<p>Confident and ambitious? Most likely. Arrogant? Not necessarily.</p>
<p>I don’t want you getting the wrong impression.
There’s lots of confident, arrogant, ambitious kids here.
Many of the people here did not get into ivies.
Some of the people here are not too smart.</p>
<p>That being said, it’s definitely easy to find your niche. Every place has its d-bags, but there’s also plenty of really cool, intelligent, interesting people here.</p>
<p>It’s a lovely place. I’m glad I came.</p>
<p>All the top private schools have people that are not too smart. Some of these “not smart” people just have higher SAT scores(we wouldn’t have grade inflation if all the people doing well on the SAT were at least perceived as smart by the faculty members/professors) or more ECs. And honestly, we’re not an Ivy, so it should be obvious that not everyone got into one, which makes sense given the admission rates of these schools. In my own eyes, I still even see Emory as very selective because I’m not viewing it from an elite viewpoint (comparing it to Ivies and the like). Only 30% are admitted, which means 70% are waitlisted/denied. When looking at it from an elite point of view, all you see is 30% vs. 7-10% for x school. Some people seem to act as if everyone gets in b/c they know no one applying to other elite schools who was denied.This is a limited and perhaps flawed perception. Anyway, I don’t understand why we hold up the Ivy League students up as the archetype. It’s as if, your top 20 is stupid/worthless unless most of the people there could also get into an Ivy. That’s ridiculous.</p>
<p>Simply because UPenn/Columbia is where we want to be in the future.</p>
<p>Having done well our whole lives, our next goal is to be among the best… which we feel is the ivy league.</p>
<p>So it’s the archetype</p>
<p>Unless there is a SIGNIFICANT financial advantage to attend Emory, someone would be very foolish to attend Emory over Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Penn, Georgetown, Stanford, MIT, etc. I could see someone wanting to be in Atlanta over Durham (Duke), Nashville (Vanderbilt), or St. Louis (Wash. U.), and therefore MAYBE choosing Emory over those schools. However, the educational experience, quality of student body, and academic/social prestige of Emory does not compare favorably to the aforementioned Ivy League/Ivy-like schools. I can’t believe there are that many foolish people at Emory, choosing it over those superior places. My guess is that they are embellishing their acceptances…if not, they are REALLY not bright.</p>
<p>Albertobrooks–You are misinformed–the acceptance rates to medical school for ALL applicants at many of these schools is significantly higher than at Emory. Emory does have an incredible number of students applying to medical school, and I think it hurts them. At Georgetown, the acceptance rate to medical school for ALL of its applicants exceeds 90% (100% for students with >3.5, >30). The number of premed students applying from Georgetown is around 100-125 each year, not the 300+ like Emory. Perhaps there is more opportunity for better premedical advising at these other schools that do significantly better than Emory in getting their students admitted to medical school.</p>
<p>And bernie2010, it’s JOHNS Hopkins, not JOHN’S</p>
<p>My bad, I keep forgetting. I’m so sorry for offending those affiliated with/or really wanting to go there. Anyway, I only think I would want to attend some of the Ivies or perhaps Berkeley or Ann Arbor for graduate school. I don’t honestly think I would be that psyched over going to Harvard for undergrad. I would happily go to an LAC, Princeton, or Yale (perhaps Dartmouth) though. They are still known to have extremely strong undergraduate education. And going to an Ivy doesn’t really guarantee a spot at an Ivy for grad. school. I guess I’m not as shallow to believe that Ivies have the best everything. For my masters/PhD (phamacology/molecular pharmacology) track I know that there are probably plenty of public schools that are better in this area than the Ivies. However, I guess I understand many of you guys perspectives, since y’all are strictly pre-professional. Ivies do an amazing job with medical school, b-school, law, w/e. I guess I could just care less. Honestly, even Emory has a really solid pharmacology program. I want to matriculate to a school that is good in my area of interest, not the most prestigious school that may have my program, but doesn’t really do it well. I would not attend Georgetown if I was an aspiring non-premed scientist for one, and I wouldn’t go to MIT b/c I am not great at physics, and don’t really want to do engineering (actually apparently many/most there don’t do it or CS. Lots go into finance). It would indeed be foolish for a person who is pre-law or wants to pursue the humanities to come here over Georgetown, however I could see a scientist doing it if they weren’t among the prestige whores. And again, people applying to MIT should probably have a particular interest in that curriculum. In many cases, certain types of students should not really be interested in particular schools. They merely see, oh I’m good at science, MIT is prestigious, let’s apply. Given the broader curriculum, I would perhaps consider Berkeley over it even if I were a scientist or engineer. If admitted to Stanford, then I would strongly consider them depending on my field of interest. Simply chasing prestige would probably make me very unhappy.</p>
