Couple questions for a current Emory student

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
1

<p>I've been looking into Emory recently, and I'll be visiting there next month. So far, I've been really impressed with the school and it seems like a place I would really like. However, I do have a few questions which hopefully someone will be able to answer:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I've heard that Emory has a reputation of being an "Ivy reject" school: ie a lot of people who end up getting rejected from the Ivy League go to Emory and aren't always happy there. Is this true? If I do end up attending Emory, I'll be going there because I actually like the school itself and think I'll be happy there, and I'm not sure if I want to be surrounded by people who don't want to be there.</p></li>
<li><p>What's Emory's academic reputation? Here in Chicago, it seems that almost everyone knows about Northwestern and U of C but only those in academia have heard about Emory. Is the situation reversed down south?</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, I've heard very different opinions of Emory's pre-med program, this board included. Some seem to think it's great, others not so much. How does Emory's compare with WUSTL and Rice in this respect, and how well does Emory prepare one for the MCAT. Also, are there Emory grads at top med schools now? (ie Harvard, Hopkins, etc).</p></li>
</ol>

2

<p>One of my friends was admitted into Harvard and will attend. I’m sure he isn’t the only one this past year (he got into Stanford and Yale too). People have also gotten into Duke I’ve heard. Basically, people who put extraordinary effort into their pre-med studies have been successful. However, it must be admitted that significantly less students (percentage) at Emory are admitted into medical school than Rice or many of the peers. Hopefully the pre-health advising which recently started will eventually have a noticeable effect. But overall, if you get through your courses, and get stuff out of them, you should be more than prepared. Many pre-med courses indeed base the material on MCAT stuff, except for biology which seems to do it’s own thing. Mainly 141 material is more than what is necessary for the MCAT. 142 is probably not as important. As for reputation, it flips in the south just as you propose. And yes, Emory is somewhat of an “Ivy reject/admitted to Ivy could not afford” school. So you may not hear the end of it in the first 2-3 weeks of school here, but many just get over it and end up quite satisfied with it. But the overall lack of school pride (due to lack of D-1 sports) makes the bitter ones stand out even more than at other schools. While Emory could be doing a lot of things better (like every other school, don’t let the rankings fool you), you can definitely see it striving to improve itself even in the economic downturn. Oh, and I hope you like construction. The campus is really nice (great facilities with even older buildings that have been renovated/ preserved to perfection), unless you want traditional brick or gothic architecture of the peers. It’s all about M and M (modern and marble lol) here. The buildings seem to contrast or match well with any weather setting for some reason (brightly colored I guess). When you get here in August, you will be greeted by people/tour guides in our new bookstore/admissions building which is amazing. The Starbucks is huge and has a double sided fireplace, the living room up there has a giant pink marble fire place with a plasma above it and surround sound. Their is awesome some neat presentation room. They aimed to impress with y’all this one. However, the whole building makes for an excellent hangout spot for current students too.They did the same with the new Public Health building and new freshman dorm (which also has a large fireplace in its lobby). I really think you may like it. Plus, even if you are coming before school starts, the campus is quite busy for the summer because of all of the summer camps (thousands of high school students and lower everywhere), so you’ll maybe get close to half of what it feels like in the regular academic year. But I recommend you come back again and ask to sit in a popular course or something (psyche 110/103 with Edwards maybe). Lunchtime rush hour is extremely intense. Cox bridge is full of people, the Cox food court fills with students, summer camp people, and doctors (a part of the hospital is right next to Cox) instantly. It’s actually quite neat to witness. Also, if lucky, you may come on a Tuesday, which is when the farmer’s market is on Cox bridge. Many people like it, and last time there was an home made ice cream social. It was really good.</p>

3

<p>This is coming from a rising sophomore here. Hope this helps.</p>

<ol>
<li>I’ve heard that Emory has a reputation of being an “Ivy reject” school: ie a lot of people who end up getting rejected from the Ivy League go to Emory and aren’t always happy there. Is this true? If I do end up attending Emory, I’ll be going there because I actually like the school itself and think I’ll be happy there, and I’m not sure if I want to be surrounded by people who don’t want to be there.</li>
</ol>

