Student life @Emory University
Student body
Emory University's total enrollment for the 2015-2016 academic year is 14,724 students, with 7,803 undergraduates and 6,921 graduate and professional students. Students come from all 50 states and more than 65 countries. The student to faculty ratio is 7:1, with an average class size of 25 students. Of the 1,389 students in the Class of 2018, 46% are Caucasian, 31% are Asian, 10% are Black/African American, 9% are Latino/Hispanic, and 3% did not identity; 56% are female and 44% are male.Emory University has awarded 4,568 degrees during the 2014-2015 year. Of those awards 2,366 were undergraduate and 2,202 were graduate. Emory University's average GPA for incoming freshman is a 3.70-3.97.
Arts
Students may engage in the performing and fine arts as an area of academic study or as extracurricular activities. Undergraduates may pursue a major in the performing arts (dance, theater, or music) or in film studies, art history, visual arts, or creative writing. Graduate programs in art history, film studies, and music are offered. There are more than 50 student organizations dedicated to the arts. Students can explore artistic interests as diverse as architecture, breakdancing, poetry, and improvisational comedy. Emory routinely hosts arts events in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts that are open to the Emory and Atlanta communities. Recent performances include Bang on a Can All-Stars (a side project of drummer Glenn Kotche from the rock band Wilco), jazz performer Esperanza Spalding, and New York’s Cedar Lake Dance Company. A program called Creativity Conversations brings artistic minds to campus to discuss art and the creative process. Guests have included Philip Glass, Jimmy Carter, Salman Rushdie, Seamus Heaney and Rita Dove.[144][145][146] Rita Dove also gave the keynote address at Emory's 2013 Commencement.
Athletics
Emory ranks among top schools in both the U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of the best national universities and the Directors Cup of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics for best all-around athletics program. Emory's 18 varsity sports teams, known as the Eagles, are members of the NCAA’s Division III University Athletic Association (UAA). However, Emory does not have an intercollegiate football team.
Barkley Forum
The Barkley Forum Center for Debate Education is an intercollegiate debate organization at Emory University. The center is named in honor of Emory alumnus, Alben Barkley, 35th Vice President of the United States, and is directed by Melissa Wade. Debating was established at the university in 1837 and the intercollegiate debate team was formed by Nolan A. Goodyear in 1914. Emory's Barkley Forum debate team has won 3 National Debate Tournaments and over 25 individual champion speaker awards.
Community service
The university received the 2008 Presidential Award for General Community Service, which is the highest federal recognition given to higher education institutions for their commitment to community service, service-learning and civic engagement. About 25% of Emory students participate in Volunteer Emory, Emory's umbrella community service group. As one of the most popular groups on campus, Volunteer Emory offers dozens of ways to serve the community, working with varied organizations including the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Trees Atlanta, PAWS Atlanta, and Jones Boys and Girls Club. Emory Cares International Service Day brings together students, alumni and other community members to volunteer at a number of projects organized by Emory and its many partners around the city of Atlanta and in cities worldwide.
Newspaper
The Emory Wheel is the student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel is published twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday, during the regular school year, and is updated regularly at its website. Serving the Emory community since 1919, the Wheel is editorially and financially independent from the University. The staff is composed entirely of students, with the exception of the general manager, who oversees advertising and whose salary is paid by the newspaper.
Programs abroad
Through the Centers of International Programs Abroad, Emory University students can study in over 40 countries at the top academic institutions in the world including the National University of Singapore, Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies, Nanjing University, Oxford University, Imperial College London, the School of Oriental and African Studies, Yonsei University, Trinity College Dublin, University of St. Andrews, University of Melbourne, University of Amsterdam, University of Cape Town, and Tel Aviv University.
Residential life
Fraternities have existed on Emory's campus as early as 1840. One early chronicler makes the case that Emory's "temple" of the Mystic Seven may have been the first chapter of a national fraternity established anywhere in the South. Today, the Greek-letter sororities and fraternities play an important part in leavening Emory's campus life. For undergraduates, Greek life comprises approximately 30% of the Emory student population. The Office of Greek Life recognizes and regulates on-campus chapters of fraternities and sororities. Fraternities have on-campus housing located on Eagle Row, and Sorority Village, a series of townhouses, faces the fraternity houses. Greek Life is an important social engagement for students, but it is not totally exclusive—students from different sororities and fraternities regularly socialize, and the college's emphasis on on-campus housing helps students make friends inside and outside the Greek system.The intramural sports program provides an athletic outlet for the entire Emory community. Emory has numerous club sports and a variety of recreational and competitive intramural teams. The Outdoor Emory Organization sponsors weekend trips of outdoor activities such as rafting, rock climbing and hiking.
Student organizations
Hundreds of student clubs and organizations operate on Emory's campus. These include numerous student government, special interest, and service organizations.The Student Government Association (SGA) charters and provides most of the funding for other student groups, and represents students' interests when dealing with the administration.The SGA oversees divisional councils, each coinciding with the undergraduate, graduate and professional schools of the university. Notable among these are the College Council (CC) which handles students concerns primarily for the undergraduate body of the Emory College of Arts and Sciences and annually sponsors the State of Race event, and the BBA Council which does similar activities for the Goizueta Business School BBA Program. The Student Programming Council (SPC) is the school's primary programming organization, responsible for planning five events every year: Homecoming Week, Fall Band Party, Spring Band Party, Swoopstock and Dooley's Week. Emory also has several secret societies—the Paladin Society, the D.V.S. Senior Honor Society, Ducemus, Speculum, and The Order of Ammon. Emory has a partnership with Coca-Cola in which they pledged 3 million dollars over a 5-year period for "Service for Learning" which projects that Emory student volunteers participate to help preserve nature trails, create urban farms, as well as restore neighborhood parks. Emory University also has many Black student organizations, including: the Black Student Alliance, the National Association for the Advacement of Colored People (NAACP), and Voices of Inner Strength Gospel Choir (VOIS).