Vanderbilt vs. Emory vs. Wake

Parents Forum
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<p>My d is a Junior and is now getting down to the task of prioritizing college choices, althought I am sure this will take her through the fall. Just curious if anyone out there has perspective on Vandy vs. Emory and Wake. She is also thinking Tulane is a safety. D is quite social and fairly bright, and tends to like to cram rather than pace herself on her studies. She is thinking economics but I wouldn't be surprised if she adds a fine arts bent to her education. She has been involved in modern, jazz and ballet dance for about seven years. Presently attends a very good private school in Texas. Scores: PSAT 219, SAT-March (2080; 690 V; 710M; 680 W/10-Essay)...will take again as she did not finish several questions; about half of HS core courses honors; will be taking 3 AP this fall. Her mother is a graduate of Vandy. </p>

<p>Any thoughts?</p>

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<p>Gheeez...this new SAT is messing me up. I don't know the comparative score for the 2004 test. </p>

<p>My son's #2 school (and was VERY close to #1) was Emory. He liked ATL, the recent surge in appeal, history program, social culture, weather, name recognition, etc....</p>

<p>Vandy missed out list because of it's location......and we had been given words of caution around diversity (or lack thereof). No personal experience with Wake. But, haven't heard anything negative.</p>

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<p>My daughter dropped from psat 225 to 2090 on the new SAT.I wonder if this was common. We didn't like Wake at all .It is Baptist university. It definitely had that feel. It was a vary pretty campus but we couln't find any coffee shops or cafes around the campus. It definitely is not for my daughter.</p>

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<p>My feeling is that Emory is the strongest academically. I plan to visit it with S. Wake apparently has quite a bit of grade deflation- the kids work harder for lower grades than at the Ivys et al. Emory is DIII, Wake and Vandy are D1, if that matters to anyone.</p>

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<p>Emory is the least "Southern", Wake and Vandy are both fairly Southern.
I think the academic quality differences are neglible (can't spell tonite, I need to go to college), although Wake is least known outside the South, and does carry the reputation of "Work Forest" - academically difficult with little recognition of its rigor. Emory has Atlanta, and is one of the traditional choices for Southern Jewish families, Vandy has SEC football, an important distinction among its base of support, Wake is in a pleasant smaller city, closer to the mountains.</p>

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<p>Emory and Vandy are as close together as possible. The major differences are Atlanta versus Nashville, and Emory has more students from the Northeast. </p>

<p>The reason I'm posting is to say that Duke and Washington University in St. Louis are also very similar to Emory and Vanderbilt. For Duke and WUSTL, your D's SAT scores might have to come up a little when she retakes them in the fall, but they probably will.</p>

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<p>I had heard that Wake was a bit conservative. My D is somewhat liberal so I am not sure that she would get along that well there. She does like her Starbucks.</p>

<p>Dufus, Duke is my D's "stretch" school as this point. The advice we're getting from the college counseling dept. is that Duke has somewhat broader acceptance criterion in its quest for a well-rounded student body and that she has a chance at acceptance given the track record for admissions from her HS. The question is would she like the town?</p>

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<p>Durham is a working class town not the Starbucks type at all. You have to go to Chapel Hill which is at least twenty minutes away. We wen' tto the Harvard Duke Georgetown Penn forum the other night. Duke said they had 1000 applications from Texas and they accepted 70. I think we will give up on that one.</p>

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<p>We've got the Harvard/Duke/G-town/Penn thing tomorrow night here in Houston. Sounds like they're doing a good job of leveling expectations already!</p>

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<p>How about Washington U in St. Louis? It is less of a stretch than Duke, is ranked 10th by USNWR, and has St. Louis.</p>

<p>Another difference between the schools you are mentioning is the importance of sports on campus. Duke, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest have teams. Emory has huge intramural sports, but their slogan is that the football team is undefeated since 1836. (They don't have a football team.) The presence or absence of major sporting events on campus might be an advantage or disadvantage to her.</p>

<p>I'm surprised that an admissions officer would ever say anything to dampen applications. I've always thought that if you asked a Harvard admissions officer if your 900 SAT scores were going to be a problem, he/she would answer that they look at a lot of factors besides SAT's. Anything to get the application numbers up.</p>

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<p>A close family friend has been pushing WashU but it doesn't seem to interest my D. She also says she MUST have football/major sports but quite frankly I don't think she would know the difference between a touchdown and a safety. My gut tells me when it is all said and done it will be Vandy despite the lack of diversity that I hear about. Houston area sends quite a few kids to Nashville. Wherever she ends up I hope she gets involved with students from other areas of the country.</p>

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<p>Okay, see above note about Emory. My S is going to Emory this fall. :)</p>

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<p>My son is finishing up his sophomore year at Emory (takes his last final this morning). He's a very bright, very hard-working, very focused (albeit it in about 22 directions), very social, and totally non-drinking kid who loves it there. He is very, very happy with his experience there. His classes have been challenging (and a lot of professors give an extra push), he has made friends of all types and from all over, tried a lot of new things. There is always a lot going on on campus. He doesn't miss the big - time sports scene, he'd rather play sports than watch others play, and without big times sports the university's focus is on kids like him rather than a few high-profile athletes when it comes to recreational facilities .Atlanta is a lot of fun.There are a lot of good pro sports teams and he has gone to a good number of those and a lot of concerts too.</p>

<p>Downside of the campus: a very small campus town, adequate but not great. The restaurants there are ok, but limited. A lot of times when he was a freshman, a bunch of kids would just pile in to a taxi and go to Buckhead, Little 5 Points, Virginia Highlands, or Toco Hills for the evening (all are within 10 minutes of campus).</p>

