<p>MrRomantic...glad you are psyched about your Vandy admission. Ahem about your Stanford barb, but congrats. Vandy offers merit scholarships that are very attractive and Vandy has a very talented student body. EvilRobot on the old CC Vandy boards turned down Yale for scholarship to Vandy and is very happy with his decision and life in Nashville.
So many truly great faculty members at Vandy and full profs when many other schools must rely on TAs. Plus Nashville is a great town for interning..very lively economy. Have a fabulous four years!</p>
<p>Who is this Evil Robot fellow? :D</p>
<p>evil robot did you run out of money or realized if you cant leave campus to party who go there. Who can compare New Haven (total IVY hole) to Vandy and Nashville - TOTAL PARTY!</p>
<p>Bridie email me and I will let you know where to go for fun or you will dry up wouldnt want that to happen.</p>
<p>Try it with a few drinks YOU WILL LOVE VANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tothebank maybe you are culturally desolate Nashville is soooooo culturally and intellectually GREAT! Plus the parties rock offcampus!</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm thinking of applying to Vandy next year for premed. Is the competition cutthroat for those classes?
[/quote]
The classes are not easy, especially since the number of As is limited (not to a ridiculous degree, though), but if you put in the work you'll do fine. I have not seen cutthroat competitiveness at all, just people wanting to do their personal best. This is in regards only to Gen Chem and Intro Bio Sci, since these are the only premed classes I've had so far. I'm not sure how orgo is.</p>
<p>PS - The average for Intro Bio Sci this year before the final was around 66.</p>
<p>My cousin at Vandy made an A in Organic this year. Everyone can't be premed. The courses have to be difficult in order to weed out applicants to medical schools.</p>
<p>is it true that Vanderbilt has a huge Greek scene? are there still ways to take part in the social scene without being in a frat/sorority?</p>
<p>let's this bump this thread up!</p>
<p>My son was born and lived in New England for the first part of his childhood, then spent the rest of his school years in the midwest, so we are not southerners. He is a freshman now at Vanderbilt, and has had no difficulty whatever finding a compatible social group. He is not interested in fraternities, although he is a very sociable person. He is a serious student, but likes to have a lot of friends and be active, and that has worked out well.</p>
<p>The campus is much more diverse--economically, culturally, and racially--than it was in the past, and certainly far more than many people seem to think. The school is interested in attracting a variety of students from across the U.S. as well as internationally.</p>
<p>pianogirl_90, and others with the same question: according to my son, there is no difficulty participating in the social scene without being in a sorority or fraternity. The majority of the students are not members of a Greek organization.</p>
<p>My wife and my brother graduated from Vandy, their best friends are from Miami, Seattle, Dallas, New York and Chicago. My Son is a freshman at Vandy and his roommate is from Calif. and suitemates are from Conn. and NJ. and they do everything together. Vandy is truly becoming an diversified school. As far as premed., my son is biomedical eng. with the intention of going to med school. It is competitive but he loves it. He had three lunches with professors within the first month of school. Vucept program is awesome. He is probably going to pledge a frat come Jan. but his roommate and suitemates are not, so no pressure there. So any questions, I would be happy to answer.</p>
<p>Rice people are too busy studying to worry about dressign well lol
do you seriously make that part of your consideration, tho? Do you seriously give weight to how hot the girls are on campus, because that doesn't really factor into the equatio at all for me. It's actaully a turn-off for me if people are too vain.</p>
<p>I like the females, end of story. Vandy and UVA both have them.</p>
<p>I graduated from Vandy a long time ago, when it was uncontestably a Southern school, with the odd Yankee pre-med thrown in–I’d like to think things have changed, but when there are multiple threads on this board ranking sororities and fraternities, I have my doubts–Unlike Duke and other schools that started out as solid regional schools and became national, it seems like Vandy’s still stuck at that regional tier</p>
<p>Confused; did you enjoy your experience; are you more or less proud to have gone to Vanderbilt now that Duke has left Vandy in the dust and moved on to bigger and better things?</p>
