<p>Yeah, what may make Emory better for you is that the cultural and academic organizations on campus have a HUGE presence and I would argue that they rival greek life. Although I dog Emory for not being intellectual enough in a lot of cases, it may be a little better than Vandy (but not sure. Just going based upon things that are often headlined in each schools’ news or “accomplishments reel” which is a weak form of assessment I guess). I think the fact that we have a really strong debate team (really strong is an understatement) and decent participation of undergrads in various case competitions (and we often do well in those and we even host a global health one) is indicative of a some strong desire to engage in debate or propose solutions for major societal issues. I imagine Vandy would have strains of this too, but it seems that Emory has increasingly become a school to watch in these arenas. Basically, while both campuses are very pre-prof, Emory kind of compensates for it through diversity and the extremely high impact and visibility of non-greek/ sports related organizations. Both are very interesting places, but you may be more suited to Emory based upon your description. Make sure you take your academic interests into account however. Don’t come to Emory for engineering unless you want to do 3/2 (which means you ultimately want to do engineering but want the liberal arts education as a pre-req), or be cautious if you are coming for economics, math, or physics (though I do see strides on the part of the econ. dept to improve or become more interesting. It has developed a lot more course offerings, concentrations, and joint majors than before, which is good in my opinion. They just need to make sure they maintain or increase the quality and rigor of instruction). Also, if interested in education, maybe Vandy would be preferable, however, if you really value the atmosphere, you can use our IDS dept. and the educational dept. to essentially form your own major/area of exploration. The IDS option is very interesting and has led to interesting results. I think it’s one of the depts. leading the way for creating an academic venue for students to vigorously pursue and engage their passions, which are often interdisciplinary in nature. The fact that it has a senior project also encourages students to disseminate there findings which I think is awesome. I think this could be better than how some students do research projects to slap it and the product that results on their resume.</p>
<p>I guess many Emory students could be considered, in some senses Nerdy, but not necessarily intellectual (however, the school’s focus on sustainability, health, and intersections between science and liberal arts, etc is definitely sparking interesting debates and conversations among UGs, so again, it’s much better than when I came in and perhaps better than I give it credit for. These initiatives are fortunate catalysts for enriching intellectual life here. They provoke students to care about something other than their future career goals. So the conversations have started, now more UG generated innovation needs to take place). Again, we suffer a lot from the pre-prof. effect, however, I could see the school being nerdier than Vandy which apparently gives off a more preppy, “work hard play hard” vibe. We definitely have that vibe in abundance, but I think the difference is, that the definition of “play” is perhaps more variable and open to interpretation at Emory (the amount of people deep into things like Manga, Lan Parties, etc. is actually reasonably high here. And for a school with no engineering entity, the amount of computer nerds is astounding). You don’t have to be at a traditional party to be considered “playing” at Emory. Given the demographics, the social scene/academic scene at Emory may be more similar to what you see at our engineering friend, Georgia Tech than many of the D-1 peers we have. Also, the arts are (visual, performing, etc) have gained a huge presence and reinvigoration on this campus and I think that really adds. I think the latter’s impact will only continue to improve.</p>