Emory + Oxford College Chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
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After this summer, I’m going to be a senior. I go to a somewhat rural school with 376 total people in my class

GPA: 4.0 (103.02 Weighted, 98.54 Unweighted)
Class Rank: 1
SAT: 1450 (710 Math, 740 R+W)
AP: 4 (Government), 4 (Human Geography), 3 (Biology)

Extracurricular (basically all are 9-12 grade)

  • Honor Band + local orchestra as a flutist
  • 150+ Volunteering (tutoring, food bank, nursing home, various events)
  • Varsity Swim Team
  • National Finalist for SECME (STEM team)
  • Model UN
  • Secretary for a service club (we planted a garden for our community)

Miscellaneous stuff:

  • Duke TIP (ehh, probably won’t mention in my application, I know it won’t help out a ton)
  • I received the Wellesley College Book Award this year
  • Average income (need financial aid)
  • I’m either going to major in business or finance
  • Brother is currently attending (so, legacy?)
  • And I’m an Asian female :frowning:

Also, can you apply to Emory early action? I couldn’t find any information about it.

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@ricecream Emory is ED and ED2 only, seems you have a preference for RiceU, correct? You should probably apply there ED, and Emory ED2. However you have no hooks and a 1450 is a weak score for both schools, so I would retake, however Emory does not superscore.

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@ricecream : Did your brother have similar credentials or are yours better? The SAT (on new scale ) is apparently a hair below the mean of scores for the new scale at Emory and thus definitely at Rice. Did your brother only take about 3 APs before senior year and how did he do? And when did your brother matriculate? Knowing these things will help me a little more to figure out what they want/expect from your HS or locale in terms of raw credentialsI guess.

Asian female is fine at Emory. Emory obviously has no problem admitting Asians (from what I remember not all Asians had super jacked test scores versus say whites as Emory was like it was today, not as test score sensitive as others) and obviously not women (has been for the past like 3-5 years admitting incoming cohorts with like 56-58% women).

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@bernie12 : My brother had a lot better credentials, mostly 5’s on AP (I think he only had one 4) and I think a 2100ish on the old SAT. He’s taken a decent amount of AP’s, definitely more than 3. I’ve also taken more AP’s, but scores haven’t come back yet. And yes, my brother is currently attending Emory. And my brother didn’t go to the same high school as me (he went to a boarding school).

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@VANDEMORY1342 : I already retook early this month, but I don’t think I did any better, and there’s no way I can retake again before applications are due. I still need to take SAT Subject tests in August (what would be recommended?). And you say Emory doesn’t superscore, but would they look at the essay sections separately? (I know the essay was just optional)

If I do apply Early Decision, how much of a better chance would I have to get in? And even for Oxford College, are my chances very weak?

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@ricecream it’s my understanding that you can’t ED at Oxford. SAT scores are likely to stay constant so you are(just) below avg for Oxford as well(1456). I also think being Asian hurts you a bit so you DEFINITELY need above avg. However if scores increase your in a bit of trouble.

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@ricecream Oxford College, your chances should be okayish, but not weak. Emory, you are primarily considered weaker right now simply because the application volume is so much higher than Oxford. And now with the info. you have given, your position does not look as good as your brother’s. I would give Emory a shot, but if it is not a top choice school at all, you should try wherever else for ED1. You can maybe try Emory RD, but it will not be easy at all and you should apply to a range of schools for RD. Perhaps try schools that have a business program like Emory, and are known for great academics and good scores (like yours) but a) have less application volume than Emory and/or b) seem more SAT sensitive than Emory and have a score range that puts you squarely in the middle. You could possibly get into Emory, but I cannot say it is the best especially if Emory pulls 20-24k applications again.

As for Oxford: Do you actually enjoy learning, or are you really just trying to complete some requirements and then get shuttled into the business school (like how hardcore are you about business/finance?)? Be very honest with me. Because if the latter, you should not start at Oxford. I do not recommend going there if you are the more hardcore pre-business person who prefers to skip the liberal arts oriented courses because at Oxford, since course sections are generally much smaller, it may be more rigorous in many cases. So it helps to enjoy learning/the challenge to enjoy Oxford/complete requirements without frustration (they are starting to move toward capstone requirements for example which requires investment in academics beyond coursework) and perhaps a slightly dinged GPA. Bigger schools often offer options to be less engaged with your academics in areas you aren’t interested in. Idea, do not

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@ricecream Both Emory and Oxford take ED1 and ED2 and last year they each received record numbers of applicant in ED1.

http://news.emory.edu/stories/2016/12/er_early_decision_class_2021/campus.html

A fair number of really strong pre-business students start at Oxford. However, they tend to be the types who enjoy liberal arts courses along with their pre-business curriculum.

