<p>B-school advisors aren’t that great either. One told D she could take a certain marketing class as long as she approached the prof and asked to join; turns out she was totally dead wrong (this is after D re-arranged her schedule/classes to work in the class).</p>
<p>But I agree – the advisors you’re assigned from the get go are worse than awful – downright stupid.</p>
<p>That particular advisor may have been bad, but Hershatter, Kocurek, etc. are all great. Overall, they are actually concerned about you getting a job. More than can be said for CAS.</p>
<p>It seems like no one in the Emory administration is ever fired for cause, no matter how incompetent. They just say everyone is great and the bad people, like the two former heads of admission who lied to USNWP, are no longer with the school.</p>
<p>NewGeorgiaPeach: I do sometimes wonder why certain students are here, but not how they got here (I know they probably tested well and got a high GPA, and perhaps have a resume filled with some cool stuff). The way some people act, it would have made more sense for them to go to their state flagship for a lower price, still make amazing grades, and get into that dream prof. school. If you are not going to give yourself the experience that supposedly sets this school apart from those (supposedly more challenging, a crap ton of resources to allow you to do innovative and interesting things in your EC life), then there is no point in coming. The name itself and self-inflated grades will not give you much of an edge over smart peers at the state schools. You could, however, take advantage of the more challenging courses offered to boost your MCAT/LSAT/GRE/any prof./grad. school entrance exam score, or apply for a grant to do independent research or start up a project/something cool. A lot of folks here don’t bother to do that. As smart as they are, they are kind of just taking up space from those who perhaps had lower GPA’s and SAT’s that would have gladly took advantage of these supposed differences. Another thing that’s interesting is that a lot of people are shocked when they get in a class and actually have to work hard for an A or B. </p>
<p>This wouldn’t be as much of a shock to people who expected it to be somewhat difficult and were indeed expecting a greater challenge than if they went elsewhere. I am honestly to the point where I wouldn’t mind if Emory recruited students with lower “talent levels” as judged by traditional college admission metrics, but have indeed proven a capacity and “desire” (this is key. Many now, have the former, but not this) to learn, work hard, and do something perhaps not so ordinary (even for those among a talented peer group) and even take risks. This is much better than having a bunch of people essentially “entitled” to do well and expect opps. to just fall into their hands (perhaps thinking that only good college grades can get them good opps. I’ve seen people w/low to not great GPA’s with passion be aggressive enough to get these opps. that many believe they must have a 4.0 or similar to get. Or these people create opps. for themselves. We need more of these). Guess I just wish we were more aggressive about getting things other than grades For example, if this were Harvard or Berkeley, the dept cuts would probably have eventually led to ousting of the president or several parts of the administration, but Emory has a hard time mobilizing around these issues for reasons that we all know of…</p>
<p>What dining plans do people use?</p>
<p>Wow, the impression of Emory painted in this thread based on the responses is not a good one. And I’m assuming that all of you have a lot more in depth knowledge than me since you’re either an alumni, current student, or parent. The academic environment and faculty does not sound so desirable after reading the comments. Not too thrilled about going to Emory now</p>
<p>somethingkinda: Emory suffers from the same atmospheric issues that a lot of elite private schools have (especially in this tough economy). And since it is younger, it may suffer a little more than some others (but I would argue that the pre-professionalism is not as bad as places like ND for example which flat out have “pre-professional studies majors”). The key is to do what you want to do and find like minded peers that have the expected mindset of those attending an elite school. This honestly isn’t but so hard. You can figure out who these people are easily. For example, just observing how some folks choose courses gives a lot of insight. Does the student try to stack their schedule w/only easy classes/profs, or do they choose by interest and quality? If you are concerned about being surrounded by those in the former, then hang with the ones in the latter. Emory is an exciting place for a person interested in genuine learning if you surround yourself with the right people and take advantage of the awesome resources (such as MARBLE, the museum, the lecture series, and stuff like that). It’s about finding your niche of students, and not letting the pre-prof. hype of “I only care about grades” sweep you away. Honestly, I prefer the atmosphere in the humanities and social sciences better than that in the sciences at Emory. The sciences need some work in terms of inspiring people to do something w/their interest in science other than getting a grade or doing resume filling activities to get to the next step. The science courses with the truely inspired students are generally the more special topic/seminar style courses that may be more difficult than some other upper level courses. Just a heads up for if you are interested in the sciences (I would say most things outside of them are intellectually solid and you will be pleased with them the way they are now).</p>
<p>bernie12 – you have been a fount of invaluable information about Emory for me and my daughter, and you have a way of balancing information and giving a positive but accurate spin on things. </p>
<p>I have to say however that I can’t figure out what Emory is – it’s definitely not a LAC (which to me is attentive, supportive, caring, nurturing, and all about intellectual curiosity and learning) neither it is a big uni (where there is a lot of diversity, school spirit, tens of thousands of kids). It’s sort of in this weird middle zone. And maybe it’s always been in that undefined space. I think if you know that going in and you want that, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I just would like to say that I love Emory. Sure, you’re going to have those kids who only care about stats, GPA, etc., but you care also GUARANTEED to find the students who are passionate about learning and want to be intellectually stimulated. The resources are beyond incredible, and I believe that just because Emory students may not be “showy” in these things, they still do incredible stuff. Many of my friends have researched at the renowned Yerkes primate center, worked at the CDC, had jnternships at the Carter Center. It’s true that Emory isn’t going to force you to do these things, but you get the most out of what you put in and who you surround yourself with.
