I’m a junior is HS and thinking of Vandy for ED. I have a 1560 SAT and 4.2 gpa. I’m super interested in comp sci and business. I’m looking for a school with Greek life, parties, but good academics. I haven’t visited Vanderbilt but have done a lot of research. I’m a bit worried about the “waspy” culture, especially as a Jewish girl from LA. If anyone has any input on the school social life or tips on actually being accepted into the school lmk! Also, are particular schools/majors at Vandy easier to get into?
You will do well academically & socially at Vanderbilt. Do not worry as Vanderbilt is a match for your stated interests.
I don’t think the school has a waspy vibe at all. In greek life the cultures are maybe half and half “southern” (which is really just people from Chicago/the midwest who want to pretend to be southern) and coastal (california/northeast/mid Atlantic/west coast). There are tons and tons of kids from the west coast so you should be fine. Also this is just a figure off the top of my head, but I think I remember the religious life office said something like ~20% of the student body self-identified as Jewish, which seems right anecdotally from the people I know in real life.
For your other questions, I think all the schools/majors are about equal difficulty-wise. Engineering might be touch harder and peabody a touch easier though? It’s hard to say though - no matter what your ECs and achievments should be related to the school you apply to though; science ECs won’t help you as much for engineering obviously. Sounds like your grades are good so just keep it up on that front and do well on your AP exams, get good recs, and do your best at writing your essays/rounding out your ECs if need be.
Vandy really isn’t all that southern culturally.
Like Duke, Emory and Tulane, it is an elite private college that just happens to be located in the south. After TN, Vandy’s top sending states are IL, NY, FL and CA. Surprisingly few southern accents to be heard among the students. If you lump NY/NJ/CT together, that is the #1 geographical contingent. A place like UVA or UNC (as state flagships) would be way more southern preppy waspy.
Jewish enrollment is size-able – probably a little less than Emory and a little more than Duke. But not at the Tulane level (which, as you probably know, has historically been very high).
My non-Jewish Vandy kid eats all the time in Grins Cafe on campus – the vegetarian/Kosher food there is a cut above the regular dining hall fare. Located right next to the main sophomore dorm and across the street from soriority row.
For getting in, ED is HUGE at Vandy. Over half the Vandy seats get filled via ED (ED1 and ED2). If it otherwise fits your plan, applying ED is the best path for max-ing your odds of admission. The admit rates for the Peabody School (education) are higher than for the A&S or engineering colleges.
But again, you’d want Peabody to be a fit for your past activities and future goals/interests. If your background is all about comp sci, your story as a Peabody applicant might not hang together very well.
The HOD major in Peabody is the business oriented major there – the kids from that major do very well in getting hired into business after graduation.
If the demographics at a school are diverse, just let the person come and enjoy the damned school. There is no need to go out of your way to comfort this person by saying: “oh I hardly ever here a southern accent” or “sometimes I do, but they are really from the midwest or elsewhere”. As a southerner (a black one…there are a lot of us and many of us have variations of a southern accent that we perhaps suppress because of the judgement we may get in “certain” spaces, especially at these “elite” universities), it is annoying. In addition, I am beginning to find out that certain rural and suburban dialects sound somewhat similar in several regions throughout the country. The south ain’t particularly special). Simply say, “we’ve become more diverse and have all types of people including a lot in your demographic. I think this is a great school because X, Y, and Z”
Also, I think both Emory and Duke are known and have been known for solid Jewish enrollments for quite a while now, and I suspect both are still high, perhaps higher than VU, but all 3 have sizeable populations and cultural events and orgs. catering to Jewish students, so the differences may be irrelevant in some ways.
This “WASPY” stuff and defending against it also needs to go too. Let us keep it real and recognize that even Ivies which are so revered for diversity have historically gone out of their way to basically keep that sort of “vibe” despite the increased/high Jewish enrollment over the decades (I can think of very few “elite” research universities that feel much different from a sort of WASPYness, and this is regardless of the Jewish enrollment levels. You can have ethnic, regional, and sometimes even religious diversity, and still feel a certain way because of the institutional culture and cultural history at the undergrad. level). At some point they flat out had true quotas, and it is largely speculated (as in there is apparently some evidence) that initial implementation of interviews at many Ivies was specifically to aid in screening out “certain” applicants. Yet, even with all this, and perhaps a continued WASPY vibe (despite the diversity) at some, not many are downing and concerning themselves with how WASPY an Ivy is. But the southern schools, most which are relatively new to elite undergraduate status are definitely a concern? Make it make sense.
I’m also a Junior/upcoming senior in High School and am also considering ED to Vandy. I’m also Jewish, and from what I’ve seen, Vandy has a good jewish community and network, which I really appreciate, even though I don’t plan on eating strictly kosher or going to services every Saturday. I think I like Vanderbilt so much because I get such a work hard play hard vibe from it which I really like. I want to get a great education, but still want to have fun. I think the social scene is a lot more fun than lots of other schools at its level, which is really cool. I’m on the fence about ED because there’s so many other great schools out there, and it’s hard to amok such a definitive choice at such an early stage in the college applications process. Hope your application season goes well!