<p>I am an in-state student and am faced with quite a predicament. I absolutely loved Georgia Tech's Campus and would be perfectly happy attending, but I do have some concerns. I am not a future engineer (as far as I know) and I desire to major in chemistry with hopes of attending medical school. With the Hope scholarship, an education at Tech would be very inexpensive, thus leaving me with funds (or time to acquire them) for medical school, provided I am able to get in in the first place. On the other hand, an education at Emory would be extremely costly, thus requiring me to borrow a large amount of money for future educational pursuits. While the financial aspect is important, my top priority is getting in at a medical school. I have some concerns regarding going premed at Georgia Tech, fearing that internship opportunities, advising programs, access to professors, and even grades could be more of an issue than they would be at Emory. I would love to hear from some who have gone premed at Tech, especially if they did so without an pursuing an engineering degree. What difficulties, if any, did you encounter?</p>
<p>If financials and med school are both priorities, then I would highly suggest Tech.
Here’s the thing: if you aren’t going to do engineering, then Tech’s not going to be harder then Emory. More so, I would think that Emory’s bio, chem, and psych programs would be harder than Tech’s (cause they are higher quality and more focus is given making them top notch). The % of premeds going to med school from Emory isn’t much higher (if at all) than Tech’s - and don’t worry about the percents of people - in the end, it’s up to you. </p>
<p>Also, majors and their ranking don’t really matter to med schools.</p>
<p>I am engineering, so I can’t say for other programs, but I haven’t had a problem with access to teachers. There are a lot of students in certain classes (esp. intro classes), but students who want to ask questions always ask regardless. Prof in almost all classes (eng and non eng) have always been willing to talk after class. And I don’t know what kind of internships you are looking for, but GT has great placements for co-ops and internships.</p>
<p>I would say the two areas Emory premeds have advantage are 1) having a premed advisor board ( I think), while Tech only has one advisor, and she doesn’t letters of rec. 2) Access to Grady, Emory, and medical schools so close to them so it’s probably easier to shadow. There may be more, but I think someone from Emory can speak to this more. </p>
<p>In the end, people from both schools end up going to med school, so it ends up that working hard and managing your time and priorities are the common denominators.</p>
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<p>I was not interested in attending med school, but I know students who graduated with me (Spring 2010) who were admitted to med schools at Chicago, Columbia, Duke, Pittsburgh, and Vermont. Being at Tech does in and of itself not hurt your placement chances, assuming those are the kinds of med schools you want to attend.</p>
<p>Do not come to Emory if you will be extremely burdened financially. It will stress you out. That’s one reason that most top private schools are really stressful. The students are very competitive, the courses (especially sciences) are tough, and it costs a lot!. Avoid looking at grading differences b/c Tech is mostly engineering and science whereas we aren’t even half. You’d have to compare only the natural/hard sciences and there is no engineering to compare, so…that gets dicey. Don’t count on getting higher grades by working less here. You have to keep up with very talented students and curved classes can screw you over if you don’t as the grading gets somewhat arbitrary below the A. A solid A very hard to get in many classes, maybe a B+/A- is easily attainable if you work hard. The +/- system kind of makes it harder too. Just more grades/tiers to section us off into. No grading scale in curved classes, so it’s hard to prove/challenge your grade b/c it’s arbitrary and depends on how the prof. feels. No historical grade dist. data for profs. either. So you can’t just make an estimate. Also, some profs. will flip difficulty level each year (or classes like intro. bio will swap in/out profs. each year so that difficulty varies drastically year to year depending on who’s teaching. I think they’re swapping some for next year b/c all sections currently say “staff”. They may just rid of Escobar and bring in all hard profs. for example). Basically, Emory can be very unpredictable w/difficulty and grading.
