Emory University vs. Southern Methodist University

FLStudent97
Thu, 16 Apr 2015 12:23:57 +0000

@Maggpie That is a question I have been asked several times within the past week or so. I have attended admitted student days at both schools within the past two weeks and I honestly felt as if I could be comfortable at both schools. I will just have to make a decision sooner rather than later. Personally, I think that Oxford College would be a better academic fit for me not only because of its stronger pre-health program and connection to a top medical school but I also felt as if the class I was able to visit, which was a psychology class by the admissions staff’s choice, was more engaging than the class I visited at SMU. At SMU, I was presented with a variety of classes I could visit but they were all introductory level. not surprisingly, so I chose to visit some sort of a biology class with a focus on ecology. It felt just like the AP Biology class I took at my high school two years ago and I think that I could exempt it because of my AP exam score. However, the Hilltop Scholar and University Honors Programs at SMU would allow for me to have access to more challenging classes.

Socially speaking, the transition to Oxford College would not be difficult as I have attended the same small private school since the first grade. I like the idea of starting out at a smaller campus where I could develop closer friendships and relationships with students and professors. However, as I have experienced in my own high school, attending a very small school can raise the issue of becoming claustrophobic, in a sense, because of the limited number of students. However, the automatic transfer to the main Emory campus following sophomore year would alleviate that concern. SMU definitely would be very different from Oxford College due to the fact SMU has approximately ten times as many students as Oxford College. As I said earlier, I feel as if the majority of the student body at SMU would be closer aligned to my beliefs than the student body at Oxford College.

Aesthetically speaking, I like SMU because of its beautiful campus and its general student body more so than Oxford College, but perhaps there may be more opportunities at Oxford College because of its connection with Emory, not that SMU lacks opportunity for anything - after all, it is in Dallas. I will just have to think about this decision very carefully over the next several days!