Hello,
My D decided on attending CMU, but just got offered admission to Vanderbilt through the waitlist and now is having trouble deciding which one to attend. She ultimately wants to go into the business field. At CMU, she was admitted to the Tepper School of Business and plans get a minor or double major in CS to take advantage of the opportunity at studying at one of the best schools for CS. On the other hand, though Vanderbilt does not have a business program, she isn’t worried about not getting a BBA as she plans on getting an MBA soon after college and recognizes that she is able to pursue other interests for her undergrad (econ, stats, or math, etc). In her (and my) eyes, both schools are very strong options and have many pros of their own. In terms of campus/location, she is okay with either and isn’t a huge factor in making the decision. Which one would be the best choice for her?
Do you have specific questions that you need answers to, or what type of input are you looking for? No one is going to be able to tell you what’s best for her from a paragraph.
Majoring in business with a minor in CS is likely to lead to multiple job offers & more confusing decisions.
At Vandy, the most difficult decision might be which sorority to join.
My point is that these schools offer very different campus cultures. Vanderbilt will be more fun & much more social. CMU is a bit intense, but results in job offers.
My questions are about student life, why someone chooses one over other. Question about Greek life at Vandy and social life at Carnegie. As we see pros at both academically, unable to decide what is best. for her.
There are 10 sororities at CMU now, and even more fraternities. I think its just as active Greek life as Vandy,
although Vandy Greek Life is somehow imbedded in popular culture assessments of that school.
The CMU undergrad I know is in a fraternity, as are most of the popular students on campus, but
you can opt out of Greek at either Vandy or CMU.
https://www.cmu.edu/student-affairs/slice/involvement/greek-life/chapters.html
I like Nashville a lot better, did she get to visit Nashville? Its got better weather, easier to fly to,
better entertainment, and its not all country music. Vanderbilt’s campus is more classic looking too
and good ties to jobs in Wash DC.
Does she want to be in a more southern school or a northern school and interested in a job in DC afterwards, then Vandy.
Does she want good ties to NYC jobs? , then pick CMU.
@Coloradomama : Greek life dominates the social scene at Vanderbilt.
Unless there were drastic changes in the past two years, Greek life is a clear minority at CMU.
Opting out of Greek life at Vanderbilt, especially for a female, is certainly possible, but raises the question of why one would attend Vanderbilt when the social life is overwhelmingly dominated by Greek organizations.
P.S. Just checked CMU’s website. Only 18% of total undergraduate student body participate in Greek life at Carnegie Mellon University including all 23 frats & sororities.
If you do not like Greek life, then avoid Vanderbilt as it is overwhelmingly Greek.
Although I wouldn’t put it as starkly, and I don’t see Vanderbilt as “overwhelmingly” Greek as @Publisher does, in broad strokes I agree that the lived experiences of Vandy & CMU are strikingly different.
CMU has for years had a reputation of being a school that is easier to get into than to stay in. Students who succeed tend to be very focused, self-motivated- Cornell-like in their focus on work.
Vanderbilt has come quietly up the outside, as the stats of incoming students have risen and imo has more work-life balance. I know that the common phrase used at colleges is ‘work hard/play hard’ and there is some of that, but at least amongst the current and recent students that I know at Vandy, it is more balance than extremes.
On the other hand, I disagree w/ @Publisher that CMU will lead to job offers and Vandy will just be Greek-based fun in the sun- I think that image of Vanderbilt is a little outdated. Fwiw, a lot of the Vandy students that I know have done well in Management Consultancy (including MBB), and Investment Banking (including the big names) recruitment stakes, both of which are decent prep for getting into a good MBA program.
As to which for your daughter, I would 100% go with her feel for ‘fit’. Both will set her up well for whatever she wants to do next.
@215Cooper I agree with the tone of @Publisher CMU is more stressful, more competitive BUT if your kid can do well there she can do well anywhere. I’ve shared this before, but I know several business school (MBA) faculty at a top 8 business school and also top 8 undergrad institution - they have pointed out a couple things that were not obvious to me: 1) many of the top institutions do not have undergrad business degrees (e.g. Harvard) that leads to #2) on admissions they said they prefer an undergrad physics or CS major who worked for a year or two in business over an undergrad business major every day of the week. So two very different cultures/undergrad stress levels but a kid with a major from Tepper (brand new building) and minor in CS from CMU (if one can do this) will be more employable than an undergrad only business major from vandy and have better MBA options. Similarly, we know a kid at Stanford (“fluffy” undergrad major but CS minor) and the CS minor is opening doors for internships.
