@tbhbulls It usually receives high ratings in terms of quality of life and student happiness, so lots of people really like it unless they really want that SEC or big sports feel of other southern schools (you probably read many complaints on the web about that because admissions used to not be as good at recruiting so would admit tons of students more interested in an SEC feel college and then those folks will enroll. The new admissions dean appears much more careful and selects those who are actually interested in and took the time to learn something about Emory before applying, so that sentiment of students wanting a more SEC feel is diminished) By the way, most elite schools (except for maybe several in the top 10, but even some of those have mostly students denied by their first choice and perhaps all the Ivies) are places for Ivy-League rejects including many of the Ivies themselves (yes often the particular or 1 Ivy a student ends up at is not their first choice. All Ivies are not full of students admitted to other Ivies and in fact many were denied or waitlisted by several non- top 10 non-Ivies)…so you can let this concept taint your thinking and internalize it for whatever reason or you can appreciate that an excellent school takes you in. This idea of any schools being for “Ivy rejects” is way overblown. Most people who are denied or waitlisted from an Ivy were actually qualified for admission…most are just not lucky enough to get in (you’re talking far below 20 or even 10% admission rates for most), just like most are not lucky enough to get into any elite school, including Emory which doesn’t admit 75-78% of its applicants. You can choose to view things through an elitist lens or you can choose to get an elite education. Which one is more important? It appears that Emory students by and large find the latter more important and get out there and achieve things at very high levels (yes, at higher levels than some higher ranked and more selective peers). The strength of the alumni network (also often ranked above higher ranked peers) also suggests the same (the alumni giving rate actually creams some peers). You can’t achieve these things with a bad environment, period. One would think it is more important that students be welcomed to an environment that is tolerant, diverse, and has a good academic and intellectual climate. Emory has all of those things.
Also, Ivy Leagues have been known to disappoint students as well (social environment wise there is often an unhealthy level of competition reported, and there is often academic disappointment as well on the part of faculty and students. This is all over elite education and research universities in general. The Ivies are not the Holy Grail exception)…unfortunately they, as a group, are loosing their Gold Standard appeal to the public and those “in the know” (as in not HS seniors more driven by prestige than other things) because folks are recognizing that most are flat out over-rated and that some are not better than their lower and near ranked non-Ivy peers (such as Emory).
*Also, statistically, Emory, like most elites is like half filled from early decision students, so that means that at minimum, a solid half of the student body viewed Emory as their first or second choice. There are more than enough people excited to attend including those in the RD pool (many of which don’t even apply to Ivies. Several have LACs and more liberal arts type universities and colleges in competition with Emory).