Trying to Figure Out Emory's Culture/Reputation?

Applying to College
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Hi! I’m a junior contemplating applying Emory as a senior. I have the stats above the admission average so I’m not deeply concerned about that.

However, I’m trying to get an handle on Emory’s reputation in general. Obviously, the school is pretty selective in admission rate but I’ve hardly heard about it on here and in the Northeast/New England in general. Also, for schools that selective, I find it odd how low the average gpa is, but maybe I’m overthinking it. I find this concerning because I’d like to return to the northeast, probably for graduate school/NY jobs. I’m specially interested in double majoring in Economics/CS (specialization in data science), which the school offers. Does the school’s reputation prove to be helpful? Or is it more forgotten/regarded as lesser, especially up north?

Also, I’m trying to get a handle on the school’s culture. I’m planning to vist the campus, but I’d like to know how rigiorous + competitive it is (or at least percieved as). I’ve seen stuff on niche saying that it’s not as rigirous and the school itself mentions that it is noncompetitive. I like to challenge myself academically and love competition so this is important to me.

If anyone has any feedback/information, I’d love to know!

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As a general comment it seems that data science (which combines statistics and computing) would represent your overarching approach and that your specialization (which may be known as an “applied domain”) would be in economics.

If you would like to compare economics departments, including Emory’s, by faculty research, these analyses may be of interest:

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.usecondept.html

https://ideas.repec.org/top/top.uslacecon.html

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I don’t think the GPA is low. It’s unweighted. You don’t know the public / private makeup which can sway it.

Here is more recent data - which is even higher than the CDS a year ago so it’s gotten tougher. And in the year ago nearly 2/3 submitted a test. Most (81%) were in the top 10% of class.

And you can see equal 30% come from the NE/MA vs 25% the SE. while they can no longer use race, they can find a way. It’s an extremely diverse school. Caucasian is only 37%.

We visited and talked to kids and everyone was nice. But when you visit you do so too. You can always ask to speak to a student ambassador in advance.

Beautiful school. Likely not near an easy in as you think.

Good luck.

.

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With respect to admission, a recent WalletHub analysis placed Emory as the 37th most selective school in the nation.

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So Emory to me is in an interesting class of “best private research university in a major non-Northeastern/Chicago city”, along with Georgetown, Rice, WUSTL, and USC. For a variety of reasons the “top” privates have not played quite the same role in elite family circles in these regions as they did in the Northeast or Chicago, and that is typically reflected in things like their application volumes (and hence admissions rates) and peer reputation surveys and so on.

Nonetheless I think from a branding perspective there is a plausible competitive advantage in being the “top” such university in a major city. Like you asked if Emory is “regarded as lesser, especially up north?” Well, lesser than what? Reputationally, it would be fair to say it is probably not seen as quite a peer of institutions like Harvard or MIT (the “top” such universities in Boston), Yale or Columbia (New York’s), Penn (Philly), Hopkins (Baltimore), or Chicago and Northwestern (Chicago). But around two seems the limit even for the biggest cities, so I would not personally be concerned about Emory being seen as “lesser” than like NYU or Boston College, if anything more the opposite.

Of course what really dominates placement in next steps after these colleges is how you do as an individual. But to the extent it matters at all, I think if anything there might be an advantage at looking at next steps in the Northeast and yet coming from one of these very well-regarded “top in a non-Northeastern city” universities, versus being one of the hordes from not-quite-top-in-their-market privates in the Northeast.

In terms of culture, similar to, say, USC, Emory long might have been seen as somewhat toward the less academicky side in this group. But I think a lot of that is changing (for USC too) as this class of universities is just getting systematically more selective. At this point, I think people understand Emory is a “serious”/“rigorous” place academically, even if the culture is committed to being collaborative instead of competitive. Of course there are individual programs where Emory is considered more or less prominent as a research university, but for college purposes I would not really worry about the rigor of anything it actually offers.

OK, so does that sound good to you or not? That’s entirely up to you, but I think some people really enjoy getting out of the Northeast rat-race for college, and Emory and the other colleges I mentioned in this group are a really interesting opportunity to do that. But if you thrive on that sense of constant competition with your peers, maybe you would prefer just to go to the “best” Northeastern college that will admit you–certainly a popular approach, even if some of us don’t see it as particularly desirable in terms of college experience.

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Thanks for this! I notice that it’s near Tufts (one of my choices) and far behind NYU which I believe is somewhat similar in selectivity. It seems promising.

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No clue that 81% were at the top of their class! I’ve learned that Google alone isn’t very reliable in terms of raw data.

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As someone from northeast, that is what I would say too. When I was in HS (decades ago) I thought Emory was more prestigious than NYU or BC or USC (and at time was ranked way higher, is my memory - but criteria has all changed since then).

