<p>Does the typical student differ? If so how?</p>
<p>Thanks for responses in advance =)</p>
<p>I think the best way to answer that is to visit both campuses.They are about 45 minutes apart and university shuttles go back and forth.</p>
<p>I live in Ann Arbor, and am currently finishing my 1st semester of my senior year. As such it is kind of difficult for me to just go visit a school to answer my question.</p>
<p>emory kids act (and are) smarter than oxford kids. oxford kids tend to be less versed in english grammar as emory kids. oxford kids are ones you’d probably see at a lower tier liberal arts school. emory kids look like vanderbilt kids.</p>
<p>^If true, that’s arguably the result of a much higher average social class/annual family income on the Atlanta campus.</p>
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<p>So maybe this is just sour grapes, but I couldn’t help myself.</p>
<p>Here is a link to the class profiles to help you see the differences on paper:</p>
<p>[Oxford</a> College - 2011 Entering Class Profile](<a href=“http://oxford.emory.edu/admission/entering-class-profile/]Oxford”>http://oxford.emory.edu/admission/entering-class-profile/)</p>
<p>[Class</a> Profile | Emory College of Arts and Sciences Admission](<a href=“http://www.emory.edu/admission/admission/class_profile/index.html]Class”>Facts and Stats | Emory University | Atlanta GA)</p>
<p>Is the transfer from the Oxford campus to the Atlanta campus difficult to make? (find friends and social groups etc)</p>
<p>I don’t think we’re smarter (we did do better on a giant multiple choice test though) and if we are, we honestly don’t act like it, sorry (Emory students seem to look down on nerdiness anyway. Most of us seem like average people who work hard and test well. We are hardly interested in “acting smart” or doing things that reveal our brilliance, if it exists, outside of formal settings like a competition or classroom for example). Seems as if many of the Oxford students are more intellectual (or at least intellectually interesting) to me. This may be because Oxford is for students who want that sort of orientation. As an anecdote, I can tell you that a huge chunk of the people in my organometallic course this past semester were from Oxford. The only two sections of intro. organic chemistry (From main campus) represented in the upperlevel course were from Weinschenk and Soria’s (including me, this coincidence is natural as Soria teaches organometallic and we’re used to him and his difficulty) section. There was only one person from any of the 3-5 other professors that teach 221-222 on main (versus like 9 Oxford students). That tells how willing students on main campus are to take an academic risk or tackle a difficult subject area out of mere interest. So past taking multiple choice tests (which is not the majority of tests at Oxford or Emory anyway, and is thus irrelevant as a basis of comparison), we are hardly smarter than them. I don’t have time to poke at people’s grammar. I’m sure there are many Emory students who choose not to speak “proper” English all of the time. Let’s stop the Oxford bashing. It’s stupid and I can provide several other anecdotes where they may be better off than a lot of us. Our experiences in college speak louder than entrance statistics. And if we are still at the exact same level as when we came in, then we need to ask for a refund because Emory isn’t doing its job. Throw that crap out of the window.</p>
<p>Jared94, Here is an interesting link from the provost’s(I think) office that has a section adressing this very issue: <a href=“http://provost.emory.edu/documents/students/undergraduatereport.pdf[/url]”>http://provost.emory.edu/documents/students/undergraduatereport.pdf</a></p>
<p>It begins on page 13 of the booklet.</p>
<p>Bernie12 that was an excellent post. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>Oxford kids definitely aren’t as smart as Emory kids. I know a friend who got into Oxford but decided to stay at a local school because he hated the campus so much. But he definitely wasn’t top-40 school material. Oxford is a good school in its own right, but it doesn’t have the same kind of student body as Emory’s main campus. And since Oxford is less selective, I don’t see how it is able to magically choose “more intellectual” students. </p>
<p>Also, the plural of anecdote is not data.</p>
<p>I don’t know what top 40ish material is because I don’t judge people in that manner. Who am I or you to do so (That is really stuck up)? As for the data thing, I never said it was (what are you talking about. I said that the data simply don’t provide the whole picture ). Selectivity doesn’t govern intellectualism. The nature by which (and one’s willingness to learn for the sake of learning) a person learns does. A could easily compare UChicago to other universities with student bodies that have similar statistics and it is still obvious that UChicago has a more intellectual student student body. Duke has similar stats to HPY now and yet we all know that HPY have the more intellectual student bodies. Normally, intellectualism of the student body/school is determined by the overall culture, history, and orientation of the university. I school with a highly motivated, accomplished, and intelligent student body may be more pre-professionally oriented due to the environment and curriculum at the school. Emory, Vandy, and many of the top schools are like this. It is natural that more liberal arts oriented schools either attract or “make” more intellectual students. People that believe intellectualism is governed by SAT/ACT scores and GPA are full of crap given that, more than often, overachievers in these areas only scored that high for the sake of making it into a top college. Most didn’t do well simply because they liked to learn. They are primarily multiple choice based and are extremely predictable to the point that most of the wealthier students on main campus can afford to use several prep. (and can afford to retake several times) books and tutorial services to gain a huge edge. They barely measure intelligence so give me a break. I’ve started and will finish at main campus and still can’t see differences in intelligence levels between the two. I’m not going to be like: “Oh, Oxford student, you’re doing well in this organometallic course, but guess what, you are still dumber than me because you scored 1200 on your SAT”.
