<p>^^^Well, excuse me for trying to tease out your logic, but are you complaining about the possibility of being around people who come from families that are fairly well off, or about being around people who have a different opinion than you have about which schools are worth 50K?</p>
<p>Kyo***,
I respect the fact that when you have 6000 students (and now 20,000+ applying for the freshman class), not everyone will be happy or feel they have made a match. I’m not sure you’d find that many who agree with the statement that paying full freight for Stanford or an Ivy League education is a superior decision over paying full freight for Vanderbilt, but, again, I respect your right to your opinion. My question to you is, if you aren’t happy with the experience, are you seeking to transfer somewhere else?</p>
<p>midmo,
you are going to be with people who are fairly well off in any college you go to. It is just that many people recognize vanderbilt as rich, white preppy school. well it does not matter to me because those people are pretty much all off to frat/sor but i dont really that stereotyping that vanderbilt recieves. </p>
<p>2VU0609, well i dont know. I did not have any college that i really wanted to go to so naturallly i chose to go here because vanderbilt offer very good financial aid package. i know i dont really have school pride or anything but… </p>
<p>well because of such reason i saw that lets say you have to choose between vanderbilt and any ivy league schools and paying same amount for both, I will choose ivy league because they offer better overall education and better student body. i will transfer if i feel like it, but i guess its going to be about the same in other colleges as well.</p>
<p>The “superiority” associated with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc. is deeply rooted in tradition and the familiarity with those schools. Where I grew up, a lot of people have never heard of Vanderbilt unless they are big SEC sports fans. Does that mean it’s lesser of a school? No.</p>
<p>not to be anal, but please don’t call them sor’s. I know you’re trying to shorten it, but even sorors sounds better, and sororities is not that many more letters either. we don’t “sor”, and I know you didn’t mean anything by it, but it does sound kind of derogatory, the same way guys prefer the term fraternity to frat. Thanks :)</p>
<p>dtotheustin09,</p>
<p>yes i truly undestand what you are saying. when i told people i was going to vanderbilt they had no idea even where it was. but does vanderbilt provide equal quality of education compared to them? no (well maybe it does in education but everything else no)</p>
<p>Lauren</p>
<p>seriously you should just chill out. dont waste my time reading your stupid post on rahter i should say sor or soror. who do you think you are sor girl? i could really carelss what i use but plz stop being biotch about it. sounds better? derogatory? what?</p>
<p>No need to be so harsh, I wasn’t trying to be mean at all by that, I promise. I’ve had guys in fraternities correct me for using frat before and I didn’t understand why it mattered until I joined greek life. The shortening just seems to undermine the positive aspects of greek life into a negative “get drunk, get laid” stereotype (“going fratting”) which is perpetuated into the minds of people considering whether or not to attend vanderbilt. Partying is not the sole reason, or even the main reason for greek life, and I just find sorority and fraternity more respectful of the positive aspects of greek life, such as sisterhood, service, classiness, academics, etc. This may just be a personal preference, but it is very irritating to me when I see extremely unbalanced viewpoints of greek life. No, it is not for everybody, but it does mean something to some people, and it is just a respect issue. I don’t call the LGBTQI life center rainbow land, or anything like that, out of respect for other students and organizations that may mean a lot to them. I may be overreacting, but it’s just something that matters to me as a member of a community that receives an unfair share of bad publicity.</p>
<p>Kyo*** you are a token a fresh breath and a testament to reality! </p>
<p>I agree with your comments.</p>
<p>lol thank you el taco grande</p>
<p>Lauren</p>
<p>haaaa you made a very good argument here. In truth i really did not know how to spell sorority and how to abbreviate it so i just made up “sor” lol sorry if i offended you. i was just testing your patience XD</p>
<p>I only posted the statement about anti-intellectualism because we were supposed to post “why we don’t like Vandy” - I wasn’t saying that I DON’T like Vandy, I’m just saying that’s what I don’t like about it. What else don’t I like? That the weather is only nice in the very beginning and end of the school year, and otherwise it’s just semi-cold and wet (maybe that was just this past winter, who knows). I’m not a fan of the grade deflation, but who is?</p>
