I am going to walk you through what the government reports about this school: what it is, how people get in, how much it costs, how much each family ends up paying, and what happens to students once they are inside. None of this replaces your own research or the conversation with your child. It is the first piece of a larger map.
Who Emory University is, in a few words
Emory University is in Atlanta, Georgia, within DeKalb County, in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan area. The government classifies it as being in a principal city of 250,000 people or more. That does not tell you how to get to campus or what there is to do nearby—that is something you find out by driving the route on a weekday, at the time your child would have classes, if they plan to live at home.
It is a private, nonprofit institution of four years or more. The government records it as offering degrees through the doctorate, and the Carnegie classification—the system that organizes United States universities by what they do—places it among those with the highest research activity. It is also a very residential school: at the time of the most recent cut of that classification, at least half of undergraduate students lived in institution-provided housing, and at least 80 out of every 100 studied full time. Living on campus is not the same as paying tuition; room and board are charged separately, and you will see that later.
Carnegie also places it among institutions that receive many transfer students. If your child plans to come here after studying at another school, that label does not tell you how many credits they will bring in or how many will be lost along the way. That should be requested in writing before deciding.
A note that sometimes matters and sometimes does not: Emory University is not listed as a historically Black college or university, a tribal college or university, or a land-grant institution. That does not say which communities it serves or how your child will feel there. Ask directly: which cultural centers exist today, which student organizations are available, and, better still, speak with someone who already studies there.
A large school, with more graduate students than undergraduates
Emory University reported 15,046 students enrolled in the official fall count. It is large: the government places it in the range of 10,000 to 19,999 students, and among similar selective private schools, only one out of every ten has more people than it does.
But that large number is a little misleading if your child is entering an undergraduate program. Of those 15,046, only 7,359 are undergraduates; the other 7,687 are graduate students. Graduate education carries more weight here than undergraduate education. If you are thinking about your child's experience as an undergraduate, the number that matters is 7,359, not the total.
Among those undergraduates, Hispanic students are a small minority: 12 out of every 100 students, a little above half of similar selective private schools, without reaching the highest quarter. There are more women than men (57 out of every 100), and there are almost no adult students: only 2 out of every 100 are between 25 and 64 years old. And something worth knowing if your child plans to stay close to home: fewer than 25 out of every 100 first-time students reported permanent residence in Georgia. Most come from outside the state or the country. That does not measure distance or travel cost, but if your family does not live in Georgia, your child would be among the majority, not the exception.
Academics: calendar, offerings, and a ratio that sounds better than it guarantees
The year is organized by semesters, two long terms of about 15 weeks. The university accepts credit from AP exams, but did not indicate credit for life experience. Accepting AP does not mean it gives credit for every exam: it does not say what scores are required or whether those credits count toward your child's specific major. That should be requested in writing before enrolling, not assumed in advance.
Between July 2022 and June 2023, Emory awarded 1,937 bachelor's degrees, distributed across 21 program families. The largest family was business and administration, with 24 out of every 100 degrees—no other one exceeded it, but it does not account for everything. It is a broad offering, not concentrated in one area. Still, 21 families represented in the report are not 21 current catalog programs, nor do they guarantee that the exact major your child is interested in is available under that name. Verify it program by program.
Here is a number that often impresses people: Emory reports 9 students for every full-time-equivalent faculty member, one of the lowest ratios among similar schools. It sounds like small classes and personal attention. But that ratio does not count seats in a classroom or measure faculty members' actual availability. It is an institutional average. If class size matters to you, ask directly: how many students are in first-year classes.
The institution also reports structured opportunities: study abroad, cocurricular undergraduate research, and a complete program that can be taken only at night or on weekends.
Getting in: what it requires, how many it accepts, how many enroll
Let us begin with what the university requires. Emory does not have open admission: it reviews applications. Of nine admission criteria it reports—excluding standardized tests and legacy—it marks two as required: the high school record and the personal essay. In other words, your child has to write. Simply gathering paperwork is not enough.
There are other components that are not required but are considered if submitted: class rank, completion of the course plan the university requires, letters of recommendation, a portfolio or competency examination, work experience, an English-proficiency examination when applicable, and whether someone in the family studied there. This last piece—legacy—is not something your child can change. If it does not apply to their situation, do not spend energy on it. Spend it on what is within their control: the record and the essay.
