<p>Momthreeboys–Regarding “dress clothes”–Because Vanderbilt is in the south (and so it is warm for most of the football season) kids can and do get a little “dressy” for football games, especially the fraternity brothers and their dates. It is not unusual to see blazers/jackets and ties or bow ties on the guys and dresses on the girls. This was a bizarre concept to me lo those many years ago when I was at Vandy–coming from the north, I was accustomed to wearing blue jeans and warm sweatshirts to football games but it was a nice custom and I understand it is still common now at Dudley Field. If your son is interested in a fraternity, rushes and eventually joins one, there will be a lot more occasions where he will need nicer attire, including a tux (also handy if dating a girl in a sorority). If he follows a different path, things are likely to be more casual but as he gets older, and may be interviewing for positions on or off campus as Faline points out, it is helpful to have something appropriate to wear.</p>
<p>Northeast son headed south with very little warm clothes. He picked up some jeans when he was home for Thanksgiving. He also needed an actual suit for a marketing class presentation. He got that at Thanksgiving too and took it back to campus. (He was still wearing flip flops in Nashville between Thanksgiving and winter break.) If he needs something that can’t be found near campus, he orders from Amazon or rents a Zip car. This has only happened once or twice.I know one thing he felt he needed but didn’t have fashion-wise was boat shoes.</p>
<p>I’m enjoying the conversation. I also have the first and only son heading to Vanderbilt in the Fall. We’ll see how long his surfer dude attire lasts. Coming from California, that’s what everyone wears. I think he’ll be happy wearing Vanderbilt stuff every day. Just finished the laundry and all 5 Vandy t-shirts were in the wash.</p>
<p>Since he’s a band kid, he has tux that I was planning for him to take. I appreciate the recommendation for gortex boots. I wouldn’t have thought of that since we don’t get much rain. I’ll have to introduce him to boat shoes. It’s sounding a lot like when I went to college in the late 70’s, early 80’s.</p>
<p>We’re going to have to have a good plan for moving him back. I’ll probably internet purchase and ship direct.</p>
<p>Wow…I am glad I asked. Not in a million years would I have thought to send a tux(not that he even owns one). I thought about sending a sport coat but figured my son would resist even that. Go9ersJrh, we live at the shore too so a collared shirt for these kids is dressed up so i think my son is going to suffer from a little culture shock. I am keeping thorough notes though so any other advise as well as what I have heard so far is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is so cool about responding to emails. I always get really cool, personal responses less than 24 hours later. I wonder if they do that as a policy or if everyone there is just that cool.</p>
<p>Since I am not actually there, I don’t know exactly what he wears, but I think my son wears mostly t-shirts and sneakers. He is very into athletics, so is often working out, doing his club sport or intramurals. He has a few collared polo shirts, but it’s not like his whole wardrobe or anything. He does have a number of Vandy t-shirts, and wears those a lot I think. He does not have a tux and has not requested one yet.</p>
<p>Lenny2;</p>
<p>The pm worked great, thanks for the photos…that was awesome! I would have replied pm but apparently you have to have posted so many times on CC prior to being able to do so and I have not hit that threshhold.</p>
<p>I feel significantly less like we are going into this whole thing blind, and may actually be able to get a plan together before we head to Nashville. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I don’t have an S at Vandy, but my D graduated 2 years ago. She is a casual midwestern girl. She did not rush or go greek - she didn’t wear a formal dress even once during her time at Vandy. She interned in the music industry, so she wore nice clothes around campus on the days she worked - but they weren’t even close to traditional business-wear. She didn’t wear a dress to football games. If she were a guy, I am certain she would not have had any reason for a tux! :)</p>
<p>The reason for the tux is that if he plays in the Vanderbilt Concert Band or a group like that it is the required attire. He wears one for his high school wind ensemble. The good news is that it has saved us money since he didn’t need to rent one for Prom last year and won’t need to rent one this year. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t send one, if he wasn’t planning to audition for some of the music groups.</p>
<p>He may need one for other things, like formal dances. But I want to reassure all those parents who cannot possibly picture their kids being that formal … at least 2 kids (my D and her roommate) made it through being relatively casual.</p>
