Hello all! I am a senior having so obvious trouble choosing between these two schools. I have been accepted to both and with financial and merit aid, they will both cost roughly the same. So I’m wondering if there are any current students or alumni that can help point me in a direction based on the student life, housing, food, social aspect, etc. I will be living on campus for either school and am planning to enter the nursing program my JR year. Thanks!
I have not heard of Mercer (that doesn’t mean anything) but Emory has it’s own forum, here if you check it you might find more info. Have you been able to visit both? Are there any relative stats to collect on how Nursing students do at each or how hard it is to enter the program as a Jr?
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/emory-university/
I know very little about either school other than a.) Emory has a nice business school, and b.) Mercer beat Duke in the March Madness last year (I think it was last year). That being said, something to consider:
A boy in my graduating class (HS 2014) was easily one of the wealthiest kids in our largely affluent suburb. Like, the type to have multiple houses and a Mercedes and take lavish vacations every school break… He ended up at Emory after being admitted ED.
Anyways, my best friend’s mom is really close with his mom, and according to his mom, he has mentioned he is basically a “poor” kid at Emory. I am wondering if that will bother you at Emory as you mentioned the merit aid and financial aid make it possible to attend. This is of course only one excerpt I know of, but I think it’s important to know; I know after visiting Duke, I ended up not applying because of the way the tour guide described the girls on campus (“Everyone wears Lilly Pulitzer and Vineyard Vines and does their hair for 8 AM’s daily and wearing sweatpants is sacrilege!”)- I know I wouldn’t have fit in there, and I likely wouldn’t have fit in at Emory either. I would visit Emory if you haven’t already just to see if that type of attitude is pervasive or if it’s just a myth.
Thanks! Mercer is most well known in the Southeast states, especially in GA. There are both challenging, although, as you have said Emory is more widely heard of. I have visited both and I think I like the atmosphere of Mercer best, but since I’ve never actually attended a college at all, I keep telling myself that what I think isn’t a fact. I am afraid that if I rely on my own ‘one day visit opinion’, I will find that after attending either institution, I will realize I was wrong.
Yes that is true you really won’t know until you go, so all you can do is gather info as best you can and make decision with imperfect info. Such is life and hindsight is 20/20. Instead of being wrong, just vow to pick the best of two rights and make it work. My financial aid kid also went to a school where many people have a lot of money, but it wasn’t a problem per say, but I also don’t think ppl care too much how others dress either. I have def seen my kid walking down the street in pj bottoms there, sigh.
My D is a sophomore at Emory and we’re middle class; she said there’s a significant no. of well off students but she doesn’t feel out of place. She’s not preppy in the least, doesn’t dress up for classes and had no trouble making friends. Emory is more economically and racially diverse than many people realize: it’s No. 5 in terms of the no. of students on Pell Grants (Harvard is no. 6) according to a 2014 poll of economic diversity on private colleges.
PiccoloMom1995, thanks! How did your D decide on Emory, versus her other options?
I don’t know either but UCAN (university and college accountability) lists Mercer’s 4 year graduation rate at 44%.
That is abysmal and, if true, a strong indication of problems.
^This. Mercer is a good school, but it’s not Emory. 6 year graduation rate at Emory is 91% versus Mercer at 61%. 94% of freshman return to Emory for sophomore year vs 82% at Mercer. I imagine out of class opportunities are greater at Emory too. By most any measure, Emory is the better school.
Now, if you have to go into significant debt to attend Emory but not Mercer or if it costs significantly more to attend Emory, then your choice becomes more difficult.
Emory was the last college we saw before the May 1 decision deadline. Emory has a good music department (very supportive of the arts), tons of community service organizations and only a third join Greek life (30-35%) so if you aren’t rich, there’s plenty of extra curricular options. Any college in the Top 50 has a high no. of wealthy kids (Emory is no exception) but it also has a fair no. of students on work study and scholarships. Emory was our D’s best option academically (turned down Rhodes, Pitt and Univ. SC Honors, Connecticut College, U. Rochester.) She is very happy at Emory and has absolutely no regrets.
I’d visit Emory (and Mercer) a second time while classes are in session. if possible. We re-visited two of the other accepted colleges and D felt differently the second time around which helped a lot. Emory organizes smaller events to foster ways for freshmen to meet others on your floor and within the dorm. There’s also an opening “sing off” festival between houses (can’t recall the name) which is fun.