Also, my guess is that fewer Emory grads moved to the northeast, historically, so there are just fewer alums to know around so people just don’t think about it much. Also no big sports to remind us:) (I suspect location patterns are more spread out now). I can’t think of one person I know that went there in my middle-aged friend group. I could name tons of Harvards and Georgetowns, though.

Since Dobbs, I also do know of many people who are looking at abortion policies and narrowing colleges based on them. They may have a smidge less applicants due to that.

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Always go to the school or common data set.

Emory will be more known than Tufts nationally I believe but being more known is not a reason to go somewhere.

You can only go to one grad school or get one job.

NYU - depends on your area of interests - but the fact that it has a campus and isn’t in NYC will be different alone.

But these schools you really have to go and see.

My take from knowing someone who flunked out of NYU (partying) and the stories I heard vs. those who go to Emory (I live in the South) - is a party culture will be more pervasive at NYU - I mean, you’re in the city. NYU also offers (at a different campus) engineering where Emory doesn’t. But Emory also offers a second campus - where one can spend the first two years - Oxford - which is isolated about 35-40 miles East.

But nothing is more important than going and seeing.

But Emory is a tough get - for pretty much all.

Good luck.

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I think that Emory’s closest peers/peer group – in terms of school type (private U), size, and overall academic quality – are CMU, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Rice, Vanderbilt, and Washington U. That is a pretty strong group.

(I might also add NYU as they are private and their academic chops are certainly equal to the others… but NYU lacks a campus and has many more students.)

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Shouldn’t Tulane and Duke be included in Emory’s closest peer group? How about the University of Southern California and/or Northwestern?

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If you are Emory yes to Duke.

If you are Duke no to Emory.

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Here is where I have them in my crazy mind:

Peer group: Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern

Peer group: CMU, Emory, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Rice, Vanderbilt, Wash U

Peer Group: USC, Tufts, NYU, BC, BU, others…

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If your really want to know, look at each school’s peer institutions - which most publish.

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The problem with that is, most schools (except the tippy-tops, who really can’t…) reach up with some appraisals. A third party, like we are, can fairly appraise schools based on what we think are important variables. I’m mostly about academic rep (say, 50%…), but I also include the type of school, size of school, endowment, selectivity (which TO makes increasingly difficult…), etc.

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That’s why I noted Duke likely in Emory’s set but Emory not in Duke.

When you ranked, you did proper. No one included Tulane, now 73 if you believe US News.

Yet I know a Tulane reject in at Vandy with merit.

One never knows.

They are all one of many great schools and an admit to any if the three, if affordable, would be a win.

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Question. Is there any information similar to the common data set that gives post-schooling stats, particularly job acceptence rate after graduate?

My school Naviance says that in 2024, Emory’s job acceptence rate within six months of graduation was only around fourty percent; Emory’s website claims 96% for Emory College and 98% for the business school within three months. I see also that they have an employment report for bachelor business administration employment, but it shows the mean (instead of median) for base salary and nothing about how long it took to get a job offer.

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Off hand, that 40% sounds consistent with the pool including people doing things like going to graduate or professional school, traveling, and so on, meaning voluntarily not working.

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That makes sense.

From here …

86% of Goizueta in 2023 were seeking employment while only 8% were continuing education, 2% not seeking employment.

If 86% were seeking employment with the business school (also 66% working six months after being with Emory College according to their website), why are the rate so low? I’ve been told that the school is mostly preprofessional, but my impressions could always be (and probably is) off. Obviously the stats above are for the business school, so it doesn’t represent the entire university’s rate, but I find it bizzare how major the disconnect between those seeking, and those actually getting employed is.

Villanova has high seventy-ish percent job acceptence rate within six months according to Naviance and its quite popular for business with employers. I’m really confused if Emory is not just not as popular with employers/has students with more difficulty finding a job, or if the students in majors primarily outside the business school in Emory are not interested in being employed, which can account for the lower Naviance job acceptence rate.

You’re probably right, but I can’t wrap my mind around it! Thanks for your input.

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Offhand, I wouldn’t particularly trust this statistic - I don’t know where Naviance is getting it, but I would 1) trust the college’s data over third-party data, and 2) I would safely assume Emory’s job placement rate is in line with its peer institutions.

@thegirl1, I would generally support the consensus here: Emory is a highly-respected, very selective academic institution, likely not as well-known or given as much attention in the NE as the NE/California/Chicago schools, which may be a tiny hiccup if you choose to move back, but only a tiny one, and maybe only for your first job.

Also note that when schools call themselves “non-competitive,” they’re generally talking about their student culture, not the quality of the students themselves. If you’d thrive in a more competitive culture, there are likely better fits for you, but don’t confuse non-competitive with non-rigorous or unimpressive.

The visit will tell you a lot more than the Internet will, so I hope you get a chance to see it!