Hey guys, I noticed that this thread didn’t exist yet and with the deadline in a week, it’s probably time.
Good luck to everyone!
LETS GO BOY EMORY OR DIE
just paranoid about that 17% ED 2 acceptance rate
Which prompt did you guys choose for the essay?
Does anyone know if chances of acceptance is significantly greater in ED2 than RD? I am trying to decide between 2 Emory and Wesleyan and would do one ED2 if it was a significant advantage, I have heard many different answers about how Emory calculates GPA but if I am correct about them dropping freshman grades, using unweighted and getting rid of - and +'s then my GPA would be over 3.85 (otherwise it is more like 3.55 as my freshman year was not that great) and 34 ACT, I have good ECs/leadership but have no other hooks (white female). If i have a good chance RD, I would rather wait and not switch to ED2. I am trying to decide what to do? I would appreciate any advice, thanks. Also, I would be interested in any opinions on comparing Wesleyan vs. Emory.
@Lt2020 : What type of thing are you thinking of studying at Wesleyan or Emory? Can’t tell you much without knowing that. Also, RD=ED2 percentage wise but RD likely has higher stats (they risk the yield and aim for higher stats. Those who enroll probably end up with the same stats as ED though)
I am planning on studying Environmental Studies.
http://envs.emory.edu/home/undergraduate/majors/index.html
http://www.wesleyan.edu/coe/academics/major.html
Here is my read on this with a focus on how I know Emory is for this sort of thing
Emory’s is fairly robust as a major in and of itself whereas it appears Wesleyan (which of course robust as it is a college of the environment) has a kind of different set-up with the linked major and all, so they appear very different. For Emory, Environmental studies is one of those departments (Undergrad wise) that is quite small, but extremely strong (physics, for example, cannot claim the same) with a very strong array of courses (3 concentrations) and a solid amount of rigor (something most environmental studies programs are not known for). And by rigor, I mean that, much like Wesleyan, the dept at Emory appears to be trying to train students as scholars in the field. It isn’t just course-based. They expect that majors participate in independent study/capstone (at Wesleyan, this is senior or honors thesis and at Emory it “can” be that, but things like a service-learning or internships also count), and participate in things such as senior colloquia (at Emory this takes the form of a mandatory seminar series in environmental issues). So in that sense, the departments are alike. However, looking at the requirements, they appear to differ in a way that I am not surprised about. Emory’s appears much more technical with several more courses hosted by the department that have labs or are methods (statistical or technical) based. There is also the field-course requirement. In a sense, the curriculum at Wesleyan looks overall “softer” and less technical. They likely have much more technical options, but they are not embedded in requirements.
Why am I not surprised? Wesleyan is legendary for basically being the true liberal arts university so probably can do that as it likely thinks it will simply place students into graduate programs (which it is what it is known for). Emory is more pre-professional so even majors like environmental science have somewhat of a slant toward industry, job, or institute placement. This also explains why Emory’s has additional programmatic options linked directly to the public health school (masters) and the business school (there is a business concentration), with the latter fitting well with the Emory’s orientation toward sustainability and climate throughout the university curriculum in general.
It really just depends on what type of training you want. The same could be said for majors like psychology at Emory. Those who come or transfer in desiring the stereotypical psychology major which tends to be on the softer side (often mirroring sociology majors’ reputations) will be disappointed or shocked when they are dealing with how scientifically intensive (and just academically intensive- students thinking it will be just textbook learning in intermediate and advanced courses better get ready for a ride when they must basically learn through primary literature and get lectured predominantly about experimental set-up and design as opposed to merely the results or the “facts”) Emory’s is in comparison. And that is likely because it gets lots of pre-meds and those considering behavioral biology or clinical psychology.
Wesleyan is going to be more intellectual in the natural and traditional sense whereas Emory has the “pre-professional intellectual” thing going on where you have a great deal of students engaging in or starting up independent projects and things like that but tend to focus it exclusively toward their professional interests. However, bigger university themes such as sustainability has led to a reasonable amount of deviation from that. Emory also has a fast growing scene of undergraduate entrepreneurship that is gaining more and more support from the university (hence things such as the sustainability innovator awards which will fund groups with proposals: http://news.emory.edu/stories/2014/11/er_sustainability_awards/campus.html and finally has a whole dept and freshman dorm theme dedicated to it: http://entrepreneurship.emory.edu/index.html .
