Culture at Vanderbilt and Emory

I am from California, and I am thinking about applying to Vanderbilt and Emory. I cannot visit these schools prior to applying due to family reasons so I was wondering anyone can give me some information about the culture/student body at these schools. I am relatively shy and I am worried about the culture shock. Is the atmosphere comparable to USC or UCLA?

@musicgirl9999
Vandy would be more similar to USC and UCLA than Emory. Although Vandy is much smaller than the former two, it has D1 sports and a strong Work hard Play hard atmosphere.
Vandy has a lot of southern culture and vibe compared to other southern schools especially Emory. It also is very Preppy.
Emory on the other hand is more similar to Rice, Brown, and Wash U.
The best non academic feature of Emory is the city of Atlanta. It may not be as vibrant as LA or NYC however it truly is a (affordable) gem that is a top 5 city to leave in imo. There are many opportunities , clubs, food, and other things to do.
Emory has a more serious/ studious environment that is relaxed by it’s surrounding city. But not as stifling as a JHU. Emory probably has the best looking campus out of all the schools your considering. Vandy is most difficult to get into than probably Emory and USC come next.

^Vandy is not “very preppy” these days and the southern culture is overhyped. Yes, girls like to dress up for football games, but that’s all I can think of.

@musicgirl9999 - We are also from California (NorCal) and my son is a freshman at Vandy and he experienced no culture shock. He has a group of friends who belongs to different ethnicities and are from different states.

for future replies, can we include WashU st Louis in the discussion

@VANDEMORY1342 why do you say the following “Emory on the other hand is more similar to Rice, Brown, and Wash U.” -

I have never heard that comparison at all. I have only ever heard that Emory is a party school. In terms of getting accepted I think Rice, Brown and Wash U are above Emory for sure. I would love for you to comment further on why you said the above? Thanks

@LvMyKids2
Well going by you past posts it seems you are misinformed often.
I’m glad you think Emory is a party school it might help shed some of the negative stereotypes.
Emory Brown and WashU are very similar by students and there liberal leanings and career leanings. Emory and Wash U are practically the same school with WashU having a better premed program and Emory a better Business program.
And sure the the former three have more difficult admissions, but that’s not what OP asked for. OP seems to see them as peers just like most others I have met.

Whoaa! What is going on here?

@musicgirl9999 : They are very different so go visit. If you prefer a more UCLA and USC style social vibe (more parties and more extroverts), but still great academics, and you prefer a smaller environment, then VU is the place. If you may be more academic leaning and your interests are well-aligned with the strengths that both schools may share or that Emory may have an edge in, then definitely look into Emory as it seems to have much more obviously accessible opportunities (formal) for co-curricular programs and research at the departmental levels (looks like the UG research culture and support programs are bigger). It really depends on what you want to study. But if you prefer mainly just a super bright social vibe with great academics, VU may be the place. Emory is a great place for pre-professional students and those who may care more about the specifics of their academic experience (meaning they have some idea of what they want to do or try). It’s just a different vibe. Some will truly love it, but some may find it boring or stuffy. I think most like VU type of vibes because they don’t care much about the specifics of academics so much as whether they are good overall. When this type of student comes to Emory, they are more likely to overlook certain opportunities, whereas at VU often social and EC life will more than compensate for those types. Also, if you are even thinking of engineering, you have to scratch Emory off I believe (unless you want to go through the craziness that is the Tech 3-2 program).

@LvMyKids2 : How can it be a party school and produce a similar amount of post-grad prize winners as WUSTL, VU, and similar schools despite having lower stats and a higher admit rate? That doesn’t make sense. Also, Emory is a D-3 school like JHU, WUSTL, and Chicago. It has more similarities with that set of schools. Its students are very pre-professional as well. Since grades correlate so much with access to certain professions, the students at pre-professional factories like WUSTL, Emory, and JHU are more likely to play but work harder (and not whine when challenged), their admissions stats be damned (seriously, Michigan, CMU, Georgia Tech, and Berkeley all have lower admit rates than most top tier privates and are actually a bit more intense than several of them in terms of academics and attitude of student body toward those academics and academic perspiration in general).

