<p>An article from the Vanderbilt Register about the admissions this year. Congratulations to all those who were admitted (and I hope you choose Vandy!) and condolences to those who were not.</p>
<p>evil_robot: are you going (or attending) Vanderbilt? What department are you in?</p>
<p>I attend Vandy and am in Eingineering - dept. of computer science to be specific.</p>
<p>hmmm. I'm considering Vandy's engineering program-biomed. Could you provide some insight as to what you think about their engineering department? (How's the workload, etc.)I know that you were accepted to several prestigous colleges last year and finally chose to attend Vandy. Why?</p>
<p>Not having to spell "engineering" correctly. Oops.</p>
<p>Their engineering department is great. It's not huge, but the attention you get is awesome, your professors know you, and the advisement is wonderful. The workload for me is pretty tough this semester, being that I'm taking 17 difficult credit hours with 2 labs, and it's a real pain. Luckily this is the last semester that I have to have labs (I think) so I should be in good shape. There are a lot of biomedical engineers here, so you'd be in good company.</p>
<p>I chose Vandy because it offered me what I was looking for in a college (medium size, lots of resources, full university (i.e. athletics, graduate schools, medical center, etc)), an intelligent student body, good weather, I had family in the area, and it was cheap. I'm paying less to go here than I would have had to go to most of my state schools (only slightly more than UC Irvine, and significantly less than UCLA or Berkeley, even with the merit scholarships I had at all 3) and much less than Yale or Stanford.</p>
<p>I have no regrets about that decision: I am the happiest I've ever been, although I could use some more free time :(.</p>
<p>My son applied to Vandy because he really liked the size of the school and the engineering program (at least what he could research on the website). He was admitted to engineering but received no merit aid. He got really good merit aid from three other schools comparable to Vandy in the rankings (one full tuition $30K yr, one $22K yr, one $7500 yr at one school and $6000 yr at another) ... but zero from Vandy. He is very disappointed because he likes Vanderbilt better than his other choices but it is going to make it hard to attend at full price. Does anyone know if merit aid is ever given out after the admittance is received? He was also admitted to Pratt at Duke (no scholarship) but their engineering emphasis is on the biomed side and that is not his first interest.</p>
<p>Call financial aid and ask. They can tell you if all the merit awards have been placed. While your son may not have received a merit award, Vandy is very generous with grants so you may have received such in lieu of merit--but you won't know until you either ask or receive the financial aid package. It's well worth taking out PLUS loans or other loans to help your child attend. I am amazed, as a parent, on a consistent basis about the input and helpfulness of the faculty and staff. Good luck.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I did not receive much helpfulness out of speaking to the staff. The admissions office said talk to "financial aid" and "financial aid" said talk to "admissions". They told me all merit aid had been given out and they were sorry but there were no other merit-based awards available so we were out of luck. Even if students who have currently been offered merit aid decide not to attend Vanderbilt, they will not offer those scholarships to other students. I too was disappointed about the lack of aid and must weigh paying MAJOR $$$$ to attend Vandy vs. an almost full-ride at a state school honors program. Is Vandy worth paying full price?</p>
<p>You are going to have to decide if it is worth the money and all the input from others shouldn't bear on your decision. I believe it is worth every dime but I may be naive or too much of a snob.<br>
If your kid is bright and doesn't get a merit award but does get one from another school, he/she may be at the top of the heap of the other school. But if you don't get one from Vandy or Duke or another T25 school, your child may be average (a novel concept in the insane world of college admissions).</p>
<p>Yes, I agree that the decision is up to me, but when you said that the opinions of others shouldn't play a role, I disagree, I mean isn't the whole idea of a discussion board to toss around thoughts and opinions that could be helpful to others? Certainly the level of competition for merit aid at all schools appears to have risen to an all-time high and "average" at a top ranked school is probably "brilliant" by others standards. Certainly you have a reason to "believe it is worth every dime" and I guess that's the type of input I was hoping to be able to consider.</p>
