HI! My daughter was accepted to Vanderbilt. She is bi-racial(African-American/white) & we are from California. She has grown up in predominately white neighborhoods and this is her comfortable community. It is np in CA. She is nervous about going to the South, would like to rush a sorority and wonder if any other parents out there have any insight on this and what it is truly like to be a bi-racial student on campus. Thank you!
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I personally don’t have any Vanderbilt experience, so take this with a grain of salt, but it is 50 percent white, with a 10 percent black student population. Did a bit of research, stalked all the instagrams, had a lot of time in my hands. here’s the results.
ALPHA CHI OMEGA - 1 Indian woman, 2 East Asian women, 1 Muslim woman, the rest are either white or white passing Hispanic.
ALPHA DELTA PI - 1 Pakistani woman, 1 East Asian woman, rest are white or white passing.
Chi Omega - 2 Indian women, 2 East Asian women, the rest are white or white passing.
TRI DELTA - 2 Black women, 2 Indian women, 4 Asian women, the rest are white or white passing.
KAPPA ALPHA THETA - 1 Indian woman and 1 Asian woman, the rest are white.
KAPPA DELTA - 2 mixed women, 2 indigenous women, 3 East Asian women, rest are white.
KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA - 3 Black Women, 5 Asian women, the rest are white.
PI BETA PHI - 2 Indian women, 2 Asian women, the rest are white.
ZETA - 3 Indian/Pakistani women, 3 Asian women, the rest are white.
In a student body survey, around 57 percent of students identified as liberal/ democratic.
There are about 3 clubs for Black cultural immersion.
As a person who is also raised biracial in a mostly white place in SoCal, I’d say Vanderbilt is moderate with a slight left lean. It would defiantly be a big difference from here in California. The only advice I can give is to not expect much knowledge or empathy on racial issues, if anything expect ignorance.
Hoped this helped.
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My two Bi-Racial daughters grew up out west and graduated from Vanderbilt University (one this May). They absolutely adore Vanderbilt. Once over dinner, the oldest told me Vanderbilt changed her life. At the youngest girl’s Graduation the oldest, who has her dream job in LA, said she wishes she could go back to Vanderbilt and the youngest exclaimed she doesn’t want to leave Nashville. They have so many close friends from so many different backgrounds.
Warning: If you really want a strong Greek culture, Vanderbilt today does not resemble the out-dated view from decades ago. In fact, Vanderbilt is one of the nations leaders with a strong contingency who want to abolish Greek Life. Google the NYTimes, Time Magazine, etc articles on the subject. Greek life is shrinking rapidly at Vanderbilt, and has a lower percentage than many northern universities, but the oldest did rush and was offered at all 3 of her top choices. She chose her top sorority, but after a year said she was so busy with other outside interests she had no time for it. The youngest didn’t bother joining a sorority, because she felt there were too many other interesting things to do with her time.
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US Census Ethnicity stats
Vanderbilt Ethnicity stats
Greek Life at Vanderbilt below 20% of undergrads
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