Vandy is at the top of my list right now, and I am seriously considering EDing. I love everything about the school academically (I plan on applying to HOD at Peabody). The only part that concerns me are the people there. I come from a VERY diverse high school (30% hispanic, 30% black, 20% asian, 10% white or something like that). I would say I’m a pretty social person and can get along with anyone, but I know that Vandy is obviously predominantly white, so I’m worried about discrimination or “cliques,” especially against asians. Also, what is social life like if I don’t join a sorority? I heard almost half of the students there are in frats/sororities, will I feel left out/not invited to parties? (I have the worst FOMO) ONE MORE QUESTION: are there any job opportunities or ways to make $$ near campus? Is there even time to juggle a job, social life, and school work?? HELP
Disclaimer: I’m an incoming First-Year at Brown who declined his admission to Vanderbilt Arts & Sciences RD, however, I know two students attending (this year and the last.)
Vanderbilt is ~15% Asian, which while on the lower end for the T20s is still very diverse overall (see https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/profile/#undergradenrollmentbyschool scroll down to First-Year students entering Fall 2019.) With the majority of the student body coming from outside of TN, most students are going to be new to Nashville and the campus as a whole: you’ll have the opportunity to find a group of friends, and most T20s have strong asian cultural associations if you’re interested in being involved w/one of those.
I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t interested in Greek Life at all either, and the relatively high percentage of students in Greek Life compared to other T20s was a concern for me when applying. However, Vanderbilt is first and foremost an academic institution, so if you’re interested in finding people similar to you outside of greek life, you’ll find it. I think I read somewhere that the school administration itself is not very fond of greek life on-campus, and is possibly? trying to remove its influence.
Vanderbilt, like most other colleges, has student job opportunities available on-campus, and a quick google search finds the following: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/studentemployment/ . Vanderbilt has an extremely strong financial aid program through Opportunity Vanderbilt, and offers ~15% of its class full-tuition merit scholarships. These are extremely competitive though, and are only offered to less than 1% of the application pool so expect getting one to be only a pleasant surprise and not a guarantee; if you would require one of these in-order to attend, you would be better served by applying Regular Decision.
Unlike some other similar schools, Vanderbilt does have a lack of inflation (not necessarily grade deflation across the board.) So if you’re in a field where grades are crucial (like pre-med) and you want a school with more student friendly grading policies, you might be better set by going to another school. It’s up to your personal assessment of how much time you want to devote towards schoolwork vs. other activities.
I do highly recommend applying ED to Vanderbilt if it’s your top choice as unlike the Ivies, it states in its undergraduate catalog that it accepts/rejects the majority of applicants and defers only in rare circumstances, which can work in your favor if you’re on the edge. However, do this ONLY if ALL of the following are true:
- You LOVE Vanderbilt and would 110% attend if admitted.
- You are extremely confident that you can present a well thought out and crafted application by the ED deadline of November 1st.
- You and your family can afford Vanderbilt if admitted (run the financial aid calculators if applicable.)
Hope this helps! Good luck with admissions!
Wow! Thank you so much for the thorough response!
Vanderbilt is quite diverse, has outstanding FA and awesome merit aid. As part of a FA package, there might be a campus job like you can find at most any other school. Prior to COVID there was a substantial worker shortage in Nashville due to its booming popularity as a place to live, work and play. Off campus jobs would have been possible and well paying. Hopefully by the time you attend, those jobs will be back. However you might be best served by looking for an on-campus position and asking the FA office about such opportunities since you really won’t want to be commuting to an off campus job unless you found something close to campus. Academics will take most of your time at Vandy. Apply ED if you can (and are sure you want to attend) and watch for deadlines regarding merit scholarships that might be earlier than the general application deadline.
Edit: my daughter is a senior at Vandy.
I know this is old, but your diversity concern is a non concern:
- My daughter’s freshman friendships looked like a Colors of Benneton ad from the 80s: Asian, black, Indian, and she is white. That was her friend group and also her study group. She is now dating an Asian guy. The diversity was really cool.
BUT that being said…why does diversity of skin color matter? We are all one race- the human race, and we are all from different places. We all have different personalities, interests, tastes…focus on that.
Don’t buy into the hype that true diversity is in how we look: it is not. If you are truly color blind then look at the diversity of the hearts of the people to appreciate diversity and find their value.