@bernie12 thanks for your reply.
No, I’m not trying to dodge rigor, but as anyone on the pre-med track will tell you the GPA is of utmost importance. Yes, of course, I want a good education, but at the same time, I don’t want to sacrifice my GPA as a result. Of course, hopefully at a more rigorous place any differences in GPA between (say Emory and Iowa State or something) would be resolved by the MCAT scores. Nevertheless, the GPA is very important (I don’t want to be one of those people that goes to a really tough school and gets weeded out as a result).
A Liberal Arts College for me is important because I would like a school that doesn’t have an overwhelming amount of students and so that I can maintain close relations with professors. You also mentioned that there won’t be a massive party scene there, and whilst I’m not looking for the scene other top southern universities have (say at Vanderbilt University, University of Miami or Tulane University) I am looking for occasional parties to go to say every other weekend.
Another thing that I am concerned about is “weeding out” that happens at some colleges/universities. I’ve heard places like Vanderbilt and Emory curve to a B- in science classes. Does this apply to Oxford College as well? I’m not sure if Oxford is included when people mention Emory. Now Oxford also has INQ designations on several pre-med courses, how would this effect coursework in these classes? Would it add rigor? Now, of course, you may say that I shouldn’t be trying to dodge rigor, but my point is I don’t want to add unnecessary rigor on top of an already rigorous track.
The last question I had is what is Oxford’s relationship with Emory University? I understand it’s one of Emory’s nine academic division and one of the two entry points to the university, but people often say “Oxford or Emory” (rather than say “Oxford or Atlanta”. This may seem like a minor thing, but I’m curious as to how the culture at Oxford differs from Atlanta and if it attracts a different type of student body to the Atlanta campus/