u/CAWATN

TL; DR I am a freshman at Columbia, and I have been admitted to Emory as a sophomore transfer for this fall. I have to make my decision pretty quickly. Please tell me what you really love about Emory.

I have just been admitted as a sophomore transfer to Emory for this fall. I am currently a freshman at Columbia, and while I was so excited to go there, it just hasn’t clicked for me. I’ve done my best to join clubs and get involved with activities, but I still haven’t really developed what I would call a real social life. I had plenty of friends in high school, but something just isn’t working here for me. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but it just isn’t the right fit.

So anyway, I was admitted to Emory, Smith, Wellesley, Swarthmore, and Dartmouth as a transfer for this fall, and waitlisted at Duke and Vanderbilt. I am leaning toward Emory. One major consideration for me is cost, and Emory has offered me the most generous financial aid by far, even better than I got at Columbia this year. I could graduate from Emory debt-free, while at all the other schools, including Columbia, I would graduate with 27k in federal loans. Although I know it will be something in the humanities, I don’t really know yet what my major will be, or what I want to do for a living, so without that clear path yet, graduating with no debt seems like a wise choice. Other things that attract me to Emory are the student newspaper, where all students can get involved (at Columbia it’s cutthroat competition to get a spot with the Columbia Spectator.,) As a musician, I also really like all the student ensembles and the orchestra for which students can audition. I also like the idea of being close to great places where I could potentially intern like The Carter Center and The King Center. Last but not least, I would love to get out of cold weather..

However, everything I read about Emory seems to emphasize that it’s not a school with a great social life or sense of school spirit or even cohesive school community. It is definitely a beautiful campus (I visited in my junior year of HS when touring schools), but it seems like maybe campus isn’t really where people are. I am reading that most upperclassmen move off campus, and that it can be difficult to make friends. Since I have not felt like I have really made a friend group at Columbia, being able to do that at another school is really important to me. Also, one thing I really do love about Columbia is the ability to walk everywhere and use public transportation. I understand that Atlanta is not like NYC, but I won’t have a car next year, and I’m afraid that might make it even harder for me to do things and get together with people. Last, as a sophomore transfer, I am not guaranteed on campus housing, and if I get it, I will just be placed wherever they have a room. I know that all freshman and most sophomores at Emory live together on campus, and I’m worried that since I will be missing out on that experience with my classmates, that it will make it even harder for me to make friends.

Obviously I have some anxiety about my decision. I don’t want to make another mistake and end up at a school that’s not the right fit. So I would be very appreciative if people in this sub would tell me everything they really love about going to Emory: academic, socially, activities and clubs, professors, traditions, housing, food - you name it. I am just only finding meh or negative descriptions of student life at Emory, and I would like to hear the other side of that.

Thanks a lot to anyone who has taken the time to read this extremely lengthy post. Thanks also to anyone who is willing to share their favorite things about Emory so I can feel better about moving ahead with committing for the Class of 29.

I know that some schools that define themselves as “meets full demonstrated need” are known for being exceptionally generous with need-based aid (Vandy, for example), while others call themselves meets full need, but they actually aren’t known for offering good need-based aid. I can’t seem to figure out where Emory falls on that continuum. I know that they last year announced their program where tuition is free for families earning 200k or less a year with typical assets, but those programs, which some schools have now, seem like maybe they are more of a matketing ploy than something that actually changes how much need-based aid specific students and their families would have already been offered even without that announcement.

Does anyone have any good insight into what kind of need-based aid Emory offers, and how it stacks up against other meets-full-need, top 25 schools? Do Emory students typically graduate with less debt because Emory works to replace loans with grants?

Thanks

Hi everyone. I have just been accepted to Emory as a sophomore for fall of ‘26. I am very excited about joining the Emory community, but I am a bit anxious about the housing situation. As I understand it, on campus housing, which is my strong preference, is not guaranteed for transfer students, and even if I get on the waiting list for housing, I’m unlikely to get a spot. This concerns me because since I don’t really know Atlanta yet, and I won’t know anyone at Emory when I start, I’m not sure how I will be able to find good off-campus housing, and I am also worried that it will be very isolating for me as a new student to live off campus. I worry this would make it really tough for me to get off on the right foot socially.

Can anyone tell me more about how housing usually works out for incoming sophomore transfers? Any and all info and advice would be really appreciated.

The person I spoke with said they cant say for certain when the next round of transfer decisions will be released. He said they are released as the admissions team is ready to release them. I asked him if the fact that the first two waves came out two weeks apart means that there will be a release today, and he said they can’t promise that. So he didn’t say they weren’t coming out today, but he kind of did. It was a pretty pointless conversation.

I know Vandy is likely to release wave 3 tomorrow (May 1) or Monday (May 4). Based on years past, will that be it?