<p>I know this is a provocative question, and the variables to be assessed by each family/applicant can be quite different. But that said, I would be interested to hear from current students/parents, or those who have been there and done that. Thanks!</p>
<p>Major??..</p>
<p>absolutely NO!</p>
<p>Depends on your other choices and whether you can afford it.</p>
<p>Likely major biology or psychology.</p>
<p>If you wanted to hear from a mom whose kid is paying full price, I’m your woman. S2 is paying with a 529 my husband started when S2 was very young. We did not qualify for financial aid, and he did not think his academics (He was valedictorian, but a lot of Vandy students were valedictorian,) or his ECs were so extraordinary that he would get merit aid and I agreed. Therefore, the ED II application and its requirements were all he sent in. His 529 will be completely drained, but that’s why it was set up in the first place. We are very small town and we are not rich–my husband is a retired middle school teacher–and S2 told us a couple of years ago that he was the poorest in his pledge class haha (He is a junior now.). I have said in another post that my son hopes he has made connections in his fraternity that will help him get a job after he graduates next year. </p>
<p>Soooo, since he could afford paying full freight, in his case, yes, Vandy is worth it. He has loved many of his classes, especially history and political science. He is a double poli sci and econ major, and like most people, finds the econ classes dry but says, “You can only do so much with graphs…” I wish I could speak to the quality of the bio and psych classes; however, I can’t since he has not taken any classes in those departments. He relies very much on RateMyProfessors.com to pick the most interesting professors, and he thinks many profs are incredible–even those for the W (writing) classes–and he has always hated to write (His essay on his common app was humorous about hating to write.). With a poli sci major, though, writing comes into play often, so he might have gotten over that by now. (We can only hope…) One of his professors wrote him a “glowing” (word used by his boss) recommendation that helped him get an internship in the Office of the Governor, and several parents on cc have averred that the professors at Vandy often write significantly helpful recs for students/graduates as they apply for internships and jobs.</p>
<p>My son is in a fraternity and has a girlfriend at Vandy. He says he doesn’t hang out at the house much, but he has served as secretary and has contributed time to their charitable work. He and his friends take part in the nightlife of Nashville, while he and his girlfriend have sampled much of Nashville’s excellent cuisine, especially this year since juniors have a significant cutback in meals on the meal plan. Believe me, he was not happy about that at first, for he has always loved Vandy food. My son loved visiting a Vandy friend’s compound in the Dominican Republic in August (I associate words like “compound” with the Kennedys…) and stayed in the same bedroom Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony stayed in (in happier times, of course). One of his roommates is from Africa and one is in the honors program and is a Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholar; he wouldn’t trade them. Therefore, he thinks Nashville and the friends he has made at Vanderbilt are worth full price. You can’t put a price on your friends, but I hope you can see that he is very happy.</p>
<p>In contrast, S1 chose Centre College, a small liberal arts college in KY, after being accepted at Vanderbilt. He wanted to play D3 basketball, and he wanted to save money. He did not have a 529, but he had a stock portfolio that was to be used for his education. Centre was $30,000, while Vandy was $50,000 in 2005. Centre doesn’t give athletic scholarships, but he got a merit scholarship for $11,000 a year, so you can see that he saved a lot of his portfolio money by going to Centre. Did he enjoy the academics (He was a financial economics major.) the way my Vandy son does? Absolutely not! He is still very close to his Centre friends, though. He has not even looked for a job, and he graduated in 2009. What he did was parlay the money he saved by going to Centre into mega bucks by playing online poker while he was at Centre and the year after he graduated. He bought a four-bedroom house with cash and has no car payments. He just has to be able to pay his bills, and he does. (People look at him as the biggest bum ever or they say “smart” haha.) He goes to Vegas once a year, plays the stock market, and currency trades. (It seems that Texas Hold 'em players have the same skill set as currency traders. He no longer plays online poker since the website on which he played has been shut down by the FBI.)</p>
<p>Now as Vandy son’s mother, I would REALLY like to see him get a job, for I don’t think he’ll be able to have the life of Riley like his brother. Don’t get me wrong, as a contributing member of Phi Beta Kappa, I think a liberal arts education is very important, and I’m glad both of my sons have gotten one, but I also want to see a career after Vandy. I think a liberal arts education should translate into a fine worker with a conscience who can think analytically and problem solve. I want to see my Vandy son do all these things thanks to his Vanderbilt education, so I guess what I’m saying is that while I think his happiness at Vanderbilt the last three years is VERY important, I will be absolutely convinced and convincing that Vanderbilt is worth paying full price once he has a career. I may have written this one year too soon, so I hope graduates who paid full price will be able to give you some insight into how successful their job search has been.</p>
<p>If your daughter, greenmum, is being recruited as a student athlete (I think I read that on one of your previous posts.), she probably won’t have to pay full price, but I hope my son’s experience at Vanderbilt so far–even though it will be a bit different–can be of some help as your daughter weighs her options.</p>
<p>Thanks for your lengthy response.