Oh and a note about the cuts-what I’ve found is that many students aren’t actually sad about this besides art, journalism, Education majors who aren’t necessarily large enough in numbers to mobilize anything. Pre-med, NBB kids are excited bc they will get more funding but sad in the way the administration handled it. This issue has been addressed with new committees. Anywhoo-the moral of the story is that Emory is an incredible place!</p>
<p>My opinion is that everyone should be sad regardless of if their dept. is getting more funding or not and not simply about the way the admin. handled it. In addition, just really how many NBB majors are actually interested in how the new funding will be spent? (On creation of courses that focus on non-clinical issues? Most, as in an overwhelming majority NBB majors are pre-med and can care less. Unless the major attracts more non-premeds, this is like throwing money in a hole. Classes such as physical biology, computational neuroscience, and tougher sounding non-clinical like electives already have low"ish" enrollment. Do they plan to create more of these? Everything that glitters is not gold. If they took a closer look, they should not be as excited). If they want to reallocate money to any science dept., maybe do so to chemistry who has been struggling to get its new building for years and may indeed know how to use the money. And I hope MacBeth isn’t just lipservicing to the idea of “improving science education at Emory” because she provided no specifics. Anyway, I hope this whole cuts things works out.</p>
<p>@bernie12</p>
<p>You say that Emory has an anti-intellectual streak, how bad is it? Is it high school-ish, or could someone in theory find a group of “nerdy” students without much trouble?</p>
<p>Also, how much do frats dominate the social scene at Emory? Is it hard to get by --socially-- without being in one?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The latter (easy to find a group of intellectual students). I don’t think frats dominate the scene that much. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I think other clubs and many of the multi-cultural organizations may have an even greater influence than Greeklife (despite the high participation in Greeklife). The diversity here kind of makes these other groups have a huge presence that somewhat counterbalances the frat scene.</p>
<p>@bernie12</p>
<p>Ok, so judging by what you’re saying, it won’t be too difficult to find a group for myself, but it seems that the intellectual kids may end up getting shunted into the sidelines of the social scene due to that “don’t talk about your classes outide of class” vibe you previously characterized the school as having. Correct?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot to you and all of the Emory students/alums/etc on this thread. All this information is helping me decide between applying EDII and RD to Emory.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say “sidelines”. Often you’ll have your main group of intellectual friends (if you are that type), some others who can care less. and nice middleground friend(s). Simply know that your other associates can care less or simply won’t know or understand what you are talking about and move on. Basically, just know who would want to engage in those thoughts and convs. and who doesn’t. You won’t be alienated or anything. I found toggling between different types of friends easy. Admittedly, I had like a core group from freshman year that was very intellectual (most were not pre-prof, very bright, and grad. school bound) and then I branched out to those who were like in the middleground. The latter group really cared about grades and would often whine about issues like that, but ultimately did not mind discussing more intellectual things or were indeed on a level where they wanted to describe what they were learning in a class they liked or what they were doing in their research (or even talk about current events and stuff). They weren’t completely shallow intellectually.</p>
<p>What is the best way to get involved in significant opportunities/activities outside of the classroom? For example, what do students need to do to get research opportunities?</p>
<p>Students need to e-mail the investigators expressing their interest…that’s all. Easy.</p>
<p>I’m actually a lab assistant at Yerkes as a freshman as my work study, something very Emory-specific that I know is going to be a huge help for me in the future as my supervisor says he normally keeps his students on their whole time at Emory. I had no other previous experience, and most labs are looking for sophomores if you don’t have any experience, but in the beginning of the year there’s an Emory-based job site where you put your resume and try as hard as you can to get answers back. Just as bernie says, just express as much interest as possible and it’s available for you immediately.</p>
<p>At any top university you’re going to find people who only care about grades, who got where they are only based on good test scores without any real intellectual ability. Don’t think it’s just Emory. HOWEVER, you’ll definitely find interesting, intelligent students here without having to look very hard. </p>
<p>The frat scene is pretty big among the freshman, just because we don’t have cars or really know any upperclassmen or have fakes yet haha. At least, that’s how it is in the beginning of the year. There are tons of other things to do, and other ways to have fun if you have the means. Since it’s second semester rush, the social scene isn’t “dominated” by Greek life / it isn’t hard to get by socially just because we aren’t officially in Greek life yet. Maybe that will change, but I’ve only been around one semester, so. I would say clubs like SPC (student programming council - they do like homecoming and stuff) is just as big, it’s not just Greek life ruling the campus.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t say that people who got where they were only because of good test scores don’t have any real intellectual ability. I think what you’re really talking about is intellectual curiosity. It it takes some level of intelligence and hard work to do well on any test that requires aptitude.</p>
<p>How’s the dating scene at Emory?</p>
<p>NewGeorgiaPeach, your original post made me very nostalgic. :)</p>
<p>But I disagree with you about the transition. To many people, Emory is much easier than high school–especially freshman year. There are some very difficult high schools.</p>