https://news.emory.edu/stories/2018/08/upress_princeton_review_rankings/campus.html
Since other schools, especially elites, on CC like to highlight Princeton review rankings to market their school, I too will join in on the pettiness and fun (and so should Emory’s communications, marketing, and admissions team. Other privates have found that this sells well. Whether it sells well to the types of students Emory wants to admit, USNWR can care less. Anything that gets more applicants will help it and the schools’ prestige by technicality).
- Note that I think high and low PR rankings in certain areas reflect more so the values/primary concerns (what they feel strongest about or what stands out to them) of the students rated in any particular cycle more so than "reality" or the whole student body's feeling. So high rankings for "lab facilities", "classroom experience", and "ability to make an impact" bring comfort to me because it indicates that the cohort of surveyed students felt strongly about these topics AND thought Emory was doing a good job with them (Emory survey cohorts used to also rate the school highly for its library, which I think it definitely deserves). I get a little queasy when the school only gets high rankings in and feels strongly about "happiness", "quality of life", and dorms. It means that the students are mostly concerned about whether they'll just have a nice posh and cushy life at college. Prospective students should be careful when they see these rankings marketed to them by whoever. I do think Emory is actually much nicer and higher in quality of life than many of its own students will even give it credit for. It comes with the territory of perhaps being spoiled and also not being at a school known for drumming up a "rah rah" sense of pride through sports and things of that nature. Take both these rankings with a grain of salt and take weirdly negative opinions about life at Emory with huge chunks of salt.
My cynicism aside, go Emory! I am glad that the newer cohorts are enjoying it and are willing to express so in these surveys! If you don’t enjoy certain aspects and think they could be improved even more, feel empowered to let the correct entities know. Emory is going into a period of change and a large part of this is further improving various facets of the undergraduate experience. Speak up and let your voice be heard. It is up to current and incoming students to make Emory better and more enjoyable.
Unfortunately I don’t think this will change any perceptions. People will still say Emory’s boring or void of fun and spirit, or whatever other nonsense that pull out of their backsides.
@emorynavy : Well this survey reveals that it is key to attract students that are not only strong academically but fit or can be molded into fitting into the culture of the school If a student gets into a set of similar (or even different but all solid academically) caliber schools and then chooses based upon social fit and determines that they want D-1 sports, ultra-influential Greek life, and general “rah rah” spirit, then they should not choose Emory even if it is the highest ranked school among their choices (a person with a very specific vision of the social experience in college that must be met should probably not be applying to both USC and Emory for example. A student who has an open mind or is relatively indifferent with regards to that and can make many social and intellectual atmospheres work for themselves, it may make sense for them to apply to both). This assumes that financial aid does not complicate things. This survey need not change perspective of prospective students but is a good metric stick of current cohorts’ values and how they think the school is doing overall in certain areas.
If people want to make Emory fun in ways that are currently not considered and don’t involve switching over to D-1 sports, then they should make it funner. Period. This is not something I will blame admins for. If folks have ideas, it really isn’t that hard to get administrative support. Emory used to have something called Lullwater day, for example and I don’t think it was only affiliated with a parent’s weekend. Students could also invent traditions that are relatively low cost or no cost. It’s called using those big brains of theirs to use their creativity to generate events or traditions that at least start off as non-formal (non-formal is often more exciting anyway). Emory students seem to have an obsession with things that are sponsored, produced, and highly formal as opposed to spontaneity and I have said this over and over again. Clearly those that complain must also fall into this category and then like to blame “how strict the administration is” which is a cop out IMHO.
If the current student body believes the quality of life is high and it’s ranked #1 in the country, it’s kind of silly to dispute that. The kids who enroll at Emory in the first place obviously don’t place the same value on big time college sports as others who choose NOT to enroll or apply.
Well, list isn’t about students who never went to Emory but say they doesn’t like it, its about students who applied, got in and have insight about quality of life there. If they like it then that’s what counts, not some outsider’s uninformed opinion.
