<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>In CA Emory remains a little bit of an unknown compared with other comparable institutions, I was wondering what the atmosphere on campus is like. I've read Fiske's thoughts on the life there but I was wondering what CC would have to say. Not having a big NCAA sports scene seems like it might lead to Greek Life dominating the social scene, is this the case? And as for the atmosphere, I was wondering if it is more similar to a Vanderbilt or very southern oriented university rather than having more Northern tendencies.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Vanderbilt, regardless of its regional demographics, has more of a southern (architecture, ethnic demographics, political leaning which is more mixed than places like Emory, Duke, and Rice which are clearly liberal, with Emory perhaps being most liberal of the three) feel that we certainly don’t have because of the ethnic diversity. Emory hardly appears to be in the south (and seems much like Atlanta itself, but at the same time a bubble when compared to the south, and the architecture is extremely rare for a southern school or any school at all. The only thing common to the south is extremely heavily wooded areas on campus and perhaps the sprawling nature of the campus in general). Not only this, but Vandy has a way more dominant Greek scene than Emory (even though the percentages of people participating are similar, the feel is different, because again, the diversity, and the fact that you don’t have the D-1 sports hype scene reinforcing or pumping it up even more than what it all is. Having D-1 sports is more likely to empower a greek scene than not having it) and has D-1 sports. The social life and extracurriculars at Emory are very dynamic due to the huge multi-cultural scene we have (multi-cultural organizations, I argue, give Greek life a big run for the money, and are almost more important on campus than they are) in addition to the administration’s pushing the concept. I would say that what is not gained from D-1 sports is re channeled to more cultural/intellectually oriented activities (notice how debate and case competitions are actually quite big at Emory. And we’re successful). All top schools are very service-oriented, but we seem to take it to a ridiculous level. I find it hard to believe that you think a school that is the most ethnically and religiously diverse among top 20s would feel like its in the south. Not only that, but Vanderbilt, of all peers, is set as the standard for feeling out northern vs. southerness (we have like, twice as many internationals as they do in our student body and have more than our other southern peers, despite not even having an engineering school). I think Duke or Rice would have been better for comparison in terms of “northern or southern” feel (Though Rice may have an abnormal amount of students from Texas. The ethnic demographics there play a role in balancing that out). Emory’s social scene, I would kind of describe as being more heavily infused with its academic scene (but not in a Chicago or Columbia kind of way. I’m kind of acknowledging how multi-culturalism is perhaps a concept derived from those in academics. The fact that it is pumped so heavily is some form of campus intellectualism, though nothing like Chicago type intellectualism).</p>
<p>Thank you very much for this in depth response! I visited U of Chicago and hated it, no one really seemed happy to be together there. What is the typical social scene? Are there house parties and such? Or is it more cultured than that. How do you think the social scene would compare to UCSD?</p>
<p>Thanks again for answering my questions.</p>
<p>I know nothing about UCSD (heard it’s a bit intense, that’s all), sorry (oh, trust me, Chicago students are happy. You just may have hated because what makes them happy does not make you happy. They are very intellectual and have more quirky type of fun seen more commonly at LACs. I mean, honestly, the traditional “partying is the only thing that makes my social life awesome” gets old and mundane after a while). Yes, we have all types of house parties, frat parties, whatever. Emory is just a very typical school with far more driven students than average and w/o a D-1 sports team. Other than the latter and the diversity, you won’t find a huge difference between our social scene and that at other top 20s (as in ones not really known for the intellectual type atmosphere at say, Brown, Chicago, Princeton, or Columbia. You seem not to like that anyway, so…). Emory is a very “work hard, play hard” place (I think this is both good and bad. I don’t think academics should always only be viewed as work that needs to be cleared so that social life can be enjoyed, which is why I kind of like schools like the intellectual bunch I named. The two are not as separated as the typical top school).</p>