<p>I don't know about being "far" better.<br>
Both are pretty good schools. Emory is just prettier because of the huge pot of funds they have stashed somewhere that coke had given them. As far as professors and students, I think they are both of the same caliber.</p>
<p>Well to be honest theyre about the same. Emory has an historically more selective admissions process, though last year I think Vandy had it beat by two percent or so. Emory has a far larger endowment, and I beleive it will begin to outpace Vanderbilt as it uses more of its economic power to attract better faculty, students and research/study centers. Right now theyre pretty similar though, the rivalry is pretty pointless. (I wrote this before i read the previous post, and I agree with most of what's written above.)</p>
<p>I think between vanderbilt and emory they're close but vanderbilt has the edge. I'm very surprised at the amount of people that say vanderbilt is better than duke and even went so far as to choose Vanderbilt over Duke. If I may ask, what were the main reasons involved? </p>
<p>I'm currently choosing between sophomore transfer to Vanderbilt or Chapel Hill, I was thinking UNC, but since I'm pre-med I'm now leaning to Vandy since Vanderbilt's prestige may help in the end if its alot more than unc.</p>
<p>Oh, and since this is a stats thread:
HS GPA 4.37 Weighted, 9 Honors, 8 AP's
1530 SAT I, 35 ACT, 800 Math IIC, 760 Writing, 750 Chem
College GPA 4.0, Withdrawal from fall semester
Lots of hospital work, Captain of Academic Team and Math Team, Pres of Latin Club
Leads in Spring Musicals and in One-Act Play, Soccer Team</p>
<p>Those are the main ones.</p>
<p>ndhawk:
To respond to your question "Why Vanderbilt over Duke? "--I don't think many are saying Vanderbilt is better than Duke. However, there are certainly reasons why my son chose Vandy over Duke. He was admitted to Duke, Washington University in St. Louis, Vanderbilt, SMU, and Tulane, and was offered significant merit scholarship money at the last three. He narrowed his final choices to Duke and Vanderbilt and debated long and hard. Probably the # 1 reason he settled on Vanderbilt was the $22,000 per year he was offered at Vanderbilt; Duke would have been full price. Next, he was considering majoring in Chemical Engineering which Duke doesn't offer (he could have selected a different engineering major there, however.) Finally, he really liked the band director (Dr. Sagan) we met at Vanderbilt and he wanted to play in the marching band. While he could have played in the band at Duke, Vanderbilt's band/music program is more established and he felt good about the program there. (He didn't know much about Duke's band.) Basically, he really likes both schools but felt that the slight edge Duke might have in prestige didn't outweigh the financial advantage of Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>UNC is a great school (and that is coming from a Duke alum!), so I think your choice is a personal decision and you need to consider the factors you think are most important. Good luck.</p>
<p>I chose Vanderbilt over Duke because Vanderbilt gave me 27k and Duke gave me 5k. Plus, Commodores are so much better than Blue Devils ;)</p>
<p>I got into Vandy and Duke too - but chose Duke. Got merit $ from Vandy, but the fin aid at Duke turned out to be more than what I would have got at Vandy</p>
<p>I am a new member, and I don't really understand how to post a question. So if i am doing it the wrong way, please let me know...
Anyways, i was also wondering what my chances are for getting into Vandy. I have a 4.6-4.7 GPA weighted, probably a 96 unweighted.<br>
-Taken 8 APs (History, Stats, Biology, Chemistry, will take Gov't, Lit, Calc, and French for senior year)
-I would be considered a minority since I am Asian, although I've lived in the south my whole life, so i'm not really like asian asian.<br>
-I'm planning to apply early decision, and into the Peabody school. I heard it was easier to get into that way.<br>
-I've taken the New SAT twice, and the first time I got around a 1300, I don't know about the second time, probably 1360 when you take the best combined
-I've been playing Varsity Tennis since sixth grade, and was number one last year and the captain
- I've been on yearbook for four years and am senior editor next year and was like assistant editor this year
- I'm in Zonta (this community service club and have been treasurer for the past two years)
-I was secretary of my class the last two years
-State-ranked every year for National French Exam<br>
-I have other little stuff and community service projects , but that's basically it </p>
<p>Thanks so much!
