<p>Ok, so I'm a soph. in HS, and I've been getting mail from Emory since the beginning of the year. Just recently, the smaller college that is apparently related to Emory, Oxford College, started sending me letters as well. From what they've said, and I have read, it's a small school of about 600 kids, that focuses on a 2-year undergraduate program. After you finish that, you go to Emory to "finish" your undergraduate.</p>
<p>Anybody know anything about this? Is Oxford College good? </p>
<p>I'd be interested in the smaller community, smaller classes, and better amount of attention I would likely recieve from my professors. However, it would need to be just as prestigious as Emory, or on the path to becoming so. </p>
<p>Oxford College is still a part of Emory University. That being said, I don't know of any "rankings" of Oxford College. I've always heard Oxford talked about as "Emory Prep" - kids who couldn't quite get into Emory, but still want to end up there. And still pretty intelligent.</p>
<p>The University claims it's just a more close-knit experience and all that, but when it comes right down to it, the grades and SAT scores of the students at Oxford tend to be lower than those at Emory College. However, does that mean it's not as good? I have no clue. I didn't even apply there. I think the SAT is a piece of crap and grades don't show anything about intelligence.</p>
<p>It all depends what you want out of college. If seeing "Associate of Arts, Oxford College" right next to "Bachelor of Arts, Emory University" on your transcript bothers you, then that's cool. If all you want is a name, then I guess Oxford isn't for you. But if you want a transition school that is smaller and more personal and you realize that you can still be just as sucessful no matter where you went to college, then I guess Oxford would work out okay. You still get the Emory degree and everything that comes with it.</p>
<p>Oxford is one of nine divisions of Emory University. We have visited the campus twice and found it to be one of the friendliest. Oxford students statistically do very well once they continue on to the Atlanta campus. Also, the emphasis is on teaching rather than research, so students really get to know their professors.</p>
<p>if you can get into emory and moneys not an issue, come to emory. youll have small classes and good relationships with your professors anyway. and theres not much to do at oxford on the weekends. people tend to come to emory for the parties and such</p>
<p>When we visited the campus, there seemed to be plenty to do on the weekends. I again can't stress that how friendly students and staff were. And as a parent, since we do not qualify for any financial aid, the $20,000 saved in two years is an added bonus.</p>
<p>From the stats I've seen on Oxford's web site, the average SAT score is significantly lower than that of Emory's average. I think oxford had a 25-75th percentile of 1150-1290, something like that.</p>
<p>I know this super, super bright girl who was in the top 2% of her graduating class... was incredibly intelligent, and scored a 950ish something on the SAT something, after taking it 3 times.</p>
<p>Some people don't spend forever preparing for one, somewhat meaningless test.</p>
<p>Atleast in my opinion.</p>
<p>If you ask me, SAT questions are unique in their design... so how can you take them as a good measure of a persons true intelligence? (despite 1600s, somehow that to me is amazing.) the difference between the numbers becomes quite small too.. I dunno, I'm not a fan of standardized testing at <em>all.</em> (And I've scored very, very well on practice tests... I just find it unfair what it did to others)</p>
<p>Oh, and that girl? She was accepted at every school she applied to (From Pepperdine to SMU, to ASU, a wide array of colleges) She ended up going to Trinity though :)</p>
<p>I'm sorry if I come off as a jerk, I don't mean to direct it at you in particular, I'm angry at standardized testing ^^.</p>
<p>Be warned, Oxford is NOTHING like a liberal arts college. Its essentially a commuter school and people take off every weekend. My brother went there for a year and HATED it so much, he didnt even want to wait a year more to go to real Emory. It reminded me of a middle school.</p>
<p>We just visited Oxford and my d spent the night in the dorms. It is not a commuter college. Roughly half of the students at Oxford are from out of state and don't go home on weekends. I had an Oxford parent call me after my d was admitted, (from Florida), and he said the opposite was the problem; his son's grades had slipped the first semester because there was so much to do at Oxford. We heard nothing but how engaged the students are when we were there. It is my understanding that you either love it or hate it, but few are lukewarm about the place. I would not make any judgements until I visited. My d really fell in love with the campus, and frankly after spending four years at a huge, impersonal, competitive high school, is looking forward to some more personalized attention in college. My d scored right at a 1300 on the SAT, and I agree with you that the test really does not mean that much. There are some very bright kids at Oxford, and they do very well at Emory. As one of the speakers told us when we were there, they are not going to admit people that they don't think will be successful when they continue on to Emory.</p>
<p>I spent all last summer living at Emory, and I knew a BUNCH of Oxford students. I would say 80% of them didnt like it, and the cooler the person the larger the likelihood they didnt like it.</p>
<p>They also feel like second class citizens when matriculating to Emory. A friend told me that when people ask him why they didnt know him and he says Oxford, he gets funny looks. Most never leave their Oxford cliques.</p>
<p>There are plenty of LACs that offer personalized attention, but have a social life to boot. Most Oxford kids are stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no parties, and such a small student body. LACs like Middlebury are also in the middle of nowhere, but with 1500 people+, they also have much more to do. I am sure your daughter doesnt like drinking, but a college with no 21 yr olds to buy kegs for big parties makes it less fun (and where parties are forbidden). Literally Oxford is ten kids sneaking around in a room drinking on the weekends. Couple that with no outdoor activities/ natural beauty. I went to a LAC-like school and have hung at at a bunch of places (like Bucknell, Amherst, etc), and honestly its like night and day. </p>
<p>My brother said Oxford has all the disadvantages of a small school with none of the positives. "Lame" was a term I heard often from him and many others. (Consider that I know about 25-30 Oxford kids, which is a considerable cross section of the class).</p>
<p>BTW- My brother liked the campus when he visited too.</p>
<p>Write back in a year and tell me if your daughter likes it. I am willing to bet that she won't.</p>
<p>I am not going to argue with you, but all I can say is the kids we saw at Oxford deserve acadamy awards if what you say is true because they sure seemed happy there to me!</p>
<p>DId your brother transfer out after 1 year of Oxford? Do you happen to know from your Oxford acquaintences if the Oxford courses are difficult to get high grades in order to transfer after the first year?</p>
<p>I just visited Emory for the weekend. While there, the explanation I got of Oxford was "it's where they send the kids that 'aren't quite ready' for Emory." Many people who were admitted directly to Emory DO look down on the kids from Oxford. I don't know if that is justified or not, I'm just reporting my observations.</p>
<p>Oxford is SO hard. My brother/ friends all said it was actually harder than Emory (they complained that it was an insecurity complex issue). There are NO curves in the required classes, so if you get a 58, you get a D. Same grade at Emory is around a C+.</p>
<p>He worked his tail off so he got into all his transfer schools, but he said it was much more difficult than he thought (he thought it would be easier than Emory because of the stats of the student body, but he said the lack of a curve made it so everyone didnt do as well).</p>