<p>I put this in Miami board but now want to hear from Emory board. My son just got accepted to these two schools and we are thrilled. However, he is completely torn and losing sleep over the decision. He is a big partier (don't know how he manages to get such good grades) and grew up in South Florida as a diehard canes fan but worries that he might be missing out on a huge academic opportunity by not going to Emory. I would love to here any opinions to help him (and even me) out. It is Emory not Oxford to clarify and he wants to major in political science and then get an MBA after.</p>
<p>Emory University does not offer that much of a “huge academic opportunity” compared to University of Miami. The only real difference is that at UM you have to take more initiative and go and grab the opportunities you want yourself, while at Emory it’s floating around all over the place. If a student is very driven and passionate, that difference won’t matter. UM is a pretty good private school, too (with his super favorite football team!). I would go to whichever one is cheaper since your son seems like he’ll be thrilled at whichever place he goes. But I would keep in mind that UM and Emory are very different places.</p>
<p>I didn’t think Emory had released decisions. Did you apply ED? If so, you don’t really have a choice… Or did they already release other decisions?</p>
<p>Questions about ED aside, your son might very well be happier at Miami if he wants a school big on sports. Emory’s school spirit is unlike most of its Southern peers as students seem to take pride in the fact that they go to the school, but don’t actually care about its sports. I’m the mascot for Oxford, and have spoken to quite a few Main campus students regarding athletics. Some of them don’t even know that we compete in the University Athletic Association, if that gives you any idea about how much students care about our teams. </p>
<p>Emory’s poly sci department is stronger than Miami’s, but I’m not sure if the differences will be glaringly obvious at an undergrad level. The school seems to have more than enough political science/international studies faculty (IMO your son will probably take at least one IS class if he does major in poly sci) to offer an excellent undergraduate program. </p>
<p>I’m probably going to major in the earth sciences, so my experience with Emory’s poly sci department is virtually nonexistant. Hopefully a current or past poly sci/IR major can chime in about the on and off campus opportunities that Emory provides.</p>
<p>Either way, if your son hasn’t visited both schools, he should. They’re both great schools, and he wouldn’t be sacrificing in the least if he chose Miami over Emory. </p>
<p>Two final points: You mentioned your son is a huge partier. Emory isn’t nearly the party school that UMiami is. That’s not to say students don’t drink or party, but when they do it’s often much more subdued than at UMiami (from what I’ve heard from a friend that attends the school). Also, while I know plenty of others may disagree with me, I’ve found it a maturing experience to go to a school outside of easy driving distance. Personally I feel that the students who are from the Atlanta suburbs are much more dependent on their parents than those that live more than 3 hours away from the school.</p>
<p>Political science is quite strong here as an undergraduate major, both in terms of faculty and opportunity. If your son has visited both and it’s a toss up, I think Emory is a better choice for a poli sci undergraduate major and preparation for a good MBA program (unless your son is set on living in Florida). It will most likely be easier to land relevant internships from Emory, which is at least a semi-target school (for recruiting) where Miami is not.</p>
<p>You never know, but he is fairly certain he wants to live in south Florida after college, would Miami be better for connections and internships then? Can someone elaborate on the environments of the schools and students they attract. I agree with the point about being away from home, but I’ve heard that as long as your staying in a dorm (as he will be) and not commuting you are still isolated and independent on your schools campus, is that correct?</p>
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<p>What I meant by that comment is that many students, even those who live in the dorms, regularly go home on the weekends. This could be due to the fact that the students from the metro Atlanta area who chose to go to Oxford/Emory went because they couldn’t bear to leave their family, but I’m not sure. </p>
<p>Over Winter Break, I went to UCLA to visit some old high school friends/ stave off end of break boredom and on the drive back to my house, two former classmates who now attend UCLA came with me. Both talked about how incredibly homesick they were, even though they had just gotten back from Winter Break not three days before. The other passengers would have gone to UCLA, had they not been admitted to an Ivy/quasi-Ivy, and after I dropped off the two UCLA students, they commented that going to school a plane ride away seemed to have made them far more self reliant (eg, not going home to do laundry). Of course this is just a sample size of 5 people, and I’ve certainly met some very independent students from Atlanta who attend Oxford. You could also avoid this sort of attachment by only allowing your son to come home on emergencies/holidays, thereby forcing him to better integrate into the UMiami community. </p>
