall, it is what they make of it. Emory’s actually has single departments that I would consider stronger than the “pre-med program” (in terms of overall intellectual community and actual outcomes for students who are serious about the subject), whether they be science or non-science. Note how popular political science, history, and English are for example. Chemistry is also unusually large for a school Emory’s size (in fact, among peers, it may flat out be the largest in terms of majors). Emory is actually strong in many areas that many pre-profs would not think of. Many of the languages and even environmental science are exceptionally strong. Also econ. has lots of majors, joint majors, and minors. An interest in CS can sell well especially since you’ve had a lot of prior experiences with it. Otherwise, it would just look like you are merely trying to pursue a marketable field out of no where. My guess is that, for those who display interest in something that is not necessarily a strength or ultra popular at Emory, they want to see how it connects to your overall goals and whether or not you know of the on campus opps available to those pursuing such majors. Basically, they would want to know “why Emory for this of all things, and how can you add to that community”.

6

I see! Everyone usually talks about emory medical or business so I had that impression. I will definitely try to sell my computer science interest since I dont have anythign that really stands out (GPA meh, SAT decent). I have another question about my extra curricular too. I’m not too much of a leader type evne though I’m not shy or anything so do you think not having leaderships or any major major recognition will hurt my app. It seems that everyone these daysh as some leadership or some huge title that looks really nice. My main activity is swimming and I have never stopped swimming so I guess I only have “persistency” as a trait.

7

Maybe, but persistence, intellectual engagement, and passion are probably more important now. Emory seems to be trying to change recruiting and attempt to implement on campus initiatives and programs that promote much more intellectual engagement. Leadership is awesome, but I’m sure students who made it seem like a laundry list of “hoops” to impress colleges may actually not be as attractive. I have reason to believe that now depth counts more than breadth. Also, note that many students will randomly start clubs just so that they can be the leader of them…this is a phenomenon that I am sure adcoms are well aware of. Just find a way to display a passion for whatever you did, show Emory adcoms why it was so important to you.

8

Thank you for all your help bernie12! You give amazing advice and insight and I will definitely give it my best shot!

9

We have similar stats. I am applying as well

10

@cappex cool! Hope you get in! BTW. I recently bumped my SAT score by around 90 points to a 2280, (780 math 770 reading). I was wondering if that would make a large difference…

11

EDI, you SHOULD (just like you SHOULD with the 2190) get in if your recs. aren’t dull and your essays are good. However, again, I’ve been surprised. Your chances are really good stats wise and they should take you from a strategic point of view (snatching up a solidly placed middle-50 student or much higher in an ED round), but they have defied strategy so many times especially starting 2-3 years ago (and this may be because they of course saw stuff we didn’t about the applicants), so I don’t want to get your hopes up. Just know that your chances are good.

12

thanks for the kind words! Yeah, I just consider Emory a super reach since their 25 percentile gpa is like a 3.75 or something. And mines not really even close lol. Im also considering submitting my most recent (trimester/quarter) grades to show them im still doing very well but i dont know if they will even look at “non-official” grades.

13

I’ve seen cases where non-URM candidates have had as low as maybe 3.5 from top ranked US schools and they were admitted (maybe because high IB/AP, and SATs accompanied it. In other words, they were at a sufficiently grade deflated or challenging school that it was taken into account).