Southern Culture at Vanderbilt

Hi all,

I am considering applying to Vanderbilt, but I have some concerns over how southern its culture is. I visited and loved both Vanderbilt and Nashville as a whole. The campus was beautiful and the city seemed like a lot of fun, but being from New York, I am concerned about how southern it is. I feel that being from the North, overbearing southern culture may be uncomfortable. When I toured, my guide said something about how everyone dresses up for football games and observes southern customs. Although I like Vanderbilt, this culture shock may be a little too much for me.

Mike – isn’t one of the goals of college to experience and learn about new and different things? You are far too young to be limited to the caricature view of the world of that famous New Yorker cover. As a native NYer, I thought the horizon-broadening experience of going to school in the South was really interesting and valuable.

Having said that, Vandy is a highly-ranked private school that draws nationally but happens to be located in the South. That’s a different profile than a southern state school (which are obviously fine schools too).

Vandy’s top states (in order) are TN, IL, NY, CA, FL, TX.

Compare that to what you’d find at Duke (NC, CA, NY, FL, TX, VA, NJ). Or Tulane (LA, NY, CA, NJ, TX, IL).

https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/profile/#enrollmentbystate

You may want to limit yourself to NYU or the CUNY schools if you are so provincially northern.

As someone who grew up in the south, Vanderbilt is not at all “southern”. It does have a southern contingent that is larger than most other top schools, but the Chicago and New York/Jersey/Boston crews have an equally large presence. You see it in greek life where every tier is about half-and-half, i.e. SAE is southern, kappa sig is northern, or theta is southern, kappa is northern. I don’t think you would be uncomfortable. There’s enough of a different culture that if you wanted to experience something new you could, but there are enough northerners that you could just stick with what you know as well.

It does have some vaguely southern traditions like the formal wear to football games thing, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. All the yankees love it too, it’s like playing dress up - girls throw on some cowboy boots and a sundress, and guys wear a bowtie or some southern tide and there you go. Tour guides just tell you that stuff to try to differentiate the school and sell it’s brand, or what makes it unique.

i know a boy from our town (suburbs of NY) whose dream was to go to vanderbilt. he did everything possible to get accepted and he did. he went for one semester and HATED it so much. he transferred to NYU and loves it.

I bet it was the Panera Bread bagels that did him in…

Dressing up for football games is more of a thing for Vandy and a small # of other SEC schools than a universal southern thing. I think that Vanderbilt may attract more of a student body that values “polish” more than a typical school, and this may turn some off, but I wouldn’t call that a Southern thing. There are probably some subtle things that do come from a higher % of students coming from TN than at other comparable schools that aren’t universal but could be more prevalent than at a NE school…Holding the door open for others (of both genders), more constrained cursing, perhaps a greater % of students going to church on Sunday, etc. But you also get a great city with an active and safe downtown and some mild weather! Vanderbilt was not a fit for me, or my kids so far, but it does have a lot going for it.

I see that you are coming from NY. For some of my friends in NY and the NE, NY City is a BIG DEAL – going to the city, living in the city, and knowing what is happening/hot in the city matters. Access to the latest trends and every type and ethnicity of cuisine is important. Most in Nashville, and probably at Vanderbilt, don’t care as much about these things, which could be a shock to the system for some. Others who have moved her from NY are relieved to just leave that all behind them. Everyone is different…if you liked Vandy and the city when you visited, you probably would like studying there.

Vanderbilt was founded in 1873 using a donation from Cornelius Vanderbilt with the idea that a great university in the middle of the country could help heal the wounds between North and South after the Civil War. Perhaps that will help you decide? There is more info on Wikipedia. Tennessee considers itself the Mid-South anyway. Not deep South like Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

As much as I like tour guides, they are not to be trusted! Vandy is far from the preppy school it is made out to be. Yes, girls do wear black dresses and cowboy boots to fall games, but apart from that, there aren’t any southern stereotypes I can see on campus. As for the culture shock, if I as an international student didn’t experience it, you certainly wouldn’t!

“i know a boy from our town (suburbs of NY) whose dream was to go to vanderbilt. he did everything possible to get accepted and he did. he went for one semester and HATED it so much. he transferred to NYU and loves it.”

I find it odd that a person wanted to get in his first choice school so bad would later transfer out just in one semester and not gave it a harder try. Can only say he did not do enough research on what the school was and made his own mind on what the school should be. It’s actually a spot wasted that could have given to someone truly (not delusionally) wanted to be there.

