ED at Vanderbilt - how much does it help?

<p>I'm considering going Early Decision to Vanderbilt, but I'm wondering...how much does it help your chances? I've heard Vanderbilt is a school that takes ED seriously and that it's easier to get in ED - can anyone speak to this? Can anyone who was admitted to Vanderbilt ED post their stats (GPA, test scores, etc)? Much appreciated!</p>

<p>you can look back in CC to the dates when ED decisions were announced and see those who put their stats out there at that time with their outcomes.<br>
Search Vanderbilt ED and read up…
Also use the Vanderbilt.edu admissions blog. Then go backwards. Last years stats will be there, albeit they do delay their summary stats a bit to get all info in…but it is easy to search at peak times last year to get a realistic idea of those stats.</p>

<p>It is definitely an “increase your odds” move to use ED most places but only if you are already a match with the university in the first place. best of luck! Make sure your family’s share of finances are estimated before you do ED anywhere so your financial commitment is clear. Vandy has very good need aid with no loans for those who qualify although you have to re-qualify every single year with new data</p>

<p>ED helps significantly— if Vandy is your #1 and you trust their finaid, you should definitely ED. As Vanderbilt fights to climb rankings, yield is really important, so they take showing interest very seriously.</p>

<p>That being said it’s not easy to quantify how much it helps. The ED acceptance rate is like 33% which is double the regular acceptance rate, but that includes all our recruited athletes and what not. I don’t think Vanderbilt releases any stats about the ED class, and even if they did, it would again be weighed down by athletes and what not.</p>

<p><a href=“https://virg.vanderbilt.edu/virgweb/CDSC.aspx?year=2011[/url]”>https://virg.vanderbilt.edu/virgweb/CDSC.aspx?year=2011&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>ED stats are available here. During the last few years VU has taken about 40% of the incoming class through ED rounds, but, due to a larger number of applications via this method, the admit % for this method is now down to 26%. When youngest went through ED, the admit percentage for ED was close to 50%. Still it’s the most viable way to gain admission as the RD admit rate has plummeted as well. The most recent Common Data Set with info for the class of 2016 will likely become available later this week if previous years are a good predictor.</p>

<p>An article was posted earlier today on the Inside Vandy site regarding the competitiveness of admissions, but they have evidently taken it down as of right now. I expect it will reappear later today and probably be part of tomorrow’s edition of The Hustler.</p>

<p>[Degree</a> of difficulty: Competitiveness in undergrad admissions on the rise - Inside Vandy: Administration](<a href=“Inside Vandy: Vanderbilt University's student news source”>Inside Vandy: Vanderbilt University's student news source)</p>

<p>My son applied ED to Duke and was deferred. He then applied ED II to Vanderbilt and got in, so he withdrew his app to Duke. A member of a fraternity, he is now a senior at Vanderbilt majoring in economics and political science. He loves Vandy and particularly enjoys his classes, for as a senior he has finally gotten in the classes he has tried to get into for a long time. He uses his 529 college fund to pay full freight. </p>

<p>Stats: He was valedictorian of his high school class with a 4.0 unweighted, 5.375 weighted; he got a 32 on the ACT; he did not submit SAT or SAT II scores; his essay was on how much he hated to write, but it was well written with a lot of voice; and he took 12 AP’s on which he scored all 4’s and 5’s. He had no hooks.</p>

<p>His own mother says he is no genius–but he does have a roommate who is. His suite in the Towers is rather diverse with one roomie from Malawi, one from Ethiopia, and one from Jersey.</p>

<p>I hope you recognize the advantages of ED and go for it, but ALWAYS take Faline2’s advice: be an open-hearted and open-eyed-about-the-financials applicant. Good luck to you! I hope you become a Commodore.</p>