<p>I was wondering what kind of culture there is surrounding Emory's athletics? I am a potential recruit for the volleyball team and I am curious as to what kind of crowd sporting events draw. Also, what is the overall attitude on campus (from athletes and non-athletes) towards the athletic programs? It's not a huge factor in my applying, as I am drawn to Emory from a largely academic standpoint and I am interested in the pre-med program, but I would just like to know to allay some curiosity.</p>
<p>Emory students are apathetic (in general) about sporting event attendance primarily because it isn’t D-1. The athletic scene at Emory is more participatory which stems from the huge intramural scene (which of course is a consequence of not having D-1). Not having D-1 certainly hurts propulsion of Emory’s reputation (given that we don’t have the academic history of JHU or Chicago because we’re more up and coming), but at the same time it likely makes for a more reasonable balance in the environment for an elite school (as in, Emory is not a state school environment with very talented students and amazing teachers. This is unfortunate for many and fortunate for others) and it also probably leads to a healthy campus in general (which explains why PE is relatively big at Emory even though the dept. was deeply cut a couple of years ago). Don’t expect a huge fan base (unless it’s the championship game or you’re perhaps playing Chicago or WashU), but overall you may still end up liking Emory if you are primarily attracted to the academics (a kind of quirky, but pre-professional environment with interesting/maybe even weird traditions, especially “Dooley” oriented events, which involves writing limericks or hiakus to get him to come and let out your class. Emory is maybe starting to develop this odd sort of “intellectual pre-professionalism” primarily promoted by the diversity and the traditions of the school). Any “school-spirit” that we have is not derived from athletics.</p>
<p>PE is probably bigger at Emory than at other peer schools because of the mandatory Heath/PE courses. If students didn’t have to take PE, the intramural participation rate would likely decrease. </p>
<p>As Bernie noted, most students are fairly apathetic about intercollegiate level sports. There’s usually a core group of students who show up to many games (at Oxford it’s basketball, at the Atlanta campus it’s both soccer and basketball) but in general the crowd is more passive than they would be at, say the University of Oklahoma. If you do come to Emory, don’t expect a huge crowd for a volleyball game unless it’s ridiculously well publicized. Some friends of the athletes might show up, but apart from that, the stands will be mostly empty.</p>
<p>While a significant minority of students wish that Emory put a bit more emphasis on big time college sports, many students (myself included) are happy with the fact that athletics are clearly less important than academics. At big state schools like the University of Oklahoma (the one I’m most familiar with), athletes are clearly separate from the other students, in their living quarters, academic expectations, and how they’re handled by the administration. Emory students, by contrast, recognize that the recruited athletes are basically their peers who are held to the same standards as the rest of the student body.</p>
<p>At Emory, I feel as if Orchestra and music/other performing arts concerts draw much bigger crowds than the sporting events. If you want to be cheered for by a large amount of people, I recommend playing an instrument or becoming a music major or something.</p>
<p>There is a culture of excellence among the sports teams. There are very good facilities. Your sport, women’s volleyball, is among the best at Emory.</p>
<p>[Emory</a> Athletics finishes second in Directors’ Cup | Emory University | Atlanta, GA](<a href=“http://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/06/ath_directors_cup/campus.html]Emory”>Emory Athletics finishes second in Directors' Cup)</p>
<p>There is certainly a culture of excellence, but that doesn’t mean there are tons of people cheering in the stands. The athletic and academic accomplishments of many of the student athletes is no doubt, amazing. They just don’t get “rah rah” support from the student body.</p>
<p>Agree with Bernie on the rah rah stuff. It’s not there although at Emory the swim team has a really impressive way of supporting the soccer team during home games. They run out of the practice pool in their swimming gear and go through a clever cheer in front of the fans. I bring this up because I witnessed it personally. It’s pretty fun. And I say this as a jaundiced DI athletics fan.</p>
<p>No, as with most all DIII programs, your satisfaction comes from your teammates, parents, friends, and, most of all, from inside of yourself. Student athletes go to Emory, or Williams, or Wash U. first and foremost for the academics. The athletes know it, parents know it, and coaches know it. Personally I think its a good choice. In the end, too many DI athletes are poorly served by their programs.</p>
<p>Emory has athletics? Did not know that. I guess you learn something new everyday.</p>
<p>Emory’s Equestrian club sports team (show) doesn’t have the problem of small Emory crowds. They don’t compete or practice on campus. However, I’ve never ridden a horse before, so I can’t really speak for them here, except that competitive horseback riding is way harder than it looks–one does not need to have read On The Art of Horsemanship by Xenophon to know that.</p>
<p>I don’t remember anyone caring about the sports teams when I was at Emory. People might have went to games to support their friends but I can’t ever remember anyone discussing whether the basketball or baseball teams would win an upcoming game.</p>
<p>@baseballfan68 Well, they don’t ask to be cared by anyone. I don’t think they really care whether people watch their games or not. </p>
<p>OK, don’t get your panties all in a bunch. I was just responding the original poster’s question. They wanted to know what kinds of crowds athletic events drew but then they said it wasn’t an important factor in their decision.</p>
If you’re involved, it’s pretty competitive DIII. But as a campus presence or activity, it’s not very large (i.e. people going to games, meets, etc). nearly non-existent.
S and I toured Emory this past summer and found the athletic facilities very impressive by any standard, particularly so by D3 norms. The baseball field is tucked neatly into the campus setting and it appeared to us that the frat houses/dorms which back up against the outfield fence, complete with large second story decks, would have a great vantage point for games there. Does anyone know the houses I’m referring to and whether these are in fact fraternity/sorority or other campus housing? Many thanks.
Frat houses, yep.
Sorority lodging is right there as well, but they can’t see the fields from their windows.
beta and aepi have them essentially in their backyard. Sigep has a field in view as well.
And a couple other buildings are located right there as well. For example, the Spanish House (not sure what goes on in there, to be honest).
Like all the other posters have said, the student body is pretty apathetic towards athletics. If you decide to play sports at Emory, realize the high rankings in many of the sports are the result of very hard work by the players and coaches. This hard work can impact your ability to do well in the classroom. During your sport season, you can spend up to 40 hours per week between games, practices, travel and working out if you want to excel. Realize if you are interested in business, that you will have to apply to the business school before your junior year. There are many athletes not admitted to the business school, some transfer and some stay for a non business major. As an athlete, you may also have restrictions as to what times you can take classes, limiting your ability to get classes that interest you. If you planning to major in business and want to play college sports, I would recommend a school where you don’t have to apply to a business school after being accepted into the University. Many athletes drop out of pre-med or drop out of athletics after their freshman year - it is a very big challenge to be able to do both successfully at Emory or at most competitive schools.