Emory is much larger and thus more about “the scene” and how that can further enhance your curricular and co-curricular (or EC) experiences. Wesleyan is more focused on the academics and by virtue of it being smaller, you will generally have a much more intimate (and probably more consistently good) experience in the classroom. The fortunate thing about you being interested in this field and considering Emory is that you have a smaller department that is also very strong academically and robust offering wise (also lots of money being thrown at UG’s in that dept for things like research and travel) and also has an intellectual community because of the way they choose to run their UG program. And then if you want to immediately apply what your learning to “bigger” things (as in run off and start a project or implement some idea you have), Emory makes that very easy (and you will find like minded students, especially if it is sustainability or environment related). In your case, you can’t go that wrong academically. you just need to figure out what type of scene you prefer. If more LAC like, definitely go Wesleyan. If you think you can truly benefit from all the other things happening at Emory (because of its size and how many other entities it has) and/or are more of the go-getter pre-professional (or definitely want to student ENVS in context of things such as public health) type with intellectual passion as well, Emory could very well deserve your serious consideration. I would definitely visit each and get a feel if you haven’t.
Thank you so much for all the information. It is really helpful. I did visit both and I liked them both. I think, based on what you said above, I would probably go for Emory. I have applied to be an Emory Scholar. My counselor told me I could probably email them and change my application from RD to ED2. Do you know if that is the case? Also, does applying ED2 reduce your chance at receiving a scholarship because they know you are already committed?
@Lt2020 : I think you could do that, as for preference: Not necessarily, because people can back out if the aid is prohibitive to attendance (also, if they throw money at ED admits, they know they won’t turn down the scholarship. Getting those RD candidates is really hard, especially when they receive anything below the full scholarship. There are 33 Woodruff Scholars that matriculated this past cycle for which a lot of recruitment strategies and programs had to go into getting: http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/issues/2015/summer/features/Woodruff.html). I believe they throw money at anyone who is qualified (and they usually invite like 3-400 people so you could be among them regardless of decision plan).
Keep in mind that while scholarships are traditionally only thought of as recruitment tools, they are also retention tools as a great student who is spending less of their parents’ money is probably likely to enjoy Emory more and also just be less likely to leave if not everything goes perfectly.
emory or NOTHING!! I can’t wait
Anyone get any interview offers yet?
If you live in, let’s say Ohio or Michigan or somewhere in the northern Midwest, is there any chance to get an ulumni interview? Or do you have to be in Georgia?
Also, I could never find a straight answer, does anyone know how they recalculate your GPA? Is freshmen year included?
They list the cities they hold interviews in…
:http://apply.emory.edu/apply/interviews.php
Mainly areas with sizable or growing alumni bases and applicant pools I guess.
I applied ED 2 to both Emory and Oxford, do you guys think it would be worth sending my January SAT scores? I’m entering my colleges for the score report to be sent to, so should I even add Emory/Oxford since it will probably reach after they make my decision?
@ApexAlchemist Probably best to email admissions and get an answer from them.
@bernie12 Wow I had no idea Emory did interviews (not surprising though). Its weird though, I lived near LA and I never got any sort of interview information at all when I applied hm.
what is like avg stats for Emory ED2?
@ApexAlchemist Are your Jan SAT scores better?
If so, contact Emory and Oxford admissions and ask for an email address where you can immediately send the unofficial updated Jan SAT scores. Follow that up by asking College Board to expedite sending the official score reports.
@MyOdyssey Yes, the Jan scores will be better.
How would I get the College Board to expedite? I’m already having the scores be sent as soon as they are scored so that my colleges would receive them before I even get to see them.
Does anybody know the deadline to send our previous year’s tax documents if we’re applying for financial aid?
@ApexAlchemist Download your score report from the College Board website. Call Emory admissions and ask them for the email they use for receiving supplemental material directly from applicants. Alternatively, Emory might ask you to pose that information online via their website. Whatever the case may be, go ahead and email/post your unofficial copy of the scores to Emory directly. This might be a faster process than waiting for College Board, though Emory will require your official scores too.