<p>Hi!</p>
<p>I was just accepted as a transfer to Emory University. I am an English Major currently attending Bryn Mawr College. While I think Bryn Mawr is a fine school, it proved both too far from home and the general campus attitude was far too angry. However, I'm really worried about whether or not Emory is a good fit for me.</p>
<p>I'm a very quiet person who does not like partying, so I am somewhat concerned about that. I am also concerned about the English program at Emory, because I know the college is mostly known for its science departments.</p>
<p>Can someone give me a brief idea of the general campus attitude? Is this a "party" school? Is the English department any good?</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Of course Emory’s English and Creative Writing department is excellent and Emory is certainly not a party school, in fact it is the more quirky and pseudo intellectual (by this I mean intellectual pre-professional. Rice, for example, has more legit intellectual vitality because of its house system. However, Emory is very good considering the number of pre-professionals. I’m sure it ends up being different from Vandy and Duke because of the lack of D-1 sports. Even though less “intellectual” than Rice, it’s still more quirky with certain traditions and campus culture. I guess I would describe Emory as busy, upbeat, and happy…while not being spirited in the same sense as schools with larger party scenes and D-1 sports. It could be a great intermediate between where you go and the type of school you want to avoid, and also has amazing UG writing scene!) among the Big 4 southern privates. Many of the social sciences and humanities are actually from an objective standpoint at much higher quality than most of the science departments which get the most visibility because of the large pre-health population and the fact that Emory runs its own healthcare system (which is huge). </p>
<p>Also, check this out: <a href=“http://college.usatoday.com/the-10-best-american-colleges-for-writers/”>http://college.usatoday.com/the-10-best-american-colleges-for-writers/</a></p>
<p>I attribute this to many of the writers we have as faculty here and also because of our rare books collection and the intellectual community that has been bred among budding writers (thus all the seminars, talks, etc). Normally, I would assume any ranking from such a website/agency as way off, and it could be off, but it does comment on the fact that Emory has an amazing community for budding writers and/or English majors. It isn’t completely wrong. We have very strong departments and they are working to get even stronger and are actually some of the most visible depts among the humanities at Emory. </p>
<p>bernie12: Thank you so much for your helpful comment! I’m definitely a lot more at ease. As someone who plans on being a professional writer, hearing about the quality writing program at Emory is fantastic news. And hearing about the atmosphere on campus is music to my ears. Having grown up in the South, I’m used to many colleges having a huge party scene, so I was scared of that happening, but I didn’t really want to repeat the situation at Bryn Mawr, where many people are taking things too seriously.</p>
<p>Again, thank you so much for this information! :)</p>
<p>I’m going to have to disagree with Bernie on this one. I just finished my freshman year and have found that there is a huge emphasis on binge drinking, my dorm often had throwup in the bathrooms and hallways from drinking, and I didn’t often go out, only to be woken up at wee hours of the morning by everyone returning from partying. I would definitely say that the campus attitude definitely feels cliquey. Greek life is a pretty big deal and once Greeks don’t typically associate with non-Greeks for long periods of time. That said, I had some amazing English professors this last year. </p>
<p>@rowergirl2013 : I said nothing about Greeklife. What I say still stands. Emory is much less of a party school than Duke or Vanderbilt because of the lack of D-1 sports. Of course there is binge drinking, it’s a medium sized national university with sizeable Greeklife (with this said, most people observe that at Emory, students become less enthusiastic or engaged with any sort of party scene as they advance. The people who long for the D-1 experience complain about this aspect, and those who can care less could literally care less and are neutral). However, Greeklife influence is not reinforced by D-1 sports fervor. Emory is nowhere near as intense as those two or Tulane for that matter…It thus feels different from those two schools (it is still more academically oriented/biased. A freshman at Chicago may actually observe similar things…it’s just not Greek centered). Also, that was your freshman year, of course tons of students are wilding out. Sure they are adjusting, but let’s be honest, it’s usually their easiest academic year from an objective standpoint (as in courses are actually easier than advanced courses when you discount the “adjustment” factor) and students are, as I suggest, taking advantage of what appears to be extra time to party, which may be new to many of them. Freshman year judgement can be very tricky because I would have made a similar assessment, however even then I recognize it isn’t near as crazy as other places. Also, given the size of Greeklife, they certainly do interact with non-Greeks. You’ll definitely notice this if you choose as you progress. The cliques (of which there are plenty) often come from ethnic, academic, or regional barriers. And even those aren’t that solid (except the internationals). Regardless, it is a reason I don’t care for Clairmont or Woodruff. Their is no community and they essentially harbor cliques that never interact because of the suite or apartment system. Traditional dorms are much better for community building and making cliqued up groups interact IMHO. Sure they are “less nice” but I like them better. </p>