<p>These are two of my top schools. I plan to study engineering. I have visited both and loved them. They seem similar other than that Vanderbilt is private and UVA is public. Since UVA is sort of a smaller sized public, they had a similar feel. I know they both have sort of a rich-kid reputation but feel confident I will find my niche in either school. Can anyone discuss the positives and negatives of both. If it means anything, I also plan to use a Navy ROTC scholarship at whichever school I attend.</p>
<p>You can't really go wrong with either school. They are almost identical. However Virgina is quite a bit bigger than Vandy.</p>
<p>It really comes down to the size of the University and the area. Would you rather be in Virginia or Tennessee and be at a large public school or a smaller, LAC type feel?</p>
<p>Except that they don't have an undergraduate business/comm school at Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>Why not Virginia Tech if you're looking at engineering in Va?</p>
<p>I am also applying to VT but, while I really want to study engineering, I love things such as European History equally. UVA and Vanderbilt have much more of a flexible curriculum for me to take course outside of the engineering school. I might even be able to minor or double major outside of engineering.</p>
<p>Two great and very comparable schools. This is a rare case in which the public school of a matched set has at least as much academic cachet (if not more) than the private one. One thing that might separate the two is that at UVA, fewer than half of the students live on campus while over 80% do at Vandy. But since Charlottesville is a classic college town, it may not feel as if there's a large commuting contingent.</p>
<p>2009 grad, you are correct that it is common to double major in a field outside of engineering at Vanderbilt. In fact, Vanderbilt engineering considers its flexibility in that regard as one of its drawing points.</p>
<p>With the construction of new freshman dorms (The Commons residential halls project), I would be surprised if the on-campus residential numbers are not even greater than 80% at this point. Upperclassmen and women have a variety of housing types on campus from which to choose; it is not all "dorm style" living.</p>
<p>I thought all Vandy undergrads had to live on campus.</p>
<p>^^^That is the official policy. In the recent past, some seniors have lived off campus, or so I have been told. At this point, students are being told they will be living in Vanderbilt housing of some sort for all of their undergraduate years.</p>
<p>"double major in a field outside of engineering at Vanderbilt. In fact, Vanderbilt engineering considers its flexibility in that regard as one of its drawing points."</p>
<p>Would the above not also be a potential negative aspect in the sense that most engineering programs have little room for electives because you have to take so many required courses to obtain your degree? In other words, Vandy's engineering may be a bit watered down if you can find time to get enough course work to double major.</p>
<p>^^^Cressida, I'm not an engineer myself, so I'm not in a position to analyze the course offerings or program requirements. However, all of the engineering majors are ABET accredited, and I don't think there is a lot of flexibility with regard to standard requirements for ABET programs. One of the reasons many engineering students (and this includes computer science students) are able to fulfill other majors is because VUSE is pretty generous with AP credits, and gets applications from a lot of students who took AP classes in high school. Unlike Arts and Science at Vanderbilt, there does not seem to be a strict limit on AP credits in the Engineering School. Hence, students with a lot of advanced classes in high school can squeeze in courses in other fields.</p>
<p>A fair number of the double majors are computer science and computer engineering students double majoring in math. It isn't hard to do, since cs is math-intensive and some of the students enter having already taken post-calc BC classes while still in high school.</p>
<p>The various trade-offs may well produce a program that is not to the liking of all prospective engineers. On the other hand, it makes the program more appealing to some students with a wider range of interests.</p>