"Diversity" at Vanderbilt

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
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<p>Just found out that a student at my child's private school was accepted at VU on a "diversity leadership" scholarship. She is white, parents are American of no minority heritage, grew up in moneyed privilege in the south, and has led a very typical rich southern kid private school existence. How did she qualify? She was born in Argentina while her dad was running a bank there. She left when she was less than one. This is not a joke. This is not atypical for Vanderbilt; while they obviously accept black students for diversity (because you can tell), their Hispanic students are hardly Hispanic at all. But they can still list it on their stats as how "diverse" they are. </p>

<p>I don't know how prevalent this is at other schools, but it really chaps me. These sorts of programs should truly be for children who might otherwise not go to a school like Vanderbilt, and who faced academic issues in high school because of their minority status. Oh, and I went to Vanderbilt and have no children who aspire to attend, so this is not sour grapes. It does mean that I am glad that I stopped giving to the school, though.</p>

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<p>Do you have proof of this? Or is it something you just heard?</p>

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<p>My guess is that she received a Chancellor’s Scholarship and must have some type of involvement with diversity related clubs or has worked with people of different ethnic backgrounds in some way. The Vandy website says the following about Chancellor’s:</p>

<p>“Chancellor’s Scholars have worked to build strong high school communities by bridging gaps among economically, socially, and racially diverse groups and have demonstrated significant interest in issues of diversity education, tolerance, and social justice. Chancellor’s Scholars are expected to build upon these earlier commitments through continued active engagement in academic and leadership opportunities at Vanderbilt.”</p>

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<p>She may well have some type of diversity leadership scholarship, based on her contributions to the community and world during her high school years … or based on experiences she has had that might allow her a certain perspective … or based on something the school sees in her that they feel fits the criteria of the scholarship.</p>

<p>OP, most likely the funding for this scholarship comes from endowments. If your contributions have not been earmarked for certain things, you can always ask that they go to a particular cause (or ask that they not be used for a particular cause).</p>

<p>And their Hispanic students are hardly Hispanic? That’s an odd thing to assume.</p>

5

<p>While I don’t wish to intrude on your personal knowledge of this recipient of a merit scholarship at Vanderbilt, I would like to address how Chancellor’s Scholars are selected from my own son’s experience. While this board is here for venting as well as advising, it seems unfair to me that you put in information that is so specific and identifiable about this student on a blog. </p>

<p>First, he had top quartile stats, which makes him not at all unusual. Secondly, I can only assume that his letters of recommendation and his many extra personal essays were factored in heavily. Thirdly, he had activities and training that seemed to imply he would be ready to hit the ground active politically and socially and in the arts on campus, and he takes the privilege he has via tuition to heart. He is active with all the Chancellor’s Scholars including orienting new ones and he is active in publishing, critical writing, volunteering debating and in social justice issues in Nashville and on campus although he lives with students of many backgrounds in race, economics, and political outlook. He loves the fact that Vanderbilt has both liberals and conservatives who are vocal on campus because he can truly be challenged to be articulate and more thoughtful in this diverse campus where people whose ideas clash reside. Although I admit he was at first interested in colleges where his outlook was the dominant culture…he is growing more at Vandy where differing ideas and political affiliations are at play in every classroom.</p>

<p>He is one of the few white US born faces in his class of Chancellor’s Scholars. He is second generation college, not first, but did attend a high school with a severe poverty and drop out rate. Nevertheless, he had many advantages in his first 12 years of schooling although he could not afford Vandy without this scholarship and would have taken another merit offer he received I am sure without this opportunity. However, since arrival at Vanderbilt, many of his best friends are international students or first generation children of immigrants and the African American student he lives with has been more of a teacher, role model, mentor and coach to him than the other way around. </p>

<p>Vanderbilt has generous ways to address the needs of students with serious economic hardships that exceed the means of many universities. The No Loan and Need Blind promise re financial aid package alone probably has contributed to the fact that 25 thousand plus students applied to Vanderbilt this year and in 2005 when my eldest applied only 11 thousand students applied to Vanderbilt. If you are an alum, you may not realize how drastically different the student body has become. You might not realize how few people applied to Vanderbilt the year you got there. Yes, the segment of full price private pay students are there just as they are at the Ivies, Duke, Stanford or Emory. But Vanderbilt underwrites the educations of students at an unprecedented level compared to the 80s when my husband and I were there. The student body coming into Vanderbilt does not look like the alum demographically anymore.</p>

<p>There are some articles if you google that discuss how the intent of the Chancellor’s Scholars selection has changed since Vanderbilt reconfigured their scholarships into larger categories instead of a huge list of named scholarships in the past. Just a few years back the financial aid page online had a lengthy list of “named” scholarships handed out annually and Vandy decided to consolidate a lot of those into the Cornelius Vanderbilt and Ingram programs instead and to run them in a broader category way. </p>

