<p>If none of my AP credits count, I really wouldn't care. I just took them to challenge myself and to get experience in the subjects, not to get out of taking courses at college. And I agree, writing classes are important. Even if you're brilliant, you need to have an equally brilliant writing style if you need people to understand and believe your intelligence.</p>
<p>I have immense respect for great writers. Yes, I want to major in Chemistry, a major not really dedicated to writing at all [except research papers/lab reports, but those are all information based]... but, I could get lost forever reading everything by the Romantics. </p>
<p>And now I want to watch Dead Poet's Society again.</p>
<p>I've found judging a school on its people to be a little bit... unsubstantiated [though, that's not quite the word I'm looking for].</p>
<p>You are mistaken in assuming fraternities at Southern schools are analogous to those in the North. The closest thing I've come across resembling a typical fraternity in the South was SAE at Princeton, and even that was a stretch. Trust me, it's a very different culture.</p>
<p>I just tried to go onto Princetonreview's rankings but don't have an account. I did however get far enough to see that "Major frat and sorority scene" was under parties. I wanted to see what schools were on there, but to help you understand what Southern Greek culture is all about, parties consist of maybe 20% of what fraternities and sororities are all about here.</p>
<p>Fact is, there is nothing more beneficial that a prospective student can do when choosing a college than visit to get a feel of the fit. While Vanderbilt of course is systemically doing everything in its power to try to modify the culture (besides the obvious removing of the Why Vandy essay, they also removed Admissions-sponsored overnight visits not long ago), but it's here to stay and young superstars would be well advised to breathe in the bliss over a two+ day visit (as opposed to the conventional half-day stop which is even better than the apparently popular pseudo-visit via the Internet).</p>
<p>I want to clairfy what I meant in my earlier post. First of all, when I describe MY DAUGHTER'S views, I mean to let the kids know what she's saying. Her views are as immature as she is! When she says "invisible" I think what she means is that they are invisible to her and others like her -- the type who want to be swimming in the mainstream on campus. For the record, I wish my daughter were entirely uninterested in the sorority scene, and had reason to believe that she would have been one of the majority on campus who don't participate in Greek life. Looking back, her choice of Vandy should have been an indication of what she was aspiring to. But I still think she changed once she got to Vandy. She was a super-straight laced high school student, almost all As, the beautiful kind of statistics you see posted on cc all the time in the tedious chances posts. And at Vandy, I think she is studying hard, but instead of all As with the occasional B, she gets all Bs with the occaisonal A. And she is pretty snobby. And she cares desperately about her looks, clothes, weight, etc. And she is moaning about all her requirements relative to high school friends at other highly ranked colleges (higher than Vandy) who have almost no requirements outside their majors. I admire everyone who reisists what I believe is a lot of pressure to join expensive/exclusive Greek organizations at Vandy.</p>
<p>mirimom - did she not have a clue about the requirements before she opted to attend Vandy? The beauty of a good liberal arts education is the diversity of courses, especially outside your major. She may not appreciate it now, but she will be thankful later in life to have been exposed to such a variety of subjects. I know that is one of the reasons my S WANTS to attend Vanderbilt and in fact, most of his school choices had similar requirements. </p>
<p>I'm curious what type of high school your daughter attended that she had such a change? I only wonder because, most of the kids around where we live have already been exposed to so much wealth, snobbery, competition, pressure about looks and things that most of them have already opted to be in that "group" or not. If this is all new to her, she may just be "trying it out".</p>
<p>Yes, I think she did not have a clue about requirements. She looked at Penn, Tufts, Northwestern, and Emory, in addition to Vandy. There was something about Vanderbilt that won her heart. She loved the southern charm, and liked the small size of Nashville. I think she decided on college on the basis of USNWR rankings, beauty of campus, weather, and culture. She had the grades to get into any of those schools, but applied early to Vandy out of love for the school. I don't think she gave a moment's thought to what courses she would have to take. She went to a high school where getting high grades and access to a top-ranked college was the be-all and end-all of life. Expensive clothing and all that just never seemed to cross her mind -- it was pajama pants and tee shirts and hair in a ponytail for her and everybody else, as far as I can tell. Then came Vandy, and everything changed. So that is why I write this stuff on cc. To remind kids that Vandy is really different from other "top" schools in terms of culture, and somewhat different from other "top" schools in terms of requirements and grading.</p>
<p>Mirimom, I am sorry about your D's experience. However, I think that it could have happened at many other schools, as well. I know girls who have gone to UMich and had similar experiences - yet most of the students I know at UMich have completely different experiences. Again, it could happen anywhere. Did the fact that Vandy does have a fairly large greek scene make it more likely to happen? Maybe. But I really think it could happen anywhere.</p>
<p>Dwhite, I think you raise a good point. My D did attend a private high school with a lot of rich, snobby students. She had no interest in being part of their group - she had her own friends who shared her interests, and she never cared about being in anyone's mainstream but her own group's. Her friends included girls & guys from all walks of life.</p>
<p>Mirimom, I too am sorry for your daughter's experience, she must be very unhappy. Hopefully your relationship will improve if and when she changes back to the way you like her.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for sharing your opinions. These boards are so very helpful in no many ways, and all of your honesty is humbling. It helps to be able to guide our kids in these important decisions when we have information and opinions from those in the know. </p>
<p>S has applied to Vandy....His other schools he applied to (besides duke) are as far away from the Vandy culture as possible from what I can tell from these boards. I do not know if Vandy is right for him, but he'll have to visit to know for sure. I see him at a more jeans and t-shirt school with more opportunities (and respect?) for individuality. But, maybe thats just me.</p>
<p>Mirimom, I'm hearing of a lot of girls these days, at the age of your daughter, who are behaving in an unexpected way. My niece would love to go to Vandy, considers it a "country-club school" and cites her reasons for wanting to go there as something about the beautiful, clear skinned, well dressed student body. The school she goes to doesn't have a Greek System, but she says she is meant to be a sorority girl, so is considering transferring. This attitute is upsetting to her mother, who never raised her to value superficial aspects.</p>
<p>as the mom of both a s and a d at vandy, both of whom opted to go greek--i don't think that categorizing and stereotyping 40-50% of the student body as superficial is appropriate, especially from parents. </p>
<p>we are from NY, both my kids love Vanderbilt, and have made excellent friends with great kids from all over the country. They enjoy the weather, the southern culture and friendliness, the camaraderie of their frat/sorority and their many other friends as well. The quality of education is excellent, there are opporutnities for every kind of activity,the campus is beautiful, the social life active, and Nashville is a wonderful college town. The kids wear t-shirts and jeans to class for sure, (though they do dress for football games, and to go out at night)Visit and see how you like it and especially how your son likes it.</p>
<p>Oh my, I didn't mean that joining a sorority was superficial, though I now see that my post sounded like that! No, not at all!!! What is superficial though is choosing a school based on the way people look and dress.</p>