<p>Yes, I agree with the last post. In much of the country high schools aren’t nearly as rigorous as they should be. A lot of students come out of certain high schools with better math and writing skills than many graduates of top colleges. There are a lot of problems in our educational system that can’t be fixed by universities. Kids with poor basic skills bring down standards of an institution, unless they try really hard to improve on their weaknesses.</p>
<p>Do Emory students use websites that who teacher ratings like ratemyprofessor? If so, which ones?</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m pretty sure even most non-STEM oriented top schools calibrate their academics versus the assumption that the HS academics of most students were not rigorous. This means that most students will not struggle and those from good HS’s will coast. However, some elites and the STEM oriented schools at least attempt to calibrate the coursework so that it pushes everyone and even challenges those from good/rigorous high schools. More institutions should probably go this route, but they are a bit too expensive to “give students a hard time”, especially when all the students do indeed think they are prepared and are kind of there for a career that they can only attain by getting high grades. I don’t understand why not do like Harvard, Stanford or Yale and make the actual coursework rigorous and then inflate the grades. Instead most schools water down the curriculum and still inflate the grades. This does a disservice for those taking high stakes grad/prof. school entrance exams where more rigor in relevant coursework may actually result in better performance than dictated by “raw talent”. For example, we know that Harvard students will do well on these as they already test extremely well, but other elite schools w/students that test very well but not as well can narrow the gap some by making the coursework tougher. This especially goes for places like Emory w/lots of people doing pre-med who want to take the MCAT, which requires more than memorization…unlike a lot of the relevant biology courses offered. At least chemistry courses are at more than a solid level for success.</p>
<p>Some people use ratemyprofessor, but I don’t find it to be that helpful unless there are lots of comments. It seems like a lot of people use it to bash a particular professor simply because they did poorly in the class and it may have no bearing as to how good the professor actually is.</p>
<p>There is a conference on Emory’s learnlink site called Class Comments that used to be pretty good for getting info about professors, but they deleted the archives so now there is very little, if any, info about the majority of the professors.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>I would reconsider using AP Chem/Bio credits for chem/bio 141 as the follow up courses (142) are usually harder than 141. So even if you have technically mastered Bio or Chem with a 4 or even a 5 on the AP tests, it’s probably in your best interest to take the courses again anyways since it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll do better in 142 then. Also, you’re probably premed if you’re taking these courses, and they’ll help you review for the physical sciences portion of the MCAT. Bios easy at Emory so I tested out first semester. In contrast, even people that got 5s on the Chem exam are retaking Chem 141 because they know that 142 can be a *****. </p></li>
<li><p>I find that any website or forum that gives advice about professors is never useful since you usually get every kind of opinion about a professor. I did use ratemyprofessors.com by looking at overall ratings which gave the average of all ratings. My advice (for anyone at any school really) is to find an upperclassmen who took the same courses as you that has a very similar learning style/personality as you. This was easy for me since I’m on the bhangra team and many of them are premeds…they have a lot of insight on which science teachers to take or not take. Get advice from this upperclassman about professors. </p></li>
<li><p>I only just finished my first semester so I don’t know if I can really make any judgements about the dating scene. I can only conclude that the hook-up culture is VERY apparent, especially as a freshman. I feel like by sophomore year girls will want to settle down but guys are probably okay with just hook ups for longer than that. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any people that consider relationships, obviously there are.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Any acceptees, PM me so we can become friends on fb and I can answer any other questions. I’m also a freshman here at Emory :)</p>
<p>How inclusive/exclusive are the sororities, meaning is it tough to get into a good one?</p>
<p>I hope to apply to Emory for the Fall of 2013. I just had a few questions:</p>
<p>1) How does Emory’s payment system work? I heard they have this program called Emory Advantage. Could someone tell me what that is about please? </p>
<p>2) I also heard that Emory is well known for financial aid. How much do you think they would give to a student that comes from a family earning around 90,000 annually with less than 20,000 in assets?</p>
<p>If one had AP credit, I would just take it for chem, and maybe take frosh orgo. or wait for 142. A lot of students w/5’s end up embarrassing themselves in 141 and do not make an A (or A-. In fact, some make B-/B just like the average student in the course w/no credit). Ultimately, 142 is tough, but for the mathematically inclined, which is what is stressed on the free response portion of the AP chem exam, this makes 142 much like AP and 141 lesser so (141 tends to stress concepts not emphasized as much on the AP exam). I would also skip 141 because it is so boring after you got a 5 on the AP. Bio 142 is pretty easy to grasp from what I remember, and I was in the hard prof.'s section. If I had a 5 in biology, I would start w/Dr. Beck’s organismal form and function course. He apparently now takes freshman who are qualified (class only requires some type of bio 141 credit). It grades easy, but is really helpful for developing the type of thinking skills needed for the MCAT. in addition, you get a more holistic/conceptual exposure to many body systems that will appear on the MCAT. I highly recommend doing that instead of retaking 141. Biochemistry (which is recommended by most med. schools and will be on the 2015 MCAT) will cover the same bases that 141 covered, but in greater detail. That course can function as the review needed.</p>
<p>^^^is that bio course only offered to freshmen? And only in the first semester? I only heard about it halfway through the semester and wished I would have considered it.</p>
<p>esai23: I’m you’re typical well off student at Emory. My family doesn’t even qualify for FA. Hopefully someone else can help.</p>