(Vanderbilt is my first choice, so I would appreciate all comments on my chances to get in or what I have to do to get in!)</p>
<p>Question is fine. I say you have a good shot and if you raise your SATs you will have an even better shot. I am not sure that Asians are considered a URM at Vandy but I don't think Vandy has a large Asian population so they might be. You have good ECs play up the community service. To increase you chance apply to Peabody their admissions rate is higher than the other colleges.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for replying so fast! I also noticed that the average class rank for Vandy was like 5%. There are only 38 students in my class, and i know that I am top 3, but definately not at number 1. My school won't rank, but will say that I'm in the top 10%. Will this hurt my chances for admission? Also, if I were to apply to Peabody and I got in, how do you transfer into the College of Arts and Sciences?</p>
<p>being in the top 10% should NOT hurt your chances. I went to a school where the graduating class was only 25 students. I knew that I was #1, but according to school policy, ranks were not to be given to schools. so my counselor just put me down as top ten percent, meaning the top 2 (two) students in my class. colleges will see how many students are in your class so don't worry about that. </p>
<p>Oh, also, try raising your score on the new sat. That will help you out a lot. Good luck!</p>
<p>Kid from my school
1570 (don't know SAT IIs)
ACT: 35
5's on all tests (6 or 7 in total)
Full ride for him</p>
<p>Yes, I am worried about my score. The other applicants seem to be way into the 1400 range and I'm just above 1300's (on a 1600 scale). I'm also wondering I don't think I did even reasonably well on two of my AP's, but hopefully I did pretty okay on AP stats. Will failing grades on AP tests hurt my chances for admission? I mean, I'm still applying binding and into the Peabody school to increase my chances, but I was just wondering. Also, if I don't break 1400, is it worth taking the time to study and prepare for the ACT and do well on that? Thanks, for all your help! </p>
<p>P.S. I noticed many people had between 9 to 11 AP classes. My school is so small that it only offers a limited amount (about 10 or 11). I will have taken 8 by the end of my senior year, and its probably the highest amount of anybody in my class, but I don't know how I'm going to be as competive as the other applicants with the above 10 AP courseload.</p>
<p>Your AP classes (and AP grades won't hurt you) and rank are fine, but your SAT scores seem quite low (for being the <em>new</em> SAT, which is out of a 2400-scale, not 1600). Typically, asians are not given any minority advantages. Early decision should help, applying to Peabody probably will too. For comparison, Vanderbilt's mid-50% SAT range (1600 scale) is in the ballpark of 1270-1440, which under the new SAT tests would probably be around 1900-2160. If you're making 1300/2400, that would seem to almost certainly kill your chances (if you meant you had taken the <em>old</em> SAT, then 1300/1600 is solid).</p>
<p>Sorry that was a bit confusing. Yes, I meant that if I had taken the Old sat, my score would have been equivalent to a 1300. I got about a 1950, and I am desperately hoping that will go up.<br>
Anyways, it was interesting to hear your comment on asians not getting too much of an advantage. I heard other people say that their new chancellor, Gee, would do seemingly anything to diversity the campus. I know this means like in terms of the creativity of the applicant, the more creative applicant the better, but I was also hoping it meant in terms of ethnicity as well.</p>
<p>There is a possibility that he might make the school a tad bit (read: a lot) more diverse than it is now. Are you a rising senior? If you are taking all the hardest AP's and still getting decent scores in school, which I am assuming that you are because of your GPA, you should be in great shape. Also, I wouldn't worry about the number of AP's your school offers. As long as you are taking advantage of all the opportunities offered to you by taking the max amount of AP classes, colleges will acknowledge that. Also, it wouldn't hurt to go beyond and take some classes at a local college (?) Make sure that you write a solid essay that shows your true self, not the ideal "someone" you think they would accept to their school. this could carry you further in the application process than grades and test scores can. what are you thinking of majoring in College of A&S?</p>
<p>Yes, I am a rising senior. But I live on like the smallest island in the world, so there isn't much to say about a local college. I don't know exactly what I would major in, but I always thought if you went to any school which had a College of Arts and Science, then that curriculum prepared you for a wide variety of majors as opposed to something like engineering, which only prepares you for engineering. I am definately going to apply to the Peabody School, because the standards are less rigorous. I don't know that a program based around education is something that I would dislike, but if I could choose I would choose the college of arts and sciences, just so I can have more options for a major.
