<p>Just curious....did anyone else visit Emory today? If so, what classes did you sit in on and what did you think about them?</p>
<p>anyone blazed as hellll today at the open house?</p>
<p>I was at the open house on Monday. I didn’t attend a class and decided instead to attend the information sessions because I wanted to learn more about the university as a whole rather than how one class is structured. </p>
<p>I was very unimpressed with school. This was my first visit and I was deciding between Emory and another school. They did not present any exciting information or reasons to go to Emory versus anywhere else. The presenters were low level employees and had nothing unique to say. I know everyone says the sessions all seem to be the same, but I have been to a few similar accepted students days, and from them I could really get a feel for the school and what was special about them. Here I understood neither. The only reason I could decipher to attend was the reputation and name that Emory has, which truthfully, I don’t know why it has such a good reputation other than they make the courses very rigorous. The day was so bland and it seemed the school was just as bland that I have decided to attend a different university.</p>
<p>D did not attend classes, but a couple of kids in the tour group did and said that they were fine. Overall, I found the day extremely disappointing; besides free meals and another tour, the Open House offered no additional info that can’t be gleaned from the web, and was definitely a waste of time and money to attend. Instead of the hard sell that many colleges attempt during accepted students’ days, Emory takes the opposite approach: no sale whatsoever. The presos were very short, allowing way too much time for questions, (which obviously was the point). Thus, most of the day was spent addressing what I like to call “dumb” questions (from parents mostly), such as ‘what is Emory’s AP credit policy?’ (uh, it’s in your student’s folder that we handed out at 8:00 am), or ‘why did my D not receive a financial aid award yet?’ (umm, perhaps its bcos your Ex refuses to send in his 1040’s)…</p>
<p>edit to add: Like Plass, my D was very soured on Emory bcos of yesterday.</p>
<p>blue-I’m glad that I’m not the only one that felt that way, and truthfully I’m sure a lot of other people did as well. And on the asking questions note- yes I felt many very dumb, but the presenters did not address any of it, while they easily could have. Instead the time was filled with the dumb questions and then they cut the sessions short before people could get to the worthwhile meaty questions for a 10 minute break after every 20 minute session. WAY too much downtime. </p>
<p>What I’ve been trying to figure out is why was there no sale? Do they just figure that they will fill their freshmen class anyway so it doesn’t matter?</p>
<p>Because Emory’s admissions philosophy is to show the student what Emory is and then let the student make the best choice for themselves, whether that’s Emory or not. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t have a good experience; however, I’m sure any current student (especially those on here) could give you numerous reasons why you should want to go to Emory. </p>
<p>It might have been beneficial for you to go to a class in order to interact with students and the faculty more. It seems odd to me that you wouldn’t want that experience, since the main reason any person goes to college is to learn, through classes, with professors.</p>
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<p>Bingo! That would have been a PERFECT agenda.</p>
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<p>Agreed, but that did not happen. It was mostly a Q&A. IMO, Accepted Students’ Day should be about what makes xx college unique (or why they think it is). </p>
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<p>Agreed…the First Year Experience session was a perfect time to line up ~5 current Frosh and let them tell us THEIR first year experiences at Emory, but that did not happen. Instead, we were given an advisor who spent all of ~two minutes (of the 20 allotted) discussing FYE (“every first year will have an academic advisor related to the student’s field of interest…”), and the rest of the time discussing the four-year curriculum, GEs and major graduation requirements (and, of course, answering dumb questions). While GE’s and grad requirements are important (and also available on the web), they have little to do with a FYE (contrast with Vandy and Duke as two examples). </p>
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<p>Disagree with this one. Any available classes will likely be hand-picked by Admissions so the Profs will be forthcoming. </p>
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<p>Disagree here too, since studies have shown that “most” learning goes on outside of the classroom.</p>
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<p>At many colleges, a high level Dean/Provost or even the Prez (Tulane, Wake) shows up to welcome the prospies, even if only for <5 minutes. That’s true even at the big, public Unis (such as Cal-Berkeley and UCLA).</p>
<p>I didn’t go to the open house, but I did sit in on a class, take a tour and go to a Q&A session early April. Maybe it was because the weather was wonderful that day, but I was very impressed with Emory. </p>
<p>The students gave me a really good idea of what the next four years might be like, and they were very approachable. Everywhere I went, the students were friendly and smiled at me, and they didn’t even know I was just an accepted student. </p>
<p>It’s true, Emory didn’t try to sell itself with fancy bumper stickers or pens, but…it really didn’t have to.</p>
<p>bluebayou, I guess you were just unlucky that day. I had a panel of freshmen tell us about their experiences. They told us which schools they were choosing between when they went through that period, and told us why they specifically chose Emory. They talked about their most significant experience, what Emory offered…it was all very candid but also useful.</p>
<p>had the same experience. as compared to other schools, emory did not really sell itself. also, student body did not seem very well rounded–lots of pre-med and b-school talk. also, very little discussion about social life.</p>
<p>I was there on 4/20.</p>
<p>Admittedly, I cannot compare the experience with other open houses as I have not attended any. However, I thought it was good overall. The information sessions were boring; but, sometimes a few interesting questions were raised i.e. alternative spring breaks, etc.</p>
<p>The student panel was very good. The panelists were relatively candid but certainly sincere. They definitely seemed like well-rounded people. When asked to speak about academics, they did so. That doesn’t mean they are arrogant pedants. (last post). </p>
<p>The best part was the class sit-in. I attended a small seminar style class on Joyce. It was excellent. The teacher was engaging and passionate. The students were, for the most part(Joyce can be daunting), enthusiastic. I was most impressed by how apparently intelligent the students were. They were extremely articulate and intellectually curious. The class was also diverse and each student contributed in a unique but nonetheless crucial way.</p>
<p>Maybe I don’t know any better because I’m from a tiny public school in a town of 2000, but I was very much impressed with the level of passion and intellect exhibited by the students and faculty at Emory.</p>
<p>There were, from my perspective, two apparent faults. 1. No football team (assuming this truly means little school spirit, debatable) 2. Probable existence of socio-economic discrimination (it’s a bad sign when no one knows where the financial aid office is), this is probably true at most top privates.</p>
<p>bluebayou: I am just an outside observer on this thread, but I am really surprised (actually shocked) at Emory’s obvious lack of preparation for their accepted student day; with the economic situation, yield issues, and published drop in applications, you would think they would be on “all four gears” trying to get accepted students to enroll…I actually find it very strange, in fact…Maybe they are operating on a 2008 mode (where they could have cared less…)</p>
<p>juventus: My D did attend the Student-only panel and she concurs with that is was good. In fact, she said it was the only thing that was (besides breakfast, of course. 
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<p>rodney: I was too extremely surprised at the style and substance of the day, but perhaps bcos I’ve recently attended several that were hard sales jobs. I can only surmise that Emory had two, low key objectives: 1) Let the campus community sell itself; 2) Make sure that there is ample time so no question goes unanswered. Obviously, Emory is a highly-regarded uni, so whatever they are doing must be working for them.</p>