Hi everyone, I’m a senior in high school and I was accepted to Vandy, Emory, and Wash U. I need help figuring out which one is the best for me.
In terms of major, I’m undecided, but I have an interest in science. Possibly business? A broad education would be very helpful. I’ve heard that Emory is more geared towards pre-professional and Wash U and Vandy are very flexible with majoring across schools. A comparison of the STEM and business programs and academic environment at these schools would be helpful.
For social life, I want a balance between studying and partying. I’m not too nerdy, but I take schoolwork seriously, don’t go too crazy at parties, but I like to let loose once in a while. I’m not one to get bored easily, but I still want lots of options of things to do. Also I don’t know anything about life in the Midwest and South (I’m from the Northeast). Comparison on student vibe, social life, culture, and surrounding city too please.
Won’t be a huge deciding factor, but is there a difference between the three in terms of prestige?
Thanks so much!!
I am still confused about this flexibility in majoring thing you see at the other two but not at Emory. Emory main only has 3 undergraduate entities (nursing, business, and college of arts and sciences. It has the highest proportion in the college of arts and sciences out of the 3 so is actually more liberal arts oriented curriculum wise. The nursing school BSN seems least connected to the college, but the College is solidly connected to the B-school through many majors and also like 20% of them major in the college. And you if you count Oxford, even more so. It, like WUSTL has a lot of students aiming for Big 3 pre-professions) and these have more. Please get this accurate so that you can evaluate better.
To be blunt. It seems like you should go to Vanderbilt The other 2 have more “tunnel vision” (and those who come in knowing what path they want to take, essentially pre-committed to certain pathways unless something comes along) thinking types of students and are not as laid back. You may just like Vanderbilt better. If you mentioned it over in the Emory forum that you were considering it, I would have told you to consider it. I don’t care for its life sciences from a pedagogical standpoint but it is more than good enough for it (just do research in the field of interest if you want exposure to what science is like) and excellent in physical sciences instruction and fine in math. And there are ways for you to focus on business (without actually being in a business school which I borderline object to) if you have an interest via the Peabody College I think, but hopefully a student can elaborate on this.
Vanderbilt may fit better for a person who has more well rounded academic interests and wants to be around others who are similar. It is certainly less nerdy and more socially vibrant (in the traditional sense) than the other two. Have you visited it? I am unsure whether or not you would fit as well at the other two. You would feel more comfortable at those if you were among the many who “think” they have it figured out already and that just does not seem like you right now. Vanderbilt generally also has much less pre-professional (talking like 1/2 or less the amount of medical school and even law school applicants for example) students, so that can contribute to a less stressful and high-strung atmosphere. Despite academic challenges when they arise, I do not think there will be this subtle air of competition likely to be felt at the others (as collaborative as Emory and WUSTL are, they are also known for feeling quite competitive for obvious reasons, with too many gunning for Big 3 professions)
Prestige difference is so irrelevant between these 3 so please stop posting asking about it. They have similar placement characteristics and post-grad award success levels (and external scholarships like Goldwater).
Also, for WUSTL, I thought their business program was a 4-year meaning you have needed to apply directly to it unless you wanted to transfer?
I will now get out of the way and let the others convince you to go to Vanderbilt lol. Maybe @Faline2 can help because this actually does look like a fit for you.
Maybe at @Faline2 can help because you seem like a fit. They had a child who attended so can elaborate more. I can only comment about what I know from friends, curriculum structure (can be found via their websites), and what is read on here.
@bernie12 Thanks for clarifying the majoring thing, my perceptions were skewed and that’s why I was confused. And you do have a good point about the tunnel vision, I agree with you about academic fit. Thanks again for your input!
I don’t have time to do my usual pontificating today but I do have two sons in Emory grad schools and I have worked near Emory professionally and lived in ATL four times. A lot of Emory undergrads will move off campus at some point and this means that ATL itself gets embroidered into the Emory experience. Emory is a strong liberal arts broad education undergrad program. I think it gets its “preprofessional” vibe from the fact that it is one of the top 20 colleges in the USA with a strong undergrad business program. This feels “right” in ATL, one of our nation’s most business friendly cities. As much as I love Nashville (lived there 2 times), and as booming as Nashville is today…it is not ATL in terms of places to do summer jobs or internships locally in business. Emory is also situated near the mighty CDC and also the Emory Hospital systems which are important regionally, not just in ATL. Vanderbilt has a regional impact in medicine similar to Emory’s and Duke’s. In contrast, until the economy sank, many top 20 universities didn’t do a full on undergraduate approach to business. Instead they directed you to Economics (which is a good strong quantitative major) and into little “clusters” of business skill courses where you could get a “certificate” for taking say 4 courses in business topics. So in this respect Emory Undergrad had a distinctive edge in undergrad business. In terms of core science courses, Emory has smaller classrooms with full professors for some entry classes. We toured there and their biggest lecture hall is smaller than those at Vandy. Nevertheless, you are going to get a lot of contact with full professors at Vandy and at Emory. My impression of Emory faculty/student relations was very positive. You get a research institution with a cozy relationship with faculty.
