<p>Is there much of a difference? In all aspects: student body strength, atmosphere, resources, prestige, etc. Does Vanderbilt being in the south make a significant difference between itself and the ivies being in the northeast?</p>
<p>From what I know the top bulge bracket firms recruit at the Ivies in masse but not at Vanderbilt. Prestige-wise, the lowest-ranked Ivy > Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>But that doesn’t mean you should overlook Vanderbilt as a school to apply to. Perhaps your odds of admission would be a little better there than the 6% at Harvard ;-)</p>
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<p>Again, unless you don’t want banking and finance after graduation, Vanderbilt would be okay.</p>
<p>I’ve seen your posts in the past hating on vanderbilt, even going to the extent of saying a public school like Berkely is better. I think I’m gonna pass on your posts.</p>
<p>I agree with RML’s comments in this thread.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is a wonderful school, but different in environment & placement than the Ivies.</p>
<p>I’d say Berkley and Vandy are pretty even…the fact that its public shouldn’t diminish that. I don’t think you were trying to say anything to diminish public schools but thats the way the post reads in my opinion. Don’t mean to rant but that sort of struck a cord.</p>
<p>UCal-Berkeley has worldwide prestige in the sciences. Vandy is extremeley well respected in The South, but behind Duke University.</p>
<p>Berkeley’s almost certainly a better school than Vanderbilt. Many in academia and probably Ivy-leaguers would laugh at you if you tried to state that Vanderbilt was a better school than Berkeley.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt’s a very good private school, but it isn’t the best in its region (that title belongs to Duke,) and it isn’t immediately obvious whether its the second best (that’s something i’m sure Rice and Emory would dispute.)</p>
<p>Prestige wise, V does pretty bad on a global scale, doing worse than many top public schools in the US. Nationally, i’m not sure how powerful Vanderbilt’s name is outside of its region. It’s pretty weak in the West coast, not sure about how strong it is in the East.</p>
<p>Overall, i wouldn’t compare it to the Ivy-league schools. It’s at least a solid notch below them.</p>
<p>My brother goes to Harvard and my dad is a professor at a top 50 school, they both think Vanderbilt is better than Berkely.</p>
<p>then whats the point of coming on here and asking if your just going to reject any ideas other than what they say…</p>
<p>so i can’t give my inputs on a thread that I started? pls go</p>
<p>I’m not going to get into a frivolous argument on a forum. All I’m saying is that if you want advice, it would be wise to not be so confrontational. Take the posts you don’t agree with in stride instead of putting people off by stating that x or y knows better b/c of whatever credentials. Good luck on your college search</p>
<p>Duke and Vandy are referred to as the “Harvard of the South”. Duke is stronger than Vandy and neither carry as much clout as an Ivy ultimately BUT both are extremely well respected such that you would not miss by attending either.</p>
<p>OP: Comparing schools gets more refined based on actual acceptances, financial aid packages, intended major & fit. So, for some, Vanderbilt might be better.</p>
<p>diaosi, I think you’d be more cuddled (which means, given more attention by the school admin / personalized / individualized approached) at Vanderbilt than at Berkeley. If that’s your (sole) criterion for the best school contest, then Vanderbilt would win over Berkeley. However, my criteria are different from yours. </p>
<p>I’d always go for departmental/program strength, faculty caliber, brand name power globally and facilities. You’d be shocked that many of Berkeley’s facilities can only be found there, and only at peer schools such as HYPSMC + Cornell, Michigan, Chicago, JHU or Duke which are major research powerhouses. Add to that the fact that I am a sciency person, so getting more attracted to a school like Berkeley than Vanderbilt is very acceptable. BUT, </p>
<p>you were trying to compare Vanderbilt to an Ivy. Let’s try to pit Vanderbilt to Cornell, the least prestigious Ivy school I know, as an example. Well, I still think that Cornell is more prestigious than Vanderbilt, and Cornell grads are way more represented at companies like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, UBS or Citi, or even at top MC firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain or Deloitte. </p>
<p>Alternatively, you can also check on the data of which schools/colleges the top grad schools admit students in horde (top feeder schools to top grad programs). There you can check that Cornell is always in the top 12/15, often rivaling top schools like Duke, Berkeley or Brown (another Ivy). Vanderbilt, on the other hand, is often outnumbered by tiny schools like Williams, Amherst or Pomona in absolute numbers. </p>
<p>I found some data for top grad business schools. Here you can see how Vanderbilt is almost non-existence whilst top schools like Berkeley, Duke and Cornell (the least prestigious Ivy I know) are well within the top 10/12. </p>
<p><a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/07/top-feeder-schools-to-whartons-mba-program/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/07/top-feeder-schools-to-whartons-mba-program/</a>
<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2012/05/30/top-feeder-colleges-to-stanford-b-school/2/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2012/05/30/top-feeder-colleges-to-stanford-b-school/2/</a>
<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/15/top-feeder-colleges-to-harvard-business-school/2/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2011/08/15/top-feeder-colleges-to-harvard-business-school/2/</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2011/09/07/top-feeder-schools-to-columbia-business-school/2/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2011/09/07/top-feeder-schools-to-columbia-business-school/2/</a>
<a href=“http://poetsandquants.com/2011/10/06/top-feeder-colleges-to-chicago-booth/2/[/url]”>http://poetsandquants.com/2011/10/06/top-feeder-colleges-to-chicago-booth/2/</a></p>
<p>But then again, if you’re after a more personalized school approach, then Vanderbilt would offer you that more than Berkeley would. If that’s what you after in a school, Vanderbilt would be an ideal place for you to go to.</p>
<p>I did check how Vanderbilt compare to Cornell, Duke and Berkeley at the top 3 grad business programs in the world (Harvard, Stanford and Wharton), and found out that not a single one MBA student was from Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>The top 12 most represented are the ff:</p>
<ol>
<li>Harvard - 162</li>
<li>UPenn - 132</li>
<li>Stanford - 105</li>
<li>Yale - 92</li>
<li>Princeton - 78</li>
<li>Berkeley - 54</li>
<li>Dartmouth - 53</li>
<li>Columbia - 49</li>
<li>Duke - 49</li>
<li>MIT - 48</li>
<li>Georgetown - 44</li>
<li>Brown -39</li>
<li>Cornell - 39</li>
</ol>
<p>So, you see, both Berkeley and Duke stand side-by-side the Ivies whilst Vanderbilt is non-existence.</p>
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<p>I’m sure you’re also all from the south…</p>
<p>Berkely also has like 26000 undergrads while Vanderbilt has 6000. strong methods brah</p>
<p>RML - “coddled”, not “cuddled” - that would be a little *too much *attention ;-)</p>