<p>One of the things that cracks me up the most about rankings and “national prestige” is the idea that it’s important to go to a school that has “become national” in order to be successful. I couldn’t dream of a better situation for a Southerner, I am going to a school that is basically revered in the South and as such, anyone with a Vandy degree and some inclination of how to act in the Southern states will be able to do literally whatever they want in that “region”. At the same time, supposing a Vandy grad felt like working for a Connecticut hedge fund, those doors are just as easily opened. </p>
<p>It may be sad that some people have to settle for Vandy after falling short of more prestigious schools (at the “national” level), and we all know that if they fight hard, maybe they will be able to overcome the obstacles preventing them from joining their more prestigious colleagues, but hey, I’m more than happy to make make bank consulting in Atlanta for people that far prefer Vandy grads to Dookies. Soon enough, maybe we too will free ourselves from the regional shackles and join the national tier, who knows, a Wake Forest graduate might then be able to share your shame reflection, grundoon.</p>
<p>edit: I misspelled same there, but maybe shame is a better word anyway.</p>
<p>A bit defensive are we, SAE (and you had to put your fratty name in your handle, right)? Education I got at Vandy was excellent and has served me well, but the student body and the social scene was overwhelmingly Southern and valued getting drunk on the weekends as much as anything else–“Basically revered”???–Give me a break. A lot of Southern schools are starting to pull applicants from all over the country, but my guess is that it’s more Davidson/Duke rather than Vandy–it’s an empirical question, though; got any real evidence</p>
<p>grundoon51, the geographic distribution of attending students is available somewhere on VU’s web site, probably on the admissions page. The school has become far more diverse, in every regard, over the last dozen years.</p>
<p>I don’t think I could be defensive about Vanderbilt if I tried. Rather, I’m hoping you’ll help me satisfy my genuine curiosity about your feelings towards the school. I don’t think I had to put my “fratty name in [my] handle”, but I see you deduced that I did, excellent. Again, I’m hoping you’ll go back and answer some of my questions there; I feel like I want to get along you with (on the Internet…) a lot more than you want to get along with me, we’re a part of the same club after all, come on now.</p>
<p>You’ll also find if you follow midmo’s directions that the student body is incredibly diverse in many ways (far more so than the likes of Davidson and W&L), it just so happens that the Greek culture still does and will remain to have a large presence because of its universal appeal and permanent attachment to the student body makeup, even to those not actually a part of it. Hop on the Vanderbilt praise train, not the disdain train.</p>
<p>Just a side note, Davidson in my opinion is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and it’s very clear after two or three days on the campus (or even a short briefing session in their tour-launching room) as well as a quick look around town that the school will forever be attached to the South much more than Vandy ever will be from here onward. I don’t want to say that you’re judgment is clouded here, but it seems like something is biasing you against Vanderbilt, which I would think is an incredibly rare situation for an alumni/a. Couldn’t possibly be more curious here, unless you’d rather not share.</p>
<p>I, too, went to Vanderbilt “a long time ago”, like grundoon51, and I understand what he means. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and am proud to be an alum, but until recently, I did not think I wanted my children attending Vanderbilt. Having moved to the Northeast, I was concerned about the lack of diversity in race, region, and religion that I remembered.</p>
<p>On recent visits to Vanderbilt, however, I see much more diversity. I still see the good things that were present when I matriculated–the bright students, the dedicated faculty, the fun social scene, the benefits of living in Nashville, the great climate, and yes, the frat parties and the football games. The advantage of Vanderbilt over other universities with Greek systems is that the vast majority of Greeks live outside of the house, with their Greek and non-Greek friends. Only the top six officers live in the houses, so one’s social life is not dominated by sororities and fraternities. </p>
<p>The improvements that I see in selectivity, diversity, and commitment to making each student as comfortable as possible in a supportive learning community (with the Commons, etc), make me happy that my son was accepted ED1 and will be part of the class of 2014.</p>
<p>Great post, vandyalum. What year for you? Just wondering what length of time your perspective covers.</p>
<p>Will be visiting next month with my son. From Rhode Island.</p>