<p>Generalizations often dont help anyone... but i cant help but ask anyway</p>
<p>Im about as middle class as middle class gets, so there is some minor trepidation in going to a school where most of the student body is affluent. So id like to know whether most student are indeed rich and whether this sets some sort of non-spoken social hierarchy////?</p>
<p>there was some survey someone did for a sociology class or something last year that asked how much a student's family income was. there was a staggering amount of students with 200K+ income families (it was like 60% or something ridiculous like that). so yeah most of the student body is rich. i don't think there was much division between the socioeconomic classes tho. </p>
<p>i am also very middle class and was brought up in a small middle class town. one thing you will definitely notice is a difference in the way upper class students were raised and the way they were taught to carry themselves or behave in various social settings (even in the classroom). but everyone still gets along, emory is definitely one of the friendlier student bodies of the top universities. just remember where you came from and you'll be fine.</p>
<p>60 percent !?!?! haha wow, ... very informative, thanks. I had this premonition of walking into a lecture hall with a hooded sweatshirt and jeans while being surrounded by a sea of brooks brothers and barneys.</p>
<p>Do you feel like its hard to keep up with ur buddies when you go out? They could throw down hundreds on any particular weekend whereas that luxury just isnt there for some</p>
<p>When we visited Emory, the one thing that struck us was that most of the kids didn't walk around in designer clothes carrying designer handbags. Most of the kids "looked" very middle class. Keep in mind that an income of $200,000 in a major metropolitan area where housing is very expensive raising a family with 4 or 5 kids means you are living a very middle class life, especially if you are paying for college.</p>
<p>More importantly, you should let socio-economic preconceptions determine your approach towards Emory -- if you do, you may end up hanging out with people just like yourslef and will loose out on a lot of social opportunities.</p>
<p>We come from one of the poorer states. We are very middle class and our D has as much spending money as she earns during the summer. Do kids spend more? absolutely, some kids do. Some kids have less. It all works out; there will always be people with more and people with less. It may take a year to figure out how to allocate whatever spending money you have, but that is not a bad thing. D and friends all share/swap clothes for special events too. With Emory's committment to lower income students, you will meet kids from all soci0-economic backgrounds. I am amazed at the range of ethnicities/religions/geography/socio-economic backgrounds in D's friends.</p>
<p>The 60% at or above $200,000 figure is implausible since about 40% of students at Emory receive need based financial aid. 60% at or above $100,000 would make more sense.</p>
<p>not really. emory could give you $2 of "need based financial aid" and add you to that statistic. work-study and loans are added in as well. my friend somehow qualified for work-study with a 200K income. believe me, well over 60% of students are at or above a $100,000 income.</p>
<p>if 40% of students recieved need-based aid, 60% do not. The approximate income cutoff for full pay is ~$175k, depending on assets and other variables. But, that is not much different than many other private schools -- the Ivies are approx 50% full pay, with a wealthy student body. A college like Colgate is 65% full pay. One just needs to understand that private colleges attract upper & middle class kids -- one can't participate in ECs if one has to work to help the family.</p>
<p>Bluebayou has the question framed right. I just ran some numbers through one of those financial aid calculators and (for a reasonable range of assets) the full pay line looks like it begins at about 150k.</p>
<p>"Do you feel like its hard to keep up with ur buddies when you go out? They could throw down hundreds on any particular weekend whereas that luxury just isnt there for some"</p>
<p>for the most part, no. When they did go on spending sprees, i just held back. for instance, we went to the mall a lot and they were always buying new clothes. when i started to see a pattern emerging, i set a budget for myself. this meant that most of the time, i was just along for the ride. i still enjoyed myself tho. it was the hanging out part that was fun, not the shopping.</p>
<p>with that said, there will be the occasion when your friends want to eat at some fancy restaurant that you can't afford. those nights suck, but they RARELY happen. that's just when you break out the books so that 10 years from now, you'll be the one eating eating at restaurants they can't afford ;)</p>
<p>I have no idea about family incomes of students, but my child has a meager allowance and manages without complaints. Friends include RAs who have grants to cover all the rest of the costs and Scholars with large scholarships and kids paying the full freight. There is a lot to do on campus on the weekends for little money. The Scholars have money available for outside events that my child has never bothered to use in 2 years because there is plenty to do on campus on the weekends. This group of friends has varied socio-economic backgrounds and fit in well together- they are friends for going on three years.</p>