<p>shoot for a 2200+ and a 1450+. I was waitlisted last year with a 1500/1600(Reading and Math) and a 2200/2400 (overall), but I managed to get in off the waiting list.</p>
<p>Yeah, the admissions trend is weird. Apparently the scores went down a little for 2013 (after my year) due to applications being down. But for 2014, applications declined again, but the scores went back up and surpassed ours. Yeah, I’ll revise my opinion, and say shoot for about the 2200 and 1450 for regular decision. But at this rate, you’ll need more than that if Emory recovers from the decline in applications when you apply (which it probably will have. Emory should be smart enough to figure it out by this upcoming application round. I hope. A little more marketing should be the key. The Dalai Lama visit could help 
). By time you apply, the university should be more “complete”, if you will. Therefore, the applications should definitely have rebounded by then.</p>
<p>Ok I understand that you know somebody who chose between the two schools. Students have to make choices among colleges every year. But just because he was between Emory and Cornell doesn’t mean you should limit your choices to those two. </p>
<p>Comparing Cornell to Emory is like comparing Duke to Amherst. They are all good schools, but that is really where the similarities end.</p>
<p>Write really, really, really good essays and get very, very, very good recommendations. I got in with 3.6 unweighted GPA and 2280 SAT. I did IB in high school, so I ended up taking 12 IB, 3 AP, and 6 Honors classes, overloading myself.</p>
<p>So I worked my ass off on my essays and got really good recommendations (I read books on college admmissions, so I know). Well, I was one of the best high school chess players in my state and Emory has, according to the book “283 Great Colleges”, a nationally recognized chess team so that probably helped too.</p>
<p>I had about a 3.8 unweighted with a 2250 SAT. With that said I do not think I would have been admitted if not for essays and extracurriculars… I hope that helps</p>
<p>Tough admissions standards! The person who I knew who was accepted got around a 1900 SAT.
And don’t worry, I’m only 13 years old. I’m not really considering colleges yet, although it would be cool to attend Emory.</p>
<p>That’s rare though. They would certainly fall below the 25% mark for scores. The chances of a person with that score being admitted is far less than even a person with a 2000. Yeah, but every top school will have some admits like that. Don’t expect to be among the rare few admitted with below 2000-2100</p>
<p>I’ve actually heard Emory is, to be blunt, downright atrocious for pre-medical students. They only sent about 50% of their pre-med kids to medical school last year and this isn’t because they don’t screen or discourage their less remarkable students (most universities of Emory’s caliber don’t do the same, either). Compared to Rice, for example, which sends 90% of its students to medical school, Emory is lacking, atleast in this respect.</p>
<p>Now, don’t get me wrong. Emory is a great school (hell, one of the best) in almost every other aspect, but if your major conviction is medical school, I would reconsider. I was accepted as a Fall 2010 transfer and will probably end up staying at my State Uni because it doesn’t make any sense to shove out $40k a year for a school which sends about the same percentage of students to medical school as a $20k a year state school.</p>
<p>Anyone have any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>Your choice did not have a good basis. Emory prepares you for medical school very well if you are not weeded out. We are just one of those schools who doesn’t hold the hands of students (pick classes, give them the internships/opportunities. This is a sensible approach because an adult premed should understand this stuff). The curriculum is rather difficult, and the problem is that the people weeded out tend to apply, and nobody stops them. Above 30 and 3.5 has a higher (80-90%) percentage of pre-meds getting in which is normal. Apparently Emory has a disproportionate amount of applicants compared to some peers. And also, I notice a tendency for many students to only apply to top 10-15 schools which is ridiculous. They clearly wanted to go to a prestigious professional school more than actually getting medical training. Needless to say, even though they were competitive, many don’t get in (because getting into those schools are crap shoots). Some of these problems will improve because we have a formal pre-health advising program now and they will be setting up a composite letter committee of some sort. So at least now we are attempting to hold the students’ hands a little more. </p>
<p>But yeah, I have several friends whose GPA was not quite (almost) 3.3-3.5 freshmen year, and some wish they went to state schools where it is easier and the curves are more generous (probably due to the overall size of the course) for the introductory pre-med courses. </p>
<p>Point is, this is partially the students’ faults. The curriculum itself is solid in each major. And intro. classes such as orgo. (I consider orgo. intro. People think it’s the worst chem course, but it’s nowhere near it), bio, and general chem. to some degree integrate some medical applications (rather specifically in lecture or you are expected to apply regular knowledge to such applications on an exam). Not to mention, the liberal arts scene/curriculum is extremely strong. So if you “want” a really well-rounded education (which may also look good to med. schools) that you actually enjoy, this is one of those places for it. I emphasize want b/c many science majors seem to avoid social science/humanities at all cost (some are convinced that it’s so much easier, but many I know withdrew out of, or scored low in political science courses because they were really rough), thus making their applications look duller. Also seems like a waste of money if they don’t explore the amazing liberal arts scene here. My favorite statement is: “Why didn’t you just go to Georgia Tech or somewhere like that?”</p>
<p>I haven’t actually made my decision as to whether I will be attending Emory or not. What I can’t understand is why Emory is sending only 180 kids to medical school though, when universities of smaller size and similar prestige are managing to send 200, sometimes around 300. The new pre-medical commission doesn’t seem to be a significant aid, atleast based off the most recent data (<a href=“http://www.career.emory.edu/parents/pdf/Med_Stats_2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.career.emory.edu/parents/pdf/Med_Stats_2009.pdf</a>). </p>