<p>Unfortunately this is true among some of the top students here, and you will likely hear the incoming freshmen complain about it. However, they will get over it after about a month into the semester and most of them end up enjoying it here. Besides about 1/3 of the incoming class each yr is admitted through ED so these students must have had Emory as their 1st or 2nd choice college.</p>

<ol>
<li>What’s Emory’s academic reputation? Here in Chicago, it seems that almost everyone knows about Northwestern and U of C but only those in academia have heard about Emory. Is the situation reversed down south?</li>
</ol>

<p>Emory is still mostly a regionally known school, hence they nickname “Southern Ivy.” Most people in the South will know it so you won’t have to worry about its obscurity. It is true that Emory is not well-known among general public throughout the country when compared to peer schools (ie Vandy and Rice), but that’s only because it lacks a major basketball or football program. However Emory’s academic reputation is well-established and favored among most employers and those in academia, and those are the people that will matter most when you pursue your career. </p>

<ol>
<li>Finally, I’ve heard very different opinions of Emory’s pre-med program, this board included. Some seem to think it’s great, others not so much. How does Emory’s compare with WUSTL and Rice in this respect, and how well does Emory prepare one for the MCAT. Also, are there Emory grads at top med schools now? (ie Harvard, Hopkins, etc).</li>
</ol>

<p>As a premed myself I would say it’s okay but has a lot of room for improvement considering the large premed craze here (about 1/3 of the incoming freshmen each yr). They are already making some progress in improving it though. For example, they just started a pre-health advising office in '09-'10 and 4 students got into Harvard Medical School this year alone when no one had done so in the past decade. As for MCAT prep., most of the pre-med science courses cover almost all the topics you’ll see in the science sections. The only major exception I can think of is that the intro bio series puts virtually no emphasis on human anatomy/physiology, a major component tested on the Bio Sci. section of the mcat. I have heard on this forum that about 1/2 the undergrads dont even break a 30 on the test, which if true does seem concerning, but in the end i think mcat scores come down more to student studying habits and special prep courses than undergrad curriculum. About 87% of the applicants from emory w/ at least a 3.4 and 30 will get into at least one med school so you should be fine if you work hard and efficiently. Just be aware though, pre-med is probably the hardest of all majors and pre-professional tracks here due to the weed-out nature of the prereq. science courses (mostly gen chem, to a lesser extent bio and orgo, and to the least extent physics), and that non-premeds can generally maintain higher GPAs while studying less.</p>

4

<p>Emory is actually quite well-known nationally, just not as much as the peers (the criteria is merely to be well-known but not relative to similar institutions. But right now, our rep. is sufficient, but could always improve). You have to be careful when you say regional because that implies Georgia only. However, only 19% come from Georgia, and maybe like 38% from the southeast. We also tend to have a higher percentage of internationals than many of our peers. Normally it’s like 10-13%. And it’s very tricky to judge the perceptions of the general public in terms of how our rep. ranks versus our peers (although, admittedly it is behind most due to it being new amongst the elite, and perhaps poor marketing) because I know that the general public in the south (especially in Ga.) don’t really know about Northwestern and U Chicago, or WashU, or Rice that much. When the Midwest has NU, U Chicago, WashU, Notre Dame, Ann Arbor, etc…, it’s pretty hard to establish a big reputation if you’re in the south unless you’re Duke which has a very successful/well-known athletics program. The same could be said for any region. In terms of our peers (lets say top 20), the general public in every region probably knows many of the Ivies, MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and Duke, and maybe Johns Hopkins (but moreso for graduate health/medical related programs and not undergrad).
Oh and human phys. is a separate course here, as it is at most of our peers which also don’t integrate it into the intro. bio series. And I know most are confused about the last 2 years of biology, but it traditionally has the lowest grade distribution amongst all of the intro. courses, perhaps on par with most orgo. sections (after the curve that is), not gen. chem, where you have many components other than lab supporting your grade (bio lecture simply has quizzes and tests, no HW/mandatory problem sets). I think life science calc. is a weedout too. It’s harder than most regular calc. sections.</p>