rising senior; first time on college confidential. i’ve been researching colleges in an effort to find my dream school. right now i really like emory (city proximity, small class sizes, focus on academics, overall size, good study abroad) but i’m looking for something with more traditions (like bryn mawr but bigger is a better way to describe it). preferably something that is not as hyper-selective as an ivy.
does a school like that exist or is emory the closest i’ll get to it?
for some more context i’m interested in the humanities and want to go into law. i want an actual college campus (so not like nyu). my overall profile is not bad at all but not ivy league showstopping (i have a good chance at emory if i apply early decision, but i’m not really a competitive applicant for harvard).
I think @merc81’s suggestion of the University of Richmond is a good one. I also think William and Mary is even more aligned with what you’re looking for, and should absolutely get a look from you (although Richmond definitely has better city proximity). Wake Forest could also be really good to take a look at, as could Davidson, though it’ll be an LAC experience as opposed to a mid-size university like the others.
Wash U is probably about as similar to Emory as you will get. Rice and Vanderbilt would probably also fit the bill. Those all fall into the reach for everyone category. For a safety take a look at Furman. I agree with @merc81 and @LionsTigersAndBears suggestions as well. I would just note that William and Mary isn’t in an urban area and Davidson is about 20 minutes from Charlotte and quite a bit smaller than the others. FWIW I am an Emory alum with a kid at William and Mary. Feel free to reach out if you have questions about either of those schools
So for law school, there where will matter little, if at all. Just look at who goes to Harvard Law and other top schools - from over 100 colleges.
When I see your title - colleges like Emory - I think of Rice, Vandy, and WUSTL. To a lesser extent Miami. All are city adjacent - even closer to the action than Emory.
For safer, it could be a Denver or Butler, etc.
You noted Bryn Mawr - which is all female - - so then in Atlanta you have Agnes Scott - much smaller.
For publics, bigger but Pitt has the urbanness you might like. College of Charleston is smack in the action. If you’re strong enough for Emory, you might qualify for their Fellows program which is wonderful. My daughter chose the school/program over much higher ranked schools. Tons of enrichment…
An outlier in size and maybe a bit too far from the action - but Furman is an easier admit.
Reading the other messages now - so I guess I should say, seconding @Greatpyrmom - as we had similar thoughts.
You are getting some very good suggestions. Did you mention your budget? Will need-based aid or merit aid be needed for affordability?
Adding to this suggestion, Agnes Scott and Emory are part of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education (ARCHE) that allows cross-registration at member schools… so you could take some classes at Emory as an Agnes Scott student. Agnes Scott would be a much easier admit.
i’m a legacy at washu but it seems more stem-focused as far as i can tell (which was good for my mom but might not be for me?). and anyways my family hasn’t donated a substantial amount so i don’t know how much that would help me. my profile by itself is likely not good enough to get me admitted. and anyway i want to get into a school based on my own merit and not my parents.
about emory (and i may follow up with questions about william and mary when i look into it) - what was the campus culture like? were there parties? did you start at the oxford campus and transfer or start in atlanta? what were the biggest pros and cons, and would you recommend it to others?
If Catholic schools work I’d suggest that you google the list of Jesuit Colleges – most are mid-sized urban universities. As one example, in NYC Fordham - Rose Hill has a traditional campus with easy access to Manhattan. Many other great options.
Also look at Villanova and Providence (Catholic but not Jesuit).
It’s smaller than you’d like, and I’m not sure about your regional preferences, but what about Macalester? It might fit your other criteria – urban, strengths in the humanities, etc. If you’re interested in the law or adjacent fields, its location in the state capital would open up lots of possibilities for internships and applied learning (and Macalester places a strong emphasis on providing these opportunities for students). I believe it also has a relationship with the University of Minnesota that would allow you to take classes there and give you your big-school fix.
Another thought is the Claremont colleges in California (Scripps, Pitzer, Pomona, etc.). Each college has a different feel but meshes well together in a contiguous campus area, so you feel like you’re at a bigger school and can take advantage of their combined resources. It’s exurban more than urban, but it’s not that hard to get to LA if you want to do that.
Also in California, Occidental might be worth a look – not in a consortium and smaller, but more connected to LA than the Claremont consortium and a vibrant campus with excellent humanities/social sciences.
Lewis and Clark (in Portland) could be another option. If you’re open to Catholic schools, what about Holy Cross?
I second other suggestions above: Rice, William and Mary, Vanderbilt, Charleston, Richmond, Pitt, and University of Denver.
Could you please do a chance me/match me thread…and complete all the fields on the template? This will give the folks here a more complete idea about your potential at colleges, and what you are looking for.
Right now…everyone is punting. We don’t know your grades, SAT or ACT scores, class rank, courses you have taken, ECs, etc. Folks here are really a great resource if the information needed is provided!
I will preface this with I am old and graduated from Emory 30 plus years ago. I am from the era when the Indigo Girls were playing free concerts on the quad and the upper classmen recounted REM playing at fraternity parties. I do have friends whose kids currently attend and are very happy there. Both of my children looked at it and weren’t interested even though they are double legacies and my husband and I both stayed for grad school (I attended Emory law back before they tanked in the rankings lol and my husband attended Emory med.) We live in Atlanta and my kids were looking at engineering and physics so Emory wasn’t a great fit for their areas of interest. I also think they just wanted to have the experience of going away to college … or maybe they just wanted to get away from me.
I would say Emory leans very pre professional. Just about everyone is pre med, pre law or business. I was a history major/ art history minor and really enjoyed the small classes and the accessibility of the professors. Atlanta is a great city and there are so many opportunities for students -a lot of students intern at the Carter Center, the Carlos museum and the CDC.
I spent all 4 years on the Atlanta campus so I can’t really speak to the Oxford experience other than to say that they all transfer in together and tended to be a very tight knit group.
In general, the students are very collaborative. Pre meds are probably a little more intense but that shouldn’t impact you. I would also say that although Emory is in the South, it is not really a Southern school culturally. There have always been a lot of students from NY/NJ and California
Yes, there are parties. It’s not SEC level partying and Greek life, but it’s there. It seems like Greek life is not as dominant as it was back in my day but still plays a role on campus. Emory students take their studies seriously but there was always something going on Thursday thru Saturday nights. You also have pretty easy access to Atlanta for live music or sporting events and such.
As far as the negatives I would say there is a lack of school spirit. There is no football team or tailgating. The focus is on a academics rather than sports. That’s a plus for some people and maybe a bit of a negative for others. There also is a contingent of Ivy rejects who are a bit salty about landing at Emory.
Hopefully, some current parents or students can give you a little more insight. I loved my time at Emory. Wish I could go back and do it all over again!
It is, but they’re both pretty selective (8% vs. 15% – I don’t know if that 15% figure includes the Oxford campus, in which case the rate for the main campus might be a little lower). So a significant statistical difference, but both are tough admits, and I can imagine the same students applying to both.
STEM is popular pretty much everywhere that has it these days, but the wealthy privates like Emory, Rice, WashU, and Vandy still offer plenty of HASS as well.
I agree Case and Rochester are good suggestions,with a bit less hard for admissions (and also possible merit), but still excellent colleges near cities. Rochesters is maybe a little more of a HASS favorite than Case but either could be good.
I also agree Jesuit colleges almost as a rule are good choices for Humanities, good prep for law school, and very often well-located. Georgetown and BC are very hard admits, but Fordham (NYC), Loyola Marymount (LA), Santa Clara (Bay Area), Loyola Chicago, Saint Louis University, Marquette (Milwaukee) . . . there are just so many.
