Univ. of Rochester vs Vanderbilt, HELP ASAP

<p>Deciding between Rochester vs Vanderbilt - S will be a premed with a major in biology. He likes both schools with a slight preference for Vandy but either one would be fine for him. Vandy is 15k more per year. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated!!</p>

<p>Hi! I was accepted to UofR and just visited about a week ago! The campus is gorgeous and not to big, but the biggest winner for me was the community. Every single student and faculty member was interesting, friendly, and intelligent! There is a crazy activity scene and students are seriously passionate about everything they do…add that to the open curriculum and fantastic academics and I was sold! I was waitlisted at Vanderbilt, but I don’t know much about it (never visited, applied on a whim because it was free, etc), but I didn’t even consider for a moment visiting because UofR is the perfect place for me. Has your son visited? That 15k a year is more significant if he is planning to do grad/med/law school later</p>

<p>Yes, we visited and we love it. The students are very nice and also showed a great sense of community. It’s a great school in every aspect and the campus is beautiful. I feel that one would get more of a liberal art education at Vanderbilt. If you do get into Vandy, you should visit and make a choice. Congratulations and good luck in College.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt has a better name, hence most likely a better basic education. I’m not sure whether either is suited for bio majors, but you should do some research specifically on that. In the end, if 15k isn’t too big a deal, go for Vandy. If you’re saving up for med school, go for Rochester. It’s still an amazing school.</p>

<p>I actually think if you know you are going to med school, Rochester is a fine school, and highly regarded by other universities. If you are only going to get an undergrad, Vandy has the better name. But $15k per year is a lot, at least to me.</p>

<p>I always thought that Vanderbilt was overrated and Rochester was underrated. Rochester really impresses me. </p>