<p>Would love to see the data set supporting your assertion concerning Georgetown’s med school acceptance rates as I find them highly suspect.</p>
<p>The Georgetown premedical admissions numbers are on the website, although are dated by 2-3 years. The recent premedical group (of graduating seniors) had a 100% acceptance rate. We are helped tremendously by the fact that Georgetown medical school likes its undergrads, that we have an early assurance program with the Georgetown medical school, and that we don’t have 300+ premeds in each undergraduate class (like Johns Hopkins and Emory) (that fact, along with the excellent medical school placement, makes the premed experience at Georgetown uniquely laid back and friendly). Premedical applicants are screened BEFORE they get to Georgetown (through undergraduate admissions), not once they are there; so, unlike some other universities, Georgetown doesn’t preclude you from applying to medical school if your stats aren’t great (i.e. they will still provide a premed/health committee recommendation letter). Georgetown has great premedical advising, and alumni help tremendously with the process as well.</p>
<p>Are you at GeorgeTown via some administrative position? If so, then interesting. Anyway, I don’t know what Emory (aside from weeding out) can do to improve pre-med admission into med. school. I really don’t know how the advising works. All I know is that they are the center of attention in the sciences here. Except behind closed doors (like through the help of a few close faculty members, which is what I have), those science students pursuing other paths are not well attended. On top of that, you have pre-med students with the audacity to hate/dislike a prof. when they don’t "only " teach what’s on the MCAT. My former orgo. professor is disliked by many for this reason (and the fact that his class was far more intense than they expected for a freshmen only section). He goes far beyond what is necessary and teaches stuff relevant to all, and many don’t like it when he chooses to emphasize harder material (heavy emphasis on homolytic reactions and organometallic, especially 2nd semester) more relevant to say a researcher. I’m basically saying that it’s gotten so bad that I think they know that the world of undergraduate science at Emory revolves around them and are now putting pressure on the curriculum here so that it may be more geared toward them as opposed to scientists as a whole. While Weinschenck (another notorious prof.) is also generally adored as a lecturer, most of the pre-meds wished that he wouldn’t teach from the frontier orbital perspective simply because it makes it too hard. Should they not be more excited that they get to be exposed to more advanced material or go in greater dept than those at many peers (and even some of those ranked far higher) while also receiving a more than generous curve to compensate for the added difficulty? No, I guess learning stuff outside the scope of your future career is not something to be grateful for.</p>
<p>Hoya, I went to the site you recommended and the information could not be accessed. Perhaps you could provide a link as I still do not find your assertion credible. </p>
<p>Here is the link which was unable to be accessed:</p>
<p>[Resources</a> - Pre-Medical Studies at Georgetown - Georgetown College](<a href=“http://premed.georgetown.edu/resources/]Resources”>Resources | Pre-Health Studies | Georgetown University)</p>
<p>Yes, that’s the correct link–don’t know why it’s down–perhaps they are updating the info. You can trust my report (I now advise the premed students as an alumnus and we are given routine updates in this regard).</p>
<p>“Unless there is a SIGNIFICANT financial advantage to attend Emory, someone would be very foolish to attend Emory over Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Brown, Columbia, Penn, Georgetown, Stanford, MIT, etc…”</p>
<p>Nice try, but Georgetown is nowhere near any of those schools except maybe Brown. Georgetown and Emory are more less academic equals, so I don’t see how Emory over Georgetown would be such a huge mistake (depending on your major and professional track, of course).</p>
<p>I think it’s pretty bad that it is foolish for anyone to attend one good school over another. You still end up at a solid school. Clearly that person is not a fool. If one school doesn’t fit, it doesn’t fit no matter how prestigious it is. One should not find it acceptable to simply put their comfort aside. I think my logic makes sense even for those only wanting college as a stepping stone to a good career. You don’t want to go to a school knowing that you’ll be miserable throughout all 4 years, thinking the suffering is worth it b/c of the job opps. or alumni connections. You’ll probably end up missing out on a lot of personal development, not to mention the bitterness could hinder the formation of important relationships, and thus the establishment of these connections. I think that’s the problem w/students that say chose Emory as their backup after being denied admission at some other top school. They couldn’t actually even see themselves here, but attended anyway because it was the only school they got into that was in the 20-25. They could have been much happier and thrived at a solid public school or some school out of that range. Instead some are so bitter with their situation that they just ignore any opps. before them and assume that the school has nothing to offer even though many around them have been successful in such pursuit. Why even put yourself in this situation? Not to mention, if you may be unfortunate enough that your grades suffer you have no chance of transferring to that dream school. Instead some relatively happy, thriving person at a community college or state school (perhaps easier too) that perhaps wants to step up will be better positioned for such a move.</p>
