<p>Vanderbilt is primarily based on Greek Life. Greek fraternity's usually only allow the same "group" (same-colored skin) people to join their thing.</p>
<p>Therefore, Asian (males) would probably be very miserable at Vandy, sitting in the corner, uninvited to parties, and not getting in on any action whatsoever.</p>
<p>Asians would probably be viewed as the "loser group" (check Asian associations at Vanderbilt), all by them selfs.</p>
<p>In other words, Asian males would be missing out on most of the vandy experience.</p>
<p>let me know what you guys think</p>
<p>this is all what my guidance counselor told me; im an asian male applying to vandy</p>
<p>That sounds utterly ridiculous and one-sided. Here is a link for Vanderbilt's Asian American Student Association. I'm sure you could contact Asian males students at Vanderbilt and get a much better idea of the environment.</p>
<p>RoCCo, I rarely go out of my way to insult people, but I can't resist: your guidance counselor is completely ignorant, and possibly stupid.</p>
<p>Can't believe I said that.</p>
<p>ncdewey has made a very good suggestion. Why not give it a try?</p>
<p>I will point out that one of the main motivations behind the Commons residential project (freshman living) is to further reduce the vestiges of cliques and segregated groups that did, in the past, characterize the social scene at Vanderbilt. I will not claim that all is perfect and rosy, but I think the situation is no more severe at today's Vanderbilt than it is at many, many other institutions, and that includes some in the northeast (where I studied and taught).</p>
<p>Your counselor is completely shallow. My brother (who is 100% asian) go to Vandy. He is having a great time at Vandy, tons of friends, rarely comes home and he is not Greek.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, many idiots here at Vandy the same views as your guidance counselor. I'm sure it's not 100 sure but students do tend to self-segregate and this issue has been addressed in the school paper several times this year. If you're looking for a diverse college experience and you're a minority, Vanderbilt is not for you.</p>
<p>I don't understand the segregation among American students (international is a slightly different story). If there was a dorm full of white kids and there was a cool Asian down the hall.. they wouldn't interact with that person because he/she was Asian?</p>
<p>I go to a school that is made up of more than 40% international students, most of which are Asian. A majority of those Asians only interact closely with each other; a handful interact with the American students and are welcomed just like any friendly American student would be. On top of that, none of the American Asians are treated any differently because they come from the same cultural background (born and raised in the US). One of my best friends (who is actually from Turkey) is dating an Asian-American guy and we don't even see him as "Asian".. he's one of us, end of story. Race and ethnicity are not a big deal, and the kids at my school don't discriminate. HOWEVER, it just so happens that a majority of the international kids associate primarily with each other. IE: I don't hang out with the Korean girl that sits next to me in Econ not because she's "not white".. we don't hang out because she prefers to interact with the the very close-knit Korean community at my school. Understandable. But it's not about race. I find it hard to believe that English-speaking students at Vandy who are Asian aren't accepted by white kids if they have a lot in common.</p>
<p>Believe what you want. Unfortunately most people don't like facing the truth that is segregation is very real at Vandy. COLUMN:</a> Segregation still visible at Vanderbilt | InsideVandy
This is one of many articles I have seen in the newspaper this year.</p>
<p>I don't know how different Vandy is than so many other schools. My D's friend is at Michigan State, and Asians only hang out with Asians by choice. Her friends at UMich say the same. A couple years ago, when we visited WashU, we noticed a very obvious segregation --- there was a huge Asian population, and they self segregated by country of origin. Of course, though, there are Asians who interact with whites on a regular basis, even though it's not as apparent. People tend to stick with those who are like them --- not necessarily in race, but in culture (which is often race). It's great to mix & mingle, but students have to reach out to make that happen. If no one is willing to try it, it will never be the norm.</p>
<p>Yes I am a minority at Vanderbilt who happens to be fairly involved and I find that the activity groups alone are very polarized. Vanderbilt Visions (a freshman program) was instituted to address this issue. All freshmen are divided into groups of 20 "ethnically" diverse people. The administration assumes that forced integration will lead to more diverse groups at Vandy but this hasn't been very successful. I'm not trying to hate on Vandy or anything and I love the school but do not be misled by the overwhelming "diversity" campaigned by the Admissions Committee. Sure kids come from all over the US but there is nearly no racial interaction within the community.</p>
<p>departed is accurate. Lampone, I'm gonna be honest with you bro, I am a minority at this school and the front that the admissions office puts out that it is a 100% welcoming institution is a lie. I am shocked your guidance counselor was nice and straight enough to be honest with you about this. Take my advice, unless your getting paid good money to come here with a sweet scholarship, Do Not Come to Vanderbilt. So much stuff is socially backward here. The Commons will change things but that will be like 5-6 years before it has any affect. I made an account on this website just to make sure other kids don't fall into the trap that I did. You will have to go through some serious adjustment period to like this place.</p>
<p>freeblanket, do you have any suggestions for the Vanderbilt administration about how to improve things?</p>
<p>One of the main objectives of Vanderbilt admissions policy of recent has been to improve the racial/cultural mix of the student body, as one way to make the atmosphere more 'welcoming' for everybody. That approach can't work if the advice you offer in your last post is followed. Do you have any constructive suggestions, or is the situation just hopeless, in your view?</p>
<p>I'm not trying to deny your personal experiences, believe me. I have to agree with the observations of a previous poster, however, that the situation being described by a couple of you is not unique to Vanderbilt. I have a good deal of experience on several college campuses across the country (lots of degrees, post-docs, teaching), and self-segregation of students is a common and difficult problem. The difference between Vanderbilt and most of the institutions I have been at is that Vanderbilt seems to take the problem seriously and is trying to do something about it.</p>
<p>So, what are your constructive suggestions?</p>
<p>There is a solution that could amend the situation. Remove the greeks. It seems the administration is taking this approach already. They have already set strict curfews on frat parties, implemented harsher probation punishments, higher GPA requirements, and are now keeping freshmen off the main campus. They also don't allow any on campus parties during orientation week. The freshmen dorms now (Branscomb that is) are literally across fraternity row but next year they will be quite a distance away.
This has cause quite a stir by the greeks but if you really want to see racial mixing you need to eliminate the social stigmas that exist here already. I highly doubt that they would remove greek life permanently at Vandy because it would take a toll on alumni donations but expect to see further action taken to reduce frat/sorority numbers.</p>
<p>^^^It would be very foolish to accept one or two student's words. People have many reasons to be unhappy with their freshmen year at college, and often change their minds later.</p>
<p>Other minority students have weighed in and said they are happy and engaged in the university. It is interesting that you are quick to accept the negative assessments but ignore the positive ones.</p>
<p>As I mentioned before, the majority of students at Vanderbilt do not belong to Greek organizations.</p>