It is nice to “say” one thing, but evidence doesn’t support that it is remotely a party school. VU is actually known as much more social and a true “work hard play hard” than the 3 schools I mentioned and if I had to guess okay we know), the distribution of majors is very different. Students who go to places like WUSTL and Emory who maybe wanted the SEC style vibe of a VU or “old Duke” (maybe contemporary as well) are likely to complain of social boredom or lack of “school spirit”. Neither of those two are known for the “rah rah” raucous party scene for better or worse. To say so is to deceive an audience and perhaps set students who like that scene up for disappointment. Don’t do it to them.

Also, if you look at the difference in subscription to majors at Emory vs. even VU, Emory differs quite a bit with Emory leaning towards STEM (Emory and WUSTL kind of look more like Penn and JHU I think, especially Emory which has a decent UG nursing subscription) and majors that are associated with the various pre-professions (they are HIGHLY concentrated % wise).
The only thing that would off-set it are the engineering which is an unfair comparison because Emory doesn’t have it. I can only compare ECAS, GBS to maybe CAS VU, Blaire, and Peabody (high subscription rivaling engineering).

See breakdown below:

Emory: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/emory-university-1564/academics
VU: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/vanderbilt-3535/academics

It is a bit silly to compare peers primarily by admissions statistics which are easily manipulated for the sake of rankings and alumni satisfaction when the location, demographic composition, as well as career and academic orientations of the student bodies differ so greatly. That is what really determines how “intense” or “laid back” a school’s students will be. The students at the top 30-40 schools are all academically elite, so the culture and difference one observes at each really depends on what students are studying, the EC offerings (is Greek life a big thing, is sports a big thing, are BOTH a big thing), engagement with co-curricular, etc. Differences in admit rate and already elite score ranges will mean little. By that logic, VU and WUSTL should feel exactly like MIT and Harvard, but this is not the case. WUSTL(and by extension Emory, JHU, or Chicago) is perhaps more likely to feel a little more like a Harvard because they are D-3 schools with LOTS of pre-professionals and noticeable quirk on campus. That is how you compare schools when someone wants to know about the vibe. Let us avoid being petty. Plus, I didn’t see the OP post any academic interests, EC interests, or career goals. I can’t really help them. I am not silly and will not play the “my school is better than yours because of X”. I’m not that desperate to be on this board to get people to throw an app. at my alma mater whether they are a fit or not. I want folks to find a place that makes sense for them. If they give me their interests, then I can at least go into more detail about what I know about my school and maybe VU (or just look it up). I can do the academic aspects (which no one cares to consider) and I’ll let the VU folks tell about the social life (some of the things they say still surprise me from time to time).

OP will need to visit. I doubt they’ll be too culture shocked though as both have large subscription from the mid-Atlantic, VU has many midwesterners, they both do well with West Coast and Southwest, and Emory has many internationals. If they are shocked, they really are choosing to be shocked.

Emory has nothing like engineering is what I meant.

Interestingly, I was pretty much spot on with Penn being similar to Emory in terms of student body academic interests:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-pennsylvania-3378/academics

I believe Penn UG is larger so of course they are less concentrated in those areas though.

Emory looks like a less elite version of Penn or a pre-Penn in some senses (I imagine it will eventually veer in a different direction though)

However, this is informative for those who say want to compare Duke to Penn. People like to have prestige wars when doing said comparisons, but take a look at the interests of your future peers and see if you like it and then visit the school to even see if that matters to you or makes a difference in the “vibe” (often it does, especially in more academic leaning environments). Penn and Duke are obviously basically the same caliber, but I believe the academic interests differ some.

