<p>I was lucky enough to get into Princeton (my reach school) and Vandy (Cornelius Vanderbilt scholarship), and this decision is much harder to make than I expected it to be.</p>
<p>I'm scared that I won't do well at Princeton because of grade deflation and more competitive students, which might not only hurt grad school/job chances but also take away time to pursue ECs cause of studying. But at Vandy, I don't know if the intellectual environment and quality of teaching is as strong as it is at Princeton. Plus, the party scene just isn't me. Vandy's also farther away from NYC and Philly, places where I hope to work someday. </p>
<p>The CV scholars program sounds like an amazing opportunity, though, and is one of the big reasons I'm not falling head over heels with Princeton. I have yet to visit both schools though. I'm not sure what I want to learn either... probably econ, enviro studies, or public policy, with a certificate in writing or a minor in English.</p>
<p>Do you plan to visit for Vanderbilt’s accepted student event? When my son went to the one for engineering admits a few years ago, there were some events for the large merit scholarship awardees that addressed some of the questions students had. The first thing the faculty member/dean (don’t remember exactly who) said was “We know a lot of you here have been admitted to MIT, and you want to know what we have to offer you…” And then they discussed some of the differences and why some students might prefer VUSE. Of course, they didn’t convince everyone, but they did have a big accept rate for the scholarships that year.</p>
<p>The event at engineering was well done, with a lot of faculty, deans and students on hand to talk to students, answer questions, give presentations. </p>
<p>I do not know if the CAS events are equally helpful, or so straightforward. In general, though, I always recommend visiting if you haven’t already done so. </p>
<p>Your question about the party scene keeps coming up. I can only say what I’ve said about a thousand times before on this site: it hasn’t been a significant factor for my serious-student son. The university is not that small, and it is a whole lot more diverse in the type of students it attracts than was the case not too long ago. There has never been a shortage of kids like him, places to go and things to do that don’t involve the stereotypical Big Party Scene. Nashville is a very nice place to go to college. </p>
<p>If money is a big issue then I would say go to Vanderbilt. I know a few people at Vanderbilt who were in this type of situation and chose Vanderbilt because they would have needed to take out a lot of loans to come to Vanderbilt. Otherwise, you would be crazy to choose Vanderbilt over Princeton. If you are looking for an intellectual environment, you can find it at Vanderbilt if you look for it, but the overall attitude is apathy. Students care about their grades so that they can get into med school of other graduate programs, but they don’t care about what they are studying. I came to Vanderbilt in part to experience a new part of the US and might choose to work in the area after graduation, but if you intend to work in NYC you should definitely go to Princeton. In regards to faculty, you will have good and bad professors and any college, every professor at Vanderbilt or Princeton is highly qualified and it would be hard for you to know much about the professors you would have class with before you got to either college. </p>
<p>PS: You want the Princeton degree, if I could have gotten into Princeton I wouldn’t have thought twice about going to Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>As far as job chances, I would not underestimate the influence of Princeton’s alumni network. The intellectual environment (at least what it sounds like what you’re looking for) is more prevalent at Princeton, I’d wager the quality of teaching to be pretty similar, and (like midmo said) the party scene is there if you want it but it won’t negatively affect your life if you don’t want it to. The “party scene” is only what you make of it. Nashville is a really great city to go to college in and most likely a whole lot better than Princeton, NJ.</p>
<p>If the cost of attending both is very similar, I think you’d probably have to go to Princeton. If the finances are very different, I’d probably lean toward Vandy. You of course need to visit, which might make your choice a whole lot simpler (one way or the other)</p>
<p>Honestly, it sounds like you are a determined, highly intellectual, driven student. No matter where you go, you’ll be successful in what you do. Yeah, college is four years, but it’s not that big of a deal. Both schools are excellent; don’t let other people’s biased opinions affect your decision. Just make a choice and be happy with it. It’ll all turn out good in the end.</p>
<p>Yes, money is kind of a concern for me, especially since I’m thinking about going to grad/law school. Princeton gave me around $15,000 in grants, while Vandy’s scholarship (with Nat’l Merit Finalist money) is $42,000…</p>
<p>Lord. If you have a chance and can afford princeton do it. and regarding the grade deflation, all the grad schools and jobs that ask know about it. and everyone in princeton is in the same boat.</p>
<p>When I look at the price difference, the only factor in favor of Princeton is that you think you eventually will want to work in NY/Philly. Is there a way for you to look for Vanderbilt alumni networks in NY/Philly and contact someone to ask if it is, in fact, a significant disadvantage to graduate from Vanderbilt? I kind of doubt it, since a good record at Vanderbilt will put you in good position for east coast law schools, and that is where the necessary connections will be made.</p>
<p>BTW, I think the quality of teaching at Vanderbilt is quite good. </p>
<p>If you were talking about a 10K per year price difference, and you had a strong personal preference for Princeton, I would personally say pick what you think is your favorite at this point. However, you are looking at 25K or more per year difference. And, please keep in mind that not everybody thinks the Princeton experience is superior to Vanderbilt at any price. Many high school students do, and many easterners do (I spent most of my adult life to this point in New England), but not everyone else does.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your very fine admissions/merit award results.</p>
<p>No top 20 schools is worth more than 100,000K+ than another. Would you rather work off that debt in 10 years or graduate almost debt free?