Once you are on either campus, put high school behind. Regardless of whether or not they entered as a “top 40” caliber student or not, I observe that they are often more interested in actual learning than many of peers on main once they get here. Perhaps Oxford is more transformative than main campus to people who go. Who knows? Again, all I know is that, without seeming particularly smarter than Emory students, they seem to be more interested in learning in receiving an academic challenge than many here (A greater proportion pursue non pre-prof. graduate work for example).<br>
Your anecdote is irrelevant in terms of a discussion on intellectualism. You stated that your friend merely hated the campus. What useful information. I’m sure many people hate Emory’s campus. Guess we’re dumb and people who hate our campus are not “top 40 material”. Seriously, what the hell is that?</p>
<p>Also, Berkeley is slightly (according to Common Data sets, their 25% is quite a bit below ours) less selective than Emory, but I certainly think it is more intellectual than Emory.</p>
<p>UChicago is slightly less selective than Duke, yet “magically” attracted a more intellectual student body. Oh damn, must be a miracle or fluke, not the culture of the school. Come on dude. Keep in mind that students matriculating Oxford have same qualifications as those who go to UGA and better than those at Mercer. They could have gone to those instead. A person not really as interested in academics would easily say “screw Emory” altogether and would have gladly gone to UGA if rejected from main campus (or even have transferred from UGA to Emory). Most won’t choose Oxford over UGA just to be affiliated with Emory in the end. Those who chose it thought it was a worthwhile oppurtunity. Regardless of stats., like most liberal arts schools, it has kind of a self-selected pool in the first place.</p>
<p>Correction, Duke and Chicago are dead even (I compared them because they essentially rank the same). However, point is, student/school culture is completely different, just as Oxford and UGA (same selectivity. Literally, exact same).</p>
<p>Time for me to toss in my two pennies, I guess.</p>
<p>I disagree with Bernie when he said people don’t choose Oxford to be affiliated with Emory at the end. I feel they do. It’s not a bad thing, but it’s the truth.</p>
<p>However, Bernie’s dead on about everything else.</p>
<p>Emory kids might have higher stats than Oxford kids, but that doesn’t mean we’re smarter. In fact, anyone who uses college admissions to judge smartness are being pretty stupid in my opinion. When we were applying to college, we were 17. We were being judged on our performances beginning from when we were 14 years old. I turned 20 a week ago, and, looking back, while I might have accomplished more than other people (and believe me, I’m proud of it) in high school, I hadn’t done anything “big” yet. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say most high school students haven’t done anything “monumental”. Hell, we were young.</p>
<p>When you’re in college, nobody gives a **** about high school performance. It doesn’t matter. We’re all even now, and we’re all starting on the same footing. And I’ll be the first to say that the Oxford kids I know (not many yet because I’m a Sophomore) are intelligent and interesting.
So, (I realize this is anecdotal evidence, but the point I’m trying to make is universal) while I may have passed the AP Calculus BC test with a 5 when I was 18 years old, and while I may have had the chance to go to Brown or Dartmouth instead of Emory, I’ll be the first to say that I’d be pretty ****ed if 10 years from now people remembered me as the “high-level high school achievement guy” instead of the " slightly above average college achievement guy". I want people to judge me based on what I do from when I’m 19-23 years old. Not 14-17 years old.