@CupCakeMuffins : Exactly. Current students or those surveyed clearly liked it. I must say though, to some extent social media and loudmouthed folks who are extremely negative (I used to be extremely negative until I actually started comparing Emory to other schools in ways that are meaningful and made sense and determined: “Oh damned, not only is this place nice but it is actually doing an excellent job, and could and likely will do it better”) can make opinions seem to have more support than reality. So it can affect the reputation of a school. The impact of this ranking can be drowned out if there are loud naysayers. My commentary was just to point out whether or not such an accolade is as marketable as it is at other schools that receive similar accolades. As in, high rankings in these types of areas of those institutions are almost expected because the students and administration have hyped those aspects up so much. It is thus believable to see a high rank with them. In comparison, with Emory, since there isn’t a huge echo chamber of positive noise on social media and marketing isn’t as aggressive, some insiders and outsiders can look at this and go: “really”.
Again, I think insiders that constantly complain about Emory’s quality of life, food, etc are kind of spoiled or do not try at all to take advantage. They really expect things to just fall into their laps so they take being there for granted and can be very loud voices. I am a loud voice that tries to promote and be constructively critical, but voices like me and extremely positive voices present on social media at Emory seem to be rarer than at similar caliber schools. It seems to hurt Emory to not have the same echo chambers. A few people cannot do but so much to show rankings, stats, etc to dispel myths and bad ideas about how the school stacks up to similar caliber peers. Go to Vanderbilt, Rice, or Duke’s thread and see how ferocious those folks are. They will aggressively (as in no nuance. perhaps I should adopt their style and eliminate nuance) promote their school even if it clearly isn’t the best fit for the person considering it. We don’t have anything close to that energy, which is a shame.
@ljberkow : I would rephrase it as: “Are less likely to value big time college sports”. We can’t over-simplify. Plenty of students enroll at elites without thinking it through because it may be the highest ranked school they got into or they followed the money, a multitude of reasons. Sometimes the list of schools applied to make little sense in terms of the characteristics the students claim to be seeking but they figure “I just wanna go to some top school”. This cohort likely have more students who did think it through or are content without it. It’s a good sign.
Wish more of those people with a positive experience were on here and elsewhere to show out for Emory.
In 2018, Emory ranked #4 on the same survey.
https://qa-www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=best-quality-life
I’m surprised Emory moved up in the rankings given issues with ongoing construction.
@BiffBrown : Well overall the facilities are really nice, and often students respond positively to momentum indicated by construction. Have you seen other threads for other schools on here and elsewhere where some of the posters like to display the momentum and excitement at the school as based on a couple of construction projects, often non-academic or non-undergrad related? But boy…when it impacts undergrads…say new housing or upgrades to it, or in Emory’s case a shiny new student center, you never hear the end. Also, newer buildings like LSM, Raoul, the chemistry building, and library floor layout rearrangements (yes, of course at Emory, the library is actually a relevant facility for students beyond just studying) have likely begun to resonate with newer cohorts. Emory has always been pretty nice, construction or not. Admittedly, it was really bad when I went though. There was construction at literally every portion of the core campus, from the Oxford road and psychology building all the way to the freshman village area and even Woodruff Circle. Even the “center” (like the first phase of the theology building which was proceeded by a demolition of a building that most resembled the modern languages building and other buildings along Tull Plaza). And then public health. It was crazy. All of this overlapped in timing for some period. Emory is much tamer now, and at least after the CLC is built (I actually have evolved on this and think it is very important), the freshman village area (I guess the eastern portion of the core) will feel and look more contiguous with the rest of campus. It has always looked like a completely separate zone constantly under construction with no connections either through architecture (other than red roofs) nor landscaping to other parts of campus. It just always looked “incomplete”.
The new Campus Life Center will be nice indeed.
http://www.campuslifecenter.com/
Thanks for that link @BiffBrown - the CLC looks like it will be very nice. Had to laugh at the animated students in the video, especially the “rock concert” scene!
@Emmycat : That was funny and is an interesting concept that Emory would have a true and flexible indoor event space. I imagine once it is built they can shift certain orientation events and other big speeches from the Woodpec to the new center. Perhaps from Glenn Auditorium as well, but Glenn is kind of a classic.