ED Vanderbilt or UPenn

College Search & Selection
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tryna decide whether to ED to upenn or vandy…how do i choose ?
or is this indecisiveness a red flag that i should NOT even ED in the first place?

(intended major: neuroscience, potentially prehealth not too sure. would prefer not too hot or cold weather, similar/a little cooler than socal weather. also asian, so some good asian food options would be nice)

can anyone compare the student life/culture between them cuz i see many similarities (partying & greek life, competitive for premeds, next to city, amazing schools, many wealthy people)?

is one more prestigious than the other?

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You should ED to where you want to go.

It sounds to me it’s more Vandy - but if you don’t 100% want to go somewhere (and you don’t 100% know that you want to spend $80K a year), then no, you should not apply ED.

Have you even been to either school, know anything about them?

ED is a serious commitment.

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why do you think vandy? thank you!

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I think neither - YOU should have a clear understanding of each and what they mean to you.

Did you run the net price calculators? Can you afford or better yet are your parents willing to pay $80K a year if there’s no need aid?

You said not too hot or cold and good asian food.

i live in nashville - it has all that. Philly will be colder.

If you have to ask someone which of two you should apply ED, you shouldn’t. ED is binding - so you have to, in your mind, clearly know - that’s the school I want!!

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OP: I think it’s OK to ask as part of your decision making process. Have you visited, done virtual tours, read up on programs at each? Your comparisons are superficial— you need to go deeper.

Agree that at some point the clear No 1 should emerge for you — it’s not a coin toss. Both are fantastic. Fit, not prestige, is the biggest factor. Are both affordable?

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Other then Locust walk, Penn’s Campus is one of the most unattractive college campuses in the country. The Penn undergraduate culture seems focused on one thing: getting into a top notch grad school

Vanderbilt, on the other hand, is spending millions on enhancing its campus architecturally as well as environmentally. The VU undergrad culture seems more oriented to developing social skills and taking every opportunity to enjoy college and the surrounding Nashville neighborhoods.

One thing both schools share in common: Deteriorating football stadiums

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I guess things could have changed dramatically since I went to Penn, but I didn’t feel like it was competitive or overly focused on grad school. Locust Walk is a huge part of Penn. not to mention the Quad is nice as well.

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Idk anything about Vandy, but I disagree with your takes on Penn.

With three completely different colleges, I felt like the cultures were pretty different in each, at least among the admitted student population. I like Penn’s campus. Both are very social, as you noticed. Also there’s great asian food in Philadelphia!

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I’ll speak for Penn here.

In terms of social culture at least, these two are probably very similar. If partying and Greek life are your thing, you’ll definitely find a huge crowd of people here that do that very often.

As for what you’re learning, if you’re not sure, I know Penn offers a lot of flexibility to study different things. You can be admitted to the College of Arts and Sciences and still take classes in the Engineering school, Wharton, etc. I would also say that despite there being more students here than Vandy, the class sizes are relatively small, especially as you move up in seniority in the school.

On the topic of competition and wealthy people, I’d say there’s a lot of that if you’re looking for it, but the school has so many students from different backgrounds that you’d never really experience those things if you that wasn’t your thing.

If you are into the competition though, there are definitely companies that only (or more often) recruit here, which can be a huge advantage for you.

If weather is a big factor for you, don’t apply to Penn haha. Any school in the northeast is submerged in cold for most of the school year haha. And, yes Philadelphia is super diverse so you’ll find awesome Asian food here.

As for prestige, like other ppl said, I wouldn’t really base your decision off of that. If you’re accepted into any of the T14 schools it doesn’t make too much of a difference to employers/grad schools. Although I would say that historically and achievement-wise, Penn would have more prestige just being consistently ranked as a top school in the world and as an Ivy.

Ultimately, these schools are similar in many aspects, but depending on what you wanna do there may be advantages in coming to Penn and the northeast! Good luck on your decision.

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