<p>I don’t want to give a bad impression of Vanderbilt AT ALL, because I absolutely love it there (not “here” because I just got back to Atlanta for the summer! yayy). Just because there’s an anti-intellectual air about the school (outside of the classroom, and sometimes by a few students in the classroom as well), that doesn’t at all mean that you can’t find intellectual students. They’re everywhere, if you bother to look for them. I’m one of them. Throughout this past year, I’ve been able to find so many friends that are SO legitimately intelligent (and I don’t just mean in the classroom intelligent, I mean intelligent in every aspect of their lives). Sure, we don’t act “intellectual” all the time, we know how to have fun, but we’re all capable of having serious discussions about life, current events, philosophies, religion, ET CETERA, and we all want to! I’m sure one can find these people at any school, but at Vanderbilt, it definitely hasn’t been a problem (for me). Some people have complained about not having anyyyyone who is willing to be/capable of being intellectual outside of the classroom, but seriously, they’re just not looking hard enough of in the right places. No, you do not go to a frat to find an intellectual. Maybe some are there, but you’re not going to find them there. Hah. It’s simple to find the people who want to find at Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>Well, thank you everyone for your posts. I actually didn’t decide to go to Vanderbilt. I’m one of those kids that turned down a “higher ranked school for a school that’s not as highly ranked.” But, hopefully it all works out in the end.</p>
<p>Shay_888, where did you decide to go, if you don’t mind my asking? I sort of did the same thing you have done - I was waitlisted at Harvard (which, obviously, doesn’t mean that I would have gotten in) but took myself off the waitlist because I felt like I would like Vanderbilt a lot more even though it’s lower ranked, and I’m still very confident in that assessment. I hope you have a great time wherever you chose to go to school!</p>
<p>I don’t like Vandy because the grade deflation. If given the chance to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have chosen to attend Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>shay…I’d be interested in know what school you chose and why as well. D was surprisingly waitlisted at Vandy (also at Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, and UPenn). She, too, chose a lower ranked school (UVa #24) over a higher ranked one (Northwestern #12). UVa had more of a social fit (very similar socially to Vandy – that’s what she found appealing). </p>
<p>WaffleIron…where would you go instead of Vandy?</p>
<p>Hate Vandy because my Son chose Vandy over Harvard,Yale Princeton. Love Vandy because he will go on a full scholly starting June 6. Chea!!!</p>
<p>I don’t think US News should be used as a variable of what college to attend, or any other general academic ranking for that matter. When you actually look at SAT scores, there are around 60 universities/colleges that are very similar to Vanderbilt (give or take 20 points, which is the difference of missing 2-4 questions). The difference really is in the campus and city culture. Of course, some universities are noted for certain departments and that should be taken into consideration: education and Vanderbilt, finance/Latin American studies and Tulane, Architecture and Cornell, public health and Johns Hopkins etcetera. But students should just save themselves the stress and just consider which university they think they would be happiest at.</p>
<p>Also, a note on college stereotypes. Of course you will find people that match the stereotype and there are a number of theories about this. 1) if you are aware of the stereotype then you are more likely to notice people that fit into it. 2) the stereotype is like a feedback loop causing people who like the stereotype to associate themselves with it (or redefine it) and those that don’t like it to avoid it. For instance, UChicago was my top choice because I had ideas about everyone spending their time doing academic research aka academic curiosity. Other people label UofC students as being out of touch with reality, of being in the Ivory Tower so to speak, and thus seek other schools because of this stereotype. I imagine the same is true with the southern/greek life and Vandy.</p>
<p>there seems to be a lot of discussion about vanderbilt’s diversity. i’m a high school senior from an extremely diverse college town. i don’t have a problem with “old southern money”, being from an old southern family myself, but my concern is that i’ve grown up with kids from all over the world, and i’ve grown accustomed to being surrounded by viewpoints vastly different from my own. i worry that the homogeneous atmosphere of vanderbilt will feel smothering or boring to me. does anyone have any experience with this?</p>
<p>Sorry, I haven’t been on for a while. And, I’m attending the University of Rochester instead of Vandy or Wake Forest.</p>
<p>I hate Vandy because…NO REASON!</p>
<p>It is one of the most amazing places to attend school as an undergrad. Nowhere is perfect but the happiness, opportunities, people, professors, diversity, well-roundedness, and SO so many other things make Vanderbilt and Nashville a great place. I was accepted to better schools and didn’t think twice. I know plenty of other students who did this and are just as happy as I am.</p>
<p>And as for grade deflation…the real world isn’t very kind. I think that Vanderbilt’s rigorous academics prepare us much better for the real world. I like to work for my success :)</p>