Emory vs. Georgetown

Transfer Students
1

<p>I am a Transfer student interested in majoring in are Middle Eastern Studies and International Affairs. I was admitted to the College of Emory University, as well as SFS at Georgetown. I live in NC, so these are equal distances of travel.</p>

<p>I am afraid to go to Georgetown for the following reasons. 1) I am upper-middle class and cannot afford to keep up with the student body. 2) The food sucks, and I would spend all my money paying for expensive off-campus chow. 3) I am Jewish, and the campus is pronounced Jesuit. 4) The facilities are old and somewhat outdated. That being said, it is better academically</p>

<p>I am excited about Emory because it offers strong programs in both Hebrew and Arabic, both of which I study, as well as a solid Political Science department. It benefits from a large endowment, and contains state-of-the-art facilities. The cost of living in Atlanta is low. Finally, I can always spend summers interning in DC</p>

<p>Please leave me a recommendation with reasoning.</p>

<p>eih5</p>

2

<p>Well based on what you said, your decision seems pretty obvious. Go to Emory.</p>

3

<p>^ I agree, it seems like you’ve already made a decision. These are both great schools, and there are very few career options that you WON’T have by picking one over the other.</p>

<p>I would ask where you get the perception about Georgetown from, though. I’m not a student there, but I do feel like your arguments apply to any school of that caliber: Georgetown is an elite private school that has a word-of-mouth reputation for being preppy and wealthy; Emory is an elite private school where a friend of mine tells me “people have more money than they know what to do with.”</p>

<p>The social experiences, I think, are not that divergent - we’re not talking big state school and rural liberal arts college. </p>

<p>It seems like SFS matches well with your academic interests, and I get the impression that what you are looking for is reassurance that being an upper middle class Jew at a ‘wealthy’ Jesuit school is not going to preclude a good experience. I’m no expert - I’m just another transfer student - but I think there is so much variety among the people you’ll meet in both places (or really, anywhere) that you’ll find a comfortable niche and end up loving wherever you end up.</p>

4

<p>I live a mile from G-town, and I run over to the campus all of the time. My roommate works for the University in their Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and was just accepted to their Masters Program in Middle Eastern/Arab Studies. </p>

<p>I used to be in the Army, and I spent a fair amount of time in Georgia, to include Atlanta. D.C. generally blows Atlanta out of the water. Fact. </p>

<p>And Jesuit? Traditionally, but just think of it as a school that places a focus on high ethical standards. Otherwise, you won’t notice it. TONS of Jewish kids. </p>

<p>Old buildings? Dude, the school is OLD. What that means is their reputation has had a lot longer to grow. Georgetown is a VERY strong “brand” in the PoliSci/Foreign Service/Government arena. Plenty of people still have no idea where Emory is, ya dig? My point is that in IR/Public Service/Gov, reputation is obnoxiously important. Georgetown grads do very well here, as they have a strong built-in network of alums. </p>

<p>As for money, you talk about it like you’re from some slum in India and you don’t know how to operate modern plumbing. Upper-middle class vs. slightly more upper (middle) class? Negligible difference. Most kids are city types, but not related to a Trump. And it’s cheaper to buy whatever food you prefer from a grocery store than to be on a meal plan, so you shouldn’t even be concerned about something like that. </p>

<p>Another thing to consider: DC has vast public trans (aka you don’t need a car- my roommate doesn’t have one). Can’t say the same for Atlanta. </p>

<p>Lastly, you sound like you have a gut feeling about this decision. I always encourage people to go with that. Always. But know THAT’S what is driving you to the point of decision. Don’t sit around trying to make yourself comfortable with logical fallacy. </p>

<p>Besides, 99% of success is driven by you, your vision, and your effort and involvement level- that’s what put you in THIS position, didn’t it? So you’ll be fine anywhere - Ivy grads make the same money and enjoy the same success as Ivy acceptees who choose to go elsewhere. So go with what energizes and excites you! (and maybe whichever costs less…)</p>

5

<p>1) I am upper-middle class and cannot afford to keep up with the student body.
There are definitely some extremely wealthy kids at Georgetown, but it’s by no means expected for everyone to be a trust fund kid. You refer to yourself as upper-middle class…you’d probably get snobbishness if you walked around in Wal-Mart or, say, hemp pants, but not everyone is a super-prep who wears Lilly Pulitzer and drives a BMW. </p>

