By time they graduate ECAS, many realize the benefits and have close connections back at oxford it seems (great mentoring culture there it looks like)
@bernie12 is correct about the RDs. Many aren’t visiting either campus before applying. Often these are the strongest candidates who don’t make up their minds until after admitted students days. These kids don’t have “dream schools” and instead are in a great position to make the right choices for the right reasons. At 18, many are in a better position to actually make those choices.
The ED rounds have more on the line and the spike in ED applications at Oxford is a cause for concern if it’s true what is mentioned on other threads that the lion’s share of these applications are from applicants who checked both boxes of Emory and Oxford on their applications. That 47% increase is attributable to those who are indifferent to two very different experiences. There has to be a lot of risk there. At this point, those kids who applied to both and only were admitted to Oxford are hopefully comfortable with their choice.
@prezbucky Your second paragraph is spot on - Emory was not my first choice school so I came to Oxford with the mindset of transferring to a target school. And yeah, I will admit that I didn’t like Oxford for the first few months since it has a bit of a summer camp feel and limited opportunities but now that I look back on it, I really grew as a person at Oxford and very tight friendships. I also got to play a varsity sport here - something that I probably wouldn’t have been able to do at another top university. Oxford taught me how to think (especially through STEM classes) and I am truly grateful for this experience.
@TheTennishNinja : I am going to keep it real and just point out that your STEM classes (at the intro. level at least) would not have even been like that at most other top universities, especially those below 10 or 12. Very hit and miss and messy at a lot of places. You have to be very focused and deliberate about getting a strong education from basically all of these places. They aren’t trying to give you anything. Even when you become a junior or whatever at main…as a STEM major, you have multiple choices for multiple classes and experiences could be night and day depending on who you choose as two offerings of the same course may have a completely different syllabus content wise and pedagogically (I notice that at Oxford, at the intro. level, maybe exams differ, but syllabus is exactly the same and the content and assignments are normalized). At Emory, this is both good and bad as one instructor may feel like one of the upper Ivies/Ivy + schools and another may pitch the same course as if it is for an open admissions public university (and this happens at other near peers no matter what students at them like to claim about their schools). You get the flexibility, but ultimately you can almost easily choose at a big place focused upon research and professional/graduate education to just not get a 60k+ education.
And coming into a good school with the intent to transfer in mind can be very toxic. I am impressed that you got past it, because often those folks tend to create or at least look for reasons to justify their mindset as opposed to trying to enjoy or appreciate their experience. It often leads to self-sabotage that could potentially weaken what would be a transfer application.
I am getting the impression that Oxford is more valuable and individualistic, but how is the social life for both schools?
@Sblumenfeld I’d say that Oxford is for people who are torn between a liberal arts or research university education - going to Oxford provides the liberal arts side. I would beg to differ that Oxford is individualistic. Oxford is very close knit and it seems that Oxford kids really want to help each other out even when they go to Emory. I’d actually say that Emory is more individualistic as there are no D1 sports that unify the school so everyone does their own thing… though I guess the school is unified through its weird traditions (Dooley) and academics.
Since I go out most weekends, I find that there is a decent chunk of the student body at both Oxford and Emory that also enjoy spending a night out. Because of the smaller student body, the social life at Oxford is more dead compared to Emory but there is always a group for something. Emory and Oxford are not one way track to fun schools.
@Sblumenfeld : By individualistic, do you mean education or social life? If education, Oxford…more personalized, so could be great if you are not particularly accelerated (or if you do not plan on using AP credits to accelerate) but truly value education. You can do the same in Atlanta the first two years, but you must be more deliberate to choose smaller classes and better instructors. Socially, ATL is bigger and more fragmented. Honestly, I feel like D-1 schools can be this way too, but you at least get some days or weeks where it feels unified at those plays. At Emory, clubs and orgs. dominate. Oxford is smaller so my understanding is that they can still have a strong community spirit even if dominated by clubs. Both do not give the rah rah feel advertised by schools like Duke, Georgetown, UVA, Vanderbilt, USC, UCLA, ND, and other elite publics with a strong D-1 big money sports program and influential Greek life scene. The scenes are wrapped around the clubs and academics at both and there is a large subscription to Greek life (like 30% at Emory), but if it doesn’t seem to dominate the social scene as much as some other schools, so you don’t get really even an inkling of a “party school” vibe that many want from time to time. They are more for cerebral (even nerdy types to some extent) types who like deeply engaging their academics, orgs/clubs, but who do like to “play hard” from time to time primarily by going out into the city or nearby areas, or to Clairmont, Greek row, or other nearby houses and apartments. Either way, if you value more “rah rah” and a consistently intense party scene and a less cerebral/academic leaning vibe and social scene, Emory may not be for you. In my opinion, it is not to be compared to the schools I mentioned above. Maybe more like JHU, WUSTL, a toned down Chicago, and some LACs even. I feel like Emory and Oxford are better for those who look for strength in particular programs and academic tracks + maybe some quirkiness and decent hints of intellectualism (despite all the pre-professionals) as opposed to those who are just looking for places known general academic excellence (as in they don’t care about programmatic strengths, they just want to be at the school.
They may not even know much about what programs are actually good at the school, they just go and hope for the best…and in fact, the process of academics are more so secondary beyond performance that is), great placement in some areas, and “fun” in the traditional senses (that depicted in media/college oriented films). It is like the difference between the student who says: “Wow, what a beautiful, highly reputed school that is also very spirited and will somehow get me where I want to go” versus “Wow, this school is beautiful, has nice facilities, and plus I know my intended major is done really well here”(note how this one indicates that the student has a particular major, not only pre-professional track, in mind, and they actually care how well that particular major and department is/its reputation. Instead of “I hear pre-med here is good” it is more like:“I want to be pre-med and I hear this specific STEM major that functions as a pipeline is done really well”). The applicant who thinks like the latter when selecting schools “may” be a better fit for Emory. You’ll notice a lot of well-fit Emory students coming in with pre-mature knowledge of the business program, NBB, biology, QTM, chemistry, and English/Creative Writing, political science, etc. So folks come in with specific things in mind and care about how they are done at the school…they are less likely to take academic excellence for granted or just assume that because it is ranked high overall, it is worth coming for anything.
Consider Emory if you think you can tolerate lack of D-1, rah rah social scene, and perhaps have done enough research to find that it does undergraduate education in an area of interest really well. If you don’t actually care about how well it is done so much as the major simply being offered (I see this a lot even among those aiming for elite private and publics), I honestly recommend elsewhere. Those who come thinking: “I just really want to be at some highly ranked school” seem to have the most problems because they envisioned it to have the same vibe as the schools I say it should not be compared to. If these are admitted to Emory, and not the others, but looking for the vibes of the others, I flat out recommend a better fitting school even if it is lower ranked, technically less prestigious, or even perceived as less “good”. It helps one’s own happiness as well as the vibe at Emory itself.
I am totally fine with not attending a school that is rah- rah, and I like that better because I am very goal- oriented. I was just curious if both schools take advantage of Atlanta’s social scene, or if only Emory does given that it is closer to the city. Regardless, I am considering applying to both schools.