Duke: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/duke-university-2920/academics . Looks like some weird super elite hybrid I think (interestingly, Emory is trying to become relevant for things like its undergraduate training in public policy via the Quantitative Sciences/Social Sciences program it established, and is obviously already big in bio sciences)

Vandy in no way is a southern preppy country club school any more. The kids to my eyes (have a frosh there) are virtually indistinguishable from any other top 20 I’ve seen. You’ll experience less than zero culture shock coming from CA.

Vandy’s top home states for undergrads (after TN 647) are:

IL 570
NY 466
CA 444
FL 436
TX 408
GA 390
NJ 347
OH 240

Think Northwestern or Duke (top 20 schools with D1 sports and meh football). Not Ole Miss.

@northwesty : Honestly, I don’t think NU even takes their sports that seriously. Maybe slightly more than average among top privates. Definitely one of the more academic schools that just happens to have D-1 sports. Maybe Cornell), Dartmouth (though this one is smaller), and ND have a more similar vibe? But Emory and VU, just no. The fact that comparisons between the two in terms of social vibe still exist baffles me.Despite the differences in majors, I hear that Penn gives some similar vibes as VU in terms of party life and Greek culture.

Also, you need not be southern or preppy to be like a country club (I mean come on, the Hamptons serve such a function). Most top schools are country club like. If you want to measure in terms of how wealthy the households of students are, then places like WUSTL and VU definitely give a country club air. Emory does as well despite the incomes of students being significantly lower than those two on average.

It looks like in terms of social vibe, one may be able to make some very imperfect generalizations and brackets: Stanford, MIT, and I guess Caltech and CMU will have similarities (lots and lots of STEM folks into going into industry or a start-up). Then you have the real work hard play hard schools like VU, Gtown, Duke, Cornell, ND, USC, Dartmouth, and Penn to some extent. Very intellectual/academically intense non-STEM oriented schools like HYP, Brown, Chicago (yes the Techie schools are as well, but it has a very STEM oriented bent). Rice, WUSTL, JHU, Berkeley, and Emory tend give off similar vibes (despite Rice being D-1). In fact, I would say that if you like the vibe of WUSTL, JHU, and Emory but feel this strong desire for D-1 sports (that perhaps does not combine with Greek life to effect the social atmosphere dramatically), then Rice is a great place (note that Rice can also give off a Techie vibe at times. JHU and WUSTL have big engineering units which are very important the social vibe seems more controlled by the amount of pre-meds). Again these are imperfect and several schools have some striking characteristics that draw interest of many applicants interested in the other attributes. Ideally most of these places are diverse enough such that you can easily attend and “get in where you fit in”.

My southern family was surprised at how not southern Vandy is culturally speaking. Nor is it overwhelmingly conservatives or Christian. There is a very wealthy student population though. And the dressing up for football games has even taken a turn. Lots of girls are ripping up and rigging school spirit shirts into tube top like concoctions. All said, we found there to be a lot of kids from IL, NY and CA.

As noted above, the Vandy student body is not particularly “southern” by either demographic or attitude. Living in Tennessee I witness more simple politeness like “yes, ma’am” and “no, sir” being used than elsewhere. It is rather refreshing. Some kids wear cowboy boots to go to football games or go into town for concerts but wearing them is not necessary. There was a wonderful BBQ for new students and their families during freshman orientation, but it did NOT include roasting a hog on the quad. :)) Rather, the meal was catered!. One thing I noticed at freshman orientation and at the recent family weekend events is that the student body is diverse.

Emory is NOT a party school. They don’t have an intercollegiate football team, and they compete in NCAA Division III in the sports they do have. Schools with Division I football and basketball attract a lot more of the hardcore “party animal” type students, because of all the pre and postgame partying associated with those sports. You can definitely find parties/partiers at Emory, but there’s simply not as much partying as D1 sports schools.

I agree with the posters who say that Vanderbilt is NOT particularly “Southern”. Students coming there from other parts of the country should experience very little if any “culture shock” in that regard.

“Also, you need not be southern or preppy to be like a country club.”