<p>Once again, I am in no way claiming or attempting to claim Emory is a bad school, but I do believe I have legitimate concerns regarding its pre-medical program. I would be happy to concede my point if someone enlightened me, but numbers are numbers, and Emory simply does not have them.</p>
<p>I have also spoken to students who tell me that much of the problems come from the program itself. This unfortunately seems to be true considering the amount of kids who do poorly on the MCAT.</p>
<p>Exactly what would be the problems with program? What did they say? People probably do poorly on that because they take the easiest profs. so as to get the easiest As and they don’t learn anything. No one can help students who simply want to get by (trust me, that’s all it’s about with many of these students. They don’t seek the best profs., but the easiest profs. They also avoid harder classes within their major, which is more than often biology) as opposed to getting something out of pre-med courses and retaining information. Biology has been remodelled to have much more genetics than intro. bio courses at other schools. And my understanding is that such a format is closer to material covered on MCAT. Trust me, it’s partially the student’s fault. I don’t think the goal of every course pre-dominated by pre-med students should be to prep people for MCATs. That’s lop-sided. Courses should be taught for the sake of the subject itself. Most people should also know how to effectively use the Prep books and materials by now (and wouldn’t have to cram using such sources if they had actually tried to learn). Still, 30+, 3.5= 8? percent admit rate. If you choose not to come here because of the other statistics, you are basically saying you are not among those that can get that. Emory, will in no way, hinder your success on the MCAT. That’s ridiculous. I know, that this past med. school admission season, we had quite a few people (far more than normal) enter top Ivies and their peers. I know one of them. Numbers cannot tell you about student culture and stuff. Here, students are motivated to earn grades, as opposed to looking at the big picture.</p>
<p>I honestly think some of this would go away if some courses were more standardized to the point that all sections are relatively difficult. This provides no way for students to dodge the tougher profs. They will either learn to retain and apply information effectively or be weeded out. Very simple. They probably need to eliminate the multiple choice format for exams in intro. biology also. This format started dominating in like 2007-8. While they can be kind of hard, it still heavily promotes memory based learning. It seems either no or 1 prof. offers short-answer/essays per semester. I like Dr. Eisen’s test format. If chem. can give hybrid exams, so can they. The class sections are about the same size.</p>
<p>My main reason for not going is actually financial. I don’t think the pre-med is worth it, but I’m also an English major and the English education there is irresistible. If Emory can provide me with a good financial aid package, I probably will attend for that reason (and just hope that its science courses don’t kick me to the curb).</p>
<p>Notice that almost 400 applied. That’s ridiculous. Clearly many don’t have the GPA or MCAT. I don’t know which one it is. If it is MCAT, then Emory needs to perhaps become more difficult and weed out on the basis of low GPAs so that these people don’t take MCATs. Or the curves in upper-level courses should become much less generous in the biology and NBB departments.</p>
<p>That makes sense. That’s the reason I would cite. If it’s too expensive, it is too expensive. No matter how good a program is. If the fin. aid is good, do exactly what you said and try out a science course and see how it is.</p>
<p>In this case, if you’re sure you want to do pre-med Emory is the way to go since the prestige is similar and I believe Emory has more opportunities, and it’s cheaper.</p>
<p>So sad, my thread is dying out.</p>
<p>Okay, now that we are focusing on pre-med, can you give me some opinions on the courses offered? I’ve heard that Organic Chemistry is a pretty monstrous topic.</p>
<p>Pre-med is not a major as you know. It’s a set of courses that med. schools want you to have exposure to and/or what will help prep. for the MCAT. These courses normally include: gen. bio, genetics, human anatomy/phys., physics, calc. (kind of irrelevant, guess it is used as a weedout), orgo., gen. chem, and biochem. All of which are offered at Emory, even though the biochemistry course is not as robust as peers, everything else is pretty good. Outside of these, you may take whatever you want, it need not even be in the sciences. However, you may find some classes in various depts. that cater to issues in the field of medicine that you are trying to pursue. Courses catering to various interest in issues of modern medicine are most often found in the: neuroscience program (dept.) ,anthro./human biology dept., bio (most common major amongst pre-meds), psyche, and possibly sociology.</p>
<p>5schoolapplicant - orgo is a weed-out course at Emory (and at a lot of other universities, really). It’s do-able, of course, but a weed-out nonetheless.</p>
<p>Yeah, agreed. If you are not pre-pared and take either Soria or Weinschenck for orgo. here, you’re screwed. Aside from that admission, these are the bests orgo. profs. The others have easier exams, but students still do poorly. And those classes are somewhat bellcurved. Soria gives bonus points, and Weinschenck curves the average to a B- (normally it’s a C- or minimum C before the curve. Final course average is usually 69-72 with the median being higher).</p>
<p>it is understood that MOST if not ALL schools use organic chemistry as a weed out course. Biochemistry also serve as the same although it is not as notorious as the orgo courses. Btw, the medical school admissions look at courses like biochem, orgo, and advanced bio/chem courses (immunology, oncology, embryology - i believe first 2 mentioned are offered by the emory CAS) to determine your readiness for medical schools.</p>