<p>Hi guys, I used to be all over this site when I was a senior in high school, so I just wanted to give back by sharing some of my own experience at Oxford and then at Emory. This is my own POV so it's obviously going to be pretty subjective...</p>
<p>I was waitlisted by Emory College back in 2009. I had a 1450 SAT and a 4.0/5.0 GPA which wasn't bad, but I suffered serious depression in high school and ended up getting 2 Ds on my transcript for junior year, which was horrible and as a result I never got off the waitlist. My only other serious options at the time were GA Tech and Oxford, and I decided against Tech in the end because I decided to be an English major (at the time... but not anymore).</p>
<p>For me, Oxford was indeed the back door into Emory, and I am forever grateful that it gave me a second chance. However, my acknowledgement of that fact made it so that even though I've been at Emory for almost a whole semester now, I will never feel equal to an Emory student. I will always wonder, after I tell someone I went to Oxford, if the word 'oxtard' immediately pops into their head. But it's a small price to pay for being here, I think.</p>
<p>The things I liked more about Oxford were:
- the food. I decided against getting a meal plan at the DUC (one of Emory's main dining halls) once I had continued to Emory because I had eaten there several times, and every time the meal was not to my taste. I preferred Lil's (Oxford), whic makes good stir fry and great dessert.
- the classes. They were indeed smaller; the largest class I ever had was 40 people, and that was because everyone was trying to get into the financial accounting class and there weren't enough sections to spread the students out more thinly. I felt more comfortable speaking up in class and talking to the professors. They were definitely more teaching-oriented and less research-oriented, relying very very little on TAs.
- not having to walk 15 minutes to get to my next class. HOWEVER, classrooms were old and technology was old-school.</p>
<p>The things I like more about Emory are:
- the professors. With all due respect to Oxford professors (many of whom are really great people), Emory professors tend to have degrees from universities that are ranked higher (say, Northwestern vs. ___ State U), and they tend to be better at lecturing and keeping the class engaged.
- the library. The library at Oxford was simply too small, too noisy and too crowded. At Emory, I love the fact that if I wanted to do some light reading, I could soak up the sun on a couch outside the periodicals room, and if I wanted to do hardcore studying, I could go upstairs to pretty much any floor in the stacks, where everybody is super focused and you can hear a pin drop.</p>
<p>The things I like equally are:
- the people. At Oxford, I ran into my friends at meals, at the student center, on the quad... literally everywhere. We developed some really close bonds because of the proximity. While I enjoyed that, I also like how at Emory I can walk down Asbury circle and not know 99% of the people who walk past me (it's sad... I know), and there's always this sense of both relief and excitement at being a stranger in a crowd, not knowing whom you'll see next and meet next.
- the environment. Oxford is in a small town, and there are less burglaries and less laptop thefts. However, you need a car if you want to go out to eat. At Emory, you can walk over to Emory Village and grab a bite of lunch, but... due to the recent construction work, the street looks like one of the side doors to hell just opened up. Restaurants are still open though.</p>
<p>Also, the issue of a social life: Emory definitely has more of one. I would definitely recommend Greek Life because it is literally the only way for an Oxford continuee to make long-term friends at Emory. How else can you make friends? Everyone here had already snatched each other up by the first two weeks of school freshman year. Emory isn't the kind of school where you can randomly chat up the kid who sits next to you in lecture. Chances are, they'll look at you blankly, answer politely, and keep talking to or texting their real friends. And it's not that they're mean people; they just don't feel the motivation to be nice and outgoing unless they are obligated to talk to you in the rush process. And then they'll open up. But not before they ask, 'so you transferred from Oxford? Where is that? How many years did you spend there? Does everyone transfer or do you get a bachelor's degree from there?'</p>