<p>Hi, i've been recently accept to Vanderbilt and is debating whether to attend here or not, but I was wondering if there was any form of social stigma against Asians or minorities in general. Thank you!</p>
<p>No. There’s not.</p>
<p>Nope. Believe it or not, whether people like you here at Vanderbilt depends on you yourself (i.e. personality, for instance), not your race.</p>
<p>Is there any stigma off campus? I have friends from Memphis (very different city, I know) who have told me that there is a fairly solid racial line between people of different races, and their relocation to the West coast has done nothing to dampen their views at all.</p>
<p>There is no stigma off campus. Nashville is one of the most diverse cities in the southeast. There are ethnic groups from all over the world, many who were persecuted in their own countries. Memphis is still deeply rooted in the Old South culture and heritage. Much more so than Nashville.</p>
<p>From Wikipedia:</p>
<p>“Because of its relatively low cost of living and large job market, Nashville has become a popular city for immigrants.[34] Nashville’s foreign-born population more than tripled in size between 1990 and 2000, increasing from 12,662 to 39,596. Large groups of Mexicans, Kurds,[35] Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Arabs, and Bantus call Nashville home, among other groups.[36] Nashville has the largest Kurdish community in the United States, numbering approximately 11,000.[37] About 60,000 Bhutanese refugees are being admitted to the U.S. and some of them will resettle in Nashville.[38] During the Iraqi election of 2005, Nashville was one of the few international locations where Iraqi expatriates could vote.[39] The American Jewish community in Nashville dates back over 150 years,[40] and numbers about 6,500 (2001).”</p>
<p>[Nashville</a>, Tennessee - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville,_Tennessee]Nashville”>Nashville, Tennessee - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>D’s roommate is a minority, and she hasn’t felt any discrimination. She loves Nashville.</p>
<p>I went out last weekend with my son (white kid), and his girlfriend (Asian kid). It seems they are pretty familiar with a lot of East Asian, South Asian and Southeast Asian restaurants, since that is where we ate every meal. Most of the restaurants they frequent are not too close to campus; they are all over the Nashville area. I’m not sure how useful that information is for you, but certainly I don’t get the Old South feel when I go out to eat in Nashville.</p>
<p>Son’s girlfriend has been very happy with Nashville. She thinks it is a great place to go to school, and if she has ever felt any kind of discrimination, it is news to me. (FWIW, she is Asian-born, moved to US in junior high.)</p>
<p>as long as you’re not awkward/stereotypical asian and whatnot, you won’t feel any stigma</p>
<p>i get that theres no discrimination, stigma, etc. but are people actually friends with diverse groups of people? in a lot of schools people say theres no stigma but asians end up hanging out with asians, white people hang out with white people… do people tend to stick with their own ethnicity? im considering vandy but i’m worried that i’ll end up only spending my free time with indians like me.</p>
<p>Well you can put it this way: people aren’t actually not friends with diverse groups of people. Does what you describe happen, pretty much everywhere? Yes. Does it happen at Vanderbilt: yes, it probably does, but I doubt it describes a very large percentage of students. I think you would intentionally have to avoid and not be amicable with people of other races if you wanted to achieve that. </p>
<p>I think if you are willing to venture out of your comfort zone, what you describe won’t happen to you. Like I people have said, people won’t reject you because of your race if that is what you fear, people do judge on personality and other characteristics.</p>