Just to be clear, are you saying S2 did not apply for Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship or other merit-based aid?</p>
<p>Yeah, probably too lengthy…sorry. No, he did not.</p>
<p>Unless the next best option is WAY below Vandy caliber, and unless you’re pretty filthy rich, then no, it’s probably not with it. Vandy is an incredible school, but that doesn’t mean you should drop a quarter of a million on it. You can still get a good education and have a good experience at other school.</p>
<p>The website says that “over 60%” of the students in 2010/11 received financial aid, leaving slightly less than 40% of us paying full price. Although it’s a huge financial commitment (or should I say burden), I think that it’s worth it. My sophomore son is intellectually stimulated by his classes and professors, excited by the late night philosophical discussions he has with his fellow students, and happy with the social scene (both downtown Nashville, and his fraternity). Most of his friends at home (in CT) are also positive about their universities, but my son seems to be the happiest.</p>
<p>So, to us, it’s worth it.</p>
<p>I guess we’ll know for sure, when he gets a job…</p>
<p>S1 nor S2 applied for the Cornelius Vanderbilt mainly because the Vanderbilt website at the time of their applying stated that most recipients had 34-36 ACT scores. S1 had a 33 (regular decision applicant) and S2 (ED II applicant) had a 32.</p>
<p>what a wonderful read vandycentremom…as a vandyduke mom who also knows centre college as an exceptional community on its own merits, I enjoyed reading the experiences you have had…we also raised two sons and paid full price to Duke for the eldest who did find that his frat contacts assisted him in finding interviews for paid work. Vandy son won a miracle merit scholarship, and is fully immersed in life at Vandy and in Nashville as an independent, non greek student. We are so proud of the many ways he contributes to life at Vanderbilt and see he will do it “his” way.<br>
was full price at Duke “worth it”? In all honesty, we couldn’t really afford it and some of the Duke payout is rolled into our home equity at a time when housing values dropped. So…was it worth it? Duke son is so so happy and fulfilled long past graduation with his friendships from Duke but I would not advise a family in today’s world to use home equity unless you are on extremely solid ground in housing values. The recession of 2008-9 took place in son’s senior year at Duke and of course we didn’t factor in the drop in the economy when we took on full pay without proper savings in hand. We don’t have regrets exactly, just a serious wake up call in having exceeded our actual income flow at Duke. So I would advise reality based budgets for all Vandy Duke etc parents with type of degree secured realistically weighed before paying out. Grad schools for many fields are also steep and merit money is rare in many pathways so flagship honors colleges in this economy have much to offer. Sons had honors admissions to Virginia colleges and passed…but I would give those paths a much harder look in today’s marketplace.<br>
so grateful that Vandy son has been able to gain so much from his peers and teachers and from Nashville itself…best surprise is that access to faculty is quite good…better than we really expected since we were rather keen on liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is worth it, especially for your interests. It’s one of the best schools in the country and it has a very good biology program.</p>
<p>Thanks. Great responses! She is going.</p>
<p>Depends of course on the individual’s major and other factors such as “fit”, but if Vanderbilt is a top choice for the student, and tuition within the family’s means, then it is absolutely worth it. Merit scholarships are wonderful but almost no schools at Vanderbilt’s level offer them (and they are highly competitive at the rare few that do), so full-freight is likely at most comparable schools when the family income is moderate to high.</p>