Emory is one of the schools that I have applied to. I am wondering how Emory’s environmental studies/sciences program is compared to those of schools like UMich or Middlebury.
@whysoearly : I wouldn’t know how it compares to schools who are more renown in it, but it is very solid in general and is kind of a hidden gem within the math and science center (especially compared to the other depts there, at the undergrad level at least), but it has limitations as one poster here will note. I would say it is pretty cool, especially for a school that seems like it doesn’t emphasize that. However, one of the cool things is that Emory is supposedly very serious about sustainability and that puts a modern twist on the curriculum. The layout of campus also makes for nice field work and studies. Also, options connecting it to the business school, QTM, and public health make it very interdisciplinary in nature and can cater to a broader array of interests and also perhaps make students who don’t necessarily plan to just go into academia more competitive for employment or any other ideas they have. Take a look at the options and just see how it compares to those places. See if you see any strengths that could benefit you: http://envs.emory.edu/home/
classes like this are very interesting and kind of shows the influence of Emory’s committment to sustainability and exploring issues of climate change: http://atlas.college.emory.edu/schedules/index.php?select=ENVS&view=cse&t=5159&sc=ENVS&cn=385&sn=000 Seems like a really neat class. Also EnvScience seems more rigorous than one would expect given the amount of courses that focus on methods and actually doing work in the field. At many schools, Envs is known as an easy major of sorts. I don’t know anything about grading in the dept, but even if it is somewhat soft, it looks like they design a curriculum that ensures that most students actually get meaningful skills out of the program. As in…it is technically doing better than many of the other science departments which de-emphasize lab/practical components. I suppose physics and CS are certainly better than chemistry, NBB, and biology in this respect. Biology has not a single methods course…chemistry still has the old cookbook labs, NBB only has optional advanced labs and only 1 is offered regularly, but at least they have a senior seminar that focuses on primary literature. However, Envsc has an abundance of these things that are lacking or could be done much better in many science depts at Emory or anywhere for that matter.