<p>No, it’s traditionally taken by sophomores and juniors, but one is allowed to take it as a freshman or concurrently w/142 if you had to take 141. I had at least two friends take organismal w/bio 142. And I know people who took it first semester freshman year because they had AP/IB credit. Another secret on the chem. courses, but this one is not for the faint hearted. Students who have done well in chem and bio courses (141/142, bio 141/142, and chem 222) can take chem 222 and chemistry (in the chem dept.) concurrently. My friend’s credentials who did this included the following courses by first semester sophomore year: Chem 141/142, bio 142, bio 250 (w/Eisen), chem 221 (w/Soria). I only recommend this for those who may want to accelerate their prep. for the MCAT and have a history of taking rigorous profs./courses for the pre-req. science courses and doing decently (B and higher in all. Ideally B+ though). This is an example of how students who did not go the freshman orgo. or bio 240 track can still stand out from others on the pre-medical track. But again, you have to be toughened up and used to the rigor by time you make such a decision. Mathematically inclined (those who often did well in calc. or Mulford or Weaver’s gen. chem course) students may also take physics 151/152 instead of 141/142 as this may make you more competitive against those from other peer institutions who mostly take the calc. based physics series anyway. Basically, there are many ways to make yourself stand out using your ECs AND your coursework. </p>
<p>Many believe that med. schools don’t care about your courseload/rigor, but the top ones do (for those interested in the prospect). You can’t apply to Harvard med. for example, major in a science, and not indicate that you’ve taken a less traditional courseload than the average Emory applicant to a “normal caliber” school (many of the top ones are actually research intensive anyway, so demonstrating that you can handle more challenging than normal coursework while juggling an EC life is important. These schools want to see perseverance and a deeper than normal care for science and healthcare. I base this upon the friends that I saw get interviews or admission to these med. schools. Getting 4.0 w/average pre-med courseload is hardly ever enough for these places). They recommend that most applicants take courses that many Emory pre-meds avoid but are typical for those at most elite UG schools. Always keep in mind that your Emory peers aren’t your true competition in this process. The beauty is that you can plan it based upon strengths that you may have demonstrated as early as freshman year. If you or anyone wants to know interesting courses/profs. that are challenging and separate you from a pack of high GPA achieving, but otherwise/boring average students, let me know. I’ve taken several in biology, chemistry, and even some in physics, so I can provide insight if you know which areas you are interested in.</p>
<p>Just my thoughts about the Chem/Bio AP credit…</p>
<p>I would definitely use your Bio AP credit to place out of 141, but I would probably still opt to take Chem 141. Yes, Chem 141 is pretty boring, but some of the concepts are important for the second semester in 142. In contrast, Bio 141 and 142 are not linear, so you don’t really need to take 141 before 142.</p>
<p>Ok I have another question:</p>
<p>What exactly is a major/minor?</p>
<p>I was looking at the Goizueta BBA section, and I noticed that you could get a BBA with two “primary depths” in any of the 5 choices (I’m thinking of Accounting and Finance) and a secondary depth, in one of the sub categories. </p>
<p>Then I noticed that it said that 20% of the graduating class graduate with a major. And it gave a list of all the majors you can earn. I saw computer science as one of the majors on the list.</p>
<p>So my second question is: What is the difference between a major and a “primary depth”?</p>
<p>I’ll try to answer your questions though I’m not very familiar with the B school…</p>
<p>Primary depths or whatever are at the business school which you can apply to after you’ve taken 60 credit hours at the college (junior standing). If you mateiculate in the B school, your course of study focuses on those primary area depths. What they are saying then is that people can choose to continue taking classes at the College to fulfill a major requirement so that you graduate with a primary area depth at the B school and a major from the college. </p>
<p>Majors have more credit hour requirements than minors do. Some subjects exist as both majors and minors while others exist as only one or the other. I think primary area depths are like majors whereas secondary area depths are like minors.</p>
<p>How do I apply for Emory Institutional Aid? </p>
<p>Is it through FAFSA alone like any other Financial Aid program, or is there some separate application?</p>
<p>esai23 – in my experience, that level of income and assets won’t get you any aid from Emory (other than Federal student loans). The Emory Advantage just means they cap your student debt after it reaches a certain level.</p>
<p>In terms of how to apply for Emory institutional aid, check the website. You need to fill out CSS profile and FAFSA. But whatever you state in assets, Emory will assume you have more assets at your disposal to pay tuition. This is a fact.</p>
<p>More information on Emory Advantage here: [Emory</a> Advantage](<a href=“Emory Advantage | Emory University | Atlanta GA”>Emory Advantage | Emory University | Atlanta GA)</p>
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<p>FAFSA and the CSS Profile.</p>
<p>However Classof2015, I should mention that we were out of the country and moved back only a year and a half ago. Prior to that we were in India for 3 years, and before that, my dad was without a job for three years. </p>
<p>He started working in the US again just 1.5 years ago. My mom is currently a home maker and I don’t work either. </p>
<p>You mentioned that Emory will look at our assets. We don’t own any property besides a second hand car that we bought a few months ago.
Right now, we barely have anything to pay have the huge tuition rate to be honest.</p>
<p>I used the net price calculator and it said that I would get approx. 25,000 in aid. (that’s not counting the loan). Is that wrong? </p>
<p>Also aigiquinf, I will check out that site tomorrow morning. Also what is the CSS profile?</p>
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<p>Are you a US Citizen?</p>
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<p>The CSS Profile is a financial instrument produced by the College Board (the same group that does AP/SAT testing). With the FASFA, you can hide money or be unfairly ineligible for programs (FASFA is only for federal aid eligibility). Because the university is spending so much of its own money, it uses the CSS Profile to get a far more complete and accurate understanding of your family’s financial circumstances.</p>