<p>so bernie, what do students look for when choosing one school over another? That’s the issue with me. I don’t exactly know what to look for that would determine whether or not i’d be happy there. I could look at the size, location, etc of the school but i won’t actually know if i like it or not if i don’t know what type of people actually attend there… so how would one determine that?</p>
<p>The visit is very important. It is possible for some schools to give off a vibe that you either like or do not like no matter the prestige or reputation associated with the school. Given that, if you can, do some some research into the schools you are interested in. Find out about special traditions or perhaps weekly events and try to schedule a visit on those days. That way you are visiting the school when it is vibrant, and thus have a greater chance of having an opportunity to interact with a student going. That’s right, I said interact. Don’t just simply be a mere observer in every instance. Be willing to succumb to some awkwardness by asking a few random students some questions (other than your tour guide whose essential job is to sell you on the school. Parents support this as being the job of the tour guide, but I do not as it can easily lead to a limited perspective and thus unintentional deception. In other words, this is parents essentially supporting hearing only what they want to hear and getting to scope out the facilities. It seems that parents easily pass judgment on the school based upon the facilities or the tourguide. Speaking of the facilities, at Emory, I would estimate that much less than half of the campus is explored in those tours. I’d recommend doing some exploring of your own if you have time. The rest of the campus is pretty nice too. Check out Lullwater, Clairmont, Rollins bridge area. Actually go inside of some of the buildings merely alluded to on the tour). You can perhaps do this by taking advantage of being lost when exploring the campus and asking for directions. However, given that this could be a little bit awkward, you should perhaps attend events that the school puts on for prospective and accepted students. For example, if a school you have strong interest in offers an overnight stay program, and you find accomodating such a venue feasible, do so. Also, open houses are great if you have been accepted to some institutions. You get to attend classes of your interest and thus get to scope out and compare the quality of the teaching and intellectual environment at various institutions. In such a case, you may find that, for your purposes one particular institution that has a certain rank may not have as great quality in your area of interest as you would have thought, or it could be the opposite, where one lower ranking school than that which you, at the time, consider your dream school may seem better suited in your areas of interests. Also, looking beyond the environment in the classroom, see what initiatives/programs were created or facilitated by the school that may interest you when you research. If visiting (especially) at an open house, take the opportunity to inquire about it to a member of the initiative to get insight as to how serious the school is about the program. For example, if interested in Emory and admitted, you may want to know more about the Emory-Tibet Partnership. Thus, it would be ideal for you to meet Dr. Eisen who also teaches a section of Biology 141 and uses alternative teaching methods (thus I would see if you could attend if you are interested) and is indeed quite the lecturer (okay, actually the his class based upon case studies, so there is less lecturing in the normal sense). Basically, part of the thing is knowing what you want outside of merely attending a reputable institution. If you definitely plan to attend a top 20-25, use that criteria to look beyond the mere numbers and create your own rankings that should be based upon your experiences.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot bernie!
The only issue with me is that i’m an international student so it;s hard for me to visit universities…but i have visited emory in august and i thought it was great, though it was really empty since there were no students there lol. Are you a student at emory? What could you tell me about it?</p>
<p>Maybe once I finish my physical biology pset (probably done by Friday given that it’s due at 5pm on Friday lol), I’ll write a someone detailed PM for you.</p>
<p>what’s a pset? Alright, Thanks so much!!</p>
<p>Problem set.</p>