My Duke son was cra-cra over Duke sports. My Vandy son ignored most sports unless a person he knew wanted support on the field, and the people he knew were in the Band. haha. OK If you like the idea of caring about your teams, Vandy wins. For a lot of people this actually matters. And Vandy is not exactly a winning program but it has a surprisingly good following among alum and also in the city of Nashville. In terms of Town Gown…Emory is greatly loved in ATL and this matters. Ditto Vandy is greatly loved in Nashville. Vandy students in general live all four years on campus and their first year program with a campus recently created to give freshmen a world class start year is stunning. This move toward the residential college system that is so terrific at Rice University and at Princeton is always inhibited by the price of real estate and building when old facilities age out. Vandy was lucky to get enough land to do this freshman campus and to tie it into the original Peabody College which merged into Vandy a couple of decades back. Emory has less opportunity to pull this sort of thing off due to how incredibly valuable the real estate is near Emory and the CDC. I do think Vandy delivers on a cozy but urbane campus for four years.
I can’t really comment on Wash U but they have a heck of a reputation and I have seen the campus because at one time I lived near there. Gorgeous. and St Louis is a friendly lively place to call home.
gotta run. congrats on your embarrassment of riches
From an overall quality standpoint, I think these schools are peers. So decide what is important to you in terms of fit variables, and factor in cost if there is a wide gap between them (or one that is large enough to cause debt issues, anyway), when making the decision.
Vandy had three Goldwaters this year. always a happy outcome for hardworking professors who help create research opps for our students…
Vandy doesn’t have undergrad business…
@Faline2 : That should not swing anyone as that number for most private schools ebbs and flows (perhaps partially because congressional district plays a role and some are just more competitive than others, so if you nominate several from, say, the Boston area one year, you should be happy if you get a person who even gets an honorable mention). I think some state schools tend to be much more consistent. If one chose based on that, they would be at Kansas which has had some ridiculous years in the recent past. What Vanderbilt can truly celebrate, especially in the engineering and more physical science based programs is the success with the NSF graduate research fellowships (basically the students write an NSF grant and it is successful). It is consistently good at positioning students to win that. Who knows, since all 3 of the GW scholars won goldwater and I do not think they were seniors, and all are pursuing doctoral programs (again, Yaaah! I like to see this at any school, especially among those who are not as known to produce many academics), so perhaps they or at least one of them may also win an NSF!
@ClarinetDad16 : Peabody programs that are geared toward that interest are the OP’s friend. Also, since they are basically just looking for something that I guess is lucrative (notice they said science or business) and never mentioned any entrepreneurial interests, perhaps a place without an actual bachelors in business program may be a better way to allow them to more easily do both (business schools at elite institutions tend to have heavy course load commitments that make double majoring in a STEM doable for the very driven students). If the OP knew more sure that they wanted to do both and then planned how it would work, then I would not as readily advocate against a business program. Unlike many state schools where business has been accused of becoming a “default” major, this is rarely the case at elite schools.
WashU is the only school of the three that enables a student to study business or engineering.
@ClarinetDad16 : They just said science and not engineering. Though if someone wanted to do engineering AND business, I personally would have recommended places like Northeastern which has done a lot to integrate the two programs via some opportunities.
They have three choices and asked for advice. Not for us to add other schools or other changes…
Okay…and they also did not ask specifically which schools have engineering or mention interest in engineering at all (nor would it fit into the so called broad education they want). In addition, Only Emory and WUSTL have undergraduate business schools/specific degrees, but that does not rule Vanderbilt out as a place who wants to do business in the future. Those jobs nor an MBA require a BBA. Peabody plus econ. classes are the OP’s friend. They can also join the tons who for example do that HOD major and a STEM (non-engineering) major as well. All 3 offer some pathway for the OP’s interests.