What type of local environment are you looking for? The two are set in very different locales, each with a very different feel.
How well does each program meet your needs for the long-term?
Vanderbilt is filled with lots of trees, and open grassy areas, with very traditional, Southern, sprawling architecture and a sprawling campus. It is located in a vibrant, growing downtown area of a city which is, actually, overrun (in my opinion) with new construction projects and loving its tourist attraction identity. It feels good if that feels good to you. The area outside of the campus is very, very walkable.
Emory has a large campus, also with open grassy areas and tree lined roads leading up to, and through, the university property. There was something less lovely overall about the design and layout of Emory’s campus for me, and the mix of architectural styles to the buildings, while it speaks to the continued growth and investment in the institution, lent a discordant feel to the campus’ look in some parts.
The buildings where classes are held, and throughout the paths where the eight libraries stand, are in closer proximity to each other than the buildings which make up the landscape at Vanderbilt - so, easier to navigate when you are in a crunch.
Emory takes its security very seriously (not suggesting Vanderbilt does not) and that lends a sense of security to a parent.
Having spent just three days or so at each - as a parent of a prospective at Vanderbilt, and during admitted students weekend at Emory - my observations were gathered during times of busy activity at each school, where the administration and students were involved in running events, and putting on a ‘best face,’ as it were.
The students at each were pleasant and excited about the opportunities to which they had been exposed and taken advantage of, excited about their paths forward and hitting the marks toward their respective undergraduate goals.
The students at Vanderbilt were a little more than excited, I will say. They were simply thrilled about their campus, their time there, their friendships and the surprising way their exposure to fields of study they initially either knew nothing about, or thought they were solidly opposed to, found them choosing to go a different path than that they had in mind initially.
I am 100% sure this happens at Emory as well, this shift in the thought process about what one wishes to study and the path one wishes to walk. It happens inside of students at every college and university, everywhere.
(One reason I am sure is because my daughter attends Emory and she has changed her course of study over time, has found two friends she simply feels complete her, and a club sport in which she participates at such a level she found herself joining an international team during her study abroad so that she would continue to know the camaraderie and rush it brings.)
The feeling of joy was replete in the students with whom we interacted at Vanderbilt when I visited. There was pride and happiness at Emory, but tucked inside of a kind of reservedness.
Emory will offer up a solid, rigorous education for anyone on a pre-med track, with lots of opportunities for students to take advantage of the career services officers and interview for Emory-funded and based internships. Emory’s creative writing and theater programs are simply exploding to life right now, with both professors and students being awarded incredible literary honors at the national level, and, in that, expanding the profile of the university. You will work hard there. You will work hard at any university you choose.
You ask:
“Additionally if I do accept my waitlist offer, am I allowed to choose another school if I get off the waitlist that school later? Thank you!!”
I do not see a reason why you would not be able to do so. However, you will be asked to place deposits at each school to which you accept an offer, and if losing the deposit(s) will not bother your parents, and they approve, then you are free to do so, yes.