<p>Hello everybody! I'm a senior student in China and I'm going to start my graduate study in the U.S in the fall of 2009! How excited!</p>
<p>By now, I was accepted to three universities: Emory, George Washington Univ. and Boston Univ. I wanna know you guys' general opinions on these universities regardless of majors. Your suggestion&advice will be very helpful to me. </p>
<p>Feel free to discuss and have fun^_^ Thank you everybody!</p>
<p>Emory is by far the best among the group HOWEVER I think an international would enjoy GW or BU more since they more urban/ cosmopolitan with large international populations. GW IMO is more prestigious than BU.</p>
<p>Do you live in the city in Beijing or outside the city? Emory is about 10 miles outside downtown Atlanta in a very pretty suburb with large lawns and shade trees. GW and BU are in the middle of their respective cities without what Americans would think of as a typical college campus. I would miss the campus environment, but you may miss the city environment more.</p>
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GW IMO is more prestigious than BU
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<p>That's a laugh...</p>
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Emory is by far the best among the group HOWEVER I think an international would enjoy GW or BU more since they more urban/ cosmopolitan with large international populations.
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<p>Have you actually been to Atlanta? I don't know too many people who absolutely do not want a campus that looks campus-y.</p>
<p>I agree with Slipper, if I were an international I think DC or Boston would be far more interesting than Georgia. I can only imagine trying to find a decent dim sum restaurant in suburban Georgia!</p>
<p>Emory is the best undergrad school, but since it's graduate level, the others could have equally good offerings depending upon the area.</p>
<p>George Washington University is located in a very fun, very exciting part of Washington D.C. You can walk to the wonderful and free Smithsonian museums. There is every kind of restaurant and every kind of music in Washington, D.C. Many wonderful restaurants and clubs and shopping in easy walking distance from GWU. The public transportation (subway and bus lines) in Washington DC is terrific - it is no problem if you don't have a car or drive. </p>
<p>Boston gets a little too cold in the winter; Washington gets a little too hot in the summer but it is not one of the hottest cities in the U.S. by any means. </p>
<p>If the graduate departments in your field are equally good at the three colleges, I think you would like being at GWU in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>I think it would not be easy or fun to be a grad student at Emory without a car and I am guessing that moonscaca will not have a car, at least at first. How to grad students there handle grocery shopping? They can't walk or take a subway to the grocery store like you can in D.C.</p>
<p>I agree with most of the others. I think you will be happiest at GWU--a great school in a great city.</p>
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How to grad students there handle grocery shopping? They can't walk or take a subway to the grocery store like you can in D.C.
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<p>I don't know about at Emory, but Tech right across town has its own bus system that takes students to places such as the grocery store and shopping. There're also MARTA stations nearby for across town stuff. It's not exactly like cities up north, but people have gotten by without a car.</p>
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I agree with Slipper, if I were an international I think DC or Boston would be far more interesting than Georgia. I can only imagine trying to find a decent dim sum restaurant in suburban Georgia!
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<p>Once again, have you been to Atlanta? I see a lot of people stereotyping the major cities of the Deep South as backward and devoid of any culture other than American. Emory is only a few miles south of a rather extensive chinatown.</p>
<p>Yeah, Atlanta would be one of the easiest places to find a good ethnic restaurant...</p>
<p>Atlanta has an enormous Korean population for some reason I've never figured out.</p>
<p>Emory is a great school, like Tech, it has its own buses (Cliff buses) that give you free rides around Atlanta. Plus Atlanta is still a city like D.C. and Boston, the dorms are just not situated in the city=more quiet time for sleep and studying</p>
<p>There is a big population of Korean people in GA, but there is a big population of Chinese people here too.</p>
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I wanna know you guys' general opinions on these universities regardless of majors.
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I don't see much point in asking. Academics should always be your most important factor for graduate study. The name/reputation of your PhD institution will follow you around for the rest of your life. Advisors are not created equal. Have you consulted the graduate students at all three universities to compare faculty?</p>
<p>Funding is also an important issue. How do your fellowship packages compare? Have you considered the cost of living in the three cities? Atlanta could well be the best bargain, since it has a lower cost of living than the other two.</p>
<p>That said, I'm going to go against the crowd and vote for Boston U. I like Boston a lot better than DC or Atlanta.</p>
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Do you live in the city in Beijing or outside the city? Emory is about 10 miles outside downtown Atlanta in a very pretty suburb with large lawns and shade trees. GW and BU are in the middle of their respective cities without what Americans would think of as a typical college campus. I would miss the campus environment, but you may miss the city environment more.
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<p>I live in Beijing downtown. Since Beijing is very large, it takes more than 1 hour to travel from my home to my university by public transport (the distance is not very far but the traffic sucks...) To be honest, I wonder what is it like to live in quiet environment and I wanna experience that! I love natural senery and beautiful campus. In this way, it seems that Emory suits me better:)</p>
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I don't see much point in asking. Academics should always be your most important factor for graduate study. The name/reputation of your PhD institution will follow you around for the rest of your life. Advisors are not created equal. Have you consulted the graduate students at all three universities to compare faculty?
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<p>Yes, I know that academics should be an extremely important factor. Actually, I can know this from the academic rankings of USnews. So here it goes:
Emory:7
BU: 13
GWU: 19</p>
<p>Besides that, I also need to know other aspects which can't be seen from rankings. That's why I posted here. Thank you guys for all those infos!!!</p>
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Emory is a great school, like Tech, it has its own buses (Cliff buses) that give you free rides around Atlanta. Plus Atlanta is still a city like D.C. and Boston, the dorms are just not situated in the city=more quiet time for sleep and studying</p>
<p>There is a big population of Korean people in GA, but there is a big population of Chinese people here too.
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<p>Hmm, free bus rides are great! I love that:) And a big Chinese population is great too. haha~~~Are you a student from Emory?</p>