I get what he’s saying. No school is worth a ton of grief. S19 has plenty of options and we aren’t worked up about this decision so much. I just want to know so he can visit if he wants to and we can get a move on with choosing.
Did anyone else not get an email about decision release??
Check your promotions tab, that’s where mine was. @hsclassof2023
@albertsax I don’t think @flippengoose is saying you shouldn’t go to Vanderbilt but is making the point that it’s easy to idolize a college even though no college is perfect and to keep things in perspective. Good luck tomorrow!
Exactly! Actually, my family has a long history with Vandy. My father taught there, and I grew up in Nasville. It’s not that I didnt have some good times at Vandy, and I remain a big Vandy sports fan (which, trust me, can be hard). That said, it’s very competitive, and can be cut throat. Plus, it’s school. Lots of studying, some good professors and some bad, etc. Trust me, it’s not Mecca and won’t make it break your career. There are lots of places to go. Vandy is just another school.
@flippengoose well that’s interesting. I thought Vandy was more of a friendly collaborative environment and known for undergraduate teaching. If S19 gets in, I have some serious research to do. And I’ll have to be fast about it.
I agree with flippengoose. My sister went to Vandy and was half drunk for four years. But she eventually got a Ph.D. somewhere else. Too much focus on going to “elite” schools. Colleges and students would be better off if U.S. News got rid of their list.
Just 12 hours ?
Good luck everyone!!
It does have a reputation of a party school, alongside smart kids and strong academics.
So, last year Vandy’s acceptance rate for ED was around 20% and RD was 8%. What’s most interesting is that their yield for the RD applicants was just 32.7%. I wonder if that’s because they accept such high stats kids that many of those kids have other options. It’s also the reason they have a big waitlist and took 243 kids off the waitlist for just 1600 kids matriculating.
@homerdog Yes, during the RD round, the top schools cross-admit many students. Top students got in many schools and they can only go to one!!
@flippengoose @JoeRockhead Let me get this straight. You all came on a thread of Vanderbilt hopefuls to say the school isn’t that great? Sure, there are a lot of excellent schools to go to…and some might be a better fit for an individual than others. However, your comment is quite possibly one of the most myopic, self serving things I have heard. Some things are better left unsaid. I will file your comments in that category. That is all.
While these smaller private schools are wildly popular for the status seaking kid’s, they can’t offer everything the state flagship schools offer at a greatly reduced price.
The flagships also get both first choice and first backup for many students. 35% matriculation is pretty good for an expensive reach school known for its academic rigor.
@FilledWithHope I believe the point they were trying to make, from the standpoint of an alum, is that no matter how perfect you think Vandy is there are other schools that are just as good in case the news you hear this week isn’t what you hoped. Don’t take it as a personal attack and it is one person’s point of view. Good luck !
For some reason pro-Emory folks like to try and move Vandy down a notch or two. No clue why but it comes across to me as @FilledWithHope described. My wife and I graduated from Vandy and it has afforded us so many opportunities along with hard work that we are grateful for. I will have two boys there next year - Expect to be appropriately challenged and grow in ways you can’t imagine now. That can be said of more schools than Vandy including Emory and others. Good luck today everyone with Vandy and with your other admissions decisions!
@vpa2019 Point well taken, but I didn’t see anyone making the case that Vandy is the “perfect” school. No school is for that matter. It just seems like the original posters comments are somewhat jaded…and not very helpful. As for me, I was accepted in the Early Admissions round and will be attending in the fall. FWIW, my father attended Duke and he absolutely loved it! While Duke (and a couple of the other places I considered for that matter) is a fabulous institution on par with any of the so called “elite” schools, I found Vandy to be a much better fit for ME. Does that qualify me to say Duke isn’t “all that” or filled with “drunk” students or “can’t offer everything that State supported schools offer at a greatly reduced price”. Nope. Different strokes for different folks. There are plenty of great schools with great outcomes and certain places make more sense than others given who you are and what you are trying to experience and accomplish. However, throwing stones at another school is silly and myopic at best. Having said all of that, good luck to everyone today! No matter the outcome, we are all embarking on the next steps in our journey and there are often multiple paths to get wherever you are going. See ya in the Fall!