<p>If your son wants to build up connections in the South Florida community, UMiami is probably better for that, simply because it’s in South Florida. From talking to seniors, the best connections Emory provides are to Atlanta area businesses, for the same reason that UC Irvine’s strongest connections are in Orange County, CA area industries (something I can personally attest to).</p>
<p>bump, would love to hear more thoughts and pros/cons of the schools</p>
<p>@ExpendableAsset</p>
<p>I highly doubt that Emory and Miami can be considered peers in terms of educational quality. There’s a reason why USNWR ranks Emory 24 places higher than it does UMiami: It has better educational resources, more individual attention, and a more academically oriented student body. Whenhen is right that Miami is better for sports/partying (although that can be a dangerous distraction for a college student; look at Miami’s 4-year graduation rate of 66% vs Emory’s 83%), but Emory’s academics are clearly better.</p>
<p>Thank you for the post and i tend to agree with you, The argument against that would be that Miamis average sat score is 1325 and Emorys Is allegedly 1390 (possibly Lower with scandal). That is certainly better but not a huge gap, and the ranking could be based on the prestige factor as Miami for years was known as suntanU and only recently has improved drastically.</p>
<p>I stand corrected on the scores issue, but actually, the real difference is about 100 points for all 3 sections of the SAT, and about 55 points for CR+M. However, this understates the difference between the two schools as 80% of Emory students take the SAT, whereas only 52% of Miami students take the SAT, and we can probably assume that those who submit no scores do worse than those who do submit scores.</p>
<p>i think everybody has to submit scores for both schools, if not sat then act correct?</p>
<p>According to UMiami’s CDS, 52% of students submitted SAT scores, while 39% submitted ACT scores. Assuming that a significant number of students submitted both, UMiami probably reported incorrect data on its CDS.</p>
<p>I’m no expert but could the missing 9% of the total SAT and ACT scores for Miami be due to their diversity? Meaning students who submit the TOEFL exams and the like?</p>
<p>yes that could be, do you believe emory take a significant hit in the rankings because of this scandal? (not that rankings really matter) but kids do look at them religiously</p>
<p>@oaktown</p>
<p>On the USNews page, it says that Emory was re-evaluated after the scandal with the real scores. It’s still #20.</p>
<p>Internationals are required to take the SAT or ACT in addition to the TOEFL. For whatever reason U Miami put incorrect data on its CDS.</p>
<p>The SAT/ACT score difference matters little here. The difference primarily comes from resources and overall institutional caliber. For example, Emory lags far behind its nearest peers (places like ND and Vandy for example) in the scores area, but level-headed individuals would not argue that Emory differs much in overall caliber (as in, if you went to these other places, you would not really be able to tell the difference in quality of students, faculty, research, and facilities. There would not likely be much of a difference in institutional rigor either). Even after all the stuff that has happened, these schools are roughly the same caliber (and have various levels of prestige due to non-academic factors). I would not be too quick to argue that Emory and Miami are of the same caliber and intensity yet, despite the scores being very similar. Both are excellent though. I would take into account the post-graduate desires and also the type of environment the student would want to be in. I would imagine the Emory environment being less laid back than Miami, for example (kind of like Harvard vs. Stanford. Both have very rigorous academics, but the student bodies differ in a manner such that Harvard has a more intense environment whereas Stanford has a more laid back type of environment).</p>
<p>I agree that Emory is regarded as a ‘better’ school in terms of academics.</p>
<p>I generally agree. I go to Emory and my close cousin goes to Miami so I talked to him about it. Emory has great opportunities to play sports, but they don’t have the crowd. tons of kids here play sports, but not a lot of kids watch games. We study a lot… Similarly, Emory has parties you can find for sure, but is not a “party school.” Our campus feels very intellectual though not uptight. Miami is more relaxed, but lacks the same academic challenges and opportunities. Certainly still a good school, just like one person posted, you just have to work a lot harder to get the same rigors of Emory.</p>