Thoughts?
One is a liberal arts college that is much more intellectual in nature (Reed) and one is a university that has a solid mix, but has a HUGE pre-professional population. If one wants to go to a more intellectually/academically oriented school, then go to Reed. If one associates success much more so with extracurricular endeavors, then Emory could be better because it is in a city. Emory is more traditionally “work hard, play hard”, but their are hints to suggest that the administration wants to move away from this ethos and move to a more intellectually motivated student body. One thing that Emory has going for it is a growing (and what is becoming pretty serious) entrepreneurial spirit that makes it an interesting place to be. And of course since it is larger, you will naturally have more options.
Portland is a city?
Atlanta is much larger and more well-endowed if you know what I mean. Depending on your goals, the cities will offer completely different things. Like if I am pre-professional, Atlanta is often a destination and so is Emory for that matter, for better or worse.
If you think you’re grad school bound, compare each school’s admission percentages (hint: Emory is pre-professional).
Dude do not go to Emory if you are one of those who find Reed compelling in the first place… I visited both in one week (I know; cuz I’m torn by the two also) and not to be rude but Emory students live far from the intellectual standards and vibes I’ve seen at Reed.
Honestly. I visited a 400 level philosophy seminar and the students were mispronouncing Nietzsche’s name this whole time lol - It’s mind blowing how overrated Emory actually is. I liked their 400 level French seminar on francophone cinema though (yes Emory has strong French department), but the fact that me, a high school senior without any perquisites just know exactly what their talking bout kinda says something about the difficulty level of that class lol. And if not conducted in French, I would say that this seminar is just the same as what you get in Hum 110 at Reed. That being said, equivalent first year seminars at Emory cannot compare to the ones at Reed AT ALL. I visited an English FYS on dreams and time, and students were texting all the time and prof was real boring and not sassy at all regardless of how interesting the topic itself is! Lol honestly I was more active than the current freshmen in that class…
Portland is way better than Atlanta in my opinion. you can’t live without a car in Atlanta, whereas in Portland most people bike and bikers gain more respects on the street. Both places where the colleges locate have a lot of trees, but Emory’s lousy campus and architecture can’t compare to that at Reed for sure…
Emory is very conservative in a non-political sense. Meaning that most kids are machines trained to pursue pre-med to live up to the social expectation. That’s what you get with that pre- professional deal; it’s the same everywhere not just schools like Emory. Emory is more diverse though for sure, having a ton of Asian (mostly international kids speaking Mandarin Chinese if it bothers you) and international students from elsewhere. While Reed is white dominant but you get to see the most diverse white dominance lol (maybe not in a socio economic sense but in a personality slash sexuality slash interest sense).
All in all, my impressions for each school:
Reed: ppl really really CARE (academically, socially, politically). Non-mainstream. Artistic. Intellectual. Weird jokes and shitposting. Memes. A counter cultural college where elite education is both offered AND ACCEPTED.
Emory: ppl really really DONT CARE (partying, rushing for Greek life etc). Mainstream (living up to pre-med standards, career oriented). Somewhat intellectual but you really need to find those people. A perfectly normal American university where elite education is offered. Period.
So yea I ruled Emory out and now I’m torn by Reed and McGill (for financial reasons only. Like Reed didn’t give me any money and McGill is five times cheaper).
My main concern about Reed concerns its course offerings. I am primarily interested in comparative literature and queer theory. While Reed just introduced a comp lit major last year, it still offers little to no comp lit classes, and there are virtually no courses on queer theory or even gender studies. I realize that I could write a thesis on queer literature or w/e, but that doesn’t remedy the issue that I would like to be taking classes and discussion seminars that CENTER on queer theory / comp lit.
A related concern is that Reed’s strict distribution requirements impose severe limits on academic exploration and force me to spend substantial time studying subjects I have NO interest in (e.g. a full YEAR of chem/physics/biology!!!). As a result of having to take so many required classes, my first two years of college would probably be miserable – I just don’t think I would enjoy a freshman schedule consisting of hum 110 + bio + one other subject. Meanwhile, my friend at Emory is in a fascinating comp lit class which, during my visit, touched on Foucault and Levinas in substantial depth. I would much rather be taking such literary classes rather than suffering my way through a year of intensive scientific study. True, there is a science requirement at Emory, but it can be fulfilled by a variety of easier / more interesting courses like envi sci.