@collegemom3717 : You misstate my position regarding Vanderbilt. Just because a school is more fun & more social than CMU does not mean that it is all “fun in the sun”.
Anyone who asserts that Vanderbilt’s social life is not overwhelmingly dominated by the Greek scene either does not know Vanderbilt or has their eyes closed to the reality of the situation.
P.S. US News reports that 50% of females are in sororities & 34% of males in frats. This is among the highest Greek participation rates among all US universities.
Vanderbilt also has one of the highest percentages of kids from families making >630,000$ a year at 23% so that could affect the “activities” and social centers on campus. Vanderbilt has a lot more grade inflation than CMU. Very different schools in terms of atmosphere.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/vanderbilt-university
I would look into job placement rates coming out of undergrad for both schools. Most people work at least a few years before starting an MBA as it’s difficult to get into top programs without work experience, so your daughter wants to be employable right out of school.
My knee jerk feeling is that she’ll have better job prospects with the Business major/CS minor from CMU but the feel of these schools is so incredibly different that I think it comes down to where your D sees herself thriving for the next 4 years. Congrats on great options!
…and 50% is still half. Which means half are not in the Greek system. I’m not saying that Greek isn’t big at Vanderbilt- just that I know, directly, many students who are currently at Vanderbilt or have graduated in the last 1-4 years, who had very happy experiences there w/o being Greek. They tell me that they didn’t find the Greek aspect ‘overwhelming’, and that they had very happy social lives. I danced at the recent wedding of a pair of non-greek Vanderbilt grads- which was attended by a large number of their Vandy friends, both greek and non-greek. We have no idea if the OP’s daughter is interested in Greek life or not, but they should both know that in real life it is not a make-or-break element of going there.
The important thing- which I think all of these posts essentially agree on- is that the student experience is strikingly different at CMU and Vanderbilt. When the difference is that striking I think it outweighs pretty much everything else- except debt. If there is a material difference in the level of debt that will accrue, I change my answer 
Is a degree with a CS minor from CMU extremely marketable? absolutely! But the student hast to get from here to there. All but the most aggressively ambitious students are looking for more than just the diploma from their college experience.
When 2 schools will realistically get the student set up to do whatever she wants to do next in life, but offer such strikingly different experiences, I think that the primary decision metric (again, not counting debt) should be the best fit for the student. ALL of us tend to do better when we are in places that suit us.
Ditto for what I know about Vanderbilt. I do know many Vanderbilt students from Colorado, who say no to Greek life. Also, Vanderbilt no longer has many students living in fraternity houses, when we toured in 2013, due to issues in those houses. Vandy has made special efforts to diversity, recruiting Chinese Americans, Jewish Americans and other underrepresented groups. Its still more than half of Vandy is not in Greek life and doing just fine.
Also Vanderbilt offers no IB or AP credits and is a very tough school in the sciences and engineering. Vanderbilt graduates do fine in masters programs at GaTech. The quantitative aspects of Vanderbilt are in place I believe.
Because top students in Colorado can get full merit rides to Vanderbilt, they now choose it over schools like CMU
that cannot offer the same amount of generous financial aid. I do think Vanderbilt is changing some.
Trying to double major in CS and anything else is pretty tough at CMU. There are long lines for a Tepper student to stand behind to get into CS classes at CMU’s small and competitive School of Computer Science.
This OP was admitted to TEPPER not SCS at CMU. It is possible to get a CS minor but not easy, and double majors need to understand double counting rules at CMU
http://coursecatalog.web.cmu.edu/schoolofcomputerscience/addlmajorsminors/
Note that only six fraternity members at Vanderbilt can live in the Greek house at one time. Vanderbilt fraternities/sororities are non residential.
https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/vandybloggers/2011/01/greek-life-at-vanderbilt/
This is an older post, but I believe still accurate about fraternity life at VAndy. So its not at all like schools where half the boys live in frats, such as MIT. Its a more mixed up social scene today at Vandy, is my understanding, but I welcome corrections!
@Coloradomama Correct on the limit of 6 living in Greek house at Vanderbilt. That is current.