Who Gets in and Why

Colleges and Universities A-Z Emory University
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For those interested in how Emory admissions works, check out Jeff Selingo’s new book. Couple of fun facts,

  1. Emory does re-calculate GPA taking out freshman year (I know people have said this isn’t true but it is definitely what happens) and
  2. Emory does not admit by major but your intended major does matter. If you intend to major in bio and have nothing on your application that lines up with that it might be held against you.
    It’s a very interesting book with an inside look at Emory as well as some other universities.
1 Like
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I am interested in reading this book myself.

I don’t know why anyone would say Emory doesn’t recalculate high school GPA’s leaving out 9th grade, they tell you explicitly that they do that in their admissions presentations.

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@cinnamon1212 Yes they do, but people here insisted this isn’t true.

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I am quite sure you are right! :slight_smile: That would be a good example of “not everyone knows what they are talking about on the internet!”

I like Emory’s policy re: 9th grade grades. I suspect other schools, if not recalculate, discount the 9th grade year too. Though certainly not every school.

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Emory is not really that formulaic and goes beyond grades and scores (which are important). There are people with lower scores and grades who will be selected over seemingly “stronger” candidates. Other factors included are how the candidate challenges her or himself or does outside of school, leadership, etc.

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An article was posted online recently at Marketplace.org that refers to this book. See link below

https://www.marketplace.org/2020/10/05/college-admissions-is-a-business-and-the-pandemic-could-upend-it/

Some important findings from this article:

  1. Emory uses a statistical model to predict which students will matriculate vs those who don’t
  2. Tentative admits are put through an additional round of cuts to align with intended targets
  3. Although students are not admitted by major, there is clear whittling of students for majors in high demand. The natural sciences major is pointed out specifically in the article. Students are definitely weighed against each other within prospective majors.
  4. Tags for legacy, employee child and others also play a big role in the cutting rounds.

It would be interesting to know more about what goes into the predictive statistical model. Especially any factors within the student control (like demonstrated interest, timing of application, etc). Also interested to see how financial need impacts their model.