This issue is amplified by Reed’s insistence that students take about 3 subjects per semester – as a result, I could only take 1 course of my choosing (since one subject = humanities and another = bio) during my freshman year. At Emory, the classes may be a little less rigorous, but students can still explore more of academia by comfortably taking 4-5 classes. For someone like myself with a variety of academic interests, this is really frustrating.
A secondary concern is that Reed might be a little TOO rigorous. During my time in Georgia, my Emory friends and I were able to spend a weekend partying at UGA. As my friends only had about 4 hours of home work, they were able to do all of it Sunday night and enjoy themselves all weekend. As much as I love learning, I also want to have a life in college, and frankly I would rather spend my weekends partying than writing 3 papers about ancient white dudes.
And while I totally get the argument that the average Emory student is less intellectual than their Reed counterpart, I don’t find this to be a major issue because in my experience Emory certainly has a thriving counterculture, mostly made up of comp lit majors.
Dear Masterdebater97, I’m a Reed parent, also vy. familiar /c Emory. IMHO Reed is 100x stronger than Emory, but based on last pgr in your first post above, Reed ain’t the place for you.
Let me address some issues that I seem to have missed due to the unfortunate timing of this thread:
‘I would say that this seminar is just the same as what you get in Hum 110 at Reed’
To be honest, HUM110 is hardly my definition of a good seminar at Reed. The typical conference is filled with people who are basically discussing the text in a not-so-academic fashion, in that they just babble whatever they want to say. On the other hand, classes that I took where there were upperclassmen who had taken a lot of classes in political science and history and other things were able to contribute so meaningfully to the classes that I would leave them inspired. This is simply a matter of using classes taken earlier to inform the ones you take later.
A lot of people just take 3 classes their first semester, and 4 the second. It’s OK to take 4 classes your first semester if you want. It’s doable, especially if you come from a rigorous high school background. And taking 3 classes your first semester is a walk in the park, especially if you just take intro classes.
I think Reed’s intro sciences have an undeserved reputation for being difficult; they are not hard. Biology is just two lectures a week, no homework, a few tests during the semester, and a 5 hour lab and a lab report, which is done in a group. It is hardly my idea of a difficult class at Reed. You would not be miserable if you just put the minimum effort needed. Chemistry is also not that difficult, with labs usually lasting 2-3 hours, 1 problem set, 3 lectures a week.
And scientific literacy IS important, and you can definitely split the classes over the four years. Like you could take intro bio your first semester, and take the second part, or maybe computational biology the next year. Like, what’s the big deal? It’s also a nice break from all the reading.
Like, the intro classes are definitely NOT hard, except maybe like physics or russian or intro to analysis.
As to your interest in queer theory: the intro to literary theory class is by far the most difficult class offered in the humanities. Last year, two professors, one from French and one from English, taught the seminar, with 40 students. It is mindblowing-ly exhausting, as you have to go through a lot, lot of material to read, original sources, not the kind of textbooks Yale makes its students read (check out Fry’s course on intro to literary theory on Yale OCW), and think deeply about it. Queer theory is an important part of this class. Nathalia King was responsible for teaching more about, so you may want to get in contact with her. But yes, few classes deal with queer theory in itself at Reed.
If what you want is to use queer theory to interpret texts you read, you can do this at Reed. Professors will give you a lot of latitude in writing your essays, and you can certainly bring it up in class, and people will take you seriously and will try to engage with you meaningfully. I also think that wanting to specialize in one theory early on may be slightly myopic. (http://www.reed.edu/reed_magazine/september2012/articles/features/twelve/tyler.html)
And, please, the novelty of partying wears off for serious students. You can party at Reed. I know biology and physics seniors who basically partied every other week, and those who spent all their time in the lab. Freshman year is especially not hard at all. Sophomore year can be made easy too. And no, HUM110 isn’t hard-- not at all! You write 3 papers per semester-- not every weekend, and they are very easy to write if you come from a good background. Coming from a background where I wrote a long paper every week, almost going to 3000 words every time, HUM110 in terms of the writing load was a joke for me, and I’m much more excited about the 300-level history class I’m taking next year. What is hard about classes like those, however, is that you need to do the reading and think deeply about it if you want to contribute meaningfully in conference, and that takes time, and that has certainly been a challenge for me.