<p>Kids today take these rankings so seriously that some decide where they will go to college based solely on them. I'd like to discuss where you think Emory will be in a few years. Emory is currently #20 just behind a three way tie with Vanderbilt, Rice, and Notre Dame and just ahead of a two way tie between Georgetown and Cal-Berkely. Discuss</p>
<p>Because of its higher acceptance rate, I think it may go below Gtown and Berkeley. I honestly don’t know what Notre Dame is doing above Emory, and Vanderbilt, IMO, should be lower.</p>
<p>We’ve always had a higher acceptance rate than many of the schools below and above us, and we’re still 20. I think it’ll depend on whether or not Emory can raise the stats. of its incoming class, continue to increase its endowment, control its enrollment levels (getting kind of sketch, as in higher than where they should be so I’m sure student faculty will eventually be affected if it hasn’t already), gain a good reputation among peers and guidance counselors (with all the bad press this is hard to do right now, however, the other things are important and Emory is struggling there). </p>
<p>Also, I don’t really care for Vandy and ND as much, but I don’t think it should necessarily be lower because of it. It’s simply different in a way I don’t care for. It’s like one of those schools where the students have higher stats. than Emory students, but you really can’t tell the difference in quality if you put them in a classroom or throw them into a conversation. The social, academic, and intellectual environments, however, are a bit different though. These are not things that can really be ranked. It does seem that the Vanderbilt and ND type of environments are preferred though. Outside of the Ivy League (and it’s “near peers” which have such an allure that students will disregard the environment and attend if they get in), the more academically oriented environments seem not as appealing. Students like the “work hard, play hard” thing which sounds nice but has interesting effects on academic environments and culture because schoolwork is viewed more as an obstacle (as “I am trying to get this done so I can go party or because I have to make an X in this class” not, “I want to get this done but sometimes I find it interesting and enjoyable”) as opposed to a welcomed challenge or an opportunity to engage the course content. All elite schools deal with this issue to a large extent, but some much more than others (Lots of the big sports or frat schools have the issue, though places like Stanford are more balanced I guess).</p>
<p>Btw, Berkeley’s low acceptance rate is due to how the UC application is structured. The UC application allows students to check off boxes of whatever campus they’d like to apply to, so long as they pay each school’s $55 application fee. So a student who knows they only have a chance at UC Riverside might apply to Berkeley because why not? It’s just one box, $55, and no additional essays. </p>
<p>Students have to know they want to apply to Emory and be willing to write the essays, research at least a little bit into the school, and do a few other things before they’re allowed to apply.</p>
<p>Without knowing particulars about Emory and going by anecdotal
evidence (and in spite of the gap in USNWR’s specious rankings),
I sense that Emory and Tufts are often equated. What’s amazing
is how high Tufts SAT percentile #s are compared to at least 8 of the
higher ranked schools, including Emory. </p>
<p>Don’t know if this addresses whether or not Emory should
move in rankings (don’t think it should, despite its problems),
but it seems Tufts should be higher, especially considering its
hike upward in apps this year (+12%) and concomitant drop
in acceptance rate (18+%).</p>
<p>Tufts is a fine school but I don’t think they should move up in the rankings. I think it is certainly viewed as below Emory/Rice/Vandy/Notre Dame as far as name recognition and prestige and selectivity. I think 28 is very fair, and I agree while Notre Dame has higher SAT scores I think Emory should certainly be higher. And btw does anyone know if scholarship athletes for football or any other sport are counted in the sat average?</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t think it works like that. I think Emory has much more money/resources than many schools where students have higher or comparable stats (even if Emory doesn’t act like it sometimes). I’m sure that plays a role. Also, acceptance rate is kind of a dumb measure. Schools like UCLA and USC get flooded with applicants and thus have a low acceptance rate (probably lower than Emory), but get the same students (or maybe even lower caliber). Also, take into account places like Georgia Tech that accept 40-50% of students and still yield students either the same quality of, or even slightly better than Emory’s. Sometimes acceptance rate is merely measuring popularity (kind of like yield did) once the schools to be compared are at a certain level. </p>