The undergraduate application fee is $75.
Now for the hard part. In the 2023 cycle, Emory received 31,929 applications and offered admission to 3,543. That is 11 out of every 100. It is among the universities that accept the fewest applicants among selective private schools in this same census: nine out of every ten in that group accepted a higher percentage. On the other side were 28,386 applicants who were not offered admission.
And something that should be said without embellishment: this number does not measure your child's worth. It says how many places were offered compared with how many were requested. Your child's college list should include schools at this level of selectivity as well as schools that accept most applicants.
Of those admitted, 40 out of every 100 ultimately enrolled here in 2023—a high percentage compared with similar schools, where a smaller share usually enrolls. But this figure does not measure quality or satisfaction either: it only counts how many admitted first-time students enrolled that fall. When admission letters arrive, this percentage is not what decides. The decision comes from placing offers side by side and comparing net price, major, and distance before deposit day.
Regarding tests: the SAT and ACT are not required. If your child submits them, they are considered; if not, the application remains valid just the same. Among those who enrolled and submitted SAT scores (42 out of every 100, a high proportion compared with similar schools), the middle half scored between 710 and 760 in reading and writing, and between 750 and 790 in mathematics. Those numbers are for people who were already enrolled, not all applicants, and they are neither a minimum nor a guarantee.
Regarding transfers: in fall 2023, 713 undergraduate students entered here for the first time after studying at another institution. It is among the highest figures among similar schools, although it is not a proportion—a large school counts more people simply because of its size. The departure rate of students who transfer out from here is not reported in this file. That does not prove that no one transfers; only that the data are not available this year.
How much it costs: the list price and its pieces
For the 2023–24 year, Emory University reported a cost of attendance of $83,622 for first-time, full-time undergraduate students living on campus. This number is the same for in-state and out-of-state students—there is no residency discount here.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Tuition and fees | $60,774 |
| On-campus housing and food | $18,972 |
| Books and supplies | $1,250 |
| Other estimated expenses (transportation, laundry, etc.) | remainder up to the total |
| Total | $83,622 |
Compared with similar private schools, this cost of attendance is among the highest in the group. It is the list price, not the bill your family will receive.
Net price: what families actually pay
At Emory University, among 92 first-time, full-time students seeking a credential who received federal Title IV aid and whose EFC records showed family income below $30,000, the average net price was $6,895. Among 66 students in the same population with family EFC income from $48,001 to $75,000, it was $11,687; among 118 students with family EFC income above $110,000, it was $54,582. For dependent students, the range adds together their parents' income and their own.
Between the average for the lower-income band (92 students) and that for the highest band (118 students), there is a difference of $47,687. These are group averages, not a prediction of your family's price. Among first-year students who received any scholarship, the average was $27,986.
Among the 937 schools of the same type and control included in this census that reported this figure with the same time coverage, this one falls in the least expensive quarter for lower-income families, after scholarships are subtracted. That does not mean it is inexpensive for your family. It is a data point that matters when putting together the list of schools to apply to.
Because the price changes so much from one income band to another, accurately placing yours is the first step. The income bands in this profile describe first-time, full-time students seeking a credential who received federal Title IV aid; public institutions use the in-state or district rate. The overall average with scholarships, when shown, describes first-time, full-time students seeking a credential who received federal, state, local, or institutional scholarships or grants. The one that matters is the aid letter you receive.
How it is paid for: scholarships, loans, and an unintuitive reality
54 out of every 100 degree-seeking students received some type of aid that does not have to be repaid—a scholarship or grant. That is more than half, but not everyone. Among those who did receive it, the year's average was $47,873. 18 out of every 100 received Pell, the federal aid for low-income students.
That average of nearly $48,000 in scholarships is real money, but it is not a price: what decides is what remains after aid, and that must be requested school by school.
Now for loans, and it is worth going slowly here because the data are surprising. In the 2022-23 school year, only 11 out of every 100 Emory undergraduate students received a federal student loan. Most students here were not awarded a federal loan that year. It is among the lowest proportions among similar selective private schools—nine out of every ten in that group had a higher proportion of students with loans.
