<p>First off, let me just explain my connection to Emory…
I’m a recent alum (09 grad) who did a lot of things at Emory and learned so much about the school over 4 years (good and bad!) I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything, but I’ll try to give an objective view for differences between Emory and Vandy. I don’t know much about UF so I don’t think I would be very helpful in comparing Emory to them.</p>
<p>There are a lot of similarities between Emory and Vandy, in terms of academic quality, national reputation, size, weather, etc.
One primary difference that I noticed between the two schools when I was an applicant and when I was a student, was a difference in diversity. It is about 35% caucasian at Emory compared to about 50% at Vandy. There are also more people coming outside the country at Emory. Emory was founded Methodist, but is now very religiously diverse, which huge groups of Jewish (~30%) and Muslim (~10-15%) students. I really enjoyed this aspect because I think you learn so much from different people that you live/eat/work/study with, but I can understand that everyone would not like it.</p>
<p>But Vandy has closer 50/50 female/male ratio. Emory is about 54-55% female</p>
<p>Emory has slightly more academic options. There are about 20 more possible majors in Emory College than Vandy College of Arts & Sciences. I don’t know how many people double major or major/minor at Vandy, but it’s over half of Emory students. </p>
<p>Atlanta is obviously larger than Nashville. So many concerts, museums, beer festivals, sporting events, big shows, etc happen all the time!! On the other hand, you’ll frequently hear that one of Atlanta’s biggest problems is it’s traffic. I agree. Luckily I didn’t really run into that problem very much because I would either drive around when people were at work (the joys of being in class ~2 hours a day) or after people were done with work (the fun doesn’t start til 10pm at least!) </p>
<p>I was a PreMed student and I’ll tell you that the thing that shocked me was how cooperative/non-cut throat Emory was. I expected a little bit of “I need to get the highest grade and I don’t care about anyone else” mentality, but I didn’t really find that at all. Sure, there’s a small percentage of people like that (what can you do?) but basically everyone gets along and shares notes and forms study groups to make it all easier. And you can very easily have a life outside of PreMed. In fact, it would be weird if you didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, it’s probably the hardest academic track at Emory, but it does not dominate your life. I did Greek Life too, which was so much fun and I met my friends (brothers) that have helped change my life. I was also a varsity athlete. Anyways, all I’m saying is that it doesn’t ruin your life at all.</p>
<p>You might also be interested in seeing that Emory was named by Newsweek as the best school for students interested in Med School (see the 2nd picture)
[Photos:</a> 25 Colleges That Might Be Right for You - Newsweek](<a href=“http://photo.newsweek.com/2009/8/photos-25-colleges-that-might-be-right-for-you.html]Photos:”>http://photo.newsweek.com/2009/8/photos-25-colleges-that-might-be-right-for-you.html)</p>
<p>Also, I figured you would post this same question on the Vandy CC forum so I just wanted to comment on the Faline2 post. For a mother, she’s very informed, and she’s certainly very balanced, but I think that I can offer a little better perspective about Emory since I just graduated.</p>
<p>One of the perennial debates about Emory is school spirit. She mentions it by saying “What is missing is school spirit re sports compared to Vandy.” It’s true that Emory’s sports do not generate much school spirit. Emory has amazing sports (10 national titles in last 7 years) and there are only 5 schools in the country ranked in the top 20 academically and athletically (Emory is one of them, Vandy isn’t) but Emory is Division III and does not have a football team people don’t tend to get as excited if they don’t participate in the sport.</p>
<p>Once I got to Emory, I started thinking about school spirit and how it doesn’t have to be tied to sports. If you think school spirit only means football tailgates, then Emory doesn’t have ANY of that. But when you look at some of Emory’s most fun events - Dooley’s Week, Wonderful Wednesdays, Homecoming Parade, Songfest, SPC Block Party - you see that there are still a ton of things that people get very spirited for, but they aren’t sporting events. It just depends on how much you think spirit takes place with sports, or if it can take place with other awesome things. </p>
<p>I agree with her about the Vandy Commons. It’s a great system, and Emory recognizes that. We’ll have a similar program in a few years (we’re about 1/2 way there, in terms of finishing a freshman quad) Half of next years freshmen will be in dorms that were built in the last 4 years and about 60% will be living in buildings next to each other as part of this new freshman quad</p>
<p>When she says, “I really dislike the Emory housing plan which includes the Claremont campus by shuttle bus…just seems like a bunch of apartments without a strong connection to the campus,” I was surprised. Clairmont was one of the things that really attracted me to Emory. It has huge apartments, where everyone gets their own bedroom, and there is a kitchen and 1-2 bathrooms, and washer/dryer and living room in each apartment. Plus, there is a big field for soccer/football/frisbee/cook-outs, and an olympic-sized swimming pool, outdoor tennis courts (hard court and clay) basketball courts, and sand volleyball with a grill and a deli all right there. My friends and I would go everyday around noon on Fridays during our freshman year because we would be done with classes. We’d go to the grill to get lunch, then just lounge by the pool. It was fun! She’s right that many upperclassmen move off campus (20-25%) but I don’t know how that compares to Vandy. It’s not very high compared to most schools. </p>
<p>Ultimately, go with what you think seems right (I agree with “emoryadmission”). It’s your decision and what some people like about a school, you might not like and vice versa.</p>