Hey y’all! I was wondering which one among Georgetown, Emory, and Tufts to go to for international/public health and premed. I’ve been admitted to all three, and I’d be pursuing the Georgetown NHS Global Health program (I was admitted EA, if that means anything), Emory Human Health/Anthropology and Biology, and Tufts International Relations with a focus in Global Health. (I was also admitted to UT Austin Plan II and Polymathic Scholars, but my parents are pushing me to go out of state for undergrad and to come back for medical school.)
Cost is approximately the same at all three; Emory is a bit cheaper than Georgetown and Tufts, but by only about 3k per year. My family would incur about 20-30k of debt at all three, approximate interest included.
My interest is in the intersection between international relations and health. I did Model UN in high school and might continue in college, but that’s dependent on time. Having research opportunities and campus EMS opportunities is really important to me, and I think all three schools should be great for that at least. The way I see it, Georgetown is great for exposure to IR stuff (cause y’know… DC) but middling in sciences, while Emory is great for exposure to sciences (CDC, Emory Health, etc.), but not great in IR, and Tufts is the middle of the road option.
I’m leaning towards Georgetown at the moment, because I had a chance to visit during the EA GAAP weekend two weeks ago and had a blast. I did have some concerns about the reputation of Georgetown’s undergraduate sciences, but the professors in the NHS I met were great and the lab spaces seemed well stocked and organized. I made a few friends and enjoyed the social scene, but it did seem a bit preppy and wealthy, something a bit uncomfortable for me. I haven’t and likely won’t have the chance to visit Tufts and Emory due to finances, but from Youtube videos and admissions materials it seems that Tufts especially would be more egalitarian and less preppy. Emory is the one I have the least understanding of overall, but they seem to lean less preppy, and I would have less of an issue adjusting to another Southern culture.
Not that it matters too much, but I would prefer somewhere with regular-ish snow, as living in West Texas for the past 12 years of my life has given me a hankering for cold weather. This obviously hurts Emory more than the others. Additionally, I’m a very liberal Catholic, and Georgetown obviously has some points here, but if anyone has insight as to what campus ministry is like at Tufts or Emory, that would be much appreciated!
If you made it to this point, thanks for reading and sorry for the novel, lol!
Tl;dr- Loves Georgetown but having doubts about the science and the society there over Tufts/Emory.