Bernie – yes, every single top 20-ish school is going to have high SES demographics with significant over-representation of kids from the top 1/5/20%. That’s what inevitably happens when admissions standards get very high. But you mis-understand what I’m trying to communicate. The OP’s question was about culture, which is not exactly the same thing as just how fat Daddy’s wallet is.

When it comes to the southern schools (and some northern ones too) back in the day, the predominant culture and vibe was what I’m referring to by saying “country club.” It was very clear and distinct and most/all of the kids tried to conform to it.

But a lot of that culture has been squeezed out of places like UVA, Vandy, Duke, Tulane etc., even though the kids overall come from well-to-do families. Very high admissions requirements, very low admit rates, ample need-based financial aid, and a high focus on diversity will do that. So the kids at these schools are much more serious and accomplished strivers than they used to be. The stereotype soriority girl looking to get an Mrs degree probably can’t get into these schools anymore.

The minority of Vandy girls wearing cowboy boots to football games is a pretty watered down vestige of the days when “dressing up” for football games meant guys in coats and ties/girls in pearls. If this California girl would be comfortable at Duke, Northwestern, Penn or JHU, she’ll be fine at Vandy. Since the kids will basically be the same.

@northwesty The “culture” is partly about what the administrations of these types of schools feed to their students. Private schools(especially newer elites) are used to marketing a more country club vibe (they like marketing posh facilities, especially dorms, gyms, dining halls, and campus life centers) and other things that make the places feel more like a country club for the rich. It is often a big part of the culture at these places. Hardly no one going to one of these places should deny that they give off that air in part because it is what students and parents like. The main “differences” in culture come down more to sports, academic choices, size and layout of campus, region/location, and stuff like that among top schools. Also, there is some evidence that the wealthier student bodies are, the more likely that a school’s administration will try to create that country club feel, so there can be slight gradients among elite schools when it comes to how “country club” like places feel, just not enough to be the major difference. But let us not pretend it isn’t true and that it doesn’t matter at all.

Emory was weird I guess because it was last to become relevant as a research university among that group you mentioned and always, even before it joined AAU had a high Jewish population. It migrated out of being southern far earlier and quicker than expected and it may just have to do with the location. I thought “old Duke” (which has been written about a lot by its own faculty) had less of a country club feel, but more of a “I just want to party at a prestigious school” feel. It seems that Tulane, VU, and some key elite southern publics were later in terms of getting rid of a “southern” country club vibe. Now they are just all country clubs with a more diverse crowd.

The culture of JHU and VU are not the same. I am just sorry. It largely depends on the offerings of the school. Like if you go to a place like JHU, Chicago, Emory, CMU, WUSTL, MIT, (place other D-3 schools or super heavy engineering schools where sports are diminished) you may be from the same region as those at other schools, but the set of values toward social and academic life may differ because many/most students at those places are almost happily forfeiting the vibe created by the mixture of big sports and Greek life. I guess if the threshold is a mild “comfort” then maybe, but in terms of being “in love” with a school, often it takes different students for that set. For example, introverted people may be more happy and comfortable at those types of schools. Outwardly nerdy and quirky students may also be more likely to enjoy those types of schools. They usually don’t give off a vibe of: “This is a school where we are smart, but strongly value being completely normal socially and typically choose to keep a perfect academic/social balance”. Many do not mind heavy overlap of the two at all. Despite regional cultures being dimished at the real “work hard play hard” schools, the serious “work hard play hard” and “maintain high grades while being completely perfect and cool socially” attitude has become a culture in and of itself apparently. Some places just care less about that and may have more folks that a person from those schools deem “awkward” in a derogatory fashion.

So it isn’t regional characteristics at play anymore more so than other things at least.

@musicgirl9999
Sorry for the derail of the thread OP, apply to all the schools your interested in, then visit the ones you get into. It’s the easiest way to find out atmosphere at these places.

They should visit before hand so that they don’t waste time on places they aren’t actually interested in.