I was also wondering if you knew anything about Vandy's idea of unique extracurriculars. Somebody was saying (and the Vanderbilt website) also shows that some of their incoming students pursued activities like baton twirling and belly dancing! Not that there's anything wrong with that and it certainly qualifies as unique, but I have the standard stuff like being MVP of Varsity tennis and student council positions, which i'm sure they get a lot of students who have that. I do have leadership positions in the activities that I do, but my activities and community service (volunteering at a local hospital) are very common.<br>
Thanks so much for your (and anybody else's) input!</p>
<p>Dear ShopGirl:</p>
<p>Your stats are solid, now that you have explained that your 1350 SAT is not really on the new scale of 2400. At the risk of giving you the wrong advice, my inclination is to tell you not to sell yourself short. Why apply to a school that you don't really want to be in just intending to transfer later? Why not go ahead and apply early decision to the A&S school that you really want? If you can work to bring your SAT score up even a little more, I would guess you would have no problem getting in, especially if you have a strong essay that shows something unique about you. (No promises of course, but just a gut feeling). If they know you really want Vandy (bu applying ED) and you have all the other strong qualities, volunteering, leadership, awards, etc. you mentioned, I think you have a great chance. And, I do think "Asian" should qualify as a minority and would add to the diversity of the campus, which plays in your favor. </p>
<p>Of course, nothing is certain, so do whatever you feel best about. You might be able to get a candid opinion of your situation by talking to a Vanderbilt admissions counselor--just don't wait until their busy season next fall. Good luck.</p>
<p>I was wondering if anybody knows about Vanderbilt's view on geographical residence. Since Vanderbilt is branded as a "southern school", I know they must get a large amount of applications from the south. I live on Hilton Head, which is in South Carolina, and I was wondering how that affects my application.</p>
<p>Well, not sure how that would affect you. I live in Nashville, Tennessee (actually was on Vandy's campus today) and there's several people I know at my high school who had gotten in that have far inferior stats to those who get rejected out-of-state (i.e. B- average or SAT scores in 1100s).</p>
<p>On Vanderbilt's website it has information on the class of 2008 freshmen and where they are from.
<a href="http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Admissions/freshman%20profile.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.vanderbilt.edu/Admissions/freshman%20profile.htm</a></p>
<p>Tennessee had the most (obviously) at 235. If you look at the southeastern states, South Carolina is the fewest of any of them, with just 9. So that could play into your favor. They have managed to get a student from every state, with the exceptions of Montana, the Dakotas, Maine, or Alaska.</p>
<p>Despite people saying that there aren't many Asians at Vandy, I still don't think they are an URM. Nationwide, America is 4.2% Asian, but at Vanderbilt it was 6.9% for the incoming class last year.</p>
<p>That was interesting to hear the Asian stats for Vandy. By the way what is a URM? haha, is this a silly question? I'm sure it has something to do with minority.
Also, what are people's opinions of the Common Application? I know Vanderbilt says they accept that with an additional Vanderbilt supplement. Which application is better, and when do the applications come out?</p>