Hi, I am trying to decide between Emory and Georgia Tech, as I want to be involved in the sciences with an additional interest in business.
Have you visited both campuses? What did you like/not like about each one? Will you be in-state or OOS, and can you and your family afford both schools?
All things being equal, you will likely graduate from GT with a lower GPA. I am faculty at Emory, and work with faculty who teach at both Emory and GT. We advise students who want to go to med school, for example, not to go to GT for this reason. On the other hand, if you want to work as an engineer, then GT is the best choice.
@jroback With a business and basic science major? They are not pre-med either. I would have to argue that if one wants to major in chemistry or biology at either, then the grading is the same. The grading tends to be different for engineering majors because they must take a harder courseload per semester and certain weedouts such as math and physics are much harder at Tech. However, courses like general chemistry, biology, and organic tend to be harder at and/or completely different at Emory and the grades apparently turn out similar. I personally only would advise against Tech for a pre-med if they were majoring in engineering (you should simply avoid engineering unless you’re super disciplined or brilliant) if one is pre-med. Going to Emory over Tech for something like chemistry will essentially offer no GPA advantage in the major/science GPA at least, unless you just screw around and choose all the instructors known to be easier in each and every instance, which could also be done at Tech or better yet, perhaps UGA.
However, one can not compare a pre-health with an engineering major unless they overlap. The amount of and level quantitative course work is just not comparable. Pre-healths in non-engineering or non-physical science majors can get through playing the GPA game quite smoothly at most schools (including Tech) with extremely careful course and instructor selection (because medical schools themselves, while having strict requirements, do not require the amount of courses of an actual science major…once a student get the requirements done, a student is essentially free and can avoid difficult advanced classes and settle for softer electives to pad the GPA…as do many biology majors). Engineering and physical science folks, due to the amount of courses and perhaps nature of certain offerings (sections of courses) probably have a harder time manipulating their schedule in such a fashion. Doesn’t matter if they go to Tech or Emory. The only real advantage Emory has is that the high amount of GERs can be used to pad the GPA more. It is not necessarily the grading or content of the science courses themselves.
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Thank you so much, I am an OOS and not wanting to do premed. I would be able to go to afford both schools, even though it would be nice to have a cheaper tuition.
Please tell us if you have visited both schools? If so, what were your thoughts about each campus?
So, I really like the internship opportunity at Tech while the environment at emory was nice. As a whole, I do really like Georgia Tech, and I feel that they have many opportunities to really succeed. However, I would like to know more about the student life there.
If you like Tech more, then just go there. Although, I do think the internship opps and career center at GBS are generally stronger (hence why it performs better in most rankings- to me GT is attractive because of its central location and the fact that recruitment to science oriented firms is naturally stronger as you have many more students actually planning to go into science and not professional school. Emory often has conferences and career fairs for those in natural and biological sciences but Tech has a bit more range of recruiting events due to the interest of the students being less concentrated in a few areas). If you are referring to the co-op, please keep in mind that it is mainly for engineering majors.
Student-life = that of a typical state school but it is more rigorous than most, so of course it is stressful at times so it isn’t like constant partying. It differs from Emory in the ways you would probably expect given the size difference and sports affiliations.
bernie12: there are a lot of nuances in the decision between Emory and Tech, and if the OP is non-engineering then its possible that the GPA for similar coursework will be similar between the institutions. But my colleague knows the institutions inside and out from the undergrad perspective, also advises non-engineers, and he still maintains that the grades are lower at GT. So unless you can provide hard numbers to back up your assertion that the grade distribution in chemistry, for example, is similar between GT and Emory I stand by my original comment.
