Hi everyone,
I am a junior finalizing my college list. This is a question I’m not sure my counselor could answer, so I decided to ask here as there is a lot of geographic diversity! So I’m from the East Coast (NJ specifically lol) and have never been to either Atlanta or St. Louis.
The closest I’ve gotten to either is North Carolina (most South I’ve been besides Florida [besides Louisiana when I was 2 lol] which really isn’t anything like Georgia…) and Illinois (lived in the Chicago area). I’m worried about a culture shock at either of the places since I am very much an east-coast gal…not sure how to describe it, but I like a fast-paced life, am pretty liberal in my views…I want to be as open minded as possible! I’ve just heard questionable things about St. Louis safety and am a little concerned since GA is a deep South state, very different environment most likely.
I’ve run NPC for a variety of schools, both public and private, and have discussed FA with my parents several times. We don’t qualify…the schools will be the same price. I haven’t talked to them about these 2 specific schools per say but they are willing to pay the top-tier price for top-tier schools, but they won’t pay full for schools like NYU because of value.
Also, I intend to be on the pre-med track. But both of those places have good pre-med tracks, so that isn’t really relevant. It’s mainly geography!
If any current students or anyone who has toured or knows the area could comment on either the school or the area, that would be amazing! I can’t tour before applying since it’s a plane trip away, but I have 9 other schools besides the 2 already to apply to, so I don’t want to overload myself!
Thank you so much! If you need anymore information, please let me know!
ALSO
Here’s a small list of places I’ve already toured and liked/didn’t like just to give a feel of my fit
LIKE: Columbia, UPenn, Northwestern, Northeastern
DIDN’T LIKE: Lehigh, Rutgers, UChicago, Yale, Brown, Hunter College (so no commuter, no intense party life, no super nerd/scholarly vibes since I am only a little nerdy and don’t really read or study random topics)
AND I can’t drive/don’t want to drive/don’t want to feel left out for not driving so if you have any info on public transit or getting around to the city, internships, fun…please let me know as well!!
Thank you!!
I graduated from WashU in the 90s and have been back to campus 4 or 5 times in the last 3 years (including last week) for various alumni events and because It is on S18s list. WashU is just west of the St. Louis city limits. I always felt safe on campus and in the surrounding communities, which are older but very nice (mostly) gated neighborhoods. The homes along Wydown Ave (along the residential part of campus) on the south are stately expensive (by Midwest standards) older homes. To the north is University City, where there is a mix of single family homes and four family apartment buildings. I and many WashU students lived in those apartments during our junior and senior years and I think some of the buildings are owned by the college now. There is a paved lighted path that goes through the University City neighborhood to the Delmar Loop, where there is an eclectic mix of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. It is probably a seven to ten minute walk from campus. To the west of campus is a huge park (bigger than NYC’s Central Park) with a free art museum, history museum, zoo and many other free amenities. To the west of, and maybe a mile from, campus is downtown Clayton, which has nice restaurants, hotels and businesses. A little farther off campus in one direction is the St. Louis Galleria, a nice upscale suburban mall and shopping area, and in the other direction is the Central West End, a “hip” area with nightlife and restaurants. And if you are a baseball or hockey fan, venues for those professional teams are downtown. All of that is easily accessible via the Metrolink, and WashU students get free Metrolink passes. There is a neighborhood called The Hill with a range of nice authentic Italian restaurants. Definitely you should steer clear of East St. Louis, but that is probably at least 15 miles from WashU, it is actually across the river in Illinois, and I can’t think of any reason you’d ever really need to go there. I was never at a loss for things to do at WashU, on or off campus, and it sounds like that is still true for today’s WashU students. Also, if you are from the east coast, you will feel right at home on campus. WashU draws heavily from the NYC / NJ area and other East Coast communities. Good luck with your college search!
First of all, you should know that both Emory and Wash U. have merit scholarships for top students. For Wash U. you must write additional essays at the time of application; for Emory, you will only have write something if you are being considered.
Unfortunately, the two schools’ scholarship programs overlapped this year, so my daughter had to choose which to attend. She chose Wash U. and was glad that she did – she loved the campus and very much enjoyed seeing the city, visiting Forest Park and going to the Art Museum, etc. etc.
I, too, really enjoyed St. Louis – much more than I had anticipated. There are lots of interesting neighborhoods with lots to do, the campus is gorgeous, and the city seemed like an interesting combination of Midwestern and borderline Southern cultures.
Thank you @wustl93 for the super detailed response! It really helps paint a picture of the area! I’m not sure if it has changed, but do students work off campus or have internships in St. Louis? Or is it mostly on campus? And if you were to compare Metrolink to another city’s system, which would it be? If you’ve ever used another city’s! Such as Boston, NYC, Chicago, DC, LA…
Thank you again for responding!
