Hello! I have two questions if anyone has any information on this:
- On collegeboard website, it says that it is "recommended" to have 4 foreign language classes. Is this a make/break admissions decision? D19 has 3 years of Latin but could change schedule to take a 4th in senior year.
- Pre-med question - For admissions process, is it better to apply to pre-med directly or choose another interest D19 has, like biology. Does Emory application look only at first/one major, or is there an option for a second major consideration?
@cakeisgreat : I would at minimum eet the recommended requirement. What you list is likely irrelevant not only because Emory does NOT admit freshmen by major (Students are not made to declare majors until 2nd year sophomore year. The only exception is something like Goizueta Scholars which auto-admits the winner of the scholarship to GBS, which students normally apply to 2nd semester sophomore year), but most students’ resume’s, essays, AP load, etc will probably reveal academic interests to some degree. There is no reason to “play” the adcoms. If she was meant to land/be liked by the adcoms, she would be regardless of what she presents as her interests.
My take: Emory obviously admits a huge chunk of the incoming cohorts considering pre-health or life sciences. Some are exceptional and some are just a “normal” admit for an elite school. Don’t worry about this. Worry about how she can showcase her interests (academic and non) or passions to the adcoms via essays, academics, co-curriculars, etc. When it comes biology or pre-health, adcoms know so many students will change that anyway, so if there is some other intellectual passions on display in HS, present them as well. Best to show that she is “rounded” with some passions or has a passion (or more) that appears like a spike (something they are exceptionally talented in/passionate beyond the norm-usually beyond what HS coursework allows one to engage) on an application. Unless one is a national award winner in STEM or something, probably don’t want to show too much tunnel vision about pre-med by only showing off those associated interests. The boxes checked are for that are not relevant, the actual profile presented in essays and things of that nature are.
@bernie12 Thank you! That is great advice and a real relief as far as pre-med because D19 is actually considering pre-med but not sure yet if the journey is the right path and is also considering research…hard to know which path, or even a new one, to go this early. My two older has specific majors they were interested in, but pre-med is new grounds for me.
@cakeisgreat : If the student is even considering research/graduate school, make sure that the schools being considered are ACTUALLY good in educating in your daughter’s STEM area of interest. Do not settle for places who just claim to be: “good for pre-med”. Being good for pre-med is loaded and may have little to do with the quality of courses or whether they can truly help one think like a future researcher.
Some colleges have foreign language graduation requirements that are higher than their admission requirements.
@ucbalumnus good to know, thanks! D19 wants to double major in German as well, so I’ll add looking at foreign language graduation requirements to the list.
My son (an upcoming sophomore) was accepted with 3 years of foreign language. I think it is more important what courses you are taking. I know he just didn’t have room in his schedule when taking more science AP courses instead of a fourth year of a language.
@nightstalker160 : Yep always great to remember that they contextualize the transcript and courseload.