<p>musictoad ... the mysterious thing is that at least two of the other schools where my son got merit aid would be considered by most everyone to be ranked higher than Vandy (although he likes Vandy better so who cares about the rankings!) He is also 150 points above the average SATI score for Vandy engineering admits and got into engineering at Duke, Northwestern and Rice. Anyway, the world of admissions works in strange ways ... based on choppers results from his inquiries, I guess we're just flat out of luck.</p>
<p>I think getting a merit award from a T25 school is akin to being admitted. I couldn't begin to figure out why one gets in or doesn't. I've seen many a qualified kid not be admitted to Vandy and I can't figure out how merit is determined. That being said, their grants awarded made it almost equal to the scholarships that my child was awarded. I voted that it was worth the extra money. But if Duke offered my kid $, I'd opt for Duke. I'm a bigtime blue devil fan.</p>
<p>ER ~ Is there any research at Vanderbilt on the subject of artificial intelligence? I didn't see it on the website, but that could be my fault.</p>
<p>Also, what month is going to show Vandy at its best (for a visit) in the latter half of 2005? It would be good to know what month minimizes the heat/humidity.</p>
<p>We're glad you love the school! Your decision to attend has put Vandy on the short list for my S.</p>
<p>Reasonabledad: Yes! Definitely.</p>
<p><a href="http://eecs.vanderbilt.edu/cis/%5B/url%5D">http://eecs.vanderbilt.edu/cis/</a>
<a href="http://eecs.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/research/artificialintelligence.html%5B/url%5D">http://eecs.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/research/artificialintelligence.html</a></p>
<p>In fact, the research internship I have applied for this summer is focused on developing intelligent coordination and motion systems for teams of robots in unknown environments using statistical models. I think actually DARPA is supporting the work. If I get it, it oughta be a lot of fun.</p>
<p>As far as timing on visiting goes - Vanderbilt is generally nicest between early September and mid-November, after the heat and before the cold. And right now, it's exceptionally nice outside: maybe I'll go play some frisbee :).</p>
<p>As the time for visitation comes up, feel free to contact me. I might be up for something :).</p>
<p>UPDATE: I got a research internship, but not in the same project. It still involves robots though :).</p>
<p>silverfox, try writing to the admissions office, asking them to reconsider him for a scholarship. include an updated resume and copies of the letters of the merit scholarships that he recieved at other schools.</p>
<p>i know it worked for one of my friends at a different school and he got more money.</p>
<p>good luck.</p>
<p>Today's paper states that as opposed to a few years ago, about 34% of students were admitted, and the average SAT of admitted students hovers just below 1400. The percentage of students admitted with an SAT of 1500 or higher has decline from 92% 4 years ago to 75% now.</p>
<p>evil_robot:
Please clarify your last post regarding the percentage of students with SATs over 1500: "The percentage of students admitted with an SAT of 1500 or higher has declined from 92% 4 years ago to 75% now."</p>
<p>Do you mean that there are fewer students getting admitted now whose SAT is over 1500 because a high SAT no longer means an "automatic admit" or do you think that fewer students with SATs over 1500 are applying (and thus getting admitted)? Or do you interpret this to mean there are fewer of the students who have the higher SATs actually matriculating (i.e. the stronger students are choosing other schools)?
Just wondering.
BTW, my son just sent off his deposit for Vanderbilt after much debate between Vanderbilt and Duke. (Vandy offered him merit money, which sealed the deal.) He will be in engineering :)</p>
<p>No, fewer are getting admitted now.</p>
<p>I think, after reading the article in the Hustler newspaper, that the people who are scoring the 1500's, as a group, are less involved in ECs than those scoring just below in the high 1300s and 1400s. It looks like social engineering a community where the prize requires involvement rather than an auto admit for cerebral capabilities. From my perspective it is all too much political correctness but this methodology seems to be all pervasive in every single T25 school that I look at.</p>
<p>I, for one, am exhausted by PC and social engineering.</p>
<p>What does a very bright kid do who doesn't have time for all the ECs? For exampel, the school that has a schedule that goes until 5 with sports and then three to four hours of homework every night? When does that kid have time to do anything else?</p>