Emory 1L Taking Q's Forum

[Dankwater]

Hey guys! Since I noticed a slight lack of Emory representation, I thought I'd throw my hat into the ring if anybody has any questions to ask about the school. Keep in mind, I'm a 1L, so I know next to nothing.

[BlueDiamond]

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/07/emory-la ... need-jobs/

does this worry you?

[ZachOda]

http://abovethelaw.com/2010/07/emory-la ... need-jobs/

does this worry you?

Saw that too... then again, I don't want to bury the person who sets up a topic to help us with negative press. Still though, is this the predominant view on campus about career services?
By the way... 1 OCI for the fall? Is that even possible?

[Dankwater]

Well, I set up this thread to answer questions regarding the student body, facilities, city of Atlanta, scholarships, etc. I can't really answer much more about the Career Services Office and Emory's employment stats than what's available online (http://www.law.emory.edu/career-service ... iting.html").

From what I've gathered, I can tell you that the student perception of the office is generally very good. 1Ls are not allowed to talk with the office until November, so I have not had much personal contact with them myself. However, I've talked with several recent grads, 2Ls, and 3Ls about the subject, and most students said the office was very instrumental in helping them get jobs and internships. For example, one grad of '09 really influenced my decision to go here based upon his experience with Career Services Office. Keep in mind that most of the people I know were ranked in the top third of the class; I have heard mixed reviews from students that weren't ranked. Hopefully, my answers provided some sort of insight, but I can at least say that the article linked is not a widely-held belief among the students.

[Peg]

What is Decatur like? Is it very Southern and "Gone With The Wind" - is it dotted with southern belles and southern gentlemen and the general slow, gracious, stereotypical Southern pace of life? Or does it have a more metro feel to it? And do people have Georgia accents or is it a mix? I ask because I want to know how "local" the atmosphere is at Emory, or if it's sort of an island of its own and separated from the local culture.

[sophia.olive]

What is Decatur like? Is it very Southern and "Gone With The Wind" - is it dotted with southern belles and southern gentlemen and the general slow, gracious, stereotypical Southern pace of life? Or does it have a more metro feel to it? And do people have Georgia accents or is it a mix? I ask because I want to know how "local" the atmosphere is at Emory, or if it's sort of an island of its own and separated from the local culture.

yankee

[Grizz]

What is Decatur like? Is it very Southern and "Gone With The Wind" - is it dotted with southern belles and southern gentlemen and the general slow, gracious, stereotypical Southern pace of life? Or does it have a more metro feel to it? And do people have Georgia accents or is it a mix? I ask because I want to know how "local" the atmosphere is at Emory, or if it's sort of an island of its own and separated from the local culture.

yankee carpetbagger

[sophia.olive]

What is Decatur like? Is it very Southern and "Gone With The Wind" - is it dotted with southern belles and southern gentlemen and the general slow, gracious, stereotypical Southern pace of life? Or does it have a more metro feel to it? And do people have Georgia accents or is it a mix? I ask because I want to know how "local" the atmosphere is at Emory, or if it's sort of an island of its own and separated from the local culture.

yankee

what, are you writing an article for the NYT.

[DukeCornell]

What is Decatur like? Is it very Southern and "Gone With The Wind" - is it dotted with southern belles and southern gentlemen and the general slow, gracious, stereotypical Southern pace of life? Or does it have a more metro feel to it? And do people have Georgia accents or is it a mix? I ask because I want to know how "local" the atmosphere is at Emory, or if it's sort of an island of its own and separated from the local culture.

Emory is in the Druid Hills area. It's not very stereotypical. In fact, it's actually quite trendy, in my opinion. I live in the area.

[BruceWayne]

What is Decatur like? Is it very Southern and "Gone With The Wind" - is it dotted with southern belles and southern gentlemen and the general slow, gracious, stereotypical Southern pace of life? Or does it have a more metro feel to it? And do people have Georgia accents or is it a mix? I ask because I want to know how "local" the atmosphere is at Emory, or if it's sort of an island of its own and separated from the local culture.

Although I'm not an Emory 1L I am from the area and can answer this question. The answer is NO. People who haven't been to the South (especially Atlanta) have a very warped sense of what the South is actually like. Decatur has a very high African American population (Atlanta does in general) and it's a city (one of the biggest metro areas in the U.S). Atlanta is not "slow paced" compared to your average city, it is however slow paced compared to NYC. Also, keep in mind that Atlanta is the current hot bed of Hip Hop/rap culture so that permeates the city as well, especially Decatur. As far as people having Georgia accents, the sorts of people that you will be interacting with as a Emory law student will not. However, do not expect people to sound like they grew up in Beverly Hills or anything. For the most part people are accent neutral but may still use terms like "yall" etc. in casual speech. I highly suggest you visit Atlanta. Honestly, the bolded really doesn't exist in large quantities outside of places like Mississippi, Alabama, and smaller towns in the rest of the Southern states. That's basically an anachronism that non Southerners hold on to from watching too much TV. It definitely doesn't describe Atlanta.