Thank you @LoveTheBard for your response too! So your daughter was admitted to both schools? Did she see Emory at all? And what sort of stats would you need for merit ? (Like would you have to be admitted to Harvard or something as well to get more than $5K a year?)
When i was there a zillion years ago, students got work study jobs and internships all over the place - on campus, on the med school campus which is in Central West End, and in and around St. Louis and (if they were interning during the summer) on the east and west coasts as well. My understanding is that the career center has only gotten stronger over the years, so I’d bet internship prospects are better now as compared to when I was there. On our recent visit, there was reference to a career fair with lots of enployers setting up shop to recruit, which is new since i was there. And if you are headed for the business school, it has its own career center which has expanded with the recent construction of Brauer Hall.
Metrolink came after I graduated, but I have used it on my return trips. It is not as comprehensive a system as NYC or Boston or DCs subways. There are two lines, both of which are roughly east-west. They run together for a short distance but diverge a bit at either end. So there are some things (like The Hill) you can’t reach via metrolink because they are too far north or south of the lines, but most things you’d be interested in as a student are convenient and accessible via metrolink. There are two stops on wash u s campus. The routes are on line if you Google st. Louis metrolink.
Since you are familiar with Chicagoland, the area around WashU is a lot like Evanston. Clayton to the south and west like north Evanston. UCity to the north like south Evanston/Rogers Park. Then stick a big park like Central Park to the east.
We did not end up visiting Emory because Wash U.'s scholarship competition overlapped with Emory’s and my daughter decided she was more interested in Wash U.
Yes, in order to get the top scholarships, you have to be in the top 1-2% of students that apply. You can also apply to the Oxford campus – where you would study for the first two years and them move over to the main campus. I believe that it is easier to get into/get merit from Oxford, but the campus is not in Atlanta proper.
Wash U. is tougher to get into and probably also tougher to get big merit (full or half tuition) from, but it is possible. You have to show a lot of demonstrated interest (applying for scholarships helps; you also should visit (if possible), interview, contact admissions officers, professors, etc.).
And yes, often the kids that get them are usually getting into ivy league schools as well.
What are your stats?
@LushLillies Seems to be a lot of WUSTL fans in this thread lol, that’s okay. Atlanta is a great city and the 9th largest Metro in the country. The city proper is a hustle and bustle, work hard play harder type of city and atmosphere, and that seeps onto Emory’s campus. It really depends on your personality and fit as both of these schools are comparable peers (19 and 20 on US news respectively). Emory is just out side of downtown and about 10 min drive(30 min walk) from midtown Atlanta. There are round the clock shuttles that will take you to midtown. Its very hard not to like the area as it is truly gorgeous. There are not many “elite” institutions this close to a major city while maintaining the cache` of suburban oasis .You will not find that at WUSTL. Emory has great opportunities for its pre-med students with bountiful internship opportunities, pretty sure the top 10 premed students are automatic admits to Emory med school as well. If you ever change your mind about medicine, Emory is one of the best places where one can easily change majors or concentrations.The admissions difficulty at both Institutions are comparable, especially if you consider the fact Emory does not game the system in a “stat whoring” sense like WUSTL. Both schools are very difficult to get into and even more difficult to get merit scholarships for.
For Emory’s latest class,
admit rate: 21%
GPA: 3.83
SAT avg: 1475
WUSTL
admit rate: 16%
GPA: not reported
SAT avg: 1505
You could also add Vanderbilt, William and Mary, Georgetown,and Rice to your list as they are similar to these two schools.
Our daughter is graduating from Emory next month. Atlanta is the most liberal city in the south (GA as a state is conservative) and very comfortable for Northeasterners, who often move to Atlanta for jobs and warmer weather. Emory definitely leans liberal, but there is a small faction of conservatives.
Our D is not a party animal, found plenty of opportunities for things to do on campus and has a great group of friends. She changed her major a few times (double majors are not uncommon here) and found her professors accessible and supportive in general. If thinking about pre-med, the world renowned Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Emory Hospital (one of Atlanta’s finest) are right on campus.
VANDEMORY1342 gives a good summary: the Emory campus itself is gorgeous (almost all the residence halls have been renovated in the last few years) and located in one of the prettiest suburbs outside Atlanta (Lullwater Park is on one end of campus.). Emory runs shuttles to the airport, major shopping areas and downtown on weekends and is MARTA (public bus) accessible. Our D managed to get around Atlanta for 4 years without a car.
