10 Things That Suck About Vandy

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
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<p>I am a high school senior that has been admitted to the Vanderbilt class of '17. I am in the process of selecting a college, and whenever I look for advice on why 'x' school or 'y' school is great, I find a laundry list of positive items... In the hope of illuminating some of the less than savory elements of the various colleges I am considering, I wanted to start this thread. </p>

<p>So, please, current Vandy students and alumni, tell me the 10 things about your alma mater that you wish you could change. It would also be helpful if you could include your major.</p>

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<p>It was such an amazing experience graduating from Vanderbilt that I think you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who is going to list the 10 worst things about the school. Here are mine:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>I was sad when summer started! Wait, what? But seriously, I missed my Vandy friends who ended up all over the country (world) during the summer terms…</p></li>
<li><p>I guess not being allowed to have a car on campus freshman year? But we were all in the same boat, so not that big of a deal…</p></li>
<li><p>For engineers, if you are going to grad school you should plan on taking Matrix Algebra, even though its not required. It’s something I wish Vandy had required I did, but I didn’t realize I needed it until grad school…</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Um, seriously, struggling. Vandy’s awesome!!</p>

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<p>Hey Vandy08grad, did you participate in greek life while you were there? Also, how’s the asian community?</p>

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<p>The lines for Randwiches around noon are horrendous!</p>

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<p>The way it’s selectivity is going it will be impossible for my kids to get in 7-10 years from now.</p>

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<p>The administration seems to hate Greek life. That’s not cool.</p>

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<p>Grade deflation. Academically, it’s challenging. Several of my D’s sophomore friends have changed majors because the courses they were taking were killing their gpas.</p>

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<p>I too complain about grade deflation but looking at the GPA stats, Vandy seems to be about normal compared to other top schools/private schools. Engineering has a lower GPA and some A&S majors are much harder though.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the feedback, everyone!</p>

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<p>I am a senior at vanderbilt… this blog will tell you some of what I am actively trying to change right now </p>

<p>f-ckinggdi.■■■■■■■■■■</p>

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<p>The biggest one is probably regionalism. There are few universities with a truly national (or international) reputation. This is where some of the lower Ivies (Cornell, Brown, Dartmouth) benefit from the Ivy name, as they would undoubtedly not enjoy name recognition across the country if they weren’t attached to that brand. Vanderbilt’s reputation is excellent throughout the South, but results in other areas of the country are mixed. This has a big effect on where Vandy grads go post-graduation - Vandy is fantastic if you want to work in Dallas, Houston, Nashville, or Atlanta, but less so elsewhere. The university is actively trying to change this by recruiting a more geographically diverse student body to strengthen the alumni network. Until the effects of this policy are realized, though, it probably remains Vanderbilt’s biggest weakness.</p>

<p>Some other things: Greek life is not a weakness, but the fractious relationship between Greeks and non-Greeks is. The university’s expansion is a problem in the long-term, as it will be restricted by the fact that there is little available land and many different competing interests (the school, athletics, med center). In the past, a lot of poorly planned expansion has resulted in a lot of disorganization, ugly buildings, and general chaos on the western side of campus. In addition to being ugly, Towers and Branscomb are also not very nice places to live. This puts Vanderbilt at a disadvantage relative to other schools, as the recent trend in higher education has been to spend heavily on fancy dorms. In the past 15 years, Campus Planning has gotten very good and planning for the school in the long term, so many of these issues will be resolved over the next 20 years or so (Towers will be demolished within 5-10 years, followed by Branscomb).</p>

<p>Dining is also not great with the exception of Commons. On-campus options are fairly limited, and most people get sick of eating the same food day in and day out. There are even fewer late-night dining options, and you are pretty much limited to the Munchie Marts if you are nocturnal (like me). Nashville does have a ton of great restaurants, however, some of which are within walking distance of campus. Many upperclassmen choose to eat most of their meals off-campus once they get tired of Dining.</p>

<p>Parking is bad, and Nashville doesn’t really have the public transportation infrastructure to make up for it. This means that a lot of students don’t drive and their experiences are mostly limited to what’s within walking distance, which is a shame, since there are a lot of great places to check out in Nashville. Also, there are basically no clubs in the city, if you’re into that. The dive bar scene is great, but definitely can get old after a while.</p>

