<p>Hello! My D received a likely letter (soooo thrilled!), and we are looking forward to attending an accepted students day. Anyone know how these days differ from the tours? Do you have any advice, such as things to ask or consider that may not be evident before matriculating?</p>
<p>Many thanks! </p>
<p>Ask about specific professors they recommend taking.
Don’t ask things about dorms and cafeterias and stuff. Partly because someone else will ask that anyway. And partly because they’re all good.</p>
<p>@Authormom: Emory students are stuck up like at other private schools though lol. Most of us complain about the DUC (even though campus dining at Emory, including the DUC is apparently rated quite highly compared to most other colleges. In general, quality of life at Emory is up there as rated by students and outsiders). Also, be careful about asking what specific professors they take because many students will consider the recommended instructors as primarily the ones that are easy or have low workloads (perhaps so easy that they don’t even have to attend). I would be sure to ask specifically of any high quality instructors (without necessarily being easy or hard) or interesting courses they know of and perhaps what makes them so good. There are buzz-words such as chill, nice, and relaxed that often are signals that they like the instructor because they are easy and it has nothing to do with quality of content or even instruction. If the student can only talk about the personality of the instructor and not the way they teach or something cool they would learn from taking the course basically write it off as an easy course whose instructor has a nice personality. </p>
<p>If you could visit some of the great instructors (which there are many), that would also be nice (who knows, you may find out that freshmen are allowed to take the course as it it could be disappointing to find out that, when you arrive to the school of your choice, the classroom settings you thought were so great, are not really available to you as a freshman). Maybe even visit some of the best freshman seminars if allowed (David Lynn’s ORDER is one of them). </p>
<p>Thanks, @aluminum_boat & @bernie12 - very helpful! </p>
<p>@Bernie12, definitely appreciate the advice about asking students about professors. One of my D’s biggest concerns during this entire process has been going to a college that is basically “High School 2.0”, so she was utterly thrilled when she received a likely letter. It was as if a huge weight lifted off of her. She has a rigorous course load this year because they are the classes she’s been wanting to take since freshman year - not to pad her resume. </p>
<p>One thing she really likes about Emory is that, even though she has a direction in mind, she does not declare a major right away. She can choose courses and do some exploring, first. 
(She’s not a STEM kid, BTW.)</p>
<p>I may have some more questions later on. </p>
<p>Thanks, again! :)</p>
<p>@Authormom:There is so much to do outside of STEM that’s likely better than a lot of STEM at Emory. A lot of things outside of STEM are actually run better IMHO. When the college announced its plans, I heard hardly of no committees addressing the social science and humanities experience but you did for undergraduate science education for a reason I imagine (okay, I don’t have to imagine, I experienced it). There are tons of strong psychology, sociology, political science, history, IDS (yes we have an interdisciplinary studies option where you can basically design your own major and project. It has one of the best intellectual communities among undergraduates. It could perhaps be rivaled by creative writing, English, and some of the languages as those are good at fostering community and some such as Spanish and German have their own upperclassmen living learning communities), anthropology, etc classes for your daughter to visit or inquire about. David Lynn’s ORDER is an interdisciplinary seminar by the way, which is one reason it is a must see. I’ll post a link so you can see how it’s run. It is pretty innovative (as a freshman, you have the option of developing and defending a project or thesis that can evolve beyond that semester. Projects have gone far beyond that class in the past):<br>
<a href=“http://ecs190riskandresilience.■■■■■■■■■■/blog.html”>http://ecs190riskandresilience.■■■■■■■■■■/blog.html</a></p>
<p>The one he directs in spring is for upperclassmen, but you should ask to maybe just see what the style looks like (there are other great seminars too if you can’t). </p>
<p>With a strong class, the discussions across the range of topics are great and there are often many hands-on activities and assignments. </p>
<p>Even if she’s not stem, she should take a few of the professors pass/fail (Ono, Spell, Weinschenk). Part of the emory experience.
One of my biggest regret is that I didn’t take weinshenck pass/fail. </p>
<p>You would have passed with flying colors with some of the folks in there! You would probably end up asking to change it to graded by the end. Also, we’re in a post-liberal arts learning environment. Most students won’t take something particularly demanding that is outside of their main sphere of interests. There is a reason all the schools have invented super watered down science courses for those satisfying a gen. ed requirement. And when I say watered down, I mean that bio 120, for example, is usually lower than maybe an honors level high school biology course, It is not even at the AP level. </p>