@EDHDAD I agree, that doesn’t make Vandy special. But I think the level of competitiveness of a school is correlated to the percentage that get into med school.
@wannagotovandy I don’t know what you are planning on majoring in, but if you do a little research you’ll see that there is no documented preference given by medical schools to applicants based on the competitiveness of their school. I know that sounds very counterintuitive, but there is no data to suggest otherwise and people have definitely tried to come up with it as a means of justifying the cost of their educations. Again, I’m not arguing against Vanderbilt as being great.
@EDHDAD Of course, it does depend on the major. For business majors it matters the most. However, from the experience for several doctors in my family, and many of their colleagues, there is a trend that those who went to more elite schools simply had an easier time getting the job they wanted.
@wannagotovandy Elite schools have higher average salaries, but when you look at the cost to attend, it can be hard to find the ROI in lifetime earnings. If you are very wealthy, then it doesn’t matter. If you are poor and you attend a school like Vandy it doesn’t matter either because they won’t charge you much. But if you are just upper middle class with a $70k EFC you really have to think twice. As a guy that went to a state school and makes far more than the average Vanderbilt graduate you can imagine I love the idea of my son going there but the cost gives me pause. The studies show that students who are accepted to elite schools but attend a lesser selective school have no difference in the money they make after graduation, the exception being minority races. There is mine and yours anecdotal life experiences driving our opinions, and then there is the actual data.
does anybody know if i can call admissions on a saturday? and so i call overall admissions or my specific counselor?
Will being from the east coast hurt/help my application in any way?
I think if you’re a strong candidate, you’re a strong candidate no matter where you are from, @yellowgreenred. Just depends what they’re looking for this year.
@yellowgreenred I think being from the east coast might actually help you, because they have a low percentage of students coming from there, so they like have more traction in areas were they have less students. So they might accept you over, say, someone from Georgia, for example. Obviously I’m not saying this will change your admissions results a lot, but it may have a small affect.
@EDHDAD “and then there is the actual data.” There are different studies, and different results. It really does just depend on what you take from it.
What state you’re from is extremely unlikely to help/hurt; maybe if you’re from rural north dakota or something. From the map (https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/profile/) it looks like there are 1319 undergrads from the northeast, and another 343 from the mid-atlantic east coast states, so being from the east coast is common.
@wannagotovandy It’s like I saying to you, if you are arguing the intrinsic ROI then I agree.
343/6871 = less than 5 percent. So if you’re from the Middle States it’s not very common… Or from Maine.
does anyone know what time on the 15th decisions are coming out?
probably 7 est like it did for ed1
@yellowgreenred If you are from a state that typically doesn’t send a lot of kids to Vanderbilt, then that could help you. Vanderbilt is about building diversity right now: religious, ethnic, racial, economic. Not only do they want to shake the country club reputation that they had for so long, but they realize that a diverse student body expands thinking and pushes boundaries. The smart, involved, white Christian kid can still get in… there are just fewer spots now than there used to be.
Maybe they’ll like my D’s demonstrated need, hahaha. 
I finally got in contact with admissions and I am going to be able to be switched to ED2 and super excited and nervous now!!
EDHDAD’s comments are very salient. It is hard for 17 and 18 year olds intent on simply getting through the hurdles of getting a couple of good admissions offers to think about ten years down the road (with likely a few years of possibly costly graduate school in the mix).
Therefore, parents, work carefully the estimated cost of attendance and your own assets, retirement plans and home valuations. Be realistic. Consider, if it is at all possible to make a projection, your son or daughter’s long term educational plans. Your income will be included in some graduate school assessments which may come as a big surprise to you. (if I had a nickel for every person who says “graduate school is on them.”) There are certainly graduate degrees that can be reasonably obtained and paid for by young adults who can work while going to school or who can somehow pay off loans themselves or nail down some stipended tuition. do the math now not later.
does anyone wanna make a gc? add me on snap lyndsaybakes and just message me!!
@Faline2 Thanks for your comments. I think some folks on this thread think I’m putting Vanderbilt down by saying one should consider the ROI. Despite what a lot of 17 or 18 year olds think, a degree from Vanderbilt is not a guarantee of a high paying career, and there is no proof that it produce better career outcomes for you than some of the lesser selective and lower cost schools. A Honda Accord can take you the same place as a BMW at a much lower cost, but admittedly with less style. A person can justify the BMW is worth the extra cost from an intrinsic standpoint, but not because a Honda Accord won’t get you where you need to go. Vanderbilt is just like a BMW, if you can afford it then great. But don’t sacrifice your retirement or your child’s future(loans) just to be fancy for a few years…you’ll regret it later.
My daughter applied ed2 for Vanderbilt. Going by her ed1 result, not sure she will even get admitted but have a question. We submitted fafsa on Jan 7th for Vanderbilt but looks like deadline was jan 2nd. CSS was submitted in October itself. We won’t qualify for need based aid. Is the fafsa submission after deadline going to be a problem for her admission?