<p>Vanderbilt is meeting its goals and exceeding its goals in terms of minority student admissions and support which is why the Chancellor’s Scholars are now selected on broader searches for students who will fill in roles on campus that are leadership roles and a few of those students might be white. Vanderbilt’s Pell Grant stat is also quite good which is an indication of students receiving pretty much complete financial aid who grew up with very little household income.</p>

<p>If you evaluate the Common Data Set that is available at vanderbilt.edu, I think you will see that your alma mater is intentionally putting vast amounts of money into students of financial need from all backgrounds.</p>

<p>It is possible that you do not know the contents of the extra essays she wrote and you may not understand all that she brings to the table re what they think she might have to offer on campus. Even if you remain skeptical about her worthiness, I do not agree that Vanderbilt is not doing a superb job of financially supporting talented students from very different beginnings in life. </p>

<p>You will see as people post their disappointments here starting tomorrow that many completely qualified kids will be waitlisted or denied and in some cases it was to make way for the judgement of the admissions committee that a student of less privilege and perhaps less flashy test scores or stats had the potential to succeed at Vandy.</p>

6

<p>this is slightly off topic but because vanderbilt is only 6% asian, are asians considered a minority? (in other words, is it easier for an asian to get into vanderbilt?)</p>

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<p>@inatiga
Wow, while some families of privilege may be able to shell out $57,000, where is it written that those kids are not entitled to compete for scholarships of any kind? Vanderbilt at full freight is expensive even for the wealthy and if a student white, black, hispanic, asian, rich or poor has earned the scholarship for encouraging interaction and understanding among all races, then they should not be discriminated against just because they are of any particular race. The competition for that scholarship is fierce, so whoever this student is has clearly earned it and should be congratulated.</p>

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<p>In the defense of the girl that you speak of, inatiga, The vast majority of Argentines are white (over 90%, in fact). With this in mind, she may truly identify with the Latino ethnicity. That being said, I understand where you are coming from. The students that benefit the most from URM status are those that do not really need it. Meanwhile, working class minorities continue to experience education inequalities.</p>

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<p>@Pemberley821
As of last year, (I talked with my admissions counselor on a visit to my school), Asians do “count” as URMs to Vandy, though they aren’t “recruited” to the same extent that other URMs are. I believe that it does give a little boost, but not to the same extent as if one were, say, Native American.</p>

<p>Just from what i pieced together, no guarantees.</p>

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<p>No, it is not a Chancellors Scholarship. And no, she is not involved in any diversity related community service (she was heavily involved in theater and some debate). She actually attended a diversity orientation (because she was admitted as a diversity recruit, she found out earlier than other students). I have since found out from another person that her son got into Vanderbilt this way: she is half Costa Rican (but born and raised here), husband is of no minority origin. Their school counselor, when he heard of this, immediately suggested they apply their son as Hispanic on the Common App, even though he never faced any academic discrimination (and doesn’t even speak Spanish–he took 5 years of German at his magnet school). Sorry, but it sounds weird to me.</p>

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<p>That happens at every school. Just as pervasive at the Ivies as well. Don’t get so upset. If they are of hispanic heritage, they are hispanic. There isn’t any amount of complaining you can do to change that.</p>

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<p>You stated “they obviously accept black students for diversity (because you can tell), their Hispanic students are hardly Hispanic at all.” </p>

<p>I find your statement about accepted African American students and Hispanic students at Vanderbilt to be demeaning and also incredibly inaccurate on how current Vandy students view their peers. The admissions staff does not admit students who don’t have something to offer and who can’t succeed in a class of 1600 high achievers. </p>

<p>“Because you can tell?” really?</p>

<p>more specific details in your second post about one student who was invited to Mosaic weekend, which included students of many backgrounds, including a few prospective white students who posted here about how happy they were to be invited. My white son was one of the hosts. My white son has ethnic roots that include great grandparents he knew well who spoke another language, a 1927 link to Ellis Island, and a part African American great-grandfather. Not unusual to have recent ancestors from different continents in today’s America, although he didn’t reference them in his application and he is still a host on Mosaic weekends at Vandy.
Any student admitted in this class has multiple offers and choices for college, just as your daughter had multiple opportunities when you were posting about her options and decision not long ago.
I hope this student and her parents will make up their minds on which college suits her best based on assessment of her personal fit with the students and faculty she met at Vanderbilt in mid March.</p>

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<p>I have numerous problems with this post. </p>

<p>1) Everything you mention is hearsay.
2) This is not a phenomenon isolated to Vanderbilt if it is indeed true.
3) Try telling someone who is 1/8th Native American, African American, Irish American or any other ethnic background that their heritage doesn’t matter. You are just trying to start confrontation.</p>