<p>My son got into both Richmond (regular decision) and Emory (last week, from wait list). Loves the feel of Richmond - feels he fits in there. Is concerned about the lack of school spirit at Emory and wondering if the students have fun. But according to the rankings and teacher input, thinks Emory on his diploma will be more beneficial when looking for that first job and then, later, applying for school for MBA. Thoughts?</p>
<p>If your son likes U Richmond better, he should go to Richmond. Emory’s b-school is fantastic, one of the best programs at an already good school, but it’s not like all UR grads fail to secure well paying jobs after college. </p>
<p>As far as school spirit goes, Emory students seem to have a pride in that they go to Emory, but don’t rally around any particular DI sports. I worked as Oxford’s mascot, the eagle, not Dooley, and was generally fairly apathetic about whether our basketball team won this game or that. If the mascot is apathetic about sports, I assure you the rest of the student body is as well. However, like many students both at Oxford and Emory I was proud of the fact that I attended Emory, that my school educated Tibetan monks, had Carter and Rushdie on staff, and a host of other excellent things. Besides, realistically there are only a few major home games in the entire year.</p>
<p>Also yes, Emory students have fun. Trust me, we don’t all sit in meditation on Fridays and Saturdays bemoaning our U Penn rejections</p>
<p>haha, yeah, I heard that a lot of Emory students apparently cross-apply to Penn lol (A lot of my northern friends told me they applied). It’s ironic since I actually know two people from Philly that go to Emory that seem not to care for it (I think they got in as well), but they mainly just complained about the campus. These aren’t b-school bound students however and are science majors. Among the other “elite” schools that I could possibly see everyone preferring over Emory (assuming people didn’t just look at differences in rank and Penn’s Ivy League membership), Penn really isn’t one of them. Too many similarities (other than the whole campus thing with which I kind of agree with my friends). I feel like other schools ranked around Penn actually are of much higher caliber than it and Emory for that matter, academically at least (as in they are academically more rigorous and also have much more intellectual vitality than either. I feel like Emory is kind of like Penn w/lower stats for incoming class and no engineering scene, which is somewhat compensated for by the natural science programs at Emory).</p>
<p>jans: You’d have to be crazy if you think Emory students don’t have fun. It’s your stereotypical college, just with a bunch of students with high SAT scores and perhaps slightly higher academic challenge than normal. But seriously, you can easily party/have fun w/o D-1 sports especially when you have lots of people in Greek life and cultural organizations that sponsor very large events (Student Programming Council has become pretty solid as well). In addition, take into account that the b-school hosts a keg every Thursday in its giant courtyard. If your son feels he fits much better at Richmond however, he should be there. If he could possibly see himself at Emory after having some concerns quelled, then maybe Emory.</p>