I absolutely loved Emory when I toured because of the location, diversity, esteemed professors, enthusiastic students, and advanced facilities. It seemed like a great place to learn. After visiting, I was sure I was going to ED 2, but I’m now unsure because I worry that it is too focused on STEM research and that those people in the humanities/social sciences are at a disadvantage. I’m interested in studying political science/English. If anyone has any insight on this, I would be so appreciative! Thanks!
Emory’s pretty well rounded. Don’t be concerned about that
Those departments are very popular and well funded and have their own special programs and research initiatives. Among elites (if not all schools), Emory actually is among those with the highest percentage of research funding going to non-STEM areas. I wish I can find whether they break down the funding sources, but Emory’s was unusually high outside of STEM, whereas other R1s were essentially 99% STEM
@LHS2017 Always consider the scene in those depts and how they deeply engage their students. Also, if not many people were doing them or interested, there is no reason that they would offer so many joint-majors or have joined say a QTM substantive area. Go back on the websites for each and look at the course offerings, special programs, and happenings in the dept and see if you still have the same concern afterwards. At most R1 and elites, often the STEM scene is more visible any given day but that is often because engagement in other areas looks dramatically different. As for disadvantage 1/2 of the Two Marshall Scholars was a humanities major, most of the recent cycle of Fulbrights were, and the most recent Rhodes Scholar was. They also tend to win top graduation awards (such as Emory’s Britain Award, or the Bobby Jones Scholarship). They clearly have tons of access to opps and are well respected on campus.
In addition, there is the ILA, which is well known in academia because of how long the IDS program has been running. You don’t get depts like the ILA, a Voluntary Core, or the IDEAS Fellowship at places where non-STEM folks are put on the back burner.
You should examine what various folks, who won post graduate fellowships/scholarships, did with their time at Emory. Often, their interests are in the humanities and/or social science fields rather than STEM. Their experiences cover a very wide range of academic and extracurricular interests.
Emory 2016 Rhodes Scholarship winner:
http://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/11/upress_Rhodes_Scholarship_2015/campus.html
Emory 2017 Marshall Scholarship winners:
http://news.emory.edu/stories/2015/11/upress_Rhodes_Scholarship_2015/campus.html
Emory 2016 Fulbright Scholarship winners:
http://news.emory.edu/stories/2016/08/er_fulbrights_2016/campus.html
And in case you were considering the Oxford College campus at Emory, you should know that the humanities and social science courses, especially the INQ or inquiry designated (essentially honors) courses are excellent, with very small class sizes (typically <15), taught by tenured or tenure track professors with many opportunities for independent research.