Oxford College vs.Georgia Tech

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
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I’m planning on going in as a chemistry major on the pre-med track. I’ve narrowed my options down to Oxford College at Emory and Georgia Tech. A lot of the stats I see online suggest they are pretty comparable as far as chemistry programs go, except really that GPA might be easier at Oxford and its more liberal arts oriented. However, I am fairly unfamiliar with pre-med at either school and what it involves. So if you know or would like to share anything that might help me make my decision, please let me know!

Thank you!!!

(btw I got into a research-oriented living learning community at tech)

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Hopefully, you understand that you would be at Oxford for only two years before completing your bachelors degree at Emory. For the most part, you would be doing your Gen Ed required courses and intro courses at Oxford, but the more advanced courses at Emory. For that reason, you should really be comparing Emory’s chemistry program to Georgia Tech’s.

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@ljberkow I have been but depending on who’s ranking/how they differ on who’s best.

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I have always thought that between Emory and Georgia Tech, that Emory was more the school for those on the pre-med track and Tech more on the engineering track

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@whyamilikethis : ranking? What ranking? These are undergraduate programs in chemistry…why would GPA at Oxford be easier? I am really confused. Can you explain that to me? Because if Oxford STEM course GPAs mirror those of ECAS, then those courses have the same or lower course GPAs than Tech equivalents, especially at the introductory level which is what you will be doing in the first two years anyway.

The only exception would be physics courses which are notorious for not only difficulty, but low grading at Tech (though in terms of rigor, the physics 151/152 sequence at Oxford can give Tech’s a run for the money, not so much at ECAS…and as a chemistry BS, you should be taking 151/152 and NOT 141/142 because the former helps prepare for pchem and pchem pre-cursors much better), but general chemistry and organic at Emory (even Oxford I believe) are different from Tech now (the curriculum changed at Emory, so the programs are actually NOT comparable curriculum wise anymore, at least not the first 2 years…Tech is still classical), and even before they were changed, Emory’s instruction added more rigor. Tech’s course sections are just so much larger that it is obvious that instructors are not writing the same kind of exams as you see at Emory. If you were at ECAS, the lab would be easier than Tech because ECAS doesn’t have reports, but at Oxford, you get enhanced intensity in lectures as well as reports and Tech like attributes for the lab component because it is smaller. IMHO, the two are not comparable experiences (before or after the curriculum changes at Emory) but do easily lead to comparable outcomes. Instead of seeing what we “say” on here, I recommend looking at this, because this is what Emory/Oxford students are getting beginning this year: http://chemistry.emory.edu/home/undergraduate/overview/index.html

Click on the light blue thing and take a look and then look at course descriptions for the first 4 semesters at Tech…not the same.

Maybe @BiffBrown can give some insight, but I will give you some examples. As far as I know, only like one instructor for general chemistry at Tech gives exams that are not multiple choice only…doubt you’ll find any instructor giving those (even ones known for “easier” reputations which are hardly none on main because most have been using the same exams). “Organic chemistry” is.was likely a different beast on both campuses vs. Tech. Tech has a lot of Chemical Engineering majors and when you look at their organic content, you can tell because it typically focuses on the very basics of reactivity and more heavily emphasizes energetics and key techniques such as NMR. Emory’s are more mechanisms and theory focused and the exams instructors give on Emory campus are not geared towards preparation for an ACS standardized exam (which is multiple choice) as a final as it is at Tech. These places run things differently for different crowds.

Let us talk about biology: All multiple choice at Tech and less genetics and methods intensive. 2nd semester at Emory is a molecular and classical genetics course with an emphasis on related research methods. Tech tries to cram a little into its first semester (with the cell and metabolism stuff) and then does ecology, organismal biology, and physiology in the 2nd semester. I’ve seen their material and generally, Emory even at its easiest is as challenging or more challenging.

I think people do not get the nuance of low Tech GPAs. Many with the low GPAs are ENGINEERING majors which have to carry an exceptionally heavy course load from year 1 compared to pre-healths majoring in biology, or basic chemistry. As a chemistry major, it is unlikely you would be taking anything resembling an engineering courseload at either school unless you like the challenge.

In addition, for pre-med, Emory chemistry may be better because there are simply more instructors who regear their teaching and curriculum knowing that people are pursuing natural sciences or pre-med. There is a lot more professor level tailoring at Emory whereas there is a lot more standardization at Tech, especially for the intermediate level and introductory courses. To get something tailored at Tech, one is better off taking honors versions if you qualify, but typically at Emory, you can find an instructor(s) teaching one of the general classes who takes the liberty to “freshen things up” and this happens on both Emory campuses.

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@whyamilikethis

I’m a junior biology major currently at Emory’s Atlanta campus but I spent my first two years at the Oxford College campus.

Georgia Tech and Oxford College are very different socially. Georgia Tech is a much larger campus and is more dominated by frats; it’s also located in the midst of Atlanta. Emory College is more on the edge in a suburb of Atlanta. I haven’t experienced much of Georgia Tech social life so I won’t say much more than I’ve said here.

Oxford College is located about an hour by free shuttle from Emory College; it’s close to a couple of small towns and is a somewhat rural location. On the weekends, many students take the free shuttle to experience the social life either on Emory College or Georgia Tech, which is connected by a free shuttle to Emory College.

The smaller student body at Oxford College is close-knit and the hype that there are many student leadership opportunities (TA openings, lab assistants, research assistants, student government, many student led clubs) as well is very true.

Class sizes are very small at Oxford College, even for heavily subscribed intro science classes like chemistry, calculus, biology and physics, which do not generally go over 25 students per section. Professors there are expected to teach and your lecturer will also be in charge of the lab associated with the lecture. I seriously doubt any of this is true for Georgia Tech.

In intro biology, there is a heavy emphasis on inquiry based learning, which means a semester long lab based research project and several smaller lab based projects together with lab reports and oral presentations.

When I took intro chemistry, it was taught as a traditional general chemistry course. Since then, it’s been changed, as @bernie12 said, to be like Emory College’s where concepts traditionally associated with organic chemistry and biochemistry are introduced earlier into the first two semesters of “general” chemistry. The chemistry instructors at Oxford vary in difficulty and, when I was there, there was an INQ section (essentially an honors section) where students, taught by Dr. Powell, worked on medicine related organic synthesis as part of their lab projects.

Dr. Seitaridou who teaches Physics 151/152 (the calculus based physics section that chemistry and physics majors should take) is better than her counterparts on the Emory College campus as a teacher and is in fact regarded as one of the best natural science instructors at Oxford and probably Emory too. She is also very challenging.

As a premed, you will also like the liberal arts emphasis at Oxford, which is delivered in its Inquiry based (INQ) classes. 25% of your MCAT grade will be based on a reading comprehension section that tests your ability to decipher non-science texts. At Oxford, you get to take small (usually smaller than 15 students) humanities courses that emphasis writing and critiquing humanities texts.

Oxford and Emory both have strong, well taught psychology departments as well, which should help you with the psychology/social science section of the MCAT, which is also 25% of your score.