Vandy kids are extremely smart, there is a reason why they also get into top grad schools. Vandy is well funded with hundreds of millions of research grants from private and public institutions so if you are going into sciences, you definitely won’t be at any disadvantage. In fact, you may be at an advantage. While Princeton has great research, you might not get a great research position in a lab as you would at Vandy. Princeton places great emphasis on grad school (that’s not saying that don’t for undergrad but their research goes to grad students) so you might not be able to get your own project. I know that at Vandy, you have the amazing chance of having your own project rather than being a third hand for a graduate student. Vanderbilt has great graduate placement and if you are very intellegent (for sure you are since you got the CV scholarship) you will be the cream of the crop. The top of your class, which is even better than graduating near the middle of the class at Princeton.
SO WHAT? That’s like saying I live too far from Stanford to go there someday for grad school. Why is it that an Amherst student can end up working in Silicon Valley after he graduates? Why can a Cornell engineer who lives in the middle of nowhere (well almost) in New York get to become a physicist in NASA? Your undergrad location doesn’t determine the place you will work. Also, Vanderbilt is located in a better city than Princeton is in my opinion. Nashville has major internship opportunity from business to medical to law to the government. Being close to NYC or Philly is an misleading statement: it doesn’t mean you will end up there. Ask a Columbia student and you will realize that living in NYC doesn’t necessarily mean you will always end up getting a job/internship in NYC.
Few students have a internship during the school year (that would be a co-op) and so living far away from NYC doesn’t make a difference as you will be away from school during the summer month when your internships probably will be occurring. Look at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, their students get top internship out east and they are hundreds of miles away. Internships are determined by how well you can perform in a school, not where your school is. There is a small chance you will have a full time internship during your school year and so that leaves breaks right? Well during the summer you will be away from school anyways, at home. Well that means that neither Princeton nor Vanderbilt’s location makes an effect. If you get an internship in NYC during the summer, your internship with be away from both so it’s not like oh I can run back to my school to study. If you do well at Vandy, then you have just as good of a chance of getting into a top grad school as Princeton.</p>
<p>Thank you for the lengthy responses. I visited Princeton this weekend, and it just felt right. I love the undergraduate focus, the students and their passion for learning, the architecture, the student activities, the food… I think I am 90% Princeton now. Also, Princeton makes sure students don’t graduate with debt, so my parents are okay will paying more and rest assured knowing that if our financial situation changes for the worse, Pton will pick up the rest of the cost.</p>
<p>If financials are equal Princeton would be the choice over Vandy for competitive kids. However, no Ivy league school will give merit scholarships. If you do not qualify for need based then you will have to shell out over $270,000 in 4 years (do not forget 5% inflation rate). No undergraduate degree is worth that money in forms loans and debts, student’s or parents’. If you want to spend that money to put you or your parents into long term debt, do that during graduate studies (medicine, law, business). If you have enough to waste - that is different - but makes n practical sense. </p>
<p>There is an excellent article on studying in Ivy Leagues done by Princeton professor available at the link - </p>
<p>This may be an eye opener for students who cannot reach a decision point. This essentially shows that there is no income difference between students who graduated from Ivy Leagues compared to students who got accepted but did not go!</p>
<p>gunit, why would you say something like this?</p>
<p>not only does Vanderbilt have more undergraduate students than Princeton, but it also has more than twice the amount of graduate students and much less of an endowment per student than Princeton (8 times less) - all of which imply that Princeton places more emphasis on undergraduates and pours more money on undergraduates for research than Vanderbilt - which is completely opposite of what you are saying:</p>