<p>So I am an Indian guy born in America and basically everyone I know says I am the "whitest" Indian they have ever met. I have applied to Vandy and I hear that there is a lot of segregation there. Right now all my friends are Caucasian. I don't mind hanging out with all people of other races (NOT racist at all). I have been told I am really nice to everyone and I am generally not hated by anyone at my school. I guess my questions are...</p>
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<li><p>Is it possible for an Indian kid like me to be friends with all people on campus or will I be shoved to only being friends with Asians.</p></li>
<li><p>As far as roommates go for Freshman, do all Asians generally get paired together and then all Caucasians get paired together, like if I am Indian, does that generally mean I will be with an Asian person. I guess the reason I am concerned is because, although I am VERY academically inclined I really do focus up for hours but then after that I like to have a good time and not always talk about academics. I also like to go out and party and have a good time. I feel like Asians get caught up in academics a little too much.</p></li>
<li><p>I play guitar also, would that be a problem for rooming?</p></li>
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<p>Is Vandy a good fit for me and I would appreciate it if you answered the questions also. </p>
<p>Are you Asian or Indian? I’m having trouble following some of your logic (ie wouldn’t you be paired with another Indian as your roommate in your hypothetical scenario). Befriending other races isn’t a problem at Vandy and I think its just about who your personally most comfortable with. If your comfortable with whites and you’ve been around them your whole life in schools then that’s who you’ll more and likely become friends with in college. I know Indians and Asians in white frats who have come from rich white schools and they seem to be happy; however, a college experience is very specific to each individual.</p>
<p>The only “segregation” issues here are self-segregation. If you choose you choose to be segregated, you will be segregated, as is the case with much of our international population and some other groups. If you choose to not be segregated and hang out with everyone, you will not be segregated. That simple. No one gets “shoved” into a group of friends (unless you can’t speak English in which case there’s a bit of a barrier).</p>
<p>there are options in housing as well that can help you take control of your life a bit…many ways to things working out–go peruse the Residential Housing section at Vandy and at other colleges on your short list…usually there is room for creativity or simplicity depending on your mood. Some years a boring single room is what you need…other years you want a suite of friends. Our son created a Mayfield Cottage with other friends…all very very different, from several first and second generation families. He took a trip last year to NYC and stayed overnight with a Vandy Filipino family in Jersey,got some assists from Vandy Chinese American family in Queens, stayed over with a family in largely Jewish NYC suburb, had lunch with a Vandy first generation Polish American student…so that was two or three days in New York. Open your mind to Vandy and don’t stress until April…when you get a second chance to go with your instincts.</p>
<p>I would agree with Pancaked^^ much of the segregation seems to be “self-segregation.” Last year as a freshman my D was assigned a roommate by the school whose parents had been born in China but we are not Asian. The roommate did have several friends who are Asian but her boyfriend is not and she did not exclusively associate with Asians. My daughter’s chosen group of friends include girls who are African American, Indian, Cuban American and “southern” ;-)<br>
And IF you should go to Vanderbilt and IF you should get a roommate that doesn’t suit, it appeared there were lots and lots of girls that my daughter knew who switched roommates during first semester; I was surprised how accommodating the housing office was being.
Regarding your question about playing a guitar–many of the dorms have separate music practice rooms so if you really were driving your roommate crazy you could go to one of those rooms I suppose.</p>
<p>I am a freshman at Vanderbilt (and loving it) and would consider myself pretty normal socially with a normal group of friends. Two of the people I am hanging out with on a daily basis are indian and I have no problem with that, like most people here. I would say that overall races tend to “Self-Segregate” i.e. gravitate towards eachother, but this certainly is not always the case. Essentially you will fit in as much as you let yourself, don’t stress bro.</p>
<p>this is such a useful post considering that i’m the girl version of this without the guitar haha do you guys know if there is a steady indian population at vandy? it’s definitely something to consider in the whole admissions process</p>
<p>i’m an indian male here. born in the states. there is absolutely no segregation at ALL. like someone else said, there’s only self segregation. hang with who you want to hang with. asians don’t get paired up with other asians in rooming; race has nothing to do with it, unless you’re an international. but if you’re the “whitest indian ever” i think you would fit in perfectly haha. </p>
<p>there are a good amount of indians here. the indian student organization here is really huge and we put on ginormous events throughout the year, like a huge diwali program in november. the indian population is growing with every class. diversity is really growing here at vandy. it’s not a rich, white school anymore.</p>