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<p>Also, I forgot to mention that the library sucks. The elevators are slow (a problem in most buildings on campus) and the place is just generally a mess - difficult to navigate, poorly signed, etc. The interior is also pretty cramped and depressing, and there aren’t nearly enough open spaces or common areas. Overall, it’s not what you expect from an elite academic institution. Hopefully there will be a renovation in the near future.</p>

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<p>I went to visit today, the library was the part that disappointed me the most. It would be a good place to study if it wasn’t so cramped, though. How crowded is it usually? (Not at 8 AM when I was on campus)</p>

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<p>1) Dining after freshman year sucks
2) Housing after freshman year sucks
3) Grade deflation in math and engineering
4) Little employment presence outside the South
5) Weather ranges from 30 to 70 Fahrenheit in Fall/Winter/Spring
6) Dominance of Greek life, intense party culture
7) Lack of cultural and regional diversity
8) Exorbitant parking costs and poor public transportation
9) Few good places to use computers
10) Southern bugs are annoying in the summer</p>

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<p>I recommend using one of the other libraries on campus if you are just wanting to study. My particular favorite was the Biomed library.</p>

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<p>Biomed is an incredible library. Owen is pretty great too. Stevenson library is a little cramped but they have cubicle things and I find it probably the best place to study.</p>

<p>There are so many places to study on campus though; there are classrooms and common rooms and study rooms and seminar rooms all over placed all campus and open for studying.</p>

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<p>1) Mandatory meal plan after freshman year (I actually thought the food on-campus really great, but it’s a lot cheaper to cook for yourself)
2) Overpriced on-campus housing, most freshmen have to take a double
3) Grade inflation
4) Annoying general education requirements (price I pay for doing liberal arts, eh)
5) Too humid and warm
6) DBs in the rec only go up to 100. Want a donkey calf raise machine, *******, a better place to do loaded carries so I’m not stepping on people, trap bars, rings, bands, chains, etc. It’s better than what it could be, though, we’ve 2 platforms, plenty of BBs, cages, and benches.
7) Annoying limitations to how many classes we can take/semester. Also, luckily for me, they never checked prereqs for classes in the past. Unluckily for you, they’ve begun to crack down on that.
8) Very little elevation change on nearby trails. Hills might go a few hundred feet but no more. Have to drive a ways before you see a mountain.</p>

<p>hmmm</p>

<p>9) campus police got mad when I tried to do some basic work/maintenance on my car in the parking lot?
10) sometimes the buildings lock me out and I can’t get in</p>

<p>edit: wait, why is ******* censored? p-r-o-w-l-e-r, there, did that work?</p>

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<p>re: libraries, if you’re going to the interior of central then yeah, not the prettiest or most uplifting, but there are much better places to work.</p>

<p>I dunno what parking’s like elsewhere, but it’s what, $200 a year here? That seems like very little to me. There are free lots/free parking on streets near campus that you can park on, too (one of my housemates has been doing this for years)</p>

<p>Oh, and it’s a shame rand brunch disappeared; THAT was cost effective dining! I used to go there and spend 3 hours reading and eating SO much food, man, I tell ya.</p>

<p>And on a similar note, vegan options are a bit lacking on campus.</p>

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<p>Though of more things that suck:</p>

<p>Not many good museums nearby</p>

<p>TN politics are really stupid</p>

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<p>If you have the option of driving, Percy Warner is a great park with some challenging trails. I agree that Nashville can be limited with respect to cultural attractions, etc., but it’s still better than most college towns. Another issue is that some of the areas around campus are pretty sketchy/poor (north of West End, for example), and that West End itself is just basically a continuous stretch of fast food restaurants. Hillsboro is a nice area, but overall there’s not really the charm you would find in Princeton, for example.</p>

<p>Speaking of fast food restaurants, they close way too early. Wendy’s and Qdoba are open until the early hours of the morning, but that’s it. Taco Bell closes at midnight, which I find ridiculous.</p>