College Guide - Stacking up Atlanta colleges
Emory University
Enrollment: 13K
Annual tuition*: ≈ $38,600
$ made after graduation**: $47,500
Famous alums: Indigo Girls, Newt Gingrich
Interesting class/activity: Songfest: annual competition where freshmen are forced by dorm staff to perform choreographed dance routines and sing “Glee-“like pop songs rewritten with Emory-centric lyrics.
Continuing education: The Center for Lifelong Learning offers public adult education courses and certificate programs through Evenings at Emory, covering everything from computer training to business skills.
Local watering hole: Maggie’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill
Must-Have accessory: Mercedes-Benz
Factoids: Luminaries like the Dalai Lama teach students peace and tolerance while Salman Rushdie demonstrates how to piss off Iran
- In-state, full-time**Starting median pay according to www.payscale.com
Georgia Institute of Technology
Enrollment: 20K
Annual tuition*: ≈ $8,716
$ made after graduation**: $57,300
Famous alums: Former President Jimmy Carter, Walmart CEO Mike Duke
Interesting class/activity: Humans vs. Zombies, Tech’s version of the game started at Goucher College, has students wearing bandanas and running for cover.
Continuing education: Tech offers continuing education classes with its Professional Education program, giving working adults the opportunity to become certified in their field and stay current with changing technology.
Local watering hole: Rocky Mountain Pizza
Must-Have accessory: iPad
Factoids: Personal response transmitters, creepy remote control-like gadgets, are used to electronically monitor attendance in huge classes and record pop quiz answers.
- In-state, full-time**Starting median pay according to www.payscale.com
Georgia State University
Enrollment: 40K
Annual tuition*: ≈ $7,070
$ made after graduation**: $41, 400
Famous alums: Grammy-winning rapper Ludacris, Former Georgia Speaker of the House Glenn Richardson
Interesting class/activity: Sexuality and Society, taught by Mindy Stombler, whose research on oral sex was targeted by state Rep. Calvin Hill (R-Canton) as a waste of taxpayer money.
Continuing education: The GSU-62 program offers waivers for registration and tuition fees for students over 62. Online classes are available in many areas of study, especially in the Robinson College of Business.
Local watering hole: Sidebar
Must-Have accessory: Hip sneakers
Factoids: GSU is undergoing a change to a more residential school, with three new dorms in four years and the start of a football program in September.
- In-state, full-time**Starting median pay according to www.payscale.com
Atlanta University Center
Enrollment: 10K
Annual tuition*: Clark Atlanta University≈ $17,244
Morehouse College≈ $20,394
Spelman College≈ $17,818
$ made after graduation**: Clark Atlanta$38,700
Morehouse$43,000
Spelman$38,800
Famous alums: Samuel L. Jackson (Morehouse),Spike Lee (Morehouse)
Interesting class/activity: The Sumiko Takahara Japan Studies Program at Spelman embraces Japanese culture by providing such workshops as origami, sushi making and ikebana.
Continuing education: Professional degree programs at Morehouse School of Medicine, as well as graduate programs at Clark Atlanta, including its School of Business.
Local watering hole: Woodruff Library, aka “Club Woody”
Must-Have accessory: Greek letter jackets
Factoids: The AUC is the home of more than 10,000 personal papers of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., which are now permanently housed at Morehouse College.
- In-state, full-time**Starting median pay according to www.payscale.com
Oglethorpe University
Enrollment: 1K
Annual tuition*: $27,700
$ made after graduation**: NadaThis is a private liberal arts school, for crying out loud! Most of the students are majoring in philosophy and English.
Famous alums: “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” Plutonian Oglethorpe,Concentrics Restaurants founder Bob Amick
Interesting class/activity: In the English class the Child in Literature, students read such books as About a Boy and Charlotte’s Web.
Continuing education: An evening degree program with degrees offered in six majors, including business, history and psychology, and 11 minors.
Local watering hole: Greek row residences like Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Chi Phi
Must-Have accessory: Elbow-patched tweedy blazer
Factoids: The Princeton Review’s 2010 the Best 371 Colleges has Oglethorpe listed at No. 20 for its professors, No. 17 for theater and No. 10 for class/race interaction.
- In-state, full-time**Starting median pay according to www.payscale.com
Savannah College of Art and Design Atlanta
Enrollment: 1.5K
Annual tuition*: $29,070
$ made after graduation**: $37,100
Famous alums: Grammy-winning musician India.Arie, “The Surrogates” artist Brett Weldele
Interesting class/activity: Superhero Comics: Sequential art course for drawing superheroes using camera angles, page layout and perspective for making characters dynamic and exciting
Continuing education: The award-winning eLearning programs taught by SCAD faculty offer classes and workshops like Adobe Photoshop Fundamentals and No Fear Watercolor.
Local watering hole: Sam Flax
Must-Have accessory: Plaid shirt and Buddy Holly glasses
Factoids: Prior to SCAD, professor of animation Tina O’Hailey was an artistic instructor for Disney, Dreamworks and Electronic Arts, working on animated films like Lilo and Stitch and Mulan.
- In-state, full-time**Starting median pay according to www.payscale.com