<p>Emory is considered very prestigious on the East Coast. If you want to live and work on the East Coast I would pick Emory. If you want to save a lot of money, being instate, and remain on the West Coast, then UCLA may be your best bet. As tough as it is to get into UCLA, even from instate, given the massive amounts of applications they get, it may be a huge positive for you out there. </p>
<p>I am not one to consider prestige as that important. Its more about you and what you are looking for in a college experience. </p>
<p>While both Emory and UCLA have a significant number of upper middle class students on campus (e.g. preppy kids), there are differences in the schools socially, academically and certainly financially.</p>
<p>Emory is adored by those who go there. But I know people who didnt care for it and went elsewhere, too.</p>
<p>^^ Yes. Emory is considered very prestigious by people in the Mid Atlantic and New England (and least is it by the PEOPLE WHO COUNT). Personally, I would look down on anyone who had never heard of it.</p>
<p>They’re both great and different schools. At this upper echelon level or prestige, who GIVES a crap about whether UCLA is slightly above or below Emory? It’s alllllLLLL about where you will be more happy. An education at Emory is not going to put you below an education at UCLA and vice versa. They are both Top schools in the nation, and it all comes down to where you feel you belong.</p>
<p>Emory would definitely be more intimate, given it’s student population and size relative to UCLA though at the same time, UCLA would probably have more activities to offer. Do you like the humid hotness of Atlanta? Or the dry smogginess of LA?
Teachers at both schools are top notch and at the undergrad level, both of these top schools won’t differ TOO much in academics. But do you want to research? If so, look at whether you would be one of the top competitors at a large school, or an ok-average competitor at a smaller school for some prestigious research work :)</p>
<p>Also, money money money is a big issue. Don’t forget about that!</p>
<p>Bingo! If you are picking schools for prestige, you have more problems than I can count. The people who blew up WallStreet and our banking system were all “prestige players” if that counts.</p>
<p>I will not talk bad about either schools they are way too good. UCLA is more known and Emory in my mind has a better academic reputation. I visited emory’s campus and I live in Georgia. I hate this state so that is why I wouldn’t go but you may have a different opinion.
Explore emory.</p>
<p>I want to major in philosophy, political science, or economics.
Which college has the best departments for these majors?
I have been accepted to both schools.</p>
<p>The part of LA that UCLA sits in isn’t really smoggy (due mostly to the way the winds shift). There are clear blue skies every day…definitely not as much smog as downtown Atlanta.</p>
<p>I am surprised that so many people have such a low opinion of Emory. In the Northeast, I have heard only good things about the school. Although clearly UCLA has more name recognition, I am not convinced it is more prestigious. And I am a big fan of the UC’s in general.</p>
<p>It is true most people, even on this Board, don’t pay much attention to Emory… not sure why. I just checked the stats and Emory seems to be higher ranked than UCLA in the USNWR (17 vs. 25), and the student testing scores are much higher.</p>
<p>UCLA has in its favor being in the top 15 in almost every one of the 41 individual subject areas for Ph.D. rankings by NRC.</p>
<p>To me, it’s a push overall. As prestige is mostly driven by Ph.D. rankings, UCLA wins on that. Yet, we’re talking undergrad here. Emory would offer more individual attention, and an across the board higher testing student population.</p>
<p>P.S. It is <em>not</em> smoggy in the UCLA area. What smog is left in LA (huge improvements b/c of auto emissions standards and the AQMD moving pollutant prone businesses out of LA proper) is east of the coast by at leat 10 miles. UCLA is situated about 4 miles from the ocean in the rolling hills of Westwood.</p>
<p>I heard that UCLA has peacocks on campus and if you are sitting outside the peacocks are trained to bring you flowers and if you are sleepy they bring you a pillow so you can take a nap under blue, smog-free skies.</p>
<p>You’ve got that a little mixed up. Hotel Bel-Air, which is walking distance from UCLA, has a stream with swans. The swans leave hotel Bel-Air hourly to attend to UCLA Coeds. These attendant swans fluff and place a white silk pillow under your head, while you’re laying in 78 degree weather on the lawned hill stretching down from Royce Hall toward Pauly Pavillion, home of 11 NCAA basketball championships.</p>