<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>