@worhexiz: The answer is yes on the interview (if you are actually interested in coming)…And again, it isn’t purely stats based. I would imagine that a person that ranks number 9 (even at a smaller school) but with a lower GPA than comparably ranked students at other schools (especially many publics where grade inflation is rampant) and has a decent SAT could be interviewed if something else stood out (such as an essay). Again, they aren’t looking for “perfect by the age of 18”, merely people who can enhance intellectual life or diversity at the school and have great potential to use Emory as an oppurtunity. It would be boring for them to only admit and give scholarships to all type A perfect Patricks and Patties. Need diversity of thought and approach to life and achievement. For example the many of the students awarded niche scholarships don’t look as stereotypical on paper like most Woodruff Scholars. Many of the music and debate scholars are quite quirky for example, and it is refreshing.
I think that every school has the right to develop their criteria for giving out merit- whether that be stats based or leadership or something else. That’s OK. It’s just that for my D, since she will not qualify for any financial aid, then merit is definitely important for her. She wants to go to grad school or law school and saving money for that endeavor is important to her. So this means that she is unlikely to be able to attend. Congrats to the finalists and good luck!
What is the essay prompt this year?
The thing is: If you have high stats…you’re honestly better off applying to public schools (especially in state flagships) that use stats as the cut-off because they will probably offer a bigger advantage than many private schools as the student will receive the scholarship and then be placed in an honors program where they indeed can take separate, smaller courses from everyone else. A top private school “may” provide more oppurtunities but the access to those opps is almost as easy for non-scholarship recipients as it is for those that did receive it which means that competition is still stiff and it is harder to stand out. As for grad. school, if you aim for top programs, most of them are decently funded (as in tuition coverage and stipend). If Law school, then definitely score high on LSAT or save up.
@bernie12 agree with you. You really can’t count on private schools (especially top tier ones like Emory) for merit aid only Financial Aid. Emory is the exception giving substantial merit scholarships (but like I said before far and few between less than 5 percent). If you are counting on merit aid, I agree with @bernie12 you need to look at public schools or private schools Much lower in rankings than Emory. We certainly weren’t counting on it (although one can always be hopeful). Still not sure about Likely letters. My older S graduated HS in 2014 and did get a “likely letter” 3 wks prior to RD notification. I know @bernie12 stated he thought they stopped those likely letters. Maybe my son’s year (2014) was the last time they did this. They have plenty of kids with high stats applying to Emory that they don’t need to throw merit aid at everyone to fill their class with high achieving students. Although disappointed in S not getting scholarship or merit aid, I do understand. My experience as you looked at private and public schools further down the US news rankings that they offered more merit aid. Its a trade-off(although one could argue that public schools with honors programs are the best kept secret )
@Eidetic There was no essay prompt…you just had to check yes on the common application for if you were interested in it or not.
@bernie12 if i got oxford finalist thing but i wanna go to emory if i were to go, is the money gonna be gone?
Yes, the good thing is that we were aware of the merit need and she developed a list with all of this in mind and cast a wide net. We weren’t counting on the merit for Emory coming through. It’s just another data point when she and the family make a decision on which offer of acceptance to take. Thank you for all the info.
Yes, the money is only applicable if you attend Oxford first…
**Decision: Accepted **
I hope this can help future Emory Scholars applicants!