Among those who did take out a loan, each received an average of $6,466 that year. But the fact that most did not use a federal loan does not mean everyone was able to cover the year without difficulty. The report does not count additional scholarships, work, family savings, or other kinds of debt. And that average of $6,466 is for one year only, only for federal loans in the student's name—it does not include Parent PLUS loans that parents sometimes sign for, bank debt, or the total debt with which someone leaves upon graduating. To know that, all years would have to be added together, and that number is not in this report.
The institution also reports a tuition installment payment plan as a payment option.
Campus life: housing, sports, library, and support
Emory has its own housing, but it does not require all first-year students to live there—that denies a universal requirement, not the possibility that a program has one. It also offers meal plans, although the number of meals per week varies by plan. Its reported maximum housing capacity is 4,813 students. The existence of housing does not guarantee an assigned bed: request in writing the year's rate, the application deadline, and whether space is guaranteed or there is a waiting list.
In its most recent report, Emory did not mark any ROTC opportunities. That does not prove there is no path nearby; if that scholarship matters to your family, ask admissions directly before assuming it is unavailable.
It does compete in intercollegiate athletics and is affiliated with the NCAA, with reported membership in basketball, baseball, and cross-country or track and field. That does not say which division each sport plays in or whether it offers athletic scholarships—ask the coach for the sport your child is interested in directly.
It offers distance education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, although among undergraduates only 1 out of every 100 students take all their classes that way; the other 99 take at least one in-person class. The library operates with hired staff and its spending exceeds the government's recorded threshold of $100,000; it has physical and digital materials and interlibrary lending. It also reports services such as combined academic and career counseling, employment services, placement for graduates, on-campus child care, Yellow Ribbon participation, and a student veterans organization, among others. The reporting of these services does not say how accessible or effective they are for your child in particular.
They stay, and most graduate
Here is something worth looking at directly. Of the cohort that entered in fall 2022, 96 out of every 100 were still enrolled here or had already completed a bachelor's degree the following year. It is among the highest retention rates among similar selective private schools. That number combines two groups—those who stayed and those who had already graduated—without separating them.
Of those who entered a bachelor's program in 2017, 92 out of every 100 earned a degree in six years or less: 1,269 out of 1,383. In four years, the number falls to 83 out of every 100—a difference of 9 points. It is among the highest graduation rates among comparable selective private schools.
A number this high does not mean the same thing will happen to your child. It means that generation, at that school, had enough time. What is within your control is making sure they enter with their credits in order and know from the first semester who their academic adviser is and when courses in their major are scheduled.
A longer look, at eight years: of a cohort that entered between July 2015 and June 2016 (including both first-time and transfer students, full time and part time), 92 out of every 100 had a degree or certificate from this school as of August 2023. Among those who received a Pell Grant, the number was 88 out of every 100—five points below the rest, but still high. It is, again, among the highest figures among similar schools. And again: a high percentage describes what happened to an entire cohort, not an individual's outcome.
What this article cannot tell you
We do not know what happens after graduation in terms of employment, salary, or debt upon leaving—that is not in the data governing this piece, and we are not going to invent it. We also do not know whether the exact program your child is interested in exists under that name, how many transfer credits it would recognize, or what their actual net price would be. Those questions are answered by calling, writing, and requesting everything in writing.
How to use all this
You now know an important piece: what kind of university Emory University is, how it admits students, how much it costs on paper, how much people end up paying based on their income, and how often those who enter stay and graduate.
The other two pieces of the plan remain: what your child wants to study and what they have built so far, and what your family can and is willing to pay. If they live far from Georgia, most of their classmates would also come from elsewhere. If what matters is a specific sport or an ROTC path, ask that question directly, because the official report does not always tell the whole story.
With those three pieces together—the university, your child, and your family—you can build a real plan. This piece alone is not the decision. It is the ground on which you will build it.
Source note: the information in this article comes from data reported by Emory University to the United States Department of Education's IPEDS system, corresponding primarily to the 2022-23 and 2023-24 cycles. Best College Aid does not represent Emory University or the United States government; it organizes and explains public data to help you understand it.