<p>In addition, I think things like the faculty and general institutional culture (I don’t think this is measured) can make a difference in the atmosphere, so if Emory has really awesome (maybe even renowned) faculty that actually will engage with undergraduates, the students are often smart enough to know what to do with such an oppurtunity. They already have very high stats, and don’t need higher stats to tell them that “look, this person is awesome and provides a great oppurtunity”. While students are indeed motivated by each other, they are obviously motivated by authority figures (in this case faculty). Also, as I tried to mention in an earlier post, some schools with higher stats. seem to show that it’s mainly the school’s culture that influences what students do with them. The 2 I mentioned have huge party cultures and more “work hard, play hard” cultures, whereas Emory’s leans more to the “work hard” part. At Emory, you’re more likely to be able to legitimately argue that the caliber of the peers is a motivator as the institutional culture is simply different. Emory students, as a whole may, on average spend much less time partying than the two I mentioned (or the parties will be much less intense). This may also be at least in part due to the rather dramatically different demographic profile at the three. But the point is, institutional culture can offset any differences that you would expect to be derived from differing statistics of the incoming classes between different institutions. Even schools that are roughly the same are much different in terms of work ethic of student body or “why students push themselves”. Think Chicago vs. Duke for example. Similar stats, two different institutional cultures.</p>
<p>[Emory</a> University Misreported Admissions Data - Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings (usnews.com)](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2012/08/17/emory-university-misreported-admissions-data]Emory”>http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/2012/08/17/emory-university-misreported-admissions-data)</p>
<p>I don’t see what that has to do with anything. It’s already posted as one of the main threads/subconferences of the whole Emory conference. In addition, the school is still 20 and will likely stay around that area (between 18-23 I would guess).</p>
<p>I’ll agree and disagree and be flat out confused but some comments above concerning ND and VU. Bernie is correct in saying todays top students are more attracted to “work hard, play hard” balanced U’s that offer more of the total college experience than schools that only offer the “work hard” environment. The stats show that. I disagree with comments that state balance: sports, greek like take away from the academic environment and believe they enhance the academic community. Adults looking for jobs look at more than the job itself. Adults can excel at work, coach their son’s little league team, and attend the PTA meetings. A student can go to a party Friday night and a football game on Saturday and still be intellectual. Greek students have higher GPA’s, higher graduation rates, are over represented in school leadership positions, have lower transfer and drop out rates than their independent (so called intellectual peers). Greeks are involved with philanthropy and community service which add to and enhance the college experience and academic community. Football brings in a lot of $$$$$ that helps ND academic departments and with recruiting intellectual students to South Bend.<br>
In the job market “intellectual, academic, introverts,” need not apply to many leadership jobs. Recruiters seek well balanced smart employees with interpersonal, social, and people skills.</p>
<p>That’s nice, I recognize the benefits of have a well-rounded student body. Most elite schools have them, but one can’t deny that certain things such as a heavy sports or greek presence (regardless of their higher GPAs) creates a different vibe on campus. I was not commenting on how beneficial an intellectual vs. “well-rounded” student is to a workplace, I was commenting on what it does to the intellectual environment at a school and mainly hinting that a place like Emory or Chicago may have students redirect more of their effort to their academic work, intellectual activities, or even ECs (basically there is less of a balance). ND and Vandy will have different environments from Emory because of the sports scene (and in Vandy’s case, maybe Greeklife, even though Emory has a huge amount of people participating in them, we also have the huge presence of the cultural organizations that makes its presence less intense if you will). I was in no way suggesting how it translates to the workplace. Students who do their part at any of these institutions will be competitive for the workforce. They will all be well-rounded, it’s just that when you’re at these schools, you’ll have variable distribution of students focusing on certain kinds of activities (EC’s and leisure). At a place like Emory, because of the lack of sports, often you’ll find students engaged in ECs more closely linked to their academic interests as opposed to a slew of things perhaps faintly or loosely related. I did not mean to comment on something like academic intensity, just vibe. In this category, the 3 will roughly be the same and it also depends on departments.</p>
<p>Also, I don’t want to address the Greek question, one could probably find the same trend for those involved happily in other non-Greek organizations. Also, there could also be other reasons (distribution of majors within a frat. For example, I know one on Emory’s campus that has plenty of business majors who will naturally have a higher GPA than the rest of campus). Plus, it’s sort of a self-selection process by which a self-aware person would likely feel very confident about their academic position before pledging or joining. They (especially at a top school) know whether or not they can manage both well.</p>