<p>Renting books from Amaon–especially if you’re a Prime member–is easy and great. I think my son found better prices on all of his books at Amazon second semester, though he pre-purchased a couple of books (and the online keys) at the Vandy bookstore and picked them up at Orientation.</p>
<p>So I guess no one know the answer to my question about whether the Bank of America ATMs at the Medical Center are easily accessible to the students?</p>
<p>Even if they are easily accessible, I don’t know if you want a student navigating the med center complex at all hours. </p>
<p>@2vu0609, why is that? Is it unsafe there?</p>
<p>Just read through some recent posts. A note on orchestra for non-Blair kids. It’s open to all Vandy students, by audition; my daughter said there was one non-Blair student (bass) last semester, and two during the fall semester – the second student didn’t pass the audition for spring semester. There is also the Commodore Orchestra, which is open to anyone. </p>
<p>@Jrmama496 , I’m not sure what exactly your question is. There is an ATM inside the hospital. Anyone can go to it whenever the hospital is open. The more convenient Suntrust ATMs have like a $2 fee for BofA users.</p>
<p>@stringpop - How to choose a private teacher (violin ) if you are non-Blair student ( most probably Performance Minor) ? Any recommendations or suggestions ? </p>
<p>I want to book my flight for the Family Weekend in September. I need to have an idea of the program of events for the weekend from parents who have experienced it so that I can know when to arrive and depart Nashville.</p>
<p>jrmama, the Medical Center area is densely packed as the University has added several buildings and parking structures in the last few years. In addition, because it is the premier trauma center/ER in the area, you have all kinds of folks coming and going, as you would at any hospital/medical center. The Vanderbilt police force is wonderful and my kids had good experiences with them (towed car/lost wallet/etc.); however, despite a large staff, they can’t be in all places at all times. I personally would prefer for my child to pay the $2 fee and use the Suntrust ATMs if they need cash after dark.</p>
<p>Your student will need to be self-aware as they transition to Vanderbilt living. For example, the campus area around West End and 21st has often been known to have thefts (in the Kissam complex, now torn down for College Halls; I’m sure they have improved security for the new dorms). Stolen computers, bike thefts, etc. are all fairly common from time to time. Vanderbilt does everything they can to assure student safety with the blue phone boxes, Vandy Vans, etc., but young people often are too trusting and set themselves up for some of the common campus crimes by not securing valuables, etc.</p>
<p>To avoid ATM fees, we opened a no fee checking account with our Vandy son at a smaller regional bank. The account does not charge ATM fees and refunds any ATM fees charged by any other bank. Also, there are no fees for having the account, but it pays basically no interest. Since we don’t keep a large balance in the account the lack of interest is not an issue. Our student can use any ATM anywhere in the country for free. This has saved us money as he has traveled around Nashville and across the country for breaks. We then opened another account at the same bank without our student that we can use to transfer funds into his account. We now have one of these accounts for each of our other high school age kids to get them trained using a bank account. I suggest checking for similar accounts with your local banks.</p>
<p>I think students can be strategic about seeking out BofA ATM machines, or other specific machines, however, there is a huge amount of time pressure on the students. Anything that can be done to alleviate some of the pressure is helpful. I’m sure our son would just opt to pay the extra fees if he had to, which would add up to quite a bit over the year.</p>
<p>Hi, lovingasiandad. I spoke with my daughter. She says non-Blair kids most likely wouldn’t have access to the full-time Blair violin faculty and would probably be assigned one of the adjunct faculty. That was the case with a nonblair violinist she knows. I’m not sure if a specific teacher could be requested. I don’t know much about the adjunct violin faculty, but it certainly reads like a deep and extremely highly qualified group. </p>