With my D about to complete her two (2) years at the Oxford campus, I am inspired to write about how pleased I’ve been with her experience and how much she’s looking forward to her next two years at the Atlanta campus.
She comes from a performing arts background and had not taken many of the AP science and math classes that people who strive to be premed or to major in the sciences had taken before enrolling at the Oxford campus. However, my D has loved the science classes she’s taken at Oxford, especially the inquiry based ones that emphasized hypothesis based research, and with her interest and investment in the sciences and math at Oxford, came success and growing confidence.
My D hated math in high school - so much so that she refused to take AP Calculus or AP Statistics. Now, having taken 2 semesters of calculus and 2 semesters of statistics at Oxford, she plans to take on more advanced math courses at the Atlanta campus and to possibly minor in math.
She’s received excellent mentorship and a chance to get to really know her professors with multiple opportunities to TA. With the support of her professorial mentors, she received multiple offers this upcoming summer to do biomedical research at various well-known medical schools and research institutes. Her experience this summer should set her up nicely to continue with research projects at the Atlanta campus.
My D has never taken a class at Oxford with more than 25 students - usually fewer than that for humanities classes. Her largest classes were in the core science and math classes like intro statistics, calculus, biology, chemistry. Such classes tended to be capped at 25 students. In contrast, when I took classes like these at my undergraduate-focused Ivy back in the day, we’d have classes of well over 300 students.
Large science and math classes tend to discourage students from being engaged in class and create incentives for students to rely solely on their test taking prowess to get them by the major exams. In contrast, professors at Oxford expect you to attend class, be prepared, speak up, to write a lot (even in science classes) and to make oral presentations.
Her classes in a wide variety of humanities classes have been well-taught and challenging - especially the inquiry based ones.
My experience in the real world tells me that my D’s gotten better preparation for life in the real world work force by virtue of the teaching style at Oxford, which is made possible by the small class sizes.
So far, I’ve focused on academics but one of the best parts of my D’s experience at the Oxford campus has been the opportunities she’s had to be part of a friendly, cohesive community. She’s had a chance to lead and serve in student government, through service projects and by founding a club. She’s also had a chance to lead and mentor as a TA.
She’s had a chance to befriend people from backgrounds very different from hers. Her freshman year roommate is from a rural, western state; we’re from a big, southern city. They’ve become friends and plan to room together at the Atlanta campus next year.
I consider Oxford College of Emory a real hidden gem. Judging from the surge in applicants this year, I surmise that others now see it the same way.