@amNotarobot : Who cares? A lot of prospective students make decisions based upon prestige and allure and very little research. As IQ intelligent as students attending top students are, schools are often chosen for kind of questionable reasons. Like this “love at first sight” thing seems vastly over-rated to me and everytime I hear a student claim that, I want to roll my eyes (and am slightly concerned. That is kind of why when folks come and do chance me threads on my alma mater’s thread claiming that it is a 1st or 2nd choice, I eventually ask them why to ensure they have an answer that kind of makes sense and to make sure that there are not many similar tier or kind of lower tier schools that meet the qualifications well. A lot of people feed into this hype of “this is the one” on here by endlessly claiming that their school is perfect for everyone and that everyone is happy and really wants to be there. It sometimes reads like live yield events very low on information to help folks make a mature and well-thought out decision. I believe in school pride and loyalty, but come on. I don’t want my school getting folks who it doesn’t fit well beyond a superficial level) because it indicates that some students had kind of sketchy or low expectations to begin with in order to decide that on a single tour or visit that a certain school is “the one” without even having stepped foot in say a classroom or talked to any faculty, or even any students not affiliated with the tourgroup. That scenario described is rare, but very possible. Also, I have this subtle feeling that retention rates at top schools are so high not only because of quality of life , but prestige. Basically, even those who are not truly feeling it may not go through the hassle of transferring, especially to a similar or lower prestige school.

That scenario is what it is and does not really reflect on NYU or VU as a whole. That person was naive like many of us as prospective students and they just so happened to be among the unlucky few that actually screwed up. It happens. I really don’t even know why that poster used it as a case study, but it is a cautionary tale.

@Mikemargo11 : A) Increase your standards for the ideal school. Look for other awesome things about VU (which there are plenty) and then compare to other options (beautiful campus and great city…come on. Plenty of top like 50 schools will meet this requirement). Also that tourguide…that sounds strange. Are you sure you didn’t pull that from a college blog? I can’t see a tourguide saying that this about VU this day and age given the demographics, however the student body is extremely wealthy compared to most even top schools, so if that is true (what the tourguide said) then that is why, and not because it is a southern custom. Also, what if the tourguide was from up north and was more middleclass. That would likely lead to an “interpretation” of sorts that is inaccurate.

“If you visited Vanderbilt and liked the city and campus, you would probably like studying there”…uhmmm no (that is probably why that random NYU case may actually be real. Again raise standards). Those should be bare minimum standards that help winnow down a long list of trying to figure that out. More like a starting point for further investigation I would hope, unless one is not really there to actually “study”. It would be scary if a high rank and those two were sufficient for many to fall in love with a school.

Vandy really isn’t that Southern. There’s a large Northern population, a very large Jewish population, and a small but visible international population. And the kids from the South generally aren’t your stereotypical Southerners. I know lots of guys from the Atlanta, Dallas, and Nashville suburbs and life there isn’t really much different from the Chicago suburbs.

As far as dressing up for football games some girls do but most guys go casual in a polo and shorts when it’s warm out. For homecoming some guys dress up more but in general guys dress casually. And most guys who aren’t in a fraternity just wear t-shirts.

My daughter dresses up for football games and formal functions at the sorority, but otherwise is very casual on campus as are the majority of her friends. This shouldn’t put anybody off from applying.

Vandy used to be much more Southern (in the 80’s for example) but as others have pointed out, with more and more students attending from out of the region it has evolved

I grew up in CT and have lived in FL for 25 years. I love Nashville, but outside of the “y’alls”, it doesn’t feel southern to me at all.

Thank you to all that provided valuable feedback. Just to be clear, I have no problem with southern culture, it is just very different and would take a lot of getting used to.

For everyone whose comments weren’t helpful and just told me to stay North, you’re the reason I might. I thank those that are actually interested in helping me learn about the school and don’t want to tell me to stay away from Vanderbilt if I “can’t accept” southern culture.

I am from the South and have often heard derogatory comments from others about many of us. It is amazing really that so many from the North choose to live here given how backwards we seem. Over the last two summers, I have driven around a lot of the country with my wife and I have not seen a lot of differences.

Recently I drove through NY and PA and it looked like much of the South, not just in terms of the mountains, forests but in the housing, vehicles, attire, etc. My point is that it seems like much of the North is very different than life in NYC or some of the larger cities.

mikemargo11, don’t let snarky remarks on venues on the internet deter you from applying to any college, including Vanderbilt. Push through stereotypes and go with your instincts. Build from a list where Money matters. Put in at least two financial match colleges you would be proud to call alma mater. Don’t apply to all reach colleges. Vandy is a reach college for everyone now. My advice: deciding if you will attend College X in Region X is an issue for those who get admitted. Save all the angst for April and May. Our VA son wanted to go to Dartmouth in the worst way and was not admitted. He was admitted to wonderful historic Bowdoin, but in the end decided to attend a large research U in the south…Duke. My Vandy son wanted to go to Rice or Swarthmore and was admitted to both with zero financial assists during the recession of 2008. Those who post here do not in any way represent the souls, the trustees, the history and the values of each of the unique universities and colleges in our nation. Respect each college for its merits and throw in your hat. Sort out what to do in May.

Nashville was ranked the best city for college students in last years Princeton Review student surveys IMHO there is not much difference between students from affluent suburbs of large metro areas (and elite public, private, and magnet high schools) from NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, DC, Denver, Houston, LA, or Nashville, etc…