Emory is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia and Oxford, Georgia. The school is particularly well-known for their work in the health sciences, and aspiring future doctors seek out Emory for an undergraduate degree that will catalyze their medical school ambitions. But Emory isn’t limited to those who want to work in health someday. They offer top-tier academic paths across dozens of majors. And those two locations we mentioned, Atlanta and Oxford, that is because they have two campuses. The Atlanta campus is a research setting, and ideal for those who want to be in the midst of everything from day one. The Oxford campus, which is only for first and second years (so everyone ends up in Atlanta eventually), offers a small college experience immersed in the liberal arts and focused on building leadership and community. There are about 8,300 undergraduate students, and the acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 was just under 15%.
Emory highly favors ED applicants, beyond what athlete recruiting alone would account for. The ED I acceptance rate is more than double the overall acceptance rate at 31%, and the ED II acceptance rate is just over 20% across both the main Atlanta campus and the Oxford campus. This tells us that the Regular Decision acceptance rate is much lower to reach the sub-15% average overall. Applying Early Decision is, then, crucial, if Emory is your top choice. You should also know that Emory is test optional, so you aren’t required to submit an SAT or ACT to apply.
Once at Emory, students pick between 80 majors, 60 minors, and over a dozen preprofessional tracks. This post is about getting there, though. At this point in your college application journey, a lot of things are set. You can’t change your grades or your scores, you can’t change your activities, you are who you are. How you talk about yourself, though, can make a massive difference. In this post, we’re going to break down the Emory supplement so that you can write your strongest application possible.
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The Emory supplement is a mixed bag, but it actually all shakes up the same. There are two supplementals, and the first is required. The second isn’t required, but it actually is. What we mean by that is that you need to do the second supplemental if you want to get into Emory. Now, let’s get into both of them.
What academic areas are you interested in exploring at Emory University and why? (200 words)
Okay, so this is a “why us?” question but they really don’t want to know about, say, future Thursday night open mics. Instead, it’s all academics. They do one tricky thing, though, that can set students on the wrong track right off the bat. While Emory invites you to write about multiple areas of academic interest, we highly recommend focusing on one or, at most, two.
Before you start writing, you need to do your research. Identify the major you want to pursue, and then learn as much about it at Emory as you can. Undecided is not an option. Remember, this isn’t writing your future in stone. You will have options in the future, but you need to apply confident in a path.
Start the supplement by setting up your interest in the subject — what led you to this major — then transition to how you would pursue it at Emory. That means courses you are excited for, a professor you would love to study under, and maybe an academic program or other opportunity connected to the major. If you have room left in the 200 words, include a potential minor. Only do this, though, if it is linked to the major in some way. Throwing in something that feels out of left field will not serve you.
Supplement 2, Pick one (150 words)
For the second Emory supplement, you pick one prompt from a list of four options, and answer it in 150 words. That is short. Very short, so it’s more critical than ever that every word counts.
Emory University has a strong commitment to building community. Tell us about a community that you have been part of where your personal participation helped to change or shape the community for the better.
This is a super fun prompt because it offers you the opportunity to spotlight collaboration, teamwork, and — ideally — leadership. We advise our students to pick this prompt if they have been deeply involved in leading a club or team. This could be at school, or it could be a team as a summer or after-school job. Writing about fighting through robotics setbacks works for this prompt, as does writing about building the perfect ice cream sundae and building culture. Due to the limited space, focus on one story that is emblematic of larger experiences that may be visible in your activities section.
Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.
We don’t love this prompt. Students who pick this prompt have an unfortunate tendency of coming off as elitist and privileged. They tend to write about traveling to far off places (which, for the record, does not improve your chances of admission), eating food they thought of as ‘weird’ (which only makes one seem sheltered or close-minded), or having a conversation with someone from a different culture (which, if it is notable, does not reflect well). This is all to say that we do not encourage our students to pick the prompt.
Emory University’s unique mission calls for service to humanity. Share how you might personally contribute to this mission of service to humanity.
Whereas the previous prompt is really hard to write a response to that doesn’t reflect poorly on you, this one offers an opportunity to talk about how you connect with others and expand your awareness without sounding, well, off.
We love responses to this prompt that focus on a piece of what you do not to improve the lives of others, and then dream of how that can grow into something greater with Emory’s assistance. Don’t think too big, though. Proposing that you can find a solution to world hunger is not a good use of space and will not improve your chances of acceptance. Instead, focus on small and local things that could be expanded further, but that you are writing about in a focused way in this supplement.
In a scholarly community, differing ideas often collide before they converge. How do you personally navigate disagreement in a way that promotes progress and deepens meaningful dialogue?
This is the “it girl” question of the moment. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again (heck, we’ve even said it in the New York Times—ayo!). More and more schools are adding this exact question, although they like to word it in different ways. It’s not inherently a bad prompt, but it can lead to bad answers.
Writing about having a conversation with someone who has a political perspective that is very different from yours is not a good way to answer this question unless you have something much more interesting to say than that they don’t agree with your politics.
A strong response to this prompt emphasizes human connection first and foremost. Do not spend 150 words explaining two sides of a disagreement. Instead, keep the disagreement part short and spend most of this supplement emphasizing common ground.
The Emory supplement offers wonderful opportunities to share who you are with the application readers. So, give them lots of reasons to say yes. If you can get the readers to feel connected to you, and to care about you, they will want to say yes.
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