<p>My son is a cs and math major in engineering with the same scholarship. I can’t say anything about the public health slant as it relates to engineering students, because that is not one of his interests. He had a lot of options, also, and he would have been full pay, also.</p>
<p>His experience has been very good. Academically, one of the attractions of VUSE is that cs majors can use a lot of their AP credits and previous univ. courses (if they have them) to fulfill intro requirements, allowing them to move ahead in their fields, and add a second major (such as math) and/or an unrelated minor. A few are given the go-ahead to pursue a masters simultaneously, as is the case with my son. So, on VUs dime, he will finish in four years with BS in cs and math, and MS in cs. </p>
<p>He has had plenty of paid research opps (both school-year and summer), and has several peer-reviewed publications, including one on which he is the first author, leading to experience speaking at a national conference. The research experience led to a good internship and he had a high-paying job offer before the start of his senior year. His adviser probably would have been happier to see him go directly for a PhD at a top school, but he is postponing it for a year or so. </p>
<p>As for the social milieu, that is a great big can of worms, and the reason I swore off this site last night. I don’t know why I even looked at it today, but this will probably be it. Please don’t decide which college you are going to attend on the basis of posts from unhappy people you have never met, whom you know nothing about other than what they have told you, and are majoring in a completely different subject in a different college. The engineering school has a different group of students, with different interests, different background, less Greek participation, and a different set of activities. It probably does not have a larger group of black students, but I feel fairly confident that the overall racial/cultural/ethnic diversity is greater than Peabody and CAS.</p>
<p>Nobody on this site can give you the kind of information you want, because you don’t know who it is coming from, because it is not from a reliable cross-section of the student body, and some of it is just plain fraudulent (kids pretending to be students who are not–I’m not referring to the recent thread you alluded to, here).</p>
<p>I really encourage you to attend the accepted student day event. Of all the accepted student and related events my son attended at a variety of unis, the one VUSE offered was by far the most informative. Faculty, dean and students were available for quizzing. There were Q and A sessions for scholarship awardees. </p>
<p>If there is any way to extend your visit and set up private meetings with faculty, and arrange to sit it on classes, do so. The administration of VUSE is very undergraduate oriented, very accessible, and in our experience, very straightforward with their information. </p>
<p>While there are not official overnight events, you might want to ask the engineering undergraduate program director to provide you with the name of a student whom you can contact. Since many of your questions are social-life related, ask them to find you a student who can directly relate to your concerns.</p>
<p>You probably already know this, but Vanderbilt’s engineering program is not the same as MITs. You may be substituting–at the intro level, at least–a certain amount of killer rigor for flexibility in course selection and room in your schedule for other interests. In my son’s case, the freedom to move on at his own pace, take advanced courses in cross-listed courses in econ and cognitive psych (AI-related), and pursue a humanities minor were quite valuable.</p>
<p>And unless your parents are really, really well-off, the financial advantages of this offer should be obvious. My kid is graduating debt-free, all college savings still in the bank, and a pretty swollen bank account because he had paid, interesting, research positions t/o undergraduate years. Now, none of that is worth it if you are miserable, which is why he made two trips before accepting the offer, talked to faculty, sat in on classes, hung around, etc. </p>
<p>He isn’t a racial minority, however, and he already had a gf who transferred to VU as a sophomore, so the dating question didn’t really come up. This is a major offer and I suggest you really try to do it justice and make a personal visit. No regrets in our case–but you are you.</p>
<p>I wish you the best of luck in your decision and your future. If you have some questions that I may/may not be able to address, send me a PM. I’ll keep logging in for a little while to check.</p>