Hi Everyone.
My teacher recommended Vanderbilt as a college I should apply to, and it has been a college that has interested me for a long time. I really love a lot of things about it. However, from what I have heard from others and also from what I have seen on the Internet, some possible issues that may arise from Vanderbilt is the lack of international student integration and highly conservative values.
As a minority student, I am afraid that people will be reluctant to interact with me. While I have seen some forums say that there is nothing of the sort and how “my son/daughter has a friend from Africa/Asia/Latin America that is not true”, I have also seen many posts that claim that there is both self-segregation and a wariness (probably unconscious) on the part of local Vandy students to interact with international or minority students.
I have also seen posts on the internet and even on the Vanderbilt site where students claim that they have a hard time adjusting to Vanderbilt.
Moreover, I know that Greek life is a big part of campus, yet pretty much all of the people in photos of Greek life appear to be white. If I am interested in participating in that, will my likelihood of getting in a sorority I want be diminished?
And will I be able to still have a good experience at Vanderbilt and make friends with a variety of people?
Here is one forum that mentions some of these http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/vanderbilt-university/1786771-my-vanderbilt-experience-advice-for-incoming-freshmen.html
“will I be able to still have a good experience at Vanderbilt and make friends with a variety of people?”
ABSOLUTELY! So much of what you have written above is commonplace among the barrage of stereotypes that we all read about Vandy. I was wary of the same things when deciding whether or not to attend, as I too feared the alleged dominance of Greek life (which isn’t dominant at all if you ignore it and pursue your real interests). I am not a minority student, so I can’t really speak to that specifically when it comes to personal experience, but I have an abundance of friends from all walks of life and all backgrounds, many of whom happen to be minorities, and I see that they all have a varied circle of friends for themselves regardless of race or creed, and most people have circles of friends with people who are both domestic and international students. It’s really easy to find your community here if you just take the plunge and put yourself out there as much as possible. The only people I know of who have (or maybe once had) less than enriching social lives are those who came with bitter preconceptions about Vanderbilt and exuded negativity in the opening weeks. Maybe in some cases they were upset over not being at their top choice school if they wanted to go elsewhere instead, who knows. But you meet those people everywhere - I’m sure there are people at Harvard who wanted Stanford or people at Columbia who wanted Princeton, or indeed people who wanted an Ivy and got Vanderbilt or Duke. But those people are themselves a minority here.
As for “conservative values,” this is the least conservative environment I have ever been in, and I went to high school in one of the Northeast’s most liberal states, so don’t worry about that if that’s a serious fear you have. If anything, there is a noticeable lack of free speech on certain issues for those who hold opinions remotely right of center, or anything other than far left, which is its own severe problem at all of America’s elite universities. But if you’re a liberal yourself (which it sounds like you are) then you probably won’t feel directly affected by this. The administration is on your side of the political spectrum too, as in most US colleges.
Vanderbilt is absolutely wonderful, and you’re wise to consider it among the many fine elite universities in the US. Good luck with applications and the like!
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The OP asked: " will I be able to still have a good experience at Vanderbilt and make friends with a variety of people?"
The OP did not ask about selectivity of Vandy vs Ivy League universities. Per the rules of the forum, this is not a debate society. 13 posts deleted.
Feel free to answer the question posed. Keep in ind that the OP is international and will probably not have an opportunity to experience first-hand before applying. Thank you.
OP, you don’t need to join sorority to make friends with a variety of friends. My D is a riding sophomore and she didn’t join any sorority, and never had interests to and had friends who had heartache with the sorority process. I suggest you keep an open mind about joining. It seems likely that sorority may want to recruit somebody like them, and you as well as other girls might not fit the mold.
Best of luck!
@charlipearl
“As a minority student, I am afraid that people will be reluctant to interact with me. While I have seen some forums say that there is nothing of the sort and how “my son/daughter has a friend from Africa/Asia/Latin America that is not true”, I have also seen many posts that claim that there is both self-segregation and a wariness (probably unconscious) on the part of local Vandy students to interact with international or minority students.
I have also seen posts on the internet and even on the Vanderbilt site where students claim that they have a hard time adjusting to Vanderbilt.”
I am tired of people saying: “I read a variety of opinions on the internet about this issue”. Chances are if there is a variety, then the place at least can be for you and should be good enough. I am very confused with people who expect students at a medium sized or large university to have monolithic viewpoints and experiences. Schools are full of humans, not robots (I think?). They are not programmed to have or produce the same experiences. If there are plenty of people claiming they have no problem interacting with others and others interacting with them, go find those people and figure out how they do it. In addition, since there is a sizeable “Independent” population which is likely largely minority at VU, I doubt there should be as much trouble outside of Greeklife having a more “multi-cultural” experience. A lot of the experiences of students at remotely diverse schools is determined by themselves and how they choose to behave.
Also, those things you saw reported are extremely common at any school with diversity.
I take issue with the following:
" have also seen many posts that claim that there is both self-segregation and a wariness (probably unconscious) on the part of local Vandy students to interact with international or minority students."
Uhmm…minority students are “local Vandy students”…so are internationals. Have you also considered that it is the other way around as well, where international students, for various reasons feel comfortable among each other and me be prone to self-segregating themselves regardless of how open domestic or “local” Vandy students are to interacting with them? I attended a school with a fairly high international population (sometimes hitting around 20%) and most efforts and programming were focused upon getting them to feel a sense of belonging in the general student body and specifically were to get them to interact with more domestic students. Such interactions did not necessarily come naturally to them (language barrier, foreign place, etc. If there are plenty more like them, there is likely a tendency to run to a comfort zone). Either way, I implore people to use more nuanced judgement about this and not become overly “concerned” over some neutral or even slightly (or completely) negative experiences they hear about on “the internet”, especially if there are many positive experiences to counter it. Just try to contextualize it instead of immediately thinking “it must be the school and the non-minorities and domestics that control the atmosphere”. Again, the fact that you saw a variety of opinions indicates that you should be alright or that it should be easy to put yourself in the position you desire. They were not all negative.