<p>My son considered both Vanderbilt and Tulane but not Wake. His very good friend is at Tulane and is happy there--but he's much more of a partier and his grades show it. My son's take on Tulane ( I did not go with him on that trip) was that at Tulane there were kids who were there to study hard but that Emory was a step up as far as academic focus. However, his impression could just be a reflection of his visit there with his nonacademically focused friend--my bet it that the kids at these two schools might be more alike than different.</p>

<p>My son did not like Vanderbilt--as a liberal, somewhat observant Jewish kid he did not feel like he fit in there, even though Vanderbilt is making a serious effort to attract more Jewish students.</p>

<p>Sorry this ran so long.</p>

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<p>Emory and Wake are quite different. The decision between these two would not be based on academics. Emory is essentially northern in feel and Wake clearly southern. Sports vs. no sports as described. Big Jewish population at Emory.</p>

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<p>The lack of diversity at Wake is pretty alarming - 85% white (??).</p>

<p>Even if I were white, that would scare me. Clearly, kids who attend didn't have "diversity" in their selection criteria. </p>

<p>Emory is 58%. Vandy is 69%.</p>

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<p>Wake is conservative republican with a capitol R. I think if that is your thin, Wake would be the perfect school.</p>

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<p>My S will be attending Vandy in the fall. Duke was also his "reach" school (was deferred, then not admitted)--We visited Vandy in April and all really liked it. The campus is lovely and it has a much more urban environment than we expected (much more so than Duke). You can walk right out the gates and find about 50 restaurants etc. (including starbucks). Nashville seems like a lively, pretty cosmopolitan place (to our surprise since we are from NY area) and the campus felt very welcoming to us and our "liberal, northern" son. In the end, it had more of the qualities he was looking for, in terms of size, focus, athletics, etc. than his alternatives and was more like Duke in these respects.</p>

<p>I have not been to the other schools. My S wouldn't consider Emory because of the lack of sport teams.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the responses. Even though we are "southerners" and Texans, we are fairly progressive as a family. My D particularly so. As Roman Catholics with polish ancestry we are sensitive to ethnic and religious issues. This is why she is looking for a school that's got some diversity. I hope we can take in both the Vandy and Emory campuses and get a good feel for the student life there.</p>

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<p>dad? is that you? haha, oh wait no i dont live in texas (weird though, because i was born there)... but aside from location (i live in suburban boston), your description of your daughter was EXACTLY like me!</p>

<p>i visited all 3 schools, emory, vandy, wake, during feb. break, and
i liked all 3. i go to a top high school, and am very liberal, love my starbucks, only other diff seems to be that i'm more into creative writing than dance. i am v. social but enjoy learning, and got NMSF letter from the PSATS (214). also my mom went to a southern school/grew up in the south (uflorida acutally, which is different but... you get the idea)
i'm struggling between the same choices!! and while ive visted all 3, i have to choose 2 to send my NMSF letter to, and im having a hard time.
here's my take: emory is by far my favorite. originally i was like your daughter in that i considered sports a must, not because i know anything about football but because i liked the whole social aspect of going to football games/tailgaiting/schoool spirit! but because i loved everything else about emory i was able to let go of this... i mean i can always hike over to UGeorgia if i want to go to a game... it does bother me a little that theres supposedly a lack of school spirit there, but considering the awesome combo of a big fraternity/sorority/on-campus social scene with the whole atlanta clubbing/bars/restaurants scene, the social aspects at emory sounded good to me. also i love love love atlanta and the weahter and the south in general, but i also loved the fact that emory was a liberal school with a northern type attitute... combined with sunshine that is pretty much my ideal. also emory has really strong academics, an amzing campus, great teachers, a v. strong study abroad program, VERY diverse, and everyone was superfriendly when i visited.
so emory is my #1 at this point.</p>

<p>vanderbilt, i loved for many of the same reasons (nashvilles pretty awesome as well), except that i've heard a lot about vandy being very snobby, white, highschoolish, shallow, and conservative, which may be a problem for me. i've had enough high school for one lifetime, thank you. so that worries me. i know a girl from my school who is transferring after her freshman year because she didnt want to be in that type of superficial atmosphere (or so she says, but i also heard that she got rejected from the top 4 sororities..which may've been a factor too).
sports are there but arent huge. apparently its not a lie that people DO dress up and get dates for football games...hmm...</p>

<p>wake forest unfortuantely was freezing cold and very dreary when i went there which mayve affected my opinon. it just didnt seem as enthusiastic as the other 2 schools (but then again it was the 3rd one i saw, so maybe it was partly me who was losing enthusiasm).. also i did not like the surrounding area of wake... winston-salem is (i hear, and briefly saw) a sad excuse for a city, and no one really goes there. frats are huge, and its not very diverse. also people dont seem quite as accepting of northerners there. but i have a friend who goes there and loves it (her parents went there too). its very sports-crazy (they TP their own quad after every bball win), and also tons of work.</p>

<p>some other similar schools i'm considering: william&mary, urichmond, duke(major reach), tufts (v. similar to emory except not in the south), james madison, udel, and even utexas at austin (so big though!)!</p>

<p>though i'm really unsure myself, i hope this is helpful, and feel free to ask me anything else!</p>

<p>i'm still at a dilemma for a 2nd choice... and i need to decide by tomorrow so i can fill out my NMSF thing on time... so anymore help would be very appreciated!!</p>

<p>sorry this post is ridiculously long...i'm procrastinating on starting my math homework...</p>

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<p>Even if she's BS'ing about transferring because of the superficial atmosphere, if people are transferring out because of failure to get into the "top 4" sororities, that wouldn't be a very positive statement about superficiality, either.</p>