Extremely nervous for these results. Hoping to soften the blow from a rejection from Rice, but oh well who knows…
Good luck to everyone!
@fbhsmom…I could give you a million reasons why Vanderbilt was the perfect fit for me and it could quite possibly be meaningless to you, your son, or anyone else for that matter. Here goes though. When I visited, I happened to look around and noticed the type of people that were hanging together. I didn’t see groups of White people, groups of Black People, or groups of Asian people. I saw EVERYONE hanging out together and that excited me. As simple as this may seem, when I took a dorm tour of the Commons, I noticed an Ice Cream truck parked outside the building and students sitting down in the grass reading books, socializing together, and throwing frisbees. When I spoke with students during my Tour Day and asked why THEY chose Vandy, everyone gave me a different answer. Each one of them had personal reasons for choosing Vanderbilt and all of them were different and from different parts of the country which gave me the impression that Vanderbilt isn’t some monolithic factory producing look alike graduates. The opportunity to study abroad. The flexibility in the curriculum. Living in Nashville. The lineup of speakers that visit campus. The academics, etc. I could go on and on, but in short, it just felt right when I visited Vanderbilt and the environment I experienced is something that I know I will thrive in…and believe you me, I took a decent amount of campus visits because I didn’t know what I was really looking for when I started.
BTW, my dad wanted me to go to Duke. My entire life, I thought I wanted to go to Duke. However, my parents told me that I would KNOW when I found the right fit and I did. No magical formula…just things made more sense to me and certain things FELT RIGHT for me when I was at Vanderbilt. One school (let’s just say it is my father’s arch enemy school LOL) felt completely wrong half way through the visit. Not because of the Tarheel basketball team either. The people on the tour, the constant comments about how UNC was “so much better than Duke”, blah, blah just put a bad taste in my mouth. Surprisingly, my father actually thought UNC was a potential great fit for me given my personality and the field I want to pursue. It just didn’t feel right when I visited; however, my cousin will be attending and he is as excited as can be. It is a fantastic school, just not the right fit for me. Notice a theme here?! LOL!! Good luck to you and your son. I am sure he will make a great decision.
BTW, my classmate just got into Rice RD yesterday and she is very happy. They posted this on their admissions blog and I took out an excerpt. Has nothing to do with Vanderbilt and everything to do with Vanderbilt. We can all learn from this given what today is.
https://admission.blogs.rice.edu/2019/03/26/a-thoughtful-tuesday-on-the-topic-of-admissions/
“Rice may be a great college. Arguably, one of the best in my opinion. However, it may not be the right choice for everyone. Weigh your options accordingly and pick the place you are going to feel the happiest at. Big college names mean nothing when it comes to experience and education. Wherever you feel safest and wherever you feel you can obtain the best education suited for your needs is where you should choose to go come August…A school will never define who you are as a person. A college won’t be your end all be all. You have to follow your dreams, your goals, your aspirations no matter where it takes you. Celebrate how far you have come, no matter what result you get today.”
@FilledWithHope Thanks for your posts! I agree with you - that sounds wonderful! My son would think so as well. He got admitted to Carolina Honors but really wasn’t feeling it on the visit either. He has visited a huge range of schools and I am curious as to which he will choose. His friend applied and just got into rice yesterday. I’ve heard great things about it, just not the place for my son. I do really like that quote though. I think visiting the schools is so important. Sometimes when you see a traveling program it is almost worse than doing nothing. They don’t send their most knowledgable staff (in this case they hadn’t even attended Vandy so couldn’t speak to their own experiences). If my son gets in we will go to visit campus and get a better feel. Funny, he really liked Duke. Of course, being a UMD grad… I HATE Duke and told him if he attends I’ll be fine with it but that he will NEVER get me to cheer for them for basketball HAHA… even if they did change MD’s conference some things are just ingrained I’m sure your dad would understand 
I used to work at CHOA (the children’s hospital in Atlanta). They have a huge hangup about Vandy.
@jpehurley My parents have a friend who is an ER Pediatrician at Children’s. He went to undergrad and Med School at Emory and is a partner in a medical practice. When I asked him about Emory, he asked me the other schools I was considering and I told him Vandy, Duke, Rice, Dartmouth and Penn were on my list along with several larger state schools. I was kinda ruling out Dartmouth and Penn because of the weather (too cold for me! LOL!) and he told me given those choices and financial aid not as a consideration, he would choose Vandy or Duke given his experience because in his opinion “they were much more prestigious” than Emory. Didn’t give it too much thought at the time and he seems to be doing very well for himself (big house, boat, Porsche, etc.), but I always thought that statement to be interesting.