@jroback I have been told by a faculty member (a professor I am very close to) in the chemistry that the average in chemistry courses 2.8-2.9 (even intermediate and upper division)…this is definitely on par with Georgia Tech who publishes their numbers here: https://critique.gatech.edu/
Type in the following for lower division chemistry courses there (typically the toughest grading at any institution), general and organic: chem 1211, 1212, 2311, 2312 and that is basically the average of Emory, with chem 1211 being unusually low. Also, why would I care about the grades for the anomaly when the exams look like this at Tech: http://chemistry.gatech.edu/sites/www.chemistry.gatech.edu/files/Sample%20CHEM%201212K%20Final%20Exam.pdf
That grading pattern is not atypical…
All the instructors have basically have migrated to the multiple choice format (basically standardized across sections) and while this makes grading more black and white, I can assure you that the problem types seen on a majority of Emory’s gen. chem instructor exams are overall more challenging. That level is on par with easier instructors at Emory. Their organic sections generally are more similar to kind of a “low-medium” at Emory and even the most difficult sections do not really even compare to the top 2 instructors for it. I’d rather go by the material than the grading. Sometimes the grading can reflect issues like: “No partial credit because tests are multiple choice, though not overly difficult” or “teacher is just not great and students get screwed”.
They pretty much grade on the same curve as do most non-super duper inflated selective schools do. Physics and math at Tech are usually the ones unusually low (like below 2.7 or a B- at a +/- institution). The reason for students getting lower grades at Tech is not neccessarily because of individual departments grading policies (Tech’s grades have risen with selectivity and honestly, their overall grades reflect the practices of STEM depts at most selective institutions with the average being around B or so and large classes hovering around B- and in extreme cases, lower), but for the reasons I explained. They typically just have a heavier courseload and often majors having much more requirements is responsible for this. The only major I can think of that is similar rigor coursework wise (as in requirements and electives to complete) to chemistry or natural sciences at Tech is neuroscience and behavioral biology and maybe math (but that simply is not as rigorous as it as at Tech, even if I looked at the content.
The classes that appears to have experience quit a bit of inflation at Emory is general biology (and biology in general. I suspect the addition of literature discussion sections to several intermediate classes has helped redistribute the points away from just the exams and quizzes in lecture), but even after that, I would say that most sections are harder than say…Dr. Choi’s, who is considered basically the hardest section. The grading differences are primarily derived from a lot of “fluff” with the Emory instructors (Dr. Choi flipped his class completely, but it seems the Emory instructors benefit from having a smaller class in the first place so tend to grade more assignments than just quizzes or exams). One can deceive themselves choosing one school based on difficulty as perceived through grading patterns. That gets really tricky as I’ve found out investigating science education and materials at many schools. One should always investigate why. Like a Tech person constantly taking 3 lab sciences at a time for several semesters is of course likely to have a harder time than the typical Emory student taking 1 or 2. You’re talking about very different norms and requirements at each Emory like many elite privates is essentially tailored to pre-profs.
If one is not pre-health, I do not think the grading at Tech should deter someone from attending. I believe their size can be an advantage in terms of specializing in a topic area (way more electives on average). Emory has become very adept at controlling class size (which will naturally lead to higher grades) and teaching many introductory and intermediate science courses innovatively, but if one takes depth beyond those levels seriously, It is kind of hard to beat Tech. The solution at Emory is to just take graduate courses earlier (which me and many friends of mine did). It really just depends on how serious you are about science. if serious, you can make Emory work well, but often Tech will work better ( a small GPA penalty will not hurt for graduate school. Relative success in serious upperdivision courses and research is more helpful and Tech is damned good for a range of research opps outside of the biomedical sciences). However, for the OP with dual interests, Emory could potentially be a strong choice simply because of what I mentioned…most science majors do not bog students down in requirements. It is not overly difficult to double major despite some individual requirements being quite challenging.
Also, I will say that it appears Tech has no problem pulling those in state students who get into both and can afford both (especially the most talented science students). This tells me that many non-prehealths think its totally worth it even if they aren’t engineering. Outside of the classroom, it seems the co and extracurricular options for those very serious about a career in science (and not pre-health) are more appealing and plentiful in general. Emory simply isn’t “nerdy” enough to attract too many of those types yet and cannot replicate Tech’s environment when it comes to STEM (true science folks can feel at home). This adds to things to consider outside of just what grades will one get.