<p>I've applied to and been accepted to both Rice and Emory.</p>
<p>My goal is to medical school, and while I enjoy both chemistry and biology, I'm pretty sure my major will be more biology-oriented than chemistry oriented. I also want to minor in business, possibly major in it. </p>
<p>With this in mind, I'm having a hard time finding facts about Rice and Emory that compare the two. I was hoping someone could shed some light on them as far as a comparison goes. I'm interested in hearing about how they compare as far as their natural science departments go, preparing pre-med students, opportunities like hospital volunteering, internships, social atmosphere, etc. </p>
<p>Emoryyyyyy. I don’t know much about it but I know they have a phenomenal pre-med program (I’m pre-med myself), and they have their own medical school, something Rice does not have. Emory is also opposite the CDC so that may open up more opportunities.</p>
<p>Yes, but Rice is directly across from the Texas Medical Center (or one of them) which is the largest in the country. Admittedly, Emory’s opportunities may be more accessible given that it owns its HC system and basically runs Grady. And the CDC and Atlanta/Emory’s influence on the public health sector is quite interesting as well. Emory may be more up on exploring more diverse and innovative areas of healthcare, and it reflects itself in the curriculum and initiatives on campus. Given this, even if you only plan to pursue an MD, Emory is also an ideal place to perhaps explore or engage in oppurtunities that lets you see healthcare from other angles. This is useful and enlightening in my opinion. If you are a passionate pre-medical student with an open mind (towards academics or healthcare in general), Emory is definitely not a bad place to be. Not sure, but Rice may seem better for a more stereotypical “straightpath” pre-med student that plans to only explore things from the angle of an MD or hardcore scientists (you’re more likely, to say, have a decent amount of pre-med engineers at Rice, for example). While Emory seems to have an abundance of these types (not engineers of course, but those only interested in the MD angle), it’s very accommodating to non “straightpath” people who are legit interested in healthcare as a whole even though they will likely pursue an MD.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if would characterize myself as a “straightpath” pre-med student, but I guess I might be. In all honesty, being from Houston means that going to Rice is a much easier adjustment than living at Emory. I also like Rice’s residential college system. But I don’t want make my decision just because I feel more comfortable staying close to home or because I like the social aspect of Rice. Shouldn’t I make my decision based on the standard of education and opportunities present at each university? </p>
<p>And in that case, it seems that both Rice and Emory are great colleges to attend and both can help a pre-med student go to medical school. I guess my question becomes, does one of these colleges have some insanse advantage over the other? </p>
<p>I’m interested in medicine and also in economics and I kind of wanted to double major in biology/biochem and economics (or at least minor in economics).</p>
<p>I think Emory is fine for you, but Rice may be better especially if you want a biochem major (we don’t have it). I don’t know about Rice and econ., but Emory is having serious trouble in that area, though there are some great teachers and classes now, it’s still not that great a dept. On the plus side, Emory is a great place to be for biochemistry despite not having the major. The chem. dept. excels in this arena (research wise. Definitely excellent in the drug discovery arena. When I think of Rice, I think of physical, inorganic, and chemical engineering/industrial applications) and there are some really good bio classes to combine with your chemistry courses to give an awesome experience. Just no formal biochem dept for undergrads. And seriously, keep an open mind. As I tried to imply, there are many angles from which to explore medicine. Rice or Emory may be better if you step outside of a comfort zone sometimes.</p>
<p>That’s interesting - Yeah I think Rice does have a strong biochem deparment. Personally, I enjoy biology and chemistry and wouldn’t really know if I could pick one over the other. Depending on how chemistry shapes up to be, I might major in something that’s more biology oriented (I think Rice has a biological sciences major - not sure about Emory).</p>
<p>Is a weak economics department bad? What exactly does it mean for a college to be weak or strong in a department? What are the impacts at the college and outside it too?</p>
<p>Also, I live close to Rice in the Greater Houston area so a plus for me for going to Rice is being closer to home, which from a logistical perspective makes Rice a better pick for me. But, Rice has offered me no merit or need-based aid while Emory has given me merit-based aid.</p>
<p>@TMXYZ of course Emory has a biological sciences major! that’s what most of the pre-meds are. And I’m pretty sure you’ll hate Chemistry after you take organic and college gen Chem. I thought I really liked Chem back in high school but after I took it in college, I definitely prefer physics (which I loathe) over Chem. You’ll probably like Bio better, unless you’re one of those weird people that like Chemistry.</p>
<p>Haha - I’ve heard that OChem is insane no matter where you go. That’s why I’ll probably lean towards Biology. At Rice at least, majors aren’t chosen until the sophomore year, so there’s a buffer of sorts. Is it the same at Emory?</p>
<p>Students don’t formally declare a major until their second semester sophomore year. Of course most students start taking major specific classes long before that time.</p>
<p>Gen. chem and orgo. at Emory are pretty hard (as in harder than most elite institutions and definitely harder than our “near peers”), but very well taught compared to most institutions (there are exceptions though. Don’t take Menger or McDonald. Yuck). At Emory, these two classes actually win over chem. majors, whereas the advanced courses beyond those sometimes make chem. majors question their choice (though grad. levels are pretty good).</p>
<p>You have a great problem. Im sure many seniors would like to be deciding between schools as terrific as Rice and Emory. I really agree with you about the strength of Rice’s residential college system. And I know that your transition would probably be easier if you pick Rice. But your comments about aid are very important. Ultimately, Rice and Emory are equivalent. You should pick the school that will leave you with the least debt four years from now. There is a deoressing literature about the burden that recent college grads have because of signing up for so much debt to go to their dream school. Especially if you want to go to graduate school, pick the school that will cost the least. By the second semester of your freshman year, you will be happy at either school. And four years later, you will have more options because you didn’t enslave yourself to loan repayments.</p>