First gut feelings do tell you some things about the school, but I would indeed look into why Mercer’s graduation rate is so low. Are people not able to get their courses in for their major? Do people drop out/take semesters off? Etc
Mercer is religious and more conservative than Emory, so that may be a factor too.
Emory isn’t in the same “category” as Mercer (it’s really a “national top school” whereas Mercer is a “regional top school”) but fit would be very important too so personal considerations would matter too. Can you afford to visit both, and do an overnight?
Dressing up for classes and sweatpants being sacrilege is more of a Southern preppy thing than a money thing…I went to a Southern LAC that is over half Pell grant recipients and that was the atmosphere there, too. You did your hair before you went to class, even if it was 8 am, and you didn’t wear sweatpants (or - god forbid - pajamas!) to class, unless the class started before 9 in the morning AND you didn’t have another class after that.
I’m from Georgia and so I’ve heard of Mercer; it’s a pretty well-regarded school, especially for the health sciences.
One thing to consider is that since Mercer’s program is not direct entry, you will have to apply in your sophomore year to the nursing program. You will also have to apply to Emory’s nursing program, but Emory guarantees admission to Nell Hodgson if you meet certain requirements:
*Emory and Oxford students applying to the BSN Freshman Option will automatically be admitted to the School of Nursing if they meet certain requirements. Please see the Application tab below for further details. *
Further details:
Emory and Oxford students applying to the BSN first degree program will automatically be admitted to the School of Nursing if they meet the following requirements:*
-Complete the 60-credit hours of prerequisites at Emory or Oxford College
-Earn a “C” or better in the prerequisite courses - all coursework is subject to review by the Office of Enrollment and Student Affairs
-Submit an online application (only the application - no supporting documents are required) by January 15th of the year they wish to begin the nursing program
Emory and Oxford College students who meet these requirements will not need to submit an application fee, a resume, a statement of purpose, or recommendations. Emory and Oxford applicants will need to submit official transcripts from any other college or university they’ve attended.*
So it’s basically guaranteed admission as long as you keep a C or better in all of your prerequisite courses and complete the 60 credits.
However, Mercer’s application process is competitive, with the average overall GPA for admission being a 3.37. You also have to take the TEAS for admission. It’s not clear what percentage of Mercer students are admitted into the nursing program, but a program with guaranteed admission is better than a program for which you are not guaranteed admission.
Another thing to consider is that all of Mercer’s nursing classes are at the Atlanta campus. So if you were planning to attend the traditional undergrad campus in Macon (where the College of Liberal Arts is and where the majority of undergrads will be), you will have to move to the Atlanta campus in your junior year to complete the nursing classes. It is possible to complete your prelicensure classes at the Atlanta campus, too, so that you can stay in Atlanta all four years. But I think that will affect your experience - most undergrads your age will be at the Macon campus, and you might find that the student life at the Atlanta campus is more pre-professional and/or more dominated by non-traditional students. Emory does not have that same feature.
Emory is a nationally-reputed university with great research resources; they have a top-ranked nursing school. So if you decided you were interested in doing nursing research, they would have that there. Mercer likely also has nursing and other medical research but they likely have less resources and fewer opportunities in that field.
I always got the sense that the student life at Mercer was quite pre-professional. I had a friend who wanted to go there for pharmacy, but decided against it after visiting because of that.
Personally, were I making the choice - given the guaranteed admission, the cohesive program all on one campus, and the national reputation and resources, I would choose Emory.
Hi there–
I’m in a good position to offer up facts and opinions here, as I attended Mercer (c/o 2011) and my younger brother attended Emory (c/o 2014). We frequently get into discussions about which school is better, but even my brother has admitted that he would have probably enjoyed the curriculum at Mercer more than what he got at Emory (see: Great Books Program). He also admitted that he thought Mercer was a much more socially responsible, ethical and hands-on institution than Emory, where many of his professors skipped classes to fulfill Emory’s faculty research requirements. He also talks about how he hated the so-called “Emory bubble” and that he appreciated Mercer’s deep connection with the surrounding neighborhoods in Macon (I never heard anyone at Mercer use the term “Mercer Bubble”).
