Awapi,
Nice to know you are in EMory... Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. Have been accepted into HPM.. Seriously contemplating between Yale and Emory.. Please do post how Visit Emory goes. Thanks!
Visit Emory was great! I'll do a little (or long) review for those who couldn't attend but want to know!
Thursday - we registered in the morning and received a bag full of information which included Emory stuff as well as information on apartments around the area. Then there were various tours available all day. I went on the 930 CDC tour, it was really great, we got to look around at the Global Health Odyssey Museum which had a temporary exhibit on Malaria, downstairs there is a permanent exhibit on the history of the CDC, it was really cool to see some of the history of how it got started and what has made it what it is today (the 1976 outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Philadelphia). They even gave you an opportunity to try on one of the lab suits (which I did and loved it).
After that were tours of residents, they went to three apartment complexes around school and did tours and gave info. There were also tours of the school itself including the new building.
In the afternoon they had a reception with (good) food and an opportunity for us to meet professors. They had tables with concentrations on them (Global Health, Epi, HPM, etc) and professors from those departments were floating near the tables with name tags and their department on them (very helpful). You were not limited to your department, but it was nice to know where to find people you were interested in talking to regardless of department.
Next was an SGA Mixer, more food and beer with current students set up at tables for student organizations. You could get info on everything from SGA to HOLA (student org for Latin American students) to the Peace Corps MI program.
Friday was the "main event" - the morning started with an awesome breakfast (I just want to keep pointing out the awesome food they were serving haha). We then did information sessions on:
- Snapshots on Financial Aid - representatives from the department explained loan options, options for repayment (as well as the loan forgiveness program for working for 10 years in public service), and grants/work study options. They also gave a timeline for when we should be able to view completed packages, they said they should start being available at the end of next week (April 1) and if your file is complete then you should hear well before any April 15 deadlines. - Something cool about Emory, Federal Work Study was taken away a few years ago, but the Dean said that it wasn't acceptable for students not to receive work study. He redid the budget so that the school itself pays for work study and it's called Practical Experience.
- Snapshots on Alumni - representative Alumni were there from the CDC, CARE, Georgia Office of Planning, Children's Healthcare, etc. One couldn't make it because she was called in to the CDC to respond to the issues in Japan (which was a cool indicator of the positions that RSPH alums hold). We were able to ask questions and hear about what they do and how they got there. They also talked about opportunities they took advantage of while at Rollins and how they feel about the loans they took out while there (ALL of them said they are happy to be paying their reasonable loan payments every month because their time at Emory is what got them where they are today).
- Snapshots on Career Services - this was cool because they opened up the information on alums outside the circle of the ones that were represented there. They gave us statistics and specific examples of where alums are employed, what they make, this also included statistics on people who have not found jobs. They told about the career services options and had a panel of current students talk about how it had helped them. They (career services) seemed very eager to work with and help students to meet their career goals. They offer services like resume critique, mock interviews, help with creating a CV, and many other things. They also have career fairs every semester and have an Employment Portal for students only where potential employers can post jobs for free - called Rollins Opportunity Link (ROL). - I thought the best part of this presentation was that they didn't just talk about 4 or 5 alumni doing amazing things, they gave info they received from over 200 alumni who responded to surveys they did. I know I've seen on this forum a few times that people complained that schools focused on the achievements of just a few elite alums, this was not the case at Emory. They were very candid about the opportunities available and the need to be pro-active in job searching, they are obviously very supportive of their students and will do whatever is in their power to help you.
- Snapshots on Information Services - told about all the new technology in the buildings including Class Capture which allows professors to video and post lectures within 10 minutes of the end of class. They also have large screens available in rooms and "lilly pad" study areas where you can hook up any laptop in order to work on group projects on a large screen. There are a lot of upgrades that I won't go into, but it was impressive, believe me.
We then had Department Meetings and lunch, I can only speak to Global Health on this, but it was awesome! We had lunch with the professors and then split up into concentrations - so it was me, about 15 other students, and all the professors of Infectious Disease. They told us about their projects and then asked us to talk about what we want to do. I had two professors come up to me afterwards to talk about options for me for my assistantship (that was part of my merit award) for next year that fit my interests. They seemed genuinely interested and we were allowed a couple of hours with them so it wasn't rushed at all, I felt like I got a lot from it. The professors seemed genuinely interested in the what the students had in mind for their future. This was especially impressive because not all of the people there will attend Emory so they had no reason to be too interested yet. A cynic might ask - "why not wait and see who will go there before investing time in listening and considering their interests?" - but this is not the way it was at the visit, the professors listened carefully to all students present and made helpful comments/suggestions.
Then came the Rollins Research and Opportunities Fair - you could view posters done by merit scholars on their research projects and they also had tables (numbered) set up around the two buildings where professors with research opportunities and organizations had set up their information and made themselves available to talk to students about opportunities for work study and collaboration. There was a book given to us with descriptions of each project ahead of time with their table number, so you could decide ahead of time what tables you wanted to visit and develop questions for the representatives. This was one of the most beneficial opportunities of the whole visit since it gave you insight into what you might actually do at Rollins next year.
After this I went to the Dean's house for the Merit Scholars dinner, but there was also a SGA Happy Hour for everyone at two pubs near school where they offered specials to the students all night. I wasn't there so I can't speak to it, but it was probably a lot of fun
.
I didn't really have much of anything negative to say about the visit. All of the faculty, staff, and representative students were kind and helpful. They all seemed interested in what we wanted to do and how that fit in with Rollins. I thought it was great! I hope this helps anyone who wasn't able to come!
