Schools Similar to Vanderbilt.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
1

<p>I would say the following schools are "culture matches" in comparison to Vanderbilt. For the sake of the demographic that uses this site, the levels are broken up based loosely on their national academic reputations.</p>

<p>For the record, I've compiled this mostly through first person encounters of the various schools listed, but no further distant than multiple solid second person accounts.</p>

<p>Level 1 (can be a high match): Stanford, Princeton, UVa
Part two: Davidson, W&L, Most other SEC schools (-UF), Clemson, SMU</p>

<p>Level 2 (similar characteristics): Duke, UPenn
Part two: Wake Forest, Texas, Tulane, UNC, W&M, Baylor, Missouri</p>

<p>Level 3 (questionable, possible): Emory, Rice, UF, Georgetown, USC (California), WUStL, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Cornell, Dartmouth
Part two: Maryland, Texas A&M, FSU</p>

<p>Notable schools that are on the fringe if at all: Georgia Tech, BC, Tufts, Hopkins, Villanova, Harvard/Yale</p>

<p>I'm sure I left out schools (some accidentally, some that don't have enough broad appeal), but I'm pretty confident that the schools listed are in good spots. What do you think?</p>

<p>Note: Obviously "academic matches" or some other compounding variable can move these around when it comes to one individual picking overall matches, but I think this is an important list to help students who have less time to learn about schools these days given the huge number to which they apply.</p>

2

<p>@Maryland: how so?</p>

3

<p>Tufts is VERY different from Vandy in many ways. Although my D liked both schools, they are just so dissimilar. So I’d say no on that one.</p>

<p>Northwestern - some similarities, but a whole lot colder! :)</p>

4

<p>I’ve never been to College Park, but the crowd at the UVa-MD lacrosse game I went to reminded me of Vandy in a lot of ways. Do you think it should be lower? Give them additional points for an active party culture, possibly similar looking student body, take off points for the very dissimilar elements; that’s how I arrived at their spot.</p>

<p>kelsmom, Tufts is already in the bottom category, we’re on the same page there.</p>

5

<p>SMU definitely. Alot of the public schools there like Texas are so big and diverse it is hard to say the whole school is similar, but parts of it definitely are.</p>

6

<p>Assuming I’m rejected from my next 3, I’ll go to College Park, so I’ll be sure to let you know ;P</p>

7

<p>USC should definitely be higher up! Obviously there is a lack of southern culture, but the social culture, I felt, is very very similar. It was my second choice throughout the whole search process (followed by UVA), and if Vandy ED didn’t work out, then I probably would have gone there. I think it’s much more similar to Vandy than some of the schools above it.</p>

8

<p>I agree, let’s make it level 2. On that note, I left out Arizona and Arizona St., but I know plenty of people that included one or both of these schools in their searches, though their academics are just so pathetic that I didn’t include them. Where would they go? Maybe Level 3?</p>

9

<p>Rice at level 3? why?</p>

10

<p>I’d move Wake Forest up to Level 1. It’s very much like a mini Vanderbilt, and I think much more similar than Stanford.</p>

<p>I also think Northwestern, Notre Dame and Cornell are somewhat similar to one another, but have a different vibe than Vanderbilt. The one similarity is that they attract students of the same caliber.</p>

11

<p>Maryland is not really similar at all. I think, what you ran into with the lacrosse game, was just the lax crowd. A small percentage of the MD population falls into that category. And, in my opinion that crowd is deceptive. CP’s crowd is much more urban centered than you may realize. Not to mention the extreme diversity. 50% of whites are Jewish. CP also has the highest graduation rate for African-Americans. I see few if any similarities to Vandy.</p>

12

<p>If you are thinking about “culture,” I’d drop the non-D1 schools (Emory, WashU, Tufts), which don’t have much school spirit. Also, not sure that the publics fit well, with the exception perhaps of UVA. (The big publics tend to have large bureaucracies which is part of their “culture”, but not Vandy’s.)</p>

<p>Now, if you are considering academics…</p>

13

<p>Could someone in the know please compare Vandy with smaller LACs like Wesleyan or Amherst?</p>

14

<p>Another question regarding Vandy…how does it owrk there socially if you are a not thinking frat or sorority?</p>

15

<p>dude, your comparisons are so wrong. No offense. They are all great schools but some of those are polar opposites of Vanderbilt. Cornell, UVA, and Duke are pretty similar(except Vandy girls are awesome, 36-24-36.) Maybe you could include W&M.</p>

16

<p>Wesleyan and Amherst are very different from Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt is a university with a law school and huge medical center complex. It is an SEC school with a huge athletic culture (to me this is a good thing, to others it is not). The Greek scene is very large and very much a part of the social life. Wes and Amherst are none of these things.</p>

17

<p>Academically…Vandy is right up there with Notre Dame, Northwestern, and Emory (but can’t beat out Duke as the “jewel of the south”).</p>

<p>Socially…from what i’ve heard and seen, NOTHING compares to Vandy. Girls are gorgeous, great weather, and an up-and-coming sports program. Not bad.</p>

<p>Almost makes me rethink my college choices…oh well!</p>

18

<p>The “jewel of the South”? It’s universally agreeable that Duke is a great place, but you have got to be kidding me with that one.</p>

<p>Everything else you said is fairly on track (although the wording of “being right up there” with those three as though that’s something special is a little misleading), but Vanderbilt has always been a premier sports program (we basically single handedly founded the SEC) that has gone through cycles of success, with recent years on the higher end. We may or may not finish the next two years with a permanent spot in the top tier of college football, but we’ll still be a preeminent D1 athletic school.</p>