<p>2) The food sucks, and I would spend all my money paying for expensive off-campus chow.
Okay, there’s a definite lack of variety, but as someone before me said, it’s pretty cheap to go to the supermarket, and college kids in general don’t frequent super-nice restaurants…most of the places you’ll go are just nice bar food.</p>

<p>3) I am Jewish, and the campus is pronounced Jesuit.
True, but I went to a Catholic high school and a lot of parents didn’t consider it a very “Catholic” place because it’s fairly liberal and the student body is pretty diverse. There are a lot of kids from conservative upbringings, but you won’t have any trouble finding friends with similar backgrounds to you.</p>

<p>4) The facilities are old and somewhat outdated. That being said, it is better academically.
A lot of the facilities are old, but it is an old school. It might be more inconvenient to have non-air-conditioned dorms or cramped gym facilities, but the academic and student life buildings are pretty up to date.</p>

<p>I think you have a gut feeling about Emory and you think you’d be happier there, but just remember that there will always be pros and cons to any school.</p>

6

<p>Hi, I’m a current junior (rising senior!) at Georgetown University, and I’m in the College majoring in English and French.
It seems like you’ve been accepted to both great schools! But reading your post, I feel like I could help you have a better POV on Gtown! It’s a great school and I love it, and i’m just upper-middle class PLUS an international student (asian) and I had no problems at all at Gtown in keeping up and adjusting with all the students.</p>

<p>So you say:</p>

<p>1) I am upper-middle class and cannot afford to keep up with the student body.
People often mistake Georgetown students to be those haughty, nose-up-in-the-air, snobbish kids. there are a lot of very wealthy students at gtown, but I never got the feeling that these students are snobs or that they look down on others. Gtown is a very small school as a university (bigger than a LAC of course but still) and it’s a very closely knitted community. I bump into students on my way to class everywhere. All the people I see on campus (whether I know them in person or not) I have seen several times somewhere and thus they look familiar. Gtown really makes me feel at home :)</p>

<p>2) The food sucks, and I would spend all my money paying for expensive off-campus chow.
This, too, I think is a bit of an exaggeration. Yes, Leo’s is our student cafeteria at school, and yes, students make fun of it and complain about it. But I visited other universities (UVA, for example) and I realized that I shouldn’t complain about Leo’s. Gtown students complaining and making jokes about Leo’s is just for the sake of it. The food isn’t great of course (it’s just a school cafeteria, of course it can’t be compared to restaurants!) but the meals have variety, I think… and they change regularly. Some days better than others. We also have a lot of take-out and students do that a lot time to time. Bangkok Bistro, pizzas, chinese…etc and a lot of restaurants at M and Wisconsin, when you feel like spending some money for GOOOOOD food. also, we have vital vittles and hoya snaxa, and a free bus-ride to Safeway for grocery shopping. </p>

<p>3) I am Jewish, and the campus is pronounced Jesuit.
Gtown is a Jesuit school, but I never felt that it’s so religious or anything. We just place strong emphasis on ethics and morals and though Catholic, we believe all religions to be important and to be respected. I am not a religious person, but I had no problems here. I have several Jewish friends here, and they’re loving Gtown… </p>

<p>4) The facilities are old and somewhat outdated. That being said, it is better academically.
Georgetown is an old school, but dorms here for example are still pretty decent. All are air-conditioned, and pretty modern, actually. I had a single room last semester, and I LOVED it. My parents were amazed too. We didn’t expect it to be this clean and modern and cozy. Other than that, classroom buildings like the ICC or Walsh or White Gravenor, they’re also pretty modern and I never thought they were outdated or unclean or whatsoever. Facilities… some can be outdated, but by what specifically do you mean by facilities? the gym? or? students use the gym a lot, and I’ve been there only a few times, but it’s not a wonderful gym, but we do have all the basics and necessary equipments.</p>

<p>If you think you’ll be happier at Emory, go for it! Emory is a great school, and also rich in academics. </p>

<p>But giving up on Georgetown SFS… is a big thing too! Especially if you’re gonna be in the SFS! I’m in the College, but at Georgetown, SFS students have this pride for simply being SFS students (which annoys us sometimes :stuck_out_tongue: ) but they have a reason for that! SFS is really really highly known for its academics, especially Poli Sci and International Relations, which is your field! </p>

<p>Plus, ARABICS at Georgetown is really, really good. We have great courses, and I’m a language major, but everyone says Arabic department is the best at Gtown out of all the lang depts. </p>

<p>Wherever you decide to go to, I hope you make a great choice!</p>