I am currently a senior in high school and would love to attend Vanderbilt University to study government and law; however, I am not quite sure what my chances of getting in are and I would love to see if anyone can help me figure that out.
I have been enrolled in an IB school since freshman year (taking all IB courses)
I am heavily involved in community and service
Have an SAT score of 1240/1600
Have a GPA of 3.8 or 3.9
Involved in extra curricular activities (Mock trial [lead attorney], NHS, Hosa, IB Volunteers Organization, IB Pets and Animals warfare society [president], I work, I'm in yearbook[president/editor]...)
Unless you are hooked (URM, 1st gen, etc.) you’ll need significantly higher test scores. I would say around a 1450+ SAT at bare minimum. ECs are fine. GPA is fine, as long as your class rank is also in the top 10%.
for your reference, you can look at most university websites and see exactly who their applicants were the year before. They post the applicants and their test scores, their GPAs and other factors, and then they also post their Yielded applicants who actually put down deposits and attended (which is always a different subset of people). Type in Common Data Set in the search windows of each college website. Be very realistic and apply to colleges that are matches for your stats. Vanderbilt has had a surge of applicants in the last 10 years, thus reducing chances even for students with top test scores. This has a lot to do with the Common App but more so with Vanderbilt offering No Loans in their financial aid packages which has drawn thousands more applicants per year. Their applicant pool and their Yielded class and their waitlist and their ED vs RD students all have top test scores and pretty much look like the same group of people. Although ED is a better shot, admitted students have top test scores.
You have done very well in a rigorous IB program which will help you perform well in college. Do not doubt that you can outperform your standardized test scores. Be smart about financial aid fit and be ambitious in college as you have been in high school. Good luck.
I am sorry. What do you mean by no loans? Are you saying they are making up the difference in merit? My son scored 1300 and is ranked 7/165 in a very challenging STEM school. 3.7 unweighted and 4.7 weighted. Many AP classes. Do you think he has a chance?
ironcity, you need to read the financial aid pages on the vandy admissions website. they are very detailed. Only less than one percent of admitted students receive merit money, although a percentage of those students deposit elsewhere. Their merit money is not then given to other students…because they have a good idea oann how the class will yield. The real story is that students at Vanderbilt are evaluated on Need and then given ALL GRANT with zero loans based on what is the family’s determined responsibility. Vanderbilt is on a short list of colleges that can afford to choose to do this. Admissions are blind…they don’t know what your resources are when you are admitted. However waitlists can be “need aware”. A few schools can do more…not many…only a short list Ivies that can charge a percentage of parental income with a top limit. Vanderbilt is a reach for all students. Only due to the crush of applicants. Your son can obviously do the work but selectivity has become much higher in the last decade. Vandy requires not only FAFSA but the secondary assessment of your assets that many selective colleges also require as they make their decision on your contribution figure. It is time to do the paperwork now so you can get an idea of what your Estimated Cost of Attendance might be. This figure will vary from school to school but you must get the figures done now. You might also look here and at other colleges for their unofficial student voluntary postings on admission dates for ED and RD. You will see anecdotal self reporting that will help you get a reality check here and on other college pages on CC but more reliably use the Common Data Set. If you are going to get a lot of financial need aid in grants, you might find that Vandy is competitive with state flagships. Many wonderful colleges in this country but most have to put loans in their need packages. whatever you do, play the long game.
I would like to chime in a bit: Going to school (university) is expensive and schools have budget and not able to provide the necessary money to all of the students. However, there are ways to finance your school if you don’t get enough money from the school. One way is get outside scholarships. My son was able to get Engineering Society scholarship from our state and he did search the internet and found other scholarships out there. Also, he talked to his high school counselors about finding the scholarships, etc. Also, more importantly, my son was able to get money by doing REU (Research for Undergraduate). This REU is done only in the summer time, the whole summer (three months) they do research and the money is generous. If for some reasons you still need money, you can also work PT. Don’t do full time but just PT like working in the lab, library, etc. Hopefully, this information is helpful. May the Force be with you.