Deciding between Georgetown vs. Vanderbilt - Fall 2023 Transfer [pre-law, psychology, ethics, philosophy]

My D transferred in Fall 2021. Vandy has a large transfer class and a very well run transfer orientation week, giving students ample opportunity to meet and make friends, discover clubs and the city. Vandy also guarantees transfers live on campus which enhances their ability to integrate into the student body as a whole.

My D did join a sorority (after much back and forth about the merits) but she tells me that her clubs are a larger part of her social life than her sorority. I think the importance of sororities, particularly for women, has diminished somewhat on Vandy’s campus. As far as female appearance, my daughter does not wear much if any make up, she dresses as she likes and hasn’t felt any pressure to “dress up”. She said if there’s any of that it tends to concentrate with the freshman women when during rush. Overall, she’s found the students very friendly and welcoming.

My D has found the students very welcoming and collaborative. It was one of the first things she commented on when we visited. She hasn’t spoken much about any pre-professionalism. There are plenty of kids pursuing IB and consulting but Vandy doesn’t have an undergrad business school so those students may seem more dispersed.

I can’t speak to Georgetown’s core curriculum, but my daughter received very generous transfer credits from her prior school. And she has not found it difficult to fulfill the AXLE requirements. Also, be aware that Vanderbilt has an additional graduation requirement called Vanderbilt Immersion. There are diverse activities which qualify to fulfill it, but it is more geared towards experiences, such as travel or internships.

My D was also interested in Vanderbilt maymester, which provides students with the opportunity to go on international trips with a Vanderbilt professor, for about five or six weeks at the end of each academic year. She traveled at the end of her sophomore year to Israel with her Greek professor to work at an archaeological dig site at Herod’s palace and tour various regions of an Israel. She had a fantastic experience.

She’s also enjoying living in Nashville. The weather is a plus of course. We are from the mid Atlantic region and she was excited to experience a different part of the US.

If you have any other specific questions, feel free to PM me. Your daughter has wonderful choices, she’ll have an amazing experience at any one of them.

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Thank you vpa2019! That is really excellent information. I really appreciate it and will share your observations with her.

I’m glad your D was happy transferring to Vandy!

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Have you had a chance to visit the schools she’s considering? Georgetown and Vandy have very different vibes and she might find one fits or feels better to her?

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We live in the DMV area, so we are much more familiar with Georgetown. I think she is ok with the vibe though finds it kinda pre-professional and maybe kinda Type A. Some of this is based on opinions from friends she knows at GU who specifically mentioned business school and SFS students as being arrogant / elitist, and club culture being needlessly competitive. General impression is that a lot of people are networking / building their resumes. That’s not necessarily bad but might not be the college experience she’s looking for. To be fair, she’s learned a lot of great things about the school as well.

She is going to try to visit Vanderbilt before she must commit. Unfortunately, I don’t think she will get as good a sense of Vandy’s vibe in early June compared to the academic year.

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Is there a bump for Georgetown undergrads getting into Georgetown law? Same question for Vandy. Could be the tie breaker.

Only a bump if everything else is there.

Georgetown is NOT lowering its LSAT range to take a kid from their undergrad. That won’t happen. The below- the- range admits are kids with a compelling life story related to the legal/criminal justice system- a kid who grew up visiting an incarcerated parent. A kid from the foster system. Not an under-performing kid from their own university!!!

So I’d take that out of the equation. If the OP’s stats are solid, OP would get into Georgetown anyway


Georgetown does have an Early Assurance program for its undergrads who apply to GULC as juniors (I believe). My understanding is that LSAT is very deemphasized for such applicants and only required to meet ABA accreditation, or something to that effect.

I lived in Nashville from 2000 - 2010. Any chance we bumped into each other? hehe


OP, the choice between Georgetown and Vandy, assuming price is the same or similar, is all about fit. I believe they are academic peers.

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Does Northwestern have a chapter of her sorority? That could counterbalance the perception of transfer-integration challenges (although I personally don’t know whether they are worse than the other two on that front).

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of these three, although if she’s doing well enough at her current school to score all three of these transfer acceptances, I’m pretty sure she’d do just fine with law school admissions from there as well!

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Thank you. Neither Vandy nor Northwestern have a chapter of her sorority, but it’s a great thought.

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