<p>It’s also a problem of Emory’s culture if they don’t cultivate the potential that most of the admitted students have. Many California students come to UCLA and UC Berkeley (and many of the mid tier UCs like Davis, Santa Cruz, and Irvine) without much passion for the school. They chose it because it was the best one they got into, but for whatever reason UCLA (and to a lesser extent the other UCs) manages to instill a love for the school that extends beyond its sports teams to its abundant extracurricular opportunities and seems to instill a sense of passion in students who, in high school, did the stereotypical “pleasing college” ECs. </p>
<p>But seriously, there are so many passionate people at Emory that if a student puts in more than an iota of effort he should be able to find someone going far beyond the required curriculum. Whenever I go to the Emory campus, there’s almost a palatable energy and enthusiasm whether it manifests itself in one of the numerous acapella groups, extreme amounts of community service (there are very few campuses as pro volunteering as Emory), the various cultural nights, or one of the hundreds of other things that happen every year. The people I’ve met at Emory have motivated me to go beyond the textbooks and explore all interests. The trick is to find these people, because they seem to be less obvious than students at some of our peer schools.</p>