by Dave Best
Located in Atlanta, Georgia, Emory University is a private national university in the southeastern US. On December 10, 1836, the Georgia legislature granted a charter to Emory College, named for the young Methodist bishop John Emory, from Maryland, who had died in a carriage accident the previous year. Not until two years after the chartering would the College open its doors, and on September 17, 1838, the College’s first president, Ignatius Alphonso Few, and three other faculty members welcomed fifteen freshmen and sophomores.
Academic
Emory provides two paths to an undergraduate degree. The first is through Oxford College, a two-year residential college specializing in the foundations of liberal arts education. It is the birthplace and one of nine academic divisions of Emory University. The college is located on Emory University’s original campus in Oxford, Georgia, 38 miles east of Emory’s Atlanta campus. Students at Oxford automatically continue their studies in Atlanta after completing Oxford’s curriculum.
Emory’s main Atlanta campus houses the schools of Arts & Science, Business, Nursing and Public Health. Students can choose from 70+ majors and 50+ minors and have access to a variety of pre-professional opportunities as well. Are you interested in more than one program? That’s great. More than half of students graduate with a double major of some kind.
The most popular majors at Emory University include: Business Administration and Management, General, Biology/Biological Sciences, General, Economics, General, Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse and Neuroscience. Relations, Political Science, Psychology and Business.
Social Life
The Emory student body represents 45 states and 48 countries. Approximately sixty-four percent of students live on campus. Emory is home to 11 fraternities and 8 sororities. The Eagles compete in Division III athletics in the University Athletic Association.
Environment
Emory is in the Druid Hills suburb of Atlanta, near downtown. Emory’s 631 acre campus features a thoughtful balance of buildings and green space. Peavine Creek, a branch of the historic Peachtree Creek, winds through maples, oaks, magnolias, pines and dogwoods that grace the gently rolling hills.
And one more thing…
Asa Candler, founder of The Coca-Cola Company, wrote the “million-dollar letter” to offer seed money, and he sweetened the deal by donating land in Atlanta. Emory University received a DeKalb County charter to build at its present location in 1915. The soft drink company president’s brother was Emory alumnus and former president, Methodist Bishop Warren Candler, who returned to serve as its first chancellor on the new campus.
The Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Company has given rise to family fortunes for the Candlers, the Woodruffs, the Goizuetas and others who have been extraordinarily generous to Emory. The philanthropy of these and other donors has enabled Emory’s growth and empowered its ambition to become one of the nation’s leading universities. It’s unofficially considered poor school spirit to drink other soda brands on campus.
By the Numbers
Undergraduate Population: 6,867
Acceptance Rate: 24%
Average ACT / SAT (new) scores: 31-34 / 1330-1440
Student-faculty ratio: 8:1
4-year graduation rate: 83%
US News Ranking: 20 National Universities (2017)
Tuition: $47,954 (2016-17)