[sophia.olive]

obviously there water isn't very good.

[DukeCornell]

What is Decatur like? Is it very Southern and "Gone With The Wind" - is it dotted with southern belles and southern gentlemen and the general slow, gracious, stereotypical Southern pace of life? Or does it have a more metro feel to it? And do people have Georgia accents or is it a mix? I ask because I want to know how "local" the atmosphere is at Emory, or if it's sort of an island of its own and separated from the local culture.

yankee

what, are you writing an article for the NYT.

[Peg]

Thanks for the info - sorry if this carpetbagger offended. I actually know Atlanta isn't that Old South. (I watched Real Housewives of Atlanta but don't admit this to people in real life. ) I had wondered if Decatur was different because someone said it was quite separate from Atlanta proper.

[Grizz]

Thanks for the info - sorry if this carpetbagger offended. I actually know Atlanta isn't that Old South. (I watched Real Housewives of Atlanta but don't admit this to people in real life. ) I had wondered if Decatur was different because someone said it was quite separate from Atlanta proper.

Haha RHOA.

Decatur's pretty trendy, too. Fun bars in their downtown. Good food, too. Nice little town, but not really a "Southern" vibe.

[BruceWayne]

Thanks for the info - sorry if this carpetbagger offended. I actually know Atlanta isn't that Old South. (I watched Real Housewives of Atlanta but don't admit this to people in real life. ) I had wondered if Decatur was different because someone said it was quite separate from Atlanta proper.

Haha RHOA.

Decatur's pretty trendy, too. Fun bars in their downtown. Good food, too. Nice little town, but not really a "Southern" vibe.

In all seriousness I don't know how anyone could have the image of Atlanta asked about earlier after having seen even one episode of RHOA. Honestly, there are definitely things about Atlanta's culture that I don't like (as are exhibited in that show) but none of them relate to the stereotypes mentioned earlier in this thread. For better or worse, RHOA does portray a good deal of what Atlanta culture is like (though not all of it).

[DukeCornell]

Thanks for the info - sorry if this carpetbagger offended. I actually know Atlanta isn't that Old South. (I watched Real Housewives of Atlanta but don't admit this to people in real life. ) I had wondered if Decatur was different because someone said it was quite separate from Atlanta proper.

Haha RHOA.

Decatur's pretty trendy, too. Fun bars in their downtown. Good food, too. Nice little town, but not really a "Southern" vibe.

Downtown Decatur is awesome! (minus the stuck up AS chicks)

[Peg]

In all seriousness I don't know how anyone could have the image of Atlanta asked about earlier after having seen even one episode of RHOA. Honestly, there are definitely things about Atlanta's culture that I don't like (as are exhibited in that show) but none of them relate to the stereotypes mentioned earlier in this thread. For better or worse, RHOA does portray a good deal of what Atlanta culture is like (though not all of it).

Because I assumed those women are completely out of sync with reality, of course! However, that's interesting that the show actually portrays what Atlanta culture is like.

[Grizz]

In all seriousness I don't know how anyone could have the image of Atlanta asked about earlier after having seen even one episode of RHOA. Honestly, there are definitely things about Atlanta's culture that I don't like (as are exhibited in that show) but none of them relate to the stereotypes mentioned earlier in this thread. For better or worse, RHOA does portray a good deal of what Atlanta culture is like (though not all of it).

Because I assumed those women are completely out of sync with reality, of course! However, that's interesting that the show actually portrays what Atlanta culture is like.

Only somewhat. Most upper crust whites I have come across don't act like that.

[DukeCornell]

In all seriousness I don't know how anyone could have the image of Atlanta asked about earlier after having seen even one episode of RHOA. Honestly, there are definitely things about Atlanta's culture that I don't like (as are exhibited in that show) but none of them relate to the stereotypes mentioned earlier in this thread. For better or worse, RHOA does portray a good deal of what Atlanta culture is like (though not all of it).

Because I assumed those women are completely out of sync with reality, of course! However, that's interesting that the show actually portrays what Atlanta culture is like.

Loud talking black women, white chicks in wigs, big cars, tall buildings, and alcohol is an accurate portrayal. I love my city.