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@BiffBrown : And then there are those who are not and those try their hardest to graduate from their early. In which case, what was the point? It would have been better to start somewhere that allowed for immediate entry into UG business programs or places where they could indeed kind of just “screw around” until b-school entry. The OP needs to figure out their needs and attitudes before they start applying to places that look and sound nice on paper.

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Bernie, I read that you are moving to Utah to pursue a PhD. I just wanted to say, as a parent of a recent graduate, that I always appreciated your posts. Not only do you write a lot, you do something which is nearly unique on these boards: you actually look at and even analyze specific course requirements of the various colleges being discussed. Good luck to you.

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@bernie12 I ended up increasing my SAT score to 1540! Is it ok to say that Emory is a target school, or should I still put down Emory as reach (and would it be a low or high reach)?

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@ricecream

If I were you, I would still try a range of schools with some of the more stats sensitive schools being “targets” but still tough. Emory is not particularly stats sensitive. The 1450 was the point of diminished returns without any significant academic improvements (coursework, academic competitions, intellectual pursuits). I don’t know if it would help at Rice either. It will only help marginally. Again, non-stats sensitive schools (those not super gungho on admitting 1500+ students) will likely not be particularly impressed, but you may still be admitted. Try applying to Rice or whatever top choice and don’t bother with Emory until RD. Both are still reaches. They will not be targets with that EC profile even if you got a 1600 or 36. These schools like to see deep ECs or academic engagement and will just pass on those with high scores if they can find those with good scores who have much more robust and deep EC profiles (Emory takes a lot of QB scholars for example which emphasizes strong and unique EC profiles over scores). Again, you have a shot, but the EC profile is too similar to other Emory applicants and many of those with similar profiles who are admitted had a little “extra” in the profile (like winning a big competition or something) especially if the volume of the past 2 years is repeated. They may quickly get bored reading these profiles barring you having an amazing essay and supplement. If not, that 1540 will not change any minds if they reach the application at the point of boredom. Plus they may wonder why you retook a 1450 instead of trying to do well on a subject test or something.

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@ricecream
That’s a great score for anywhere really. Bernie is right tho, subject tests and EC’s will be important. I would say above a 1530 you are in danger of yeild protection, so showing interest is more important for you right now.

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No one can really tell you whether you’ll get in or not. It’s all speculation. I got ED1 into both Emory and Oxford’s Class of 2021 with a 28 ACT, though I had a 4.0 UW GPA (4.9 W) with mostly honors class and 7 AP classes. I’ll be moving in to Emory College this weekend.

-No hooks (unless you count a full-blooded Filipino who had only moved to the US from the Philippines in 2011 a hook?)
-No awards (didn’t even list NHS or valedictorian standing–which was for the better since I got bumped down to salutatorian cuz my friend who passed me took more AP classes senior year)
-No unique extra-curriculars (TA at an elementary school for 2 years, thrift store volunteer for 4 years, robotics for 3 years with minor awards that I didn’t include in my app, a 6 week internship at a state university relating to water supply, and a guitar player that played at a local music academy for four years)
-Not a first generation student (both of my parents have MDs)
-Neither of my parents are alumni
-Didn’t even take part in the interview that they offer (it’s optional)

And no, I didn’t pull the “immigrant card” and talk about the hardships I experienced in my native country and how living in the US presented me with all these opportunities. My personal statement was about milk (probably the best essay I’ve written), and the two short responses I wrote that are specific to Emory were about my favorite movie and what motivates me to learn.

Bottom line is, just apply to any school you are interested in (and you can afford); just throw in maybe one or two safeties and you’re good to go. People on this forum told me that I should consider going for test optional + my state schools over the ones (Tulane, Tufts, Emory, Vanderbilt) I wanted to apply because there was nothing unique about my application–not to mention my relatively low ACT score (I’d link you the post, but I forgot the password to my old account here)

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@incomingfreshmanboy : Uhm…valedictorian is still basically your title. Colleges are well aware of antics like taking APs because they provide grade boosts to UW GPAs. Most colleges are not stupid and shallow and would see a small difference in salutatorian and valedictorian. The HS systems for selecting these get strange because of all the GPA padding that happens.

