@ljberkow : I’d pass on that one lol. I would rather just start off with the group already making the most of Emory because they are more than happy to be there or are neutral and can make any place a pleasure. That concept you describe tends to rub off on others…I wouldn’t want to be around it. However, I did witness, a freshman parental pressure and stuff pressure folks into transferring away. I remember one pre-business student on my hall enjoying Emory socially and academically, but had a conditional transfer to Cornell and of course took it because: “my mom doesn’t like Emory”…uhmm, if the student likes/loves it what is the problem? They were from New York so I imagine some regional preferences or snobbery.
Interestingly, I have seen some transfer from certain Ivies or higher ranked schools (Dartmouth and Northwestern…roommate was a transfer from Northwestern) and most cite that things like the academics feel the same, and sometimes even have preferences towards Emory based upon their major. My sophomore roommate was political science and history and said he could immediately tell that undergraduates in that at Emory seemed to get better treatment and instruction…basically that the program and those in it were taken more seriously (this makes sense, Emory gets an unusual amount of non-STEM external research funding and in those two depts, a lot goes towards supporting undergraduate research and other special programs). He also commented that minus the occasional episodes of rah rah pride that NU enjoyed because of D-1, that Emory’s campus and architecture just seemed brighter, newer and happier to him for some reason. Some love Gothic or quasi-Gothic architecture no matter what…but different strokes for different folks. Also reminded me that it becomes hard to generalize about schools based upon differences in rank (Emory was likely still in the teens then, so this indicates that realistically, Emory at no point in its contemporary trajectory should “feel” overall inferior to say NU or Dartmouth…there will of course be differences that may matter to some folks and those should be investigated)