@jpehurley
What do CHOA and Vandy have in relation? Everyone should just visit the colleges they were accepted into and see if it’s the best fit for them. Personally had no issue picking Emory over Vandy and Georgetown, although Gtown was initially my top choice. Vandy’s location in Nashville is great but Nashville is the pits ( in my opinion), never felt more uncomfortable in a new city like I did in the Vandy area. Vandy is still very much a good ol boys school, and that was not for me. Also, Emory is a ten-minute drive to Midtown or downtown Atlanta. Atlanta traffic is the only impediment on that. If someone finds ATL boring, they’re probably the issue, not Emory.
@socaldad2002
Admit rates and SAT scores have little to do with academic prowess, but more to do with popularity. Last time I checked US news( which was recent) Emory, Vandy, and Georgetown all had the same reputation scores. Vandy is only ranked higher due to higher graduation rates, and higher SAT scores, and I bring up rankings as a way to dispel the notion that Vandy is somehow ivy level because of stats. All top 25 schools have high stats and low acceptance rates now.
We have another one guys! LOL!! Btw @emorynavy, If someone finds Nashville boring, they are probably the issue. Jus’ sayin’! LOL!!
@emorynavy “Vandy is only ranked higher due to higher graduation rates, and higher SAT scores” .
Interesting analysis. In your opinion, why are graduation rates higher at Vanderbilt as compared to Emory? #OutcomesDoMatter.
@FilledWithHope
I don’t know maybe Vandy is easier. And who’s the other one, and why are you so on edge? Relax it’s a college forum. Again most of this stuff doesn’t matter, Good luck to the applicants and please visit, and take opinions about schools with a grain of salt, and go visit them.
@emorynavy One other thing. I just took a casual stroll over to the Emory 2023 thread. You seem to be quite the prolific poster on that thread with information that someone deeply involved with Emory might only be privy too. Hmmm. Coincidence? Employee? Staffer? Maybe. At any rate, what brought you over here to our little old pathetic Vanderbilt thread? LOL!!
@FilledWithHope
Just a Student, senior to be exact. Worked in the admissions office as a tour guide and application recruiter for two years.
@emorynavy Nailed it! I figured there was some connectuon given your vociferous support for Emory and Atlanta and their “obvious” superiority with respect to Vanderbilt and Nashville. Pro tip: Be a little more transparent next time.
@FilledWithHope
Did you read my first post fully? I said “I picked Emory or Vandy and Gtown”, that implies that I was a student, lol those outcome right!
I am on pins and needles waiting until 3:30 PST (or 5:30 Central time) to find out if my daughter is accepted to Vandy. This whole admissions process has been disheartening. We love Vandy and I think that she would be a great fit. The process is disheartening because there are so many well-qualified students applying to so few schools. We couldn’t apply ED because of finances as she would need at least a partial scholarship. She applied for and did not get any of the Vandy merit scholarships. I really want this for her so I hope that she gets in and that they give us enough aid that we are able to afford to send her to Vandy. Fingers crossed!
@emorynavy I can see you really don’t get it. Listen, here is the bottom line. I was on pins and needles waiting to open my Vandy portal on the day admissions decisions were released. Several are doing the same today for Vanderbilt’s RD announcement. I am sure Emory kids are as well. Tons will be doing it for Ivy Day as well. Don’t ruin it by jumping on a thread making non sensical posts about how your school (Emory) and city is “better” than the one people are waiting to hear from. We (our families too) have invested so much time in this. Let people enjoy it!
@homerdog a colleague went to Vandy grew up in that general region. In his day he said kids who didn’t get in to Ivies went to Duke, kids that couldn’t get into Duke went to Vandy. My sense is there are enough 35/36 ACT kids to fill each unhooked seat at the T50 schools, so it’s quite possible to imagine “gunners” who didn’t get into Ivies/Duke taking their attitudes to somewhere like Vandy. I have no idea how AO folks try to select for personality but you can imagine making classes that do or do not have cut throat kids.
@anon145 right. I still don’t have any gauge as to whether Vanderbilt feels cut throat or not. Easier to fess that out at the LACs on S19’s list. If he gets in, we will have a long list of questions and we will need to talk to the kids from our high school who are there. In four hours we will know if this is even a thing in our house. 92 percent chance it’s not!
I just freaked out because fedex said I had a package coming from Tenessee shipped today. But it’s 19x4x13 in. and it looks like Vandy uses USPS anyways.
And now I’m crying again
@MLG2019 if your child is committed to UCLA, why are you waiting on the Vanderbilt answer to turn it down? That only hurts the rest of the students who are hoping for a slot and intend to say yes.