Hi guys, just wanted to make a quick comment. My D applied to 18 schools and I will admit she has pretty good stats overall. That said, she has gotten into schools that we were surprised about yet didn’t get into some that we are truly shocked about. Every school has their own formula of what they want at their university and how to keep it a well-rounded community for the sake of all the students.
Whatever school you go to will be amazing and you should be proud. My D got into UCLA which changed everything and that is where she is going now. There were just under 112K applications so the odds were against her. So as soon as the results come out today, and IF she gets into Vandy she will immediately turn it down. Good luck everyone and know that everything happens for a reason.
@FilledWithHope just curious what made you choose Vandy ED? To be totally committed you had to be very sure it was the best fit so I am just curious what did that for you over say Duke which you say your dad loved (we are all influenced by our family and friends and their experiences) Are you from Nashville? It is a reach for anyone to get into these elite schools which seem to have more than 10x the number of qualified applicants for the space they have so all our kids apply to multiple schools with the hopes that one of their top choices will pan out - including the financial aid package! So that being said – Vandy is not my son’s top choice mostly because it doesn’t have a business school and the local presentation we saw was awful. He is also not excited about having to live on campus for 4 years… but that being said he is still hopeful to get in and would take a closer look by visiting if he got lucky. I am concerned about hearing that it has a cutthroat vibe… I had thought it was more collaborative there. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what made it THE school for you. Sometimes the school we like for our kids or don’t like… is not what they have on the top of their list. I think Vandy sounds awesome in a great location and to be at an SEC school and still be at an elite school seems like the best of both worlds… also I love Nashville LOL. On the other hand, I HATED Emory - it is such a small campus with no school spirit and I thought he’d outgrow it by sophomore year- It feels like a high school. There is not much to do around campus and the campus isn’t downtown Atlanta but an expensive cab away. He was into it being a “target business school”. Only one dining hall on campus??? Of course, I attended undergrad at a large state school so I was used to having amentities like a seemingly unlimited number of on campus dining options and several libraries to choose from for studying late at night etc… like you said… different strokes … Personally, I am still hoping my son goes for the big state school in the end. It is an amazing value for undergrad. But it will be his choice. College should be about finding yourself, exploring anything and everything you want to do and enjoying it while you do it! Of course, I want him to be challenged, but not to the point of making the experience stressful and unenjoyable. I want him to have peers he can collaborate with and trust and I want him to have FUN! Having time to be involved on campus and have a good time is important too - and a lot of learning in college is done outside the classroom too. There are many years ahead for working hard and being stressed… college is a time to stop the clock and enjoy while you learn… but that’s just my opinion. I went to law school at a cut throat place where people gave each other fake notes and ripped pages out of resource books in the library to try and stop others from completeing assignments. That is NOT the environment I want for my son for undergrad. Luckily, Georgetown Law was close by to Univ of Maryland where I did my undergrad so my friends and sorority sisters were able to help me keep things in perspective. But I knew several kids who quit or had nervous breakdowns. It isn’t worth it. it is just school and life goes on. When I chose that school I did it largely based on rankings and prestige. I didn’t even think about the environment or ask about that. I wish I had. Good luck everybody and @FilledWithHope I hope Vandy is everything you hope it will be 
I think Vanderbilt has moved up the elite ranks very quickly the past 10 years but many still see it for what it used to be a regional, southern very good private college. For example, according to ivywise, Vandy’s acceptance rate in 2007 was 33% which is one of the highest that year for the “top 25 colleges in the US”. To put it in context, USC was 25%, George Washington 35%, Georgetown 21%, and Notre Dame 36% with the “elite” colleges like HYPSM around 10%.
Vanderbilt is an excellent college but I wonder if their current acceptance rate (9%) reflects their “true” ranking?