Alright, I have a lot of questions about Emory and Atlanta! I've been to Atlanta briefly on vacation, but want to know more!
Is there anyone willing to answer questions?
What do you like most about Emory or being in Atlanta in general?
How accessible is the area around the university without a car? (Grocery, food, malls, apartments)
Are there a lot of activities going on on/off campus? Social life?
What do you think is a convenient place to live at (within walking distance or a shuttle /bus ride away from campus)? How much are you paying for rent and utilities?
Is it a competitive academic/professional environment?
Is it a safe campus? Safe neighborhood? Safe city?
Thank you!
1) Emory has poured money into Decatur (the sub-city/community in which Emory is located) over the past few decades, resulting in the development of a culturally rich and beautiful college town. This is an added benefit of being in Atlanta, one of the most happening and culturally diverse cities in the Southeast. We have lots of beer festivals.
And Emory is a really pretty and diverse campus with lots of medical resources. And the food. Oh god the food around campus (*but not in the cafeteria*) is great. Southern food is the best (and worst for your health). Finally, Atlanta is the forested city. You really notice just how much more beautiful this city is than most other metropolises. The green really helps.
2) You'll want a car if you can afford it. I mean, you can certainly live off Emory's public transport (which is good but limited in range), but if you want to soak up all Atlanta has to offer (and trust me, you will), you won't want to rely on Atlanta's (separate from Emory's) subpar and incredibly unreliable bus services to get around (the buses are more reliable near campus, but less so the further out you go). The subway (Marta) isn't bad (and there's a stop near campus kinda but you gotta take the bus to get there), but the trains dont go as many places as one would hope. Atlanta is a spread out city. The car is totally worth it for day trips to the mountains IMO — you can camp out in beautiful state parks after driving for only 60-90 minutes.
Biking is safe on most parts of campus thanks to bike lanes, but in most of Atlanta and especially on the major arteries in the Decatur area, you will get your ass run over if you bike around during rush hour. And Atlanta gets so humid during the summer, you'll have to shower at your destination, wherever it is
(but that's just a personal preference on my part)
But driving a lot can suck — Atlanta has bad traffic, and the traffic is truly abysmal around Emory's campus because the roads are pretty thin and crappy. Rush hour can go from 7a-10a and 3p-7p on weekdays, and sometimes traffic just wont die around Decatur. I still think the car is most definitely worth it, but try to get a feel for alternate routes and stay off the roads during rush hour if at all possible. Atlanta drivers are generally fast and furious, but they are pretty safe compared to the nutcases in Florida, LA, or the Yankee
states.
3) Yes! As I mentioned above, both Decatur and Atlanta are big hotspots for college partying and clubbing and cultural celebrations/festivals. Plenty of sports, music (make sure to visit Athens/UGA for the proper musical experience), you name it. Not that you'll have a social life in grad school
4) There are nice, safe houses for rent and many, many apartment complexes within a mile or two of the public health school, which is on the medical edge of campus. Without roommates, you can pay anywhere from $600-$1000 (the 1k figure is for fancy ones right next to campus). With roommates, it gets a good bit cheaper, maybe $400 to $500 tops. If you want to live right next to campus, prepare yourself — the ambulances are coming. The public health school is right next to the hospital, and you will be hearing ambulances allllllll night looooooong if you live anywhere near Clifton Road. So maybe consider newer apartments that are a bit better soundproofed.
5) Emory is easily the most competitive campus in Georgia, and it has its eyes set on being one of the top 10 schools in the nation in the coming years. The medical campus is well known for partnering with Georgia Tech to attract some of the best and brightest scientists in the country. And since the CDC is quite literally next door to Rollins, you'll be surrounded with lots of smart public health people. But it isn't cutthroat (an attribute the undergrad program is sometimes known for). Every Rollins person I know is smart, but also quite friendly. So are the professors.
6) You are in one of the safest (actually, I think it is statistically the safest) neighborhoods in Atlanta. It's a really wealthy area of the city, filled with college students and well educated families often affiliated with Emory or another college in Metro Atlanta (GAState, GAPerim, Mercer, ArtInst, Tech, etc). Oh, and the gigantic Orthodox Jewish neighborhood surrounding the synagogue North of campus. Again, a very safe area.
South Dekalb and South Atlanta and West Atlanta (past GATech) have some dicey parts, but you'll have no reason to even drive through them — there's nothing to see in those areas. Projects like Little Five and EAV (East Atlanta Village) are really helping to develop the poorer areas of East Atlanta, which used to be much more crime ridden (and still can be in a few parts, but to a much lesser extent). Emory is much safer than Tech or State's campuses. So yeah, Atlanta is a much safer city than it used to be, which is in general true for most major American cities.
Sorry, I ramble a lot.