<p>Does anyone know any schools that are similar to Vandy in regards to</p>
<p>general atmosphere
social scene
selectivity (a bit less difficult)
prestige
academics</p>
<p>geographic area is not important and does not have to be a university.</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Schools Similiar To Vandy:</p>
<p>Universities --
More Selective – Princeton, Dartmouth, Duke, Penn
About Equal Selectivity – Georgetown, UNC, USC, UVA
Less Selective – Boston College, Lehigh, Wake Forest, UT-Austin
Safeties – U. Miami, Delaware, UGA, SMU </p>
<p>LACs --
More Selective -- Williams, Amherst
Similar LACs – Colgate, Bowdoin, Davidson, Middlebury, Washington & Lee
Less Selective LACs – Trinity (CT), Lafayette, Bucknell, U. Richmond, Hobart</p>
<p>nymets11-what are you talking about? How did you come up with these schools? What do you see as the similarities to Vanderbilt? </p>
<p>general atmosphere, social scene, academics</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is of medium size, the social scene is heavily greek and more than half the student body is conservative. Can you say these things about Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin or Middlebury? Penn?</p>
<p>Academically I think it is wishful thinking to put it on a list with Princeton, Dartmouth, Williams or Amherst, sorry to say</p>
<p>The poster didn't mention "size" as a criteria, and they said it didn't have to be a university.</p>
<p>Maybe Gettysburg, Washington and Lee...</p>
<p>In general, every college has a personality. Vanderbilt tends to attract students who are very well-rounded. A typical student tends to be social, athletic, and a little bit on the preppy side. When looking at other elite colleges, there are lots of schools that have great academics but severely lack the same social opportunities (U. Chicago, MIT, Hopkins, etc.). My list consists of schools that attract the same type of students Vandy does – similar to the way an emo kid may want to go to NYU, or a hippie might want to go to Oberlin. I believe that overall fit is crucial when choosing a college. </p>
<p>In terms of atmosphere, Vanderbilt has very small classroom sizes. Other schools like Dartmouth & Princeton are also well-known to have a strong undergraduate focus. If you prefer a more intimate atmosphere these schools might be more preferable to those that are more research-orientated. You’ll find that lots of schools on my list also have D-1 sports that strengthen its sense of community. Schools without sports teams generally also lack school spirit (Emory, Carnegie Mellon, WashU etc.) and often attract a different type of student. In terms of selectivity/prestige, I separated the schools into tiers. So for example –Duke would be harder to get into and Wake Forest would be easier. But I feel all the schools are good choices for the academically-focused, yet socially balanced student.</p>
<p>Vandy is considered a "Southern" Ivy league school. It is very preppy and socially elite. I would say it is the southern counterpart to Princeton. Thier school colors were given to them by Judge W.L. Granbery of Princeton. I would say it has prestige among the nations colleges.</p>
<p>My son recently completed a fairly broad college search process and compared many of his visited schools to Vanderbilt. During his due diligence, he found several schools (including many of the ones mentioned by nymets such as Virginia, Princeton, Duke, Dartmouth, Williams, etc.) with a lot of similarities to Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>In my son's opinion (which I share), the University of Virginia has the greatest similarity to Vanderbilt. Although a little more than twice the size of Vanderbilt, UVA is still a manageable size (13k undergrads). The student body, like Vanderbilt, has good diversity, but also has a concentration of the social, preppy, athletic types that nymets describes. Academically and socially, they are very comparable with highly regarded academic offerings, good Greek and non-Greek social scenes, and strong student & alumni identification with their school. Furthermore, both schools have extraordinarily good looking campuses (not to mention reputations for very good looking students :) ). </p>
<p>Re social fit, clearly Vanderbilt, with 6500 students, is much larger than the LACs and somewhat larger than Princeton and Dartmouth. In addition, the southern location gives the school a much different feel (warmer meteorologically and interpersonally and more conservative politically) than the New England schools to which it has been compared. The commonality is the type of student who gravitates to these schools. While the physical look and feel of, say, Williams, is outwardly quite different from Vanderbilt, the kids who attend these schools have more similarities than dissimilarities. Many are preppy, many are social (even if not Greek oriented), many are athletic, many come from private schools, many come from wealthy families, etc. </p>
<p>Re selectivity, Vanderbilt is difficult but not as much so as Princeton, Dartmouth, Duke, Penn, Williams and Amherst (as nymets points out). However, it is certainly not a stretch to consider many, many, many Vanderbilt students as equals to many, many, many students at these schools. As one who has recruited for a major bulge bracket investment bank for more than a decade, the differences in the end product are negligible and there are every bit as many smart and qualifed kids coming out of Vanderbilt as there are coming out of the other mentioned schools. </p>
<p>One important differentiator of Vanderbilt versus some of the mentioned schools is the high profile athletic conference in which it participates. This has a potentially large impact on one's college experience as the local environment is undoubtedly touched by the football, basketball, baseball, etc. games being played. I would venture to say that a Vanderbilt-Georgia football game has significantly more local impact than Princeton-Dartmouth, Williams-Amherst, Middlebury-???, Emory-no team, etc. The one caveat is that Vanderbilt's teams struggle in many of the SEC sports in which it competes. If you seek a small to medium-size top academic institution with a good social environment and the highest level of collegiate athletics, then Vanderbilt is certainly on the list (along with Duke, Stanford, Northwestern, and perhaps a few others). </p>
<p>While some focus on the prestige of various institutions, my son was most concerned with fit based on academics, social life, athletic life, and the physical plant offered by each school. We created a thread on this a few months back and maybe you will find some useful informational in the various posts. </p>
<p>While you would corrrectly conclude from my comments that we have become fans of Vanderbilt, let me quickly add that the very pleasant surprise of my son's search is that there are many very good schools out there. Virtually all of the schools that nymets mentioned have a ton to offer and merit your consideration. </p>
<p>Finally, to thesearch, nearly 3/4 of your posts to date seem to have an undercurrent of anti-Vanderbilt sentiment. Perhaps that is unintentional on your part, but your consistent tone has the potential to undermine the validity of your comments. Vanderbilt just may not be the place for you. In any event, good luck with your own college search process as there are a lot of great schools and great people out there.</p>
<p>Yeah, looking back at my comments I guess that is true. It is ironic, because I had been really excited about Vandy (the size, location, reputation,etc.) until I visited. I was very disappointed by how cliquey it felt, segregated really, by race and class, and by the level of discussion in the classes I attended. I think you are right, it is not the school for me.</p>
<p>I'd mention the university of madison wisconsin for the greek life/social scene. Some of their programs are nationally recognized, the location is vastly different, but for the most part, things are good there.</p>
<p>another school that is definitely similar to vandy but way way less selective is Southern Methodist University.. definitely like vandy in the social scene area (greek life, known for 'good looking people', southern, conservative, etc)</p>