@collegemom3717 : Really, applied to Harvard? That is a thing that baffles me about Emory students all of the time. Many students who are pre-business or pre-med are upset they did not get into Harvard (Columbia, Yale, Princeton…insert tippy top intensive school), yet often complain about the intensity of courses and instructors at Emory. It is as if they have been convinced that Harvard is easier because of the rumors of grade inflation. The reality is, Harvard is much more difficult than most top 20-25 schools in terms of the content. I could go into specifics, but will spare you.
And thank you for telling them the thing about medicine, and it honestly applies to most careers in science (especially academically related ones). I am merely in a masters program in chemistry and can tell you that it is straight up work around the clock (whether it be the lab, which I love) or the TAships…Medical school, from what I see from a friend who is doing his MDPhD (it is now summer of his 1st year) is constant studying (and when there is a “break” offered during summer, often it should be used to intern or something if the program does not have a research requirement integrated into it) pretty much, they do not get much of a “break” until it is time to study boards (which is basically after/during the second year BTW) kind of like how I student might gets a “break” to write a thesis or science doctoral (my eventual goal) student may get a little time to study for qualifying exams (or cumulative exams if in a chemistry program…nothing like exams that throw the most random things in your discipline at you where you basically must read, read, read primary literature constantly, even in subfields not related to your research to only hope that you have a chance of understanding enough prompts to get a 50% or so, which is considered passing at most programs like Purdue, Emory, and other intense chemistry programs…but either way, it is good intellectually despite being a change from undergrad, where you are essentially told what will be tested)…or NOT, usually you must just schedule in that study time around your TA duties and research time. If in science, it is an intense road ahead, pre-med (like medicine) will take lots of discipline, and grad. school takes lots of discipline and a desire and willingness to learn things on your own with hardly no guidance (I personally just figure out what I am to be doing, and hit the internet for manuals and the library for books that will teach me either how to do them or the theory behind them…If one is always being spoon fed what to do in grad. school, then it isn’t really going as it should).
OP…if you’re looking for it to be a little more relaxed in sciences than normal, then a places like Emory are as relaxed as it gets for an elite school (maybe minus Brown)…that is not an Oxford thing and it could be much more intense.