Please chance me for Vanderbilt! Would it be worth it to apply early decision? Also, any current students who could leave their thoughts on the school please feel free!
GPA:
unweighted - 4.0
weighted - 4.8
class rank - 1/530
SAT - 1490 taken after April 2017 (740 reading/writing, 750 math)
AP - Psych 5 Bio 4 US History 4
Senior year load - AP Spanish, AP Chem, AP Lit, AP Gov, AP Calc, Biology 2
EC: Student Congress president (all 4 yrs), Line O’ Type editor-in-chief (school newspaper), Yearbook editor, volunteer at my church and Youth Hope twice a week, Varsity cheer (4 yrs, senior captain), NHS public relations committee, History Club, Link Crew, Younglife & Wyldlife volunteer leader, work 6-14 hours a week at 2 different places
I have pretty good relationships with the teachers writing my recommendation letters, so I’m hoping those go well!
Thank you!
You’d get more feedback if you posted this on the Vandy board fyi.
For the 2020 enrolled class, Vandy’s 25-75% SAT ranges were 700-790 verbal, 720-800 math. So your SAT scores are in the middle 50% range but slightly below the median. Crazy, but that’s how it is at Vandy these days. Everything else looks solid.
I’d apply ED if (i) Vandy is your clear first choice or (ii) you don’t have a clear #1 but you’d be very happy to enroll at Vandy if you got in ED and not consider other schools. And if (iii) your family is willing/able to pay what Vandy will cost them. Since I think your ED chances would be very strong.
If not, then apply RD. You’ll be competitive in the RD stage, but your odds are always going to be lower in the RD stage (8.6% admit rate for the 2021 class) than the ED stage. That basic fact is why the ED game exists and Vandy is a big ED user. About half of its total seats get filled via ED.