What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$7,363 to $53,018 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $83,622 a year. Average need-based aid package: $68,697.Aid and debt
36.8%
receive need-based grants
$19,914
average debt at graduation
489
students got merit aid
about 7% of undergraduates
$29,319
average merit award
Getting In
Admit rates
10.3%
admitted overall
22.2%
admitted Early Decision
8.6%
admitted Regular Decision
Early Decision
Early Decision applicants were admitted at nearly 3x the Regular Decision rate, and Early Decision is binding: you commit to attend if admitted.
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Some of that gap reflects who applies early (recruited athletes, legacy applicants and highly committed students concentrate in that pool), so it isn't proof that applying early would raise any one student's own odds.
Key dates
Transfer Deadlines
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1480–1540 · 47% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 33–35 · 21% of the class submitted
76% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- SAT/ACT scores
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- Character
- Important
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Volunteer work
- Considered
- Class rank
- First-gen status
- Legacy status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Work experience
- Not considered
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
Emory rates course rigor and your activities as Very Important, and your essay and your recommendations as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. Depth in a few activities beats a long list. A strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. And recommendations matter here too — a recommender who knows you well helps.
Emory doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Emory just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Emory essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
63.4% of Emory classes have fewer than 20 students.
63.4%
under 20 students
24.9%
20 to 49
11.7%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Emory CDS 2025–26, I-3.
8:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
72.6%
first-years from out of state
58%
live on campus
22%
of men in fraternities
22%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White28%
- Asian26%
- Hispanic11.8%
- Black10.2%
- Multiracial4.3%
- Unknown / other3.2%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Emory CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
81.6% of Emory students graduate in 4 years.
81.6%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
91%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
95%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
89% finish in 6 years, against 91% of all students.
Pell Grant students finish at about the same rate as everyone else.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Atlanta.
Emory's campus sits in Druid Hills, a quiet, tree-lined neighborhood that borders Atlanta rather than sitting in its downtown core — the CDC, Emory Healthcare's hospital system, and Decatur's restaurant scene are all a few minutes away, while Midtown and Buckhead's bigger-city energy are a short drive rather than a walk.
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It suits students who want a self-contained, leafy campus with the city on call rather than at the front door.
The City
Major city
Atlanta, GA
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Alben Barkley
35th vice president of the United States, serving under Harry Truman from 1949 to 1953.
Class of 1900
Bobby Jones
The only golfer to win the Grand Slam in a single year and founder of the Masters Tournament; earned his law degree at Emory in 1929 after his engineering degree at Georgia Tech.
Class of 1929
Kenneth Cole
Fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded Kenneth Cole Productions.
Class of 1976
Elizabeth Prelogar
48th Solicitor General of the United States, representing the federal government before the Supreme Court.
Class of 2002
Bernice King
Minister and civil rights activist who leads The King Center; the youngest child of Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King Jr.
Class of 1990
Sonny Carter
NASA astronaut who flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-33 mission.
Class of 1969
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Dooley's Week
Lord Dooley, Emory's skeleton spirit figure, first appeared in an 1899 student newspaper gossip column and got his first physical costume in 1941. Each spring, Dooley and his masked bodyguards can dismiss any class they visit during a week of parades, concerts, comedy shows and athletic competitions, capped by a concert called Dooleypalooza.
Songfest
First-year students in each residence hall write and perform an original song about their new home, competing for awards judged by administrators — best banner, best lyrics, best T-shirt, and best overall. Alumni still trade stories about who won Songfest their year.
Wonderful Wednesday
On the first day of classes each semester, the Quad turns into a carnival — games, funnel cakes, popcorn and snow cones — as a low-key way to kick off the term together.
Weekend escapes from Atlanta
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Atlanta
North Georgia Mountains
1.5 hoursWaterfall hikes, the southern end of the Appalachian Trail, and small mountain towns like Helen and Dahlonega.
Chattanooga
2 hoursRock climbing, whitewater, and a riverfront downtown that has become one of the Southeast's best outdoor-sports bases.
Savannah
4 hoursSpanish moss, historic squares, and a short hop further to Tybee Island for the beach.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL)
25 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Atlanta Braves MLB
- Atlanta Falcons NFL
- Atlanta Hawks NBA
- Atlanta United FC MLS
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
Emory donated the land the CDC's headquarters now sits on, and the campus still borders it — public health, biotech and Emory Healthcare's own hospital system are minutes away, alongside Atlanta's concentration of Fortune 500 headquarters.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- CDC
- Emory Healthcare
- American Cancer Society
- The Coca-Cola Company
- Deloitte
Midtown Atlanta — a short drive away
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
Emory draws students who want an elite research university's resources without a mega-campus feel: a 10.3% admit rate, SAT scores clustering 1480-1540, and 63.4% of classes under 20 students, all on a leafy Druid Hills campus that borders the CDC and Emory Healthcare, Georgia's largest academic hospital system — a natural fit for pre-health and public-health-minded students. Financial aid backs that up: Emory meets 99.9% of demonstrated need. The trade-off is in the admissions calendar and the social scene: Emory offers no non-binding Early Action, only binding Early Decision I/II or Regular Decision, so families who want to compare offers before committing anywhere have one fewer option here; and with no football team and Division III athletics, the social center of gravity runs through Greek life (22% of men, 22% of women) and residence-hall traditions like Songfest rather than gameday.