<p>I have a D at Vanderbilt, and she and her friends wear sundresses and such to the football games and frat parties. She is in a sorority and has needed several nice dresses for formal events. Boys need a jacket and ie for formal Greek events. Many guys wear shorts with polos or button down shirts on a regular basis and to football games. They tend to dress a little nicer than some college students. But you also see both guys and girls in t-shirts all the time. My D wears a sorority t-shirts almost every day.</p>
<p>And glad to help, Vandyswim. Happy to answer any questions.</p>
<p>Someone gave me the great advise to make my hotel reservation for parents weekend ASAP. I found a website that said parents weekend was Sept. 27-29th 2013. Apparently the hotels close to the school fill up quickly.</p>
<p>Momthreeboys, there is a new hotel located near Vanderbilt under construction which will create more room supply, but even more important than parents weekend will be making your commencement reservations WELL in advance once your VU student has finished moving out of the dorm at the end of junior year! I’m not kidding when I say that you make those reservations a year in advance or just as soon as your hotel of choice opens their book for May of the following year. Move-in, parents weekend, and commencement mean big price jumps for all the hotels and getting a “reasonable” rate (say Courtyard vs. Marriott) is an effort, especially since there is usually a minimum stay required for commencement. I know, it’s a long way down the road, but just a heads up!</p>
<p>I’m really interested in figuring out just how crappy Vanderbilt’s race relations are. It seems that for years now, it has been rated by the Princeton Review as among the worst colleges in the nation in that domain.</p>
<p>But I don’t think I could get any credible feedback on that issue from anyone but a Black Vanderbilt alumni/student. >.></p>
<p>Thanks 2VU0609…I will keep that in mind.</p>
<p>People are already making hotel reservations for the class of 2015 graduation. Pretty crazy.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt’s race relations aren’t crappy. Princeton Review is probably basing that entirely on our usually low percentage of minorities. We get a bad rep because Greek systems are traditionally avoided by minorities, and because Vanderbilt previously had an international recrutment program that brought in a a bunch of Malaysian students that are COMPLETELY self-segregated and don’t speak English well.</p>
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<p>It’s just that there’s a ton of self-segregation going on here. It seems that every minority group here has a “bubble,” and members of that group don’t really branch out much. However, minorities who do decide to hang out with people outside of their own race will not have much trouble doing so. I’m Asian, and I’d say I have a pretty diverse group of friends. I also know plenty of minorities who find no problem hanging with a wide variety of people.</p>
<p>Momthreeboys–it is good advice to book in advance for Parents Weekend and also as 2VU0609^^ recommended make reservations soon for move-in. Hotels will completely fill up. Much closer to the date you will be assigned a move-in time which will be some time on a Saturday morning so you will most likely want to arrive in Nashville on Friday (or even Thursday if you want to look around or do some shopping). There will be student and family activities on Saturday after move-in, including a dinner for families under a tent next to your son’s dorm; lots of parents stay for that so you will want a hotel in Nashville for Saturday night also. There is a breakfast at the Commons on Sunday but fewer families are at that and then you are politely “kicked off campus” so that the students can begin to spend time with each other. Start to prepare yourself now for a LONG, emotional ride home on that Sunday.
It seems as though the hotels closest to campus never have a bargain price, no matter what time of year you visit or how far in advance you call (and several will even charge for parking 
) but the ones close to the airport are usually much more reasonably priced and will not completely book up. For move-in weekend, there are plenty of places where they will allow you park your car since school is not in session yet so being at a hotel within walking distance is not as crucial, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Okay, self segregation. That explains the way race relations suck, but not why.</p>
<p>What is it about vanderbilt that makes it more self-segregated than most other schools? What’s keeping kids away, feeling unwelcome?</p>
<p>The minorities themselves seem to be blamed for the situation, but unless they are specially admitted for shyness, there has to be something about the school, itself.</p>
<p>Other schools have a strong Greek presence; other schools have international recruitment programs. Why is Vandy special?</p>