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2310 (710 CR, 800 M, 800 W, 10 Essay—only sitting)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (E 36, M 33, S 35, R 35, Essay 12) —Superscored 36 with Math 36 on a different sitting
SAT II (place score in parentheses): Math II (780) Bio M(760) Chem (730) Lit(680) Physics (720) US History (740)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0 (weighted 4.7, last year 4.86, this year 5.0)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/600
AP (place score in parentheses): European History (5) Statistics (5) Computer Science A (5) U.S. History (5) Psychology (5) Calculus AB (5) English Language (5) Art History (4) Microeconomics (4) Environmental Science (4) Human Geography (4) Physics I (4) Chemistry (3–dont ask :/)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Spanish Lang, AP Computer Science AB (dual enrollment), AP US Gov, AP Economics, AP Physics 2, AP Biology, AP English Literature, Behavioral Neurobiology (online), Intro to Sociology (2nd semester college course)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Honoree, National AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Distinction, JUST Poetry National Contest (3 time finalist), Pushcart Prize in Poetry Nominee (really difficult award), Academic Decathlon County 6 medals, State competition 2 medals
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses): Academic Decathlon (40 hrs/week), Editor of HS literary magazine and 2 other international online publications, submissions reader for 3 literary publications, Co-founder and VP of Astronomy Club, CSF, NHS, Tae Kwon Do Black Belt (since 7th grade), Published Freelance Poet (~20 publications total), Her Culture (feminist magazine) writer (12th)
Job/Work Experience: Private math tutor (10, 11)
Volunteer/Community Service: Hospital Clinical Volunteer, 200+ hours (weekly); currently doing a poetry/publication internship with Spark Anthology
Summer Activities: Summer courses, travel/family, a LOT of poetry, UCLA Stem Cell Ethics class, intensive neurologist shadowing, self-studied Spanish 3
Essays: CA Essay 9/10; Supplement 9.5/10—supplement was about my research interest in Neuroaesthetics
Teacher Recommendations: AP Chem teacher (amazing—he extolled my writing ability especially), AP Physics teacher (good, still personalized though), English teacher (also my advisor for lit mag, didn’t read but should be pretty good too), Spanish 4 teacher (amazing too!)
Counselor Rec: She really likes me but a new counselor, so probably an 8/10
Additional Rec: Sent 3: Academic Decathlon coach (probably wonderful, she loves me and is known for writing great letters for Decathletes), Physician that I shadowed (very good, about my personal traits), UCLA professor (didn’t read, should be very good)
Interview: none
Additional Info:
—Co-wrote new organic chemistry curriculum with AP Chemistry teacher
—Researched and writed paper on Hinduism’s incarnations of god and natural evolution
—Sole participant from Burbank High School to enter National DNA Day Essay Contest
—Personal Circumstances = autistic sibling, parent’s job transfer, increased caregiving/family responsibilities
—Took Intro to Philosophy and Art History in community college
Other
Applied for Financial Aid? YES
Projected Concentration: Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology, English and Creative Writing
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Large public (3000 kids)
Ethnicity: Asian Indian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: ~150,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): literally none
Reflection
Strengths: SAT, ACT, and AP scores; Course Load; Interesting combination of passions, I emphasized poetry and Academic Decathlon a lot as my biggest commitments; poetry awards/publications, letters of rec
Weaknesses: I’m Asian, woohoo! Maybe lack of leadership positions in ALL my ECs, non-perfect scores, didn’t do any lab research unfortunately
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: No idea! Luck! Maybe that I live in SoCal?
Where else you are applying or have already applied: Cornell, UPenn, BU, Brown, Case Western, WashU in St. Louis, Duke, Rice, Johns Hopkins, USC (accepted), UC Berkeley, UCLA, Stanford
General Comments/Advice/Hindsight: good luck to everyone and congratulations to the other scholars finalists!
@Simhadri123 congrats! you sound amazing!!! did you also apply for the wash.Univer scholarships? if so which ones? do you know that the admit weekends for those conflict with emory scholarship weekends? You sound so amazing I think you could get that as well especially the creative writing and the Moog(science) scholarship!. Thx for posting stats. I think its good for future applicants to understand it goes way beyond SAT/ACT scores. You sound amazing not only with amazing stand. tests scores but also with all the research, publications, 13 APs.
@momof2eagles Thank you so much! I only applied for the Danforth Program for WashU, and I’m waiting for the results! I didn’t know about a possible conflict until now…so thank you for mentioning it 
@Simhadri123 not sure about Danforth but it appears the scholar weekend finalist for Wash Univ same as Emory. Good luck.
Anyone here get the scholarship? Are you taking it, why/why not?
Bumping this thread for 2016 Emory Scholars applicants. Lots of good info here from last year’s crew