Your application sounds fine to me, and your accomplishments sound solid.

You were admitted basically as an academic admit. You had amazing grades, near top of your class and had a rigorous course load. They expected you to be academically intense at Emory and ready for a challenge. And again there was no need to “list” valedictorian status. They could recalculate your GPA for UW and likely figure that out. GPA w/high rigor predicts college success better than ACT/SAT according to most research. The only reason most top schools like super high scores is because the ranking agencies.

Emory tries to select those who fit a need or show interest in areas that are strong/it wants to build.

“6 week internship at a state university relating to water supply”- Emory is big on sustainability and its new water hub has been getting tons of regional and national attention. There are even courses that employ it as a learning tool: http://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/01/er_water_reclamation/campus.html . Engagement with such an internship is not as common as you think considering that in STEM, Emory has a have medical and life sciences bias in terms of recruiting. http://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/12/er_waterhub_accolades/campus.html . Also, perhaps they thought you may be interested in public health and/or environmental science.

" guitar player that played at a local music academy for four years"-sustained engagement with an endeavor for little incentive other than your enjoyment and to learn

“thrift store volunteer for 4 years”-sustained involvement again in a more blue collar type of setting at that.

“robotics for 3 years with minor awards that I didn’t include in my app” again an interest in something that is not commonly an interest at Emory. *keep winning those award btw :wink: . Make Emory proud. I think people forget how “small things” are the foundation for big things.

Basically you had the advantage of looking more genuine on paper like you did what you could…just because and not because your parents had a hand in everything. With truly holistic admissions you are evaluated with a context in mind and whether or not you meet certain needs or fill certain gaps in the college. You do so while coming off as dedicated and genuinely interested in what you were doing. Don’t get me wrong. Emory loves those with unique talents and ECs, but dedication, diversity, and a general realness are valued as well.

Also, you likely did indeed kill the essays.

Congratulations my friend and be proud of yourself. You actually withheld certain things that many just throw in and still shined through in your application. Continue to learn and do extra and co-curriculars in your areas of interest just because at Emory and do not feel pressured by your surroundings to bandwagon onto some ECs because everyone else in your major or pre-professional track is.

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delete

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This thing is misbehaving, delete.

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@incomingfreshmanboy
yes you have a hook, although you are academically impressive regardless of your low ACT score. Its irresponsible to give people false hope just because you were lucky.

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@VANDEMORY1342

Yes I actually do think Filipino is considered a hook. All Asians are not treated equally in admissions. And yes there is often a lot of fortune in this process, especially since they even withheld some of their accomplishments. Had those ECs been more focused on medicine or life sciences and presented in the same way, they may have gotten chopped TBH. I am also imagining many with similar resumes were not admitted. I don’t like false hope. I just tell folks to give these schools a shot but never expect anything. And also do not do ED1 at a school that really isn’t close to a top choice. That is like wasting an opportunity. 2 safeties? Actually did not read that before. That is ridiculous and I would never recommend that. It would take tons of confidence to do that to one’s self and it really isn’t worth the risk.

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Oxford newest Admissions Stats:
Average GPA: 3.57 – 3.92 (unweighted)
SAT critical reading: 630-730
SAT math: 640-760
SAT writing: 640-740
SAT total: 1940-2210
ACT: 29-33
Acceptance Rate: Around a 39-40% Admit Rate

Obviously being Asian you should strive to get int he 75th percentile in at least GPA or ACT/SAT Score. So since you are in the 75th for GPA and a little better than average in SAT scores I would say you have a pretty good chance being that your Writing and Reading exceed the 75th percentile and your math is just below. I would say you have a very good chance, and being that the admit for Oxford is almost double that of emroy they are more flexible.
If you apply ED I would be pretty surprised if you don’t get into Oxford. I am applying as well with a 33 on the ACT and a 3.70 with a huge upward trend applying ED as well :smiley: I spoke with admissions and they said having an upward trend can look really good.

I would say:
Oxford College: Match
Emroy: Low Reach