Emory vs. Vanderbilt

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
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<p>I was surprised that I didn't find this thread already.</p>

<p>I have been accepted to both. I was thinking of majoring in business and pursue an MBA, but have since decided to study economics and philosophy and attend Law School (this is subject to change though)</p>

<p>I have read up extensively on Vanderbilt. Emory, not as much. From what I know they are both amazing schools, both ranked 18th in the 2009 US news and world report rankings.
From what I've gathered in summary:
Vanderbilt has a better social scene- (and better greek life?)
Emory is more diverse.
Vanderbilt has a slightly better location, situated a few blocks from down town Nashville.
Emory has a business program (one of the best in the world)
Vanderbilt has a better sports program (Div1 football team-- This adds to the community experience)</p>

<p>Is there anything important I'm missing?</p>

<p>This is coming from an intellectual who wants an enjoyable academic challenge, but still wants the opportunity to have a social life with fun people.</p>

<p>This is a tough question, but-- which university would provide a better overall experience? </p>

<p>Any thoughts, insights, and feedback is appreciated! Thank-you!</p>

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<p>It’s difficult to say which school would provide a better overall experience since we don’t know how heavily you weight the different factors.

  • Emory has a very active Greek life (I think 30% are involved). It is not overbearing but there is certainly a Greek presence with parties etc.
  • Emory is D-3 so the sports are on a different level. We have great teams like tennis and swimming but there is not a huge sports scene. This is not the only way to form community though.
  • Location - I think Emory wins this one. While Vanderbilt is pretty much in the heart of Nashville, Emory is about 5-10 min outside of downtown Atlanta (probably a better city in terms of internships and research). The school is also surrounded by interesting neighborhoods that provide anything you would want. </p>

<p>As a philosophy major I can say that I couldn’t be happier at Emory. It is continually stimulating both intellectually and socially. No need to worry about a lack of fun.</p>

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<p>i think emory’s better~</p>

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<p>But Vanderbilt is SEC!</p>

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<p>Your going to be so busy with classes you won’t have time for many SEC games. My brother went into engineering at Syracuse and only went to two games in five years.</p>

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<p>What’s the student population like at Emory??</p>

<p>My impression is that Vanderbilt is homogeneously Caucasian, preppy, and well off. I’ve also read that the community at Vanderbilt is warmer… every undergraduate is required to live on campus.</p>

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<p>What do you want to major in?</p>

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<p>I will be majoring in Economics & Philosophy.</p>

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<p>Vandy is more diverse than ever. The rich Vandy that you speak of was many years ago. My son had the same choice as you. Yes Vandy is required to live on campus all for years. But what it does, is keeps everyone involved in campus life. As far as Law Schools, you cant go wrong with either school, you are going to get a great education. But being it is past May 1st I am sure you have already had to make your decision on Vandy. Good Luck.</p>

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<p>Although I admit I’m a little biased (I will be attending Emory and did not even apply to Vandy), I nevertheless have to point you towards Emory for the majors you have stated. I am also going to pursue a similar track in regards to Law School, but will most probably major in Psychology or History (one as a minor). I think the departments which match your major choices are very, very strong at Emory and, if you change your mind and go into business instead, you will have a world class option, as you stated before. Contrary to what the above poster has pointed out, I have also heard the rumor that Vanderbilt is mostly (not overwhelmingly though) white, well off, and, in some cases, extremely snobby. I am a lower-middle class Bulgarian immigrant and attended a private school which contained people with millions of dollars and met many (snobby) people within my senior class that have siblings attending Vandy. This might be the source of my bad opinion regarding the school from a social standpoint. Bottom line is, both schools are fantastic academically, but Emory, in my opinion, is in a better location and offers social comfort for people like me (i don’t know your socio-economic class so I cannot say like you).</p>

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<p>bump</p>

<p>I’m considering both, want to know more about business or law at the 2 schools for u-grad.</p>

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<p>go to Emory. it has one of the top bus school, medical school, theology school. it also gives you more options if you decide that you don’t want to do law school. a lot of emory grads tend to get into the more selective grad schools. Emory has a lot of parties if you know where to look… plus emory has great housing. if you do end up with business, Emory’s program is WAY better than vandi’s. plus, atlanta is great and is filled with companies looking for interns. emory has a program that helps students get internship stuff and jobs. as far as diversity goes, emory is more diverse. the weather is better at emory… and seriously I haven’t heard of that many companies that have headquarters in Nashville. For better experiences and opportunities, go to Emory.</p>

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<p>CDC
Coca Cola
CNN
BB&T (i think)
etc.</p>

<p>atlanta’s the biggest city in the south. Also the biggest in business headquarters. A lot more chance to get involved in internships…</p>