I was accepted to both Mercer and Emory, but Mercer offered me a full-ride scholarship and Emory offered only a partial one. I think this is largely because Mercer decides who receives financial aid based on the stats on the application and an in-person interview at the Presidential Scholars Competition each winter. Mercer likes well-rounded students who excel both academically and socially, and aren’t afraid to volunteer in a foreign country doing aid work that correlates with their course of study. (see: Mercer on Mission). My interview went fantastic, and I have a feeling that’s partially the reason why I received the full-ride. When visiting Emory, all I received was a rushed campus tour and nothing else. When I visited Mercer, I got to sit in on a freshman lit class, meet other prospective students and talk to faculty from my intended major.
Emory also inflates its rankings, which it was caught doing last year after 7 years of reporting the SAT scores of all accepted students, not the SAT scores of those who actually matriculated there. Another way Emory skirts its ethical responsibility just to boost rankings is by meeting diversity requirements in an elitist tactic: It meets its quota largely through enrolling wealthier, Asian students with higher test scores rather than making a true diversity commitment and enrolling many black students from low-income families in areas with poor public schooling (Mercer integrated voluntarily before any other University in the South in 1960; Emory only integrated upon court order of a state Judge who, coincidentally, was a Mercer graduate.) Emory also kind of “cheated” its way to the top with a huge, multi-billion-dollar gift it received from Coca-Cola (ATL-based) in the '70s. Prior to that, it was harder to get into Mercer than it was Emory.
In the last decade or so since Mercer finally severed all ties with Georgia Baptist Convention–which had long held the University back from making progressive and bold growth as a national University–Mercer has seen skyrocketing enrollment, endowment and rankings as as an institution. The school also has major name recognition in Georgia, even if it hasn’t quite hit the threshold of being a household name nationally. Mercer was the #1 ranked “regional university” in the Southeast this year, beating out institutions like Furman, College of Charleston and Clemson.
I gained the skills and passion at Mercer to be accepted to Columbia University’s journalism and computer-science dual degree program – the top journalism school in the nation and the 4th best in engineering. And I didn’t pay a single dime for my Mercer diploma. My brother is now jealous that his education cost him a whopping 200K, even though his scores and GPA were slightly higher than mine. He was offered a full-ride as well to Mercer but chose Emory simply because of name recognition. Nothing wrong with that. But college is about more than name recognition. Way more.
And Mercer was ranked 4th in “Up-and-Coming” Universities in the nation this year by Princeton Review, so the name recognition is only going to go up.
I’m biased, perhaps, but I’m offering objective observations that my Emory-graduate brother mostly agrees with. He said Mercer has more school pride, whereas Emory was often a boring place stuck in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta.
It may depend where you intend to start your career. If in Georgia or the southeast, I say Mercer. If somewhere else, the name recognition of Emory is helpful, so if you’re willing to put up with corrupt administrators and an artificial college environment, go for Emory. My brother is glad he did. He just laments not taking the full-ride at Mercer.
Also, to Juliet: Mercer doesn’t necessarily put more money into the nursing program than Emory; instead, it spreads out to teaching hospitals in rural areas of the state. Watch Pres. Carter – who is on Mercer’s Board of Trustees –– explain the program more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qu9z75nsHxQ
^^ Things like that are what give Mercer such a strong regional reputation.
To the OP, watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XC7OTM0-W30
The graduation rate is at 62 percent only because that includes Mercer’s many nontraditional degree programs in rurla areas of the state. Here’s a Mercer administrator explaining how the data isn’t compatible:
Larry Brumley, a spokesperson for Mercer, writes: “The reported graduation rate includes traditional undergraduates on the main campus and nontraditional undergraduates who attend one of the university’s regional academic centers. However, the published tuition rate, on which the ROI is calculated, applies only to traditional undergraduates on the main campus and does not reflect discounted rates for nontraditional undergraduates who do not receive all the services provided on the main campus. Consequently, Bloomberg Businessweek’s Annualized Net ROI is based on incompatible data.”
*rural
I don’t think Emory has many nontraditional degree programs. Not sure. Would doubt so.
To clarify here: I was accepted to grad school at Columbia after attending Mercer.