<p>I just used the SuperMatch college search tool, and it says that Nashville isn't a great college town. Is this because it isn't exactly a "college town;" it's more of a big city?</p>
<p>Well, Nashville is not Chapel Hill or Athens Georgia, the much loved flagship college towns for great publics (with huge alum bases) such as Ann Arbor if that is what is meant by college towns. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt has 6000 undergrads, so you will actually get many small classroom experiences and find that you don’t have to get in line to talk to your professors. Sometimes it feels like a jumbo liberal arts college where learning is personal on a campus big enough to hold a good sized student body.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is near the seat of a state government which is a plus. It is also in a town with three very significant historic black colleges…TSU, Fisk and Meharry Medical College.<br>
There are also other small colleges in town like Belmont College (Baptist origins) and David Lipscomb (Church of Christ origins). </p>
<p>Vanderbilt is a top 2-3 employer in the entire state of Tennessee but Nashville’s economy is not entirely based on Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>Nashville is not Atlanta or Boston but it is one of America’s great Third Coast cities. Much to offer with half the stress.</p>
<p>What is cool about Vandy is that it seems to be at an epicenter of Nashville. As in, it is by some major cultural and recreational outlets. It very much reminds me of Georgia Tech’s campus in terms of location (and somewhat looks, though Vandy is much prettier. If they took away much of the greenspace and added some sterile buildings, then you get Tech). The area gives off a vibe similar to a collegetown or at least an area greatly influenced by a major university. This is nice, so I wouldn’t worry about whether Nashville as a whole is a collegetown. Vanderbilt is in a nice area that gives you most of what you want. This is much better than needing a car or having to catch a shuttle (b/c our area is really just the CDC and Emory buried in a forest/wooded residential area. It’s an odd location), or having to wait on huge, long overdue projects to be built in the area to suit the area’s needs. Everything is already there. That compounded with an intense Greek Scene if you like it, and the sports if you like that, makes for an awesome time.</p>