<p>they both have their advantages and disadvantages…</p>

<p>I choose EMORY!</p>

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<p>From what I’ve gathered in summary:
Vanderbilt has a better social scene- (and better greek life?)
As in more drunk social scene/greek life? How do you describe the quality of this. This is a lame parameter. Both have pretty large Greek Communities. And Vandy students are known for being a tad more preppy, so you may not necessarily want to hang with them. With that said, you may not really like Emory’s people. Social scenes are composed of people, the characteristics of the students will determine this. Go visit both.
Emory is more diverse.
True, but Vandy’s getting better both demographically and geographically. Emory simply kills in the international student (and subsequently “Asian”) category. Vandy does better in the states (I think it does better in the midwest and west, again we close the gap with the international enrollees).<br>
Vanderbilt has a slightly better location, situated a few blocks from down town Nashville.
I guess you think downtown Nashville is cool. I wouldn’t be impressed. It’s so easy to get to downtown/midtown (just take a shuttle), that I really think this is unimportant. And midtown/downtown/Buckhead>Nashville IMHO.
Emory has a business program (one of the best in the world):
True, but Emory’s econ. program is interesting too. I think it’s getting much better as the course offerings are becoming more innovative: <a href=“http://www.youtube.com/user/EmoryEconomics[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/user/EmoryEconomics&lt;/a&gt;
The humanities majors like philosophy, religion, English, etc. get little recognition or praise from a mostly pre-professional school like Emory or Vandy, but they are excellent programs. I know this is true about Emory, so you need to see what folks at Vandy think about such depts there.
Vanderbilt has a better sports program (Div1 football team-- This adds to the community experience).
What ever floats your boat. I will call this school spirit. That is indeed true, most schools will have an advantage over us (but then again, most non-top 10 Ivy peers have a slight issue regardless of if they have sports or not). The unwarranted faith in the school perpetuated by some of your peers could be annoying. But what do you expect from a bunch of elitist students for whom enough is never enough. Also, Emory’s school spirit manifests itself in more unconventional ways (like through activism and service. This is quite a liberal campus) and Dooley and that is always fun though weird: <a href=“http://www.youtube.com/user/EmoryUniversity#p/search/4/UZztXVOGx1k[/url]”>http://www.youtube.com/user/EmoryUniversity#p/search/4/UZztXVOGx1k&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Is there anything important I’m missing?</p>

<p>This is coming from an intellectual who wants an enjoyable academic challenge, but still wants the opportunity to have a social life with fun people.</p>

<p>Neither campus is overly intellectual, but I think Emory is much better than say how it was like 5 years ago. It’ll probably have an edge over Vandy in this category merely because of the intellectual fervor that the diversity itself stimulates. Some things that have spawned from that include the Emory-Tibet Science initiative, so if you come here for a tour, and see Tibetan monks around campus, this is why. Plus, the campus is great at fostering discourse and discussion of very difficult or even controversial issues. If you are into discourse in formal settings, Emory’s Halle Institute host various speakers that come to discuss issues in foreign politics very often, so you can check this out. The discussion of Law and Religion has heated up, so the law school often hosts forums discussing this topics. Also, the ethics center (this has truly taken a life of its own on campus. Huge influence and presence) also holds forums. Emory just has so many venues for pursuing an intellectual life if you want it. Again, I’d imagine Vandy as having quite a few, but Emory seems to have blown up in such areas over the years since I’ve started. And if you want rigor, go to the B-School. Grades in major courses are curved so that the average is 3.15, so you’ll have to work hard with respect to your peers and some of those courses know how to pile on the work and give reasonably difficult exams (most schools won’t have both and most top schools simply have difficult exams) so you’ll have to work. </p>

<p>This is a tough question, but-- which university would provide a better overall experience?</p>

<p>Any thoughts, insights, and feedback is appreciated! Thank-you! </p>

<p>Making this decision depends on what you want. Do you want very high school spirit stemming from sports, which could be awesome. Or do you want a more culturally rich environment that is much more conducive to intellectualism (to be fostered by various venues), which could also be awesome. I think this is what makes these schools so different. Sure some schools have both, but neither of us are among those. So you’ll have to be really honest with yourself here. Good luck. I hope you get a chance to visit both and that you are able to make an informed decision.
The visit is because everyone here will be biased. Same goes for if you posted in the Vandy forum. Go to the campus’s at times when they are supposedly active, like some day in the Spring, and feel them out. You should maybe attend open houses as you’ll get a chance to sit in some of the classes and get a feel for the teaching quality which is really important (however, admittedly, as much as one would pay to go to either, I hope that it would be good at both)</p>

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<p>Have you visited either? Both?</p>

<p>(My own impression is that Vanderbilt is more southern. Up to you to decide if that is a “+” or a “-”.)</p>

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<p>Chazsf, judging by the fact that this was a year ago, I think the OP has made his decision.</p>

<p>However nice of you to bring it up again. I think Emory is a “northern” school in a southern area (that seems to be a general assumption?).</p>