There are plenty of cheap, nonstop flights to Atlanta from the NE (we live in MA) a plus when our D was deciding which college to attend, since she wanted to come home at least 3 times a year.
@wustl93 I’m glad you mentioned the medical center! It’s not necessarily a “must-have”, but it’s really good for the medical center to be available for me, especially since WashU’s is amazing!
@PurpleTitan oh that’s really good to hear! I love the Chicago/Evanston area, it definitely doesn’t feel like a huge culture shock to me now that I live on the East Coast. Alright, so none of it is like downtown Chicago, per say, but there’s definitely things to do and all of the basics in Evanston at least! I’ll definitely Google Maps the area as well.
@LoveTheBard Oh alright! I didn’t know there was an Oxford campus…I just looked it up and it’s in Oxford, GA? Seems to be a bit of a distance from the Atlanta area, so it’s more like a small LAC than the regular Emory area.
I would definitely visit both if I could, it’s just hard to fit in a plane trip (since I don’t think summer visits are representative of a school’s environment) during the school year! I heard the interest thing is big; I just put it on my list…I’ll definitely do more research on the school, but would it hurt if I didn’t visit? I would definitely apply for scholarships if I do apply.
I can’t really gauge my position ofc but I have a 35 ACT, a mid A grade average, founded a club, president of 3 others, raised 10K for an org related to my intended profession, research position at a well known hospital, I have some international/national music awards, national writing awards, an international CS award, some state science medals and awards…the worst part of my app would be that I’m not in the Top 10% of my school (top 10% = 96/100 or above) and I got an 89 in Calc BC.
Not sure if coming from a school where 0-1 people attend WUSTL and nobody has really heard of Emory matters? Definitely won’t be competing with classmates for spots!
The “stats whoring” comment about WUSTL coming from an Emory proponent is a bit rich, considering their history of falsifying data in order to game the rankings.
@VANDEMORY1342 thank you for the comments! You said there is good access to midtown via Metro though. Thank you for the stat information! I guess Emory and WUSTL could be considered High Matches for me? Or would they be reaches? Do you think I would be able to qualify for any merit?
And I also like that you mentioned students can easily switch/take up more than just a major…I’m interested in minoring in CS and Spanish, so it would good to have an environment where nobody is just looking to get 100s, but actually want to pursue all of their interests! (a feeling I got at Northwestern, hence why I really liked it)
@PiccoloMom1995 thank you for mentioning the CDC and hospital portion! And that’s nice to see that a car isn’t necessary…I definitely do not want to purchase one and would prefer not to drive. And that students aren’t party animals…it’s comforting to see that NE people don’t feel a huge culture shock. Did she have any concerns about the school environment at all? Or was there enough variety for there not to be any issues with overwhelming presence of sports, greek life, nerdish culture etc. ?
@57special could you elaborate?
Depends on how you define match, reach, etc. I do it like this:
High reach: <5% chance
Reach: 5-15%
Low reach: 15-25%
High match: 25-40%
Match: 40-60%
Low match: 60-90%
Safety: 90+%
Based on your stats – which aren’t the whole picture for admissions – I’d say that they are either low reaches/high matches (ED) or reaches/low reaches (RD) for you. That’s assuming the rest of your app is good.
If you are looking for more schools with similar stature, I think these schools’ academic peers include Rice, CMU, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, and Georgetown.
Of those, all but Notre Dame are in metropolitan settings.
Tufts and USC are rising and may join this group soon (and to some, they already have).
@57special I agree. That poster seems a little defensive of Emory, and I don’t understand that. Emory is also a fine school in a nice city, and no one suggested otherwise.
@LushLillies If you can’t make it to campus there are other ways to demonstrate interest. For example WashU holds info sessions around the country, often on the east coast. Attend those, if possible. Visit their booth at college fairs. That kind of thing.
@LushLillies regarding post #9 and 15, a lot of people who are over focused on USNWR rankings take jabs at other schools and claim they have gamed the system in order to pad their rankings. That was what @VANDEMORY1342 was getting at when he made the completely unnecessary “stats whoring” comment about WashU. But if you google “Emory manipulate rankings,” you’ll find a few articles about Emory having misreported its admissions statistics to USNWR, which similarly may have padded its ranking. Not trying to debate whether this occurs or who’s guilty of it. Just explaining what @57special might have been referring to. Notwithstanding The rankings or any gaming of them that may or may not occur, Emory and WashU are both great schools and you can’t go wrong at either one.
FWIW, I have family who taught at WUSTL, and friend’s who’s daughter just graduated from Emory. Both groups of people have very good things to say about their schools. WUSTL, in particular seems to be a hidden gem, and would fit S1 to a T, but not his Dad’s pocketbook.