When Grace Hetrick (25Ox) arrived at Emory University’s Oxford College earlier this year, she did not expect to graduate early and transfer to the Atlanta campus. However, after noticing what she believes to be unequal opportunities between the campuses, Hetrick now plans to graduate from Oxford in fall 2024 to move to Atlanta next year.
Hetrick’s experience is not out of the ordinary at Oxford: In total, about 23.6% of students who started at Oxford in the past five years left the campus after three semesters, according to data from Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond. Most recently, 28.4% of students who entered as Oxford’s Class of 2024 transferred before their sophomore spring semester. This percentage has consistently increased since 2020, when about 20.3% of the incoming class graduated early.
Oxford Dean Badia Ahad wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel that she has met with students who left Oxford after three semesters.
“What I’ve learned is that it’s important to understand the diversity of reasons why students make that choice,” Ahad wrote. “For example, some study abroad before starting their junior year or take clinical or semester-long internships at Emory Hospital or other places in Atlanta.”
However, Ahad did not address the Wheel’s question about if Oxford has plans to reduce the number of students who graduate early.
To graduate, Oxford requires that students attain 64 academic credits and one physical education credit. Oxford students typically complete these requirements in four semesters.
However, Hetrick can graduate early because she has AP credits and plans to take summer courses to fulfill her pre-med requirements. She added that many of her pre-med friends also plan to graduate early to take advanced classes or pursue research that “doesn’t exist” at Oxford.
Next year, Hetrick plans to volunteer at Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute. She explained that Oxford’s location makes it harder to be involved at clinics similar to those near the Atlanta campus.
“There’s more opportunities on the Atlanta campus, unfortunately, in terms of volunteering or clinical work,” Hetrick said. “The sooner I move there, the more it will help me in terms of my pre-med prep.”
Jack Peattie (25Ox), who plans to matriculate to Goizueta Business School, shared a similar sentiment, emphasizing the lack of business classes at Oxford. He estimated that over half of business majors at Oxford want to graduate early.
“They’re still missing a lot of BBA core classes and other BBA classes that I think students would be interested in taking here because there are a good amount of business majors,” Peattie said.
Oxford offered all pre-requisite classes for the business school in fall 2023 and spring 2024 except for "Data and Decision Analytics," which was only available this semester, and "Bus 290 Tech Tools A: Excel," which was only available online. However, Oxford has offered few classes that fulfill business requirements beyond prerequisites.
Currently, Goizueta requires students to complete seven courses as part of its “functional core,” which helps students build foundational knowledge about each area of business. These requirements can be filled by eight different course options. Last semester, Oxford only offered one functional core class, “Accounting: The Language of Business.” This semester, “Corporate Finance” is the only functional core class available at Oxford. In contrast, the Atlanta Campus offered seven of the eight different courses this semester and six of the eight courses last semester to non-Goizueta students.
Starting in January 2023, sophomores could begin matriculating into Goizueta, meaning Atlanta campus students can matriculate a year earlier than students who opt to complete all four semesters at Oxford. The lack of business classes also created difficulties for Oxford early graduate Justin Lee (23Ox, 26C), who said it was hard to declare a business major without taking business classes. All undergraduate students must declare their major by the second semester of their sophomore year.
“If I didn’t have any business experience, I didn’t want to just straight up declare,” Lee said.
Sunny Tian (25Ox) said adding more business classes could encourage Oxford students to stay for four semesters.
However, Hetrick clarified that despite the difficulties she’s faced with classes, staying at Oxford would not “necessarily be a disadvantage” — just an inconvenience. She already commutes to Atlanta from Oxford’s campus in Covington, Ga. four or five times a week, which makes it more “difficult” to meet her academic goals. Sometimes, she has to do homework on the shuttle.
This commute to Atlanta, Hetrick said, is “draining” and “exhausting.” Peattie expressed a similar sentiment, noting that the commute is a “hassle” that makes it hard for Oxford students to take classes on the Atlanta campus.
“You’re going to have to take the shuttle, regardless of how flexible it is, and that’s still an hour commute out of your day — two hours going back and forth,” Hetrick said. “If you’re taking hard classes, heavy course load, it’s just hard to find time in your schedule. It’s not fair because Atlanta campus doesn’t have to do that.”
Peattie also said that he feels a lack of social connection between Atlanta and Oxford students, with Oxford students having to put in increased effort to integrate themselves within the Atlanta campus.
“There is a bit of a stigma, we’ll say, and some people will like you less because you go to Oxford,” Peattie said. “It’s kind of shallow in my opinion, but it’s the way things are, and it’s the reputation Oxford’s got.”
Penny Wang (23Ox, 26C) said she has seen improvements in her academic and social life since graduating early from Oxford last semester.
“I do think it’s worth it,” Wang said. “I’m actually about to join a research lab, and also, I’ve met with a lot of new friends, and I enjoy just living off-campus in an apartment. … Life quality has been a lot better recently.”
However, Wang said that she misses the “closer community” that she said she had with her professors and peers at Oxford. She added that finding leadership opportunities in student-run clubs is more difficult on the Atlanta campus.
“You basically start new in a club as a sophomore or a junior, as an Oxford graduate, so it’s hard to get the type of leadership position that you want,” Wang said.
Lee said that while joining clubs as an Oxford graduate can be difficult, it is not impossible.
“For someone who didn’t do business clubs, yes, it is harder to get in, but it’s not like clubs are not willing to accept you here in Atlanta as a second year,” Lee said.
Lee felt like the early graduation process was “very smooth,” but added that he hopes to see more advisor involvement to ensure students meet the early graduation requirements. He explained that some of his friends at Oxford have struggled with credit issues, preventing them from graduating early.
On the other hand, students like Anthony Vargas (24Ox) have never considered graduating early. Vargas is involved with Emory Entrepreneurship Summit and the Oxford men’s basketball team, and feels like going to Oxford has allowed him to develop academically and professionally.
“I simply wouldn't be prepared as an individual to be put in those positions had I not gone to Oxford and gotten the individualized attention I got,” Vargas said.
Additionally, as a student interested in multiple academic fields, Vargas does not feel that Oxford lacks course offerings. However, he acknowledged that there is room for improvement and hopes to see more opportunities for pre-professional advising in the future, which he believes is currently “not made explicit” at Oxford.
Ahad also added that during her time at Oxford, it was “striking” to see how many students had “expressed gratitude” for their time on the campus. She added that Oxford will continue to provide instruction that emphasizes “students’ academic excellence and well-being.”
However, Tian added that she hopes that Oxford will focus on increasing its understanding of student perspectives.
“They should try to understand the reasoning why so many people are graduating early because it’s not built for a year and a half,” Tian said. “It’s a two-year program.”
