<p>Vanderbilt is one of the schools my junior daughter is considering for music ed. I've been research reviews and came across this site that states it is considered a very dangerous place -- notably for forcible sex offenses and aggravated assaults.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt</a> University - Crime & Safety | American School Search</p>
<p>Could someone comment on this? It's not at all how I pictured Vanderbilt!</p>
<p>Things like that happen on every college campus. Your daughter will just have to use common sense. On any campus, I have been told that if it’s dark at night, don’t go out alone.</p>
<p>As a student, I can say that I’ve always felt safe in the Vanderbilt bubble. Traveling at night alone is a bad idea no matter where you are. It’s very strange that Belmont is considered so much safer; it’s very close to Vanderbilt and actually is a more dangerous part of the city… Plus Vanderbilt has a great police force that are stationed/patrolling ALL the time. They’re literally everywhere.</p>
<p>Anyways, if you look at the list of most dangerous schools, you’ll see a ton of elite universities (Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Stanford, Harvard, Brown, etc) all ranked as more dangerous than Vanderbilt, and none of these schools have a reputation for danger, as far as I know. Wouldn’t take these statistics too seriously.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reassurance – I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>My D graduated last May … and she felt very safe at Vandy (safer than her friends felt at UMich). She was careful about being alone. Her take on it was that the crime was mainly in the parking decks and around the restaurants … plus, she didn’t care for Elliston after dark. However, she was cautious but not scared. </p>
<p>She lived off campus senior year, and she chose to live behind the Commons. This area, which is residential, does not have shady characters hanging around like you might find closer to West End. She walked to and from campus at night alone from her condo. </p>
<p>She walked all over in the daytime, and she was simply careful at night. </p>
<p>The aggravated assaults probably have something to do with robberies. That is not uncommon in urban areas or on college campuses, and they tend to increase when the economy is worse. Forcible sexual offenses I am not sure about … I am not aware of random rapes (huge issue this past fall at our state flagship). It may be date rapes, and if so that is something that can be avoided for the most part - every parent should discuss this issue with their daughters, as it can happen anywhere.</p>
<p>and re date rape, every mother and father of sons should have the talk about not becoming sexually active while under the influence as a huge error in judgment. Date rape is so linked with inebriation and impaired judgment.</p>
<p>I agree 100%.</p>
<p>They send out an email describing what happened whenever a crime happens and without fail, the victims were walking alone at night. All it takes to be safe at Vandy is a tiny bit of common sense</p>