Some publication ranked Emory among its 50 most stressful campuses at about the middle of the pack even though we don’t have engineering. Emory may have it’s advantages, but if finances are a huge issue, then you may not do as well as if you would with a much smaller burden. Not to mention, when a parent is paying for it or you take out a huge loan for it, that incurs a lot of pressure which could also be harmful. The grass isn’t always greener, especially when financial difficulty comes into play. You can get a solid education and med. school chances at Tech. </p>
<p>Also bayezid is right: Emory’s med. school admit rate is going to go up b/c of the new composite letter/advising system, but before this year, Emory and Tech have been very similar. Essentially, Emory weeds students out, but they still apply and no one stops them. Not to mention, we have an abnormal 300 applicants per year (which is overkill for a school our size) so many are bound not to get in especially if several are applying to the same schools. Your chances of being weeded out are equal at both, and you will have to fight/work hard to remain a competitive applicant at either.</p>
<p>I am in a similar predicament as Ytterbium169. I am split between Emory and GA Tech with an intended major of Chemistry (or Biochem, BME, or Chem E, depending on where college takes me). Finances, for me, aren’t a big deal since I have received a large amount of need-based aid.</p>
<p>With that intro aside, what are some pros and cons for each school academically? I am quite set on a science-based major, so Tech’s lack of internships and such–as OP mentioned–may pose a problem.</p>
<p>I would also like to know how strong Tech’s natural science department is compared to Emory’s engineering. As I mentioned, I am stuck somewhere between natural science and engineering, so in case I switch, I want to make sure I am still at a very strong school in my subject major. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>Emory does not have engineering. If you came to Emory and wanted to do engineering after/along with w/e natural science major, you’ll have to do the 3-2 between us. If you are seriously considering engineering, you need to just start off at Tech I guess. It’s much safer, however, I’ve seen and am currently witnessing several 3-2 program success stories. However, if you are stuck between the two, go Tech. Emory’s chemistry dept. is more so based upon research aspects of chemistry and their application to the biosciences, medicine, stuff like that. Basically, it will not be more industrial/engineering chem.focused as Tech’s. It’s good, most profs. are good, and the courses are rigorous in the sense that they require lots of “extrapolation/ability to apply” to such fields. But given that, you maybe need to know what aspects/types of chem. interest you most. If you like organic/drug design/bioscience research type stuff. Emory can help you greatly in that area. </p>
<p>Also, Tech has a huge array of internships so I don’t know what you guys are talking about (The OP was making an assumption, which happens to be false). That should not be a deciding factor at all. Both do well here. And if you are into industrial/engineering chem., Tech has you 100%. Again, Emory’s program is more research geared. </p>
<p>Note: The fact that you did not know that Emory lacks an engineering program may mean that you should probably go to Tech. It is kind of risky to attend here if you don’t know that much about us now. And again, you’re stuck between the two. Coming here and doing 3-2 could be really rough. The demands of the chem. dept+ the additional math classes you need to take (for both 3-2 and prep. for PChem) could be a mess, though I suppose having two degrees is cool. One friend currently at Tech did 3 years at Emory and got a Chem. BS and is now pursuing his Chemical Engineering BSE at Tech. He’s basically having his cake and eating it two. Emory’s chem. program seems to have prepped him well b/c he’s manhandling those ChemE courses (and any others) that he’s in at Tech (he didn’t do as well here, but…w/e)</p>
<p>If you are positive about going to med school, then go to GT. Financially, you’ll have a smaller debt at the end of med school which is obviously a huge load off of your back. Academically, while you don’t plan to be an engineering major, the liberal arts college at GT is exceptional as well as many engineering majors double major in physics, math, or chem. </p>
<p>A side note about undergrad majors: these majors are somewhat “standardized” around the nation as every school has the same/similar curriculum for chem as at GT. Look at the curricula of a few schools on their websites if you want evidence. Undergrad schools are ranked due to their ability to get students hired and to have a higher salary than other graduates, and importantly their research programs. Definitely consider these in your decision.</p>
<p>Hopefully I could be of some help.</p>
<p>I have 2 kids; one went to GaTech majoring in Bio and the other kid went to Emory majoring in Chem. Both are in med schools right now and both received a multiple acceptances from US med schools. I don’t feel the kid who went to Emory had a better chance in receiving acceptances than the kid who went to Tech. Both are doing equally well in their med schools right now. So, if the money is the issue, you should pick Tech over Emory for sure. GaTech prepared my kid #1 well for med school.</p>
<p>I’ll agree with likonoMom. Only go here if you can afford it. Then it’s somewhat worth it. Though again, will afford no advantage in med. school admissions (or at least they didn’t with likonoMom’s kids were in school, maybe since we have legit pre-med advising, things will change), it’s just merely a different experience that is to many folks liking, because the approach to teaching is often unique, but needless to say this is not what makes for competitive admission chances, grades and research do. Both have that.</p>
<p>Kaonoyputput: You would be right for this particular poster, but keep in mind that about 55-60% here are relatively wealthy and won’t go into dept attending (and then there are a lot of people on Emory Advantage like me or they are Emory Scholars). So for folks like this, Emory is often ideal for pre-med. Both will prepare, but generally Emory prospects are looking for something a bit different. Tech prepares by making one a hard worker and Emory “tries” to force people to think outside the box and to perhaps get pre-meds to get a grip on things beyond the sciences that may influence their career in healthcare, so it’s kind of more holistic in a sense (or actually, both may offer this holistic approach, but it is highly fostered and encouraged here). Both work, but are quite different despite the similarities in the pre-med curriculum itself. The question is, how much is one willing to pay for the difference. Also, I’m sure that you’d be surprised the number that don’t pay anything because of Emory Advantage. Once that comes into play (which it will for many Georgians admitted to be honest), one can’t easily just say “go to Tech if you are definitely pre-med.” Then one has to compare the overall curriculum offered at both and which they like better. And this goes beyond just looking at the pre-med core. Ideally, one will end up taking courses beyond the sciences (and you absolutely have to here b/c of the GERs).</p>