More than one in three Oxford College students matriculated early to Emory University’s Atlanta campus this spring, marking the highest early matriculation rate in six years. In total, 166 of the 493 students who entered as Oxford’s Class of 2025 — 33.7% — left the campus after three semesters, according to data from Assistant Director of University Communications Rachel Smith.
Oxford has seen a rising percentage of students graduating early, with an average of 23.7% of students doing so from 2018 to 2023. There was a 5.3 percentage point increase in the number of students matriculating to the Atlanta campus early this year compared to last year, with the Oxford Class of 2024 having a 28.4% early matriculation rate.
This year will likely be the last year with such a high early graduation rate, as Oxford rolled out a change in credit policy that starts with Oxford’s Class of 2026. The new credit policy allows first-year students to transfer eight credit hours from Advanced Placement Exams, International Baccalaureate Exams and outside institutions, including other colleges, toward their Associate of Arts degree. Previously, Oxford allowed students to apply up to 18 outside credits toward their degree. Oxford made this change to “ensure that the quality and rigor of outside coursework meets university standards,” according to Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Valerie Molyneaux
In an interview with The Emory Wheel, former Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Ravi Bellamkonda said that Emory made the change “to make it more likely that they experience the four semesters at Oxford.”
Smith wrote in an email to the Wheel that Oxford is committed to helping students succeed.
“Oxford is designed to be an immersive experience over four semesters that offers students multiple opportunities to thrive and flourish,” Smith wrote. “While some students complete their Oxford degrees in three semesters, the overwhelming majority remain for four semesters. Our goal is to help students flourish at Oxford and continue to thrive in Atlanta and beyond.”
Early graduate Sunny Tian (25Ox) believes the change in credit policy was “reasonable,” as Oxford’s goal was also to decrease the rising percentage of students graduating early.
Although Oxford expanded its course offerings with the introduction of Corporate Finance in spring 2024 and Process and Systems Management in spring 2025, Tian decided to matriculate to the Atlanta campus early because of the still-limited number of business and economics classes offered at Oxford.
“Especially my second half of freshman year, I found that there were limited courses here as a business student and economics student that I felt I had the option to take,” Tian said. “Matriculating to the business school earlier on would allow me to have more options in terms of what classes I wanted to take.”
Max Fischer (25Ox), who graduated early, shared the same sentiment as Tian. Fischer decided to graduate early because of the more advanced psychology courses available on the Atlanta campus. However, he found his time at Oxford to be a rewarding experience.
“The sense of community here is great,” Fischer said. “You meet a lot of people, a lot of professors. You get a lot of connections that are needed further down the road.”
Oxford Student Government Association Vice President Kieran Rafferty (25Ox) finds that while Oxford offers enough courses for him personally, it lacks higher-level courses. However, Rafferty said he sought to take advantage of the explorative freedom at Oxford.
“I came into this college thinking with a liberal arts perspective of just ‘I want to really try out everything,’” Rafferty said. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. So I came here thinking maybe I wanted to pursue physics or computer science. And then it didn't work out, but I redirected myself.”
Rafferty added he understands why some students decide to graduate early, as it often depends on their major and the diverse opportunities on the Atlanta campus.
Fischer believes increasing class availability at Oxford is the key to addressing the trend of students graduating early.
“The solution to the problem is having more advanced classes offered at Oxford that people are [currently] only able to take at the Atlanta campus,” Fischer said. “If you have more advanced classes, then there wouldn’t be a reason for people to graduate early.”