If you judge Oxford kids based on what they’ve done in college (and not as 15 year old kids), you’ll see that they are pretty damn smart and definitely have taken advantage of their opportunities.</p>
<p>Sparknotes: It’s easier to get into Oxford. But that doesn’t mean they’re dumber than us. For the most part, it’s what you do in college and not what you do as a 14-17 year old that defines your future. And almost all Oxford kids have shown to be pretty intelligent and that they deserve to be here.</p>
<p>On another note, I know plenty of Emory kids who won’t take a notoriously hard class because it will mess up their oh-so-precious premed GPAs. Oxford kids, from what I see, are more likely to do it. They seem to want to learn more than we do. Not pointing fingers at either group. I’m just saying, and Bernie’s Orgometallic class seems to illustrate that, too.<br>
I say that to point out that Oxford kids want to learn for learning’s sake more than we do. I’m not saying that they’re smarter/dumber than us. Just more intellectually curious as a whole than we are.</p>
<p>If the OP has a choice, come to the ATL campus. ATL>rural GA no matter how you slice it.</p>
<p>Fair enough, we can agree on most things. I personally like main campus better because of the opps. it has afforded me like taking frosh orgo. and stuff like that along with merely being in Atlanta. If one does have a more intellectual orientation, you can easily “carve” it at main campus provided that you are not as easily influenced by peers who can care less about such an attitude, but I just imagine it comes more natural at Oxford due to the way they design their coursework. At Emory, I have to more or less cherrypick science profs. that want to stimulate a more challenging, intellectual community. Fortunately, I can say that most humanities and social science professors have been successful in that arena. But I’ve looked at science syllabi at Oxford and notice that the courses tend to contain more elements beyond basic tasks like tests and quizzes and “everyone” taking that particular course, no matter the prof. gets a course at the same level of rigor as opposed to those 1 or 2 professors of a course that step out on a limb to try something different/new (you know, the Weinschenks, Sorias, Eisens, Passalaucquas, and Becks, Nemenmans ). This pattern is the norm at Oxford whereas at Emory, professors often take the path of least resistance (one in which less students complain). Oxford profs. seem not to care anywhere near as much and it makes them more interesting in the end (Makes sense, Oxford profs. are there to teach whereas many at Emory are research heavyhitters who certainly don’t have the additional patience nor time to quell the whining of squeamish pre-meds, so at Emory most keep it standard lecture with little to no workload and standard level examinations).</p>
<p>It’s embarrassing when a professor like Dr. Dennis Liotta is so cynical about the abilities of Emory students (or their ability to handle rigor without whining) that he intentionally waters down his organic chemistry course and literally says things like: “The endo rule is a bit too complicated for this course” when nearly every other orgo. prof. teaches it as if it is a basic concept. While TAing for his class this semester was easier than last semester, it was still tough because many students didn’t know much (Many memorized without ever learning or wanting to learn concepts). They were learning as they did in high school. Prep for the test and that’s the end! It is embarrassing how much, say W and S’s class learns vs. his. Even the other sophomore sections learn a lot more. I need not talk about biology (nor discrepancies between those profs.) which seems to get easier each year.</p>
<p>Look at it is this way:
If you get into one but not the other, the decision is made for you.
If you get into both, you can visit them over Easter.</p>
<p>No matter where you intend to go, I do think it’s a good idea to see what you are getting yourself into!
(Hope I don’t get dinged for ending a sentence with a preposition.)</p>
<p>My son graduated from Emory in 2007…he was admitted to Emory ED. He double majored in Middle Eastern Studies and Linguistics and graduated summa cum laude. He became very close friends with another student who began at Oxford, finished at Emory and also graduated summa cum laude.</p>
<p>Both students finished at the same point …and I would say both were excellent students.</p>
<p>The difference is that maybe in high school, my son’s friend did not mature as quickly, so his early high school grades were not as high. It doesn’t make him stupid or a bad person…this mindset that high school GPA defines you for life doesn’t hold water in the real world.</p>
<p>Oxford gave him a chance to solidify his academic game…it’s a more nurturing campus but the academic standards are not any lower. They couldn’t be, or else the students would not be able to compete successfully when they arrive on the main campus.</p>
<p>My son and his friend are both doing very well in their respective post-Emory lives and careers.</p>