[NonTradHealthLaw]

Emory and much of Atlanta is as southern as Long Island.

[sophia.olive]

In all seriousness I don't know how anyone could have the image of Atlanta asked about earlier after having seen even one episode of RHOA. Honestly, there are definitely things about Atlanta's culture that I don't like (as are exhibited in that show) but none of them relate to the stereotypes mentioned earlier in this thread. For better or worse, RHOA does portray a good deal of what Atlanta culture is like (though not all of it).

Because I assumed those women are completely out of sync with reality, of course! However, that's interesting that the show actually portrays what Atlanta culture is like.

Only somewhat. Most upper crust whites I have come across don't act like that.

Stop name dropping.

Every big city in the south has this peculiar snobbery. Like a Flannery Oconner or john kennedy toole character, only less interesting.

[sophia.olive]

In all seriousness I don't know how anyone could have the image of Atlanta asked about earlier after having seen even one episode of RHOA. Honestly, there are definitely things about Atlanta's culture that I don't like (as are exhibited in that show) but none of them relate to the stereotypes mentioned earlier in this thread. For better or worse, RHOA does portray a good deal of what Atlanta culture is like (though not all of it).

Because I assumed those women are completely out of sync with reality, of course! However, that's interesting that the show actually portrays what Atlanta culture is like.

Loud talking black women, white chicks in wigs, big cars, tall buildings, and alcohol is an accurate portrayal. I love my city.

racist

[DukeCornell]

In all seriousness I don't know how anyone could have the image of Atlanta asked about earlier after having seen even one episode of RHOA. Honestly, there are definitely things about Atlanta's culture that I don't like (as are exhibited in that show) but none of them relate to the stereotypes mentioned earlier in this thread. For better or worse, RHOA does portray a good deal of what Atlanta culture is like (though not all of it).

Because I assumed those women are completely out of sync with reality, of course! However, that's interesting that the show actually portrays what Atlanta culture is like.

Only somewhat. Most upper crust whites I have come across don't act like that.

Bullshit! Dude, I grew up in Buckhead. Most of the whites in and around my neighborhood are/were just as “extreme."

[BruceWayne]

Emory and much of Atlanta is as southern as Long Island.

Thank you. The idea that most people have on here of the South is really more like Mississippi, Bama, and "towns" in the rest of the Southern states.

[Dankwater]

The question has pretty much been answered here, but I'll still throw in my $0.02.

To give you some context, I come from a town of ~80,000 people that's roughly three hours south of Atlanta. Most of my town and many Georgians outside of Atlanta think that the city fell from the sky after it was ripped out of Long Island. While this characterization is pretty extreme, Atlanta certainly doesn't have a reputation as being a "Southern" city throughout the rest of the Southeast. From my experience, it's pretty much your standard urban center with some remnants of the South scattered here and there. You'll hear people say "y'all", find restaurants serving traditional Southern food, and occasionally hear someone blasting country music. I have yet to see any flying Confederate flags or a shirtless Bubba hanging his severed dear head out of a broken down pick-up. In order to find the whole "took urr jerbs" mentality, you really have to drive fairly far out of the city to much smaller towns, which I think is really more of a rural vs. urban kind of mentality than a Southern vs. Non-Southern thing (but that's another debate for a different day).

If you're used to a large urban setting, you'll definitely be in your element in Atlanta. Although it's comparatively smaller and lacks an adequate mass transit system, the kids from Chicago/NYC/LA feel right at home here, and most of the Northeastern/Midwestern kids prefer the warmer weather. While it's still a large urban area, Atlanta is comparatively cheaper than most urban areas across the country. If you're used to NYC/DC rent and drink prices, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Even though no one asked, I'm also going to throw in some comments about the Emory area. The Emory/Druid Hills area is definitely an awesome place to live and go to law school. The area itself is generally lined with trees and residential houses. Tons of residents in the area rent out their houses to Emory students for very reasonable prices, and being able to walk to class is far better than commuting in Atlanta traffic. You've definitely got everything you need within a 10 minute drive for groceries and the like. As for social life, there's a great array of trendy restaurants, bars, and clubs in the Virginia Highlands area and downtown Decatur that's all within 20 minutes of campus. Emory Law's Bar Review has a different bar/club every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday that's usually very well attended. If you're itching to sport your bullet-proof jacket, you can go downtown or don your "Buckhead uniform" and drive to the upscale Buckhead area that are both fairly close as well.

TL;DR: Atlanta isn't that Southern; It's decently cheap; The neighborhood is cool.