Emory vs. WUSTL

I’m currently a junior in high school and I only have time to visit either Emory or WashU. I plan on majoring in business and I want a good business school, but I don’t want it to be so cutthroat that it makes my experience unpleasant. I would like my school to have teams so I can go to games. I don’t want to be right in the middle of a city, but I want to be close to one. I also would like to join a fraternity. Finally, prestige is important. As of now, I am planning on EDing to Northwestern. I am also interested in Michigan. Based on all of these factors, which school is a better fit for me?

And these schools are equally affordable for you and your parents have seen the numbers and are agreeable to that amount per year?

I don’t think there’s much of a difference in quality between Olin and Goizueta, if any – both are very good. And I think the same can be said for WUSTL and Emory in general, academically – I think they are academic peers.

Environment: Emory College is located in Druid Hills, an area of northeast Atlanta about five miles from downtown. I imagine it has a semi-urban, semi-suburban feel. I suspect Washington U’s environment is similar, since it is about five miles from downtown St. Louis. So in terms of urban/suburban status, they probably do not feel “urban” – there are trees/parks and houses in the area – but they’re both within about 15-20 minutes of being in the very most urban/downtown parts of their respective cities.

In terms of weather, St. Louis’s winters are colder but Atlanta’s summers are a bit hotter and more humid (though St. Louis has warm summers too…).

Overall, I’d say the environments are fairly similar – in broad strokes, at least. Atlanta certainly will have a more traditional “Southern” feel to it, while St. Louis is sort of a Midwest/South hybrid.

Sports: Both are in the University Athletic Association. Maybe the biggest difference is that Emory lacks a football team. If you wanted to attend college football games in Atlanta, you could go to GA Tech games.

Emory’s colors appear to be blue & gold and WUSTL’s are green and red. Yay Christmas!

WUSTL is said to have great dorms and food. I don’t know as much about Emory’s amenities.

WUSTL is a bit more selective.

Again, I think they’re pretty similar. You can always apply to both and wait to visit until you’re (hopefully) admitted to one or both.

None of those factors really help distinguish the two universities: they’re both next two but not really directly in cities; both have sports teams per se, but don’t have huge popular Division 1 programs; both have Greek life; both are prestigious. (I know that technically both are within the city limits, but I know from experience that although Emory is in Atlanta it’s in a very suburban-esque area of Atlanta, nearly outside the city line, and a drive or bus ride away from downtown. I’ve heard that similar is true of Wash U, but I’m not 100% sure of that.)

Greek life is slightly more popular at Wash U, with about 35% of the student body in a Greek organization. But at Emory it’s about 30%, so I’m not sure that extra 5% will make a qualitative difference (and it likely fluctuates from year to year - 5% is close enough to be just a margin of error difference). I do know that Wash U has a reputation for nice, friendly students.

One major difference is that at Wash U, you are admitted into the business program as a freshman and start taking business classes your first year. At Emory, you have to apply to enter Goizueta as a junior.

Yes carachel2

If sports really is a high priority, these are not the schools for you. But agree with above-- it should not be the deciding factor.