It’s not a stretch for young college students to transfer somewhere and then want to transfer back. There are a couple of typical scenarios. The first one is one you see all of the time on CC, especially in the RD round. Some kid has “College X” as his “dream school” (none of us like that expression) and gets rejected, but does get accepted to Emory. From day one, that kid still has College X and all of its trapping on his or her mind and applies for transfer for the next fall term. Spring rolls in and the kid gets accepted to College X. The parents are so proud for this incredible dream come true. The kid enrolls at College X.
A funny thing happened on the way to College X though. The kid realizes that he or she will actually miss Emory both from an academic and social situation and that the “dream” was just that and the dream and reality can be two different things. At that point, you either make the best of it at College X and put Emory in your rear view mirror or swallow some pride and go back to Emory where Vandemory will welcome them back with open arms and tell them “I told you so.”
@ljberkow : I’d pass on that one lol. I would rather just start off with the group already making the most of Emory because they are more than happy to be there or are neutral and can make any place a pleasure. That concept you describe tends to rub off on others…I wouldn’t want to be around it. However, I did witness, a freshman parental pressure and stuff pressure folks into transferring away. I remember one pre-business student on my hall enjoying Emory socially and academically, but had a conditional transfer to Cornell and of course took it because: “my mom doesn’t like Emory”…uhmm, if the student likes/loves it what is the problem? They were from New York so I imagine some regional preferences or snobbery.
Interestingly, I have seen some transfer from certain Ivies or higher ranked schools (Dartmouth and Northwestern…roommate was a transfer from Northwestern) and most cite that things like the academics feel the same, and sometimes even have preferences towards Emory based upon their major. My sophomore roommate was political science and history and said he could immediately tell that undergraduates in that at Emory seemed to get better treatment and instruction…basically that the program and those in it were taken more seriously (this makes sense, Emory gets an unusual amount of non-STEM external research funding and in those two depts, a lot goes towards supporting undergraduate research and other special programs). He also commented that minus the occasional episodes of rah rah pride that NU enjoyed because of D-1, that Emory’s campus and architecture just seemed brighter, newer and happier to him for some reason. Some love Gothic or quasi-Gothic architecture no matter what…but different strokes for different folks. Also reminded me that it becomes hard to generalize about schools based upon differences in rank (Emory was likely still in the teens then, so this indicates that realistically, Emory at no point in its contemporary trajectory should “feel” overall inferior to say NU or Dartmouth…there will of course be differences that may matter to some folks and those should be investigated)
These are the same students who feel they are “roughing it” at Clairmont which, to be fair, is a mile off campus. However, there is a shuttle that runs constantly and it has a huge outdoor pool, tennis courts, 3 bedroom suites with private bathrooms (for each bedroom!)… I wonder how they would have fared in my cinder block basement triple at Tufts.
I personally like to walk to and from Clairmont to main, its good exercise. And it’s quiet and peaceful especially at night. You definitely get to see how well built some of the buildings are on campus like HSRB and EUHT.
@bernie12 Funny you say that, because Emory gets more respect today than it does back then despite the lower rank of today. Funny how things work.