Vandy vs Oberlin

<p>Lucky enough to got accepted to these two schools
I will be major in economics and probably go to a grad school and get a phd in it or something
I love the smaller environment and the artistic atmosphere of obie but i thought vandy would have a better reputation because i really value academics.</p>

<p>hmm...give me some advice any one of you??thx!</p>

<p>These seem like two very dissimilar schools. Have you visited each?</p>

<p>i kno thats why i have to post a thread here= =a;;</p>

<p>I’ve visited oberlin but havn’t been to vandy yet</p>

<p>For economics/business type work, I would strongly consider Vandy. The HOD program is also very full of management type courses. It is a great location in a city that is not hurting as badly as many cities in this recession. </p>

<p>Vandy has students that lean left and right and publishes both liberal and conservative newspapers. We decided that was valuable to our son, although he was initially drawn to schools that were more liberal. Just a thought. Vandy can have small classroom experiences but probably not in introductory Econ classes that are used by many majors.</p>

<p>The arts are fabulous at Vandy although I realize Oberlin’s conservatory is stellar. Nashville is an artists’ town and you might be surprised at how lively it is every season of the year. </p>

<p>I haven’t seen Oberlin but I know the weather is more temperate in Nashville. I lived in Dayton once.</p>

<p>Thanks you VERY MUCH.</p>

<p>Oberlin is even northern than Dayton as far as i kno. Thats a lot of good info. I think i should probably visit them and then decide.</p>

<p>If you want a medium sized research institution with graduate schools of law, medicine, divinity and nursing on campus in the middle of a fabulous inner ring area of a capital city and you can tolerate some larger classes and a larger pool of people, pick Vanderbilt. Watch all the videos on Vanderbilt on youtube to get a visual sense of the school. Realize that Vanderbilt undergrad is undergoing massive demographic change in four years of time and that a lot of what you read about Vandy may not be representative of the class of 2014 although it is important to understand Vandy’s place in social history as a university…
I know Oberlin has many stupendous majors and has a relaxed, congenial feel from what I know. Two members of my son’s class are there now.</p>

<p>To have been admitted to Vanderbilt in the year that 22 thousand people applied means a lot and means that admissions is sure you can make it work. The waitlist at Vandy this year is full of people who can make it work and who want to come to Vandy. </p>

<p>Nashville is a super happy town gown situation. My son is non frat independent and feels that he has found plenty of friends to have a full social life but he especially loves the places he can walk to from Vanderbilt that add so much to his life…he has been also to the great new Symphony Hall for the city of Nashville and to many events in local parks nearby…
check it out! </p>

<p>you really can’t lose either way but obviously…I encourage you to say yes to Vanderbilt and be part of this exciting time there</p>

<p>Wow, i wish my own parents could’ve been so helpful but they don’t really care.
^^ Thanks lot.</p>

<p>i was about to ask you what greek life would be like at vandy. i kno oberlin bans all frat there and you answered my question!</p>

<p>but anyway i will visit there, probably next month. i wish your son is having a great time, which i’m sure he is!</p>

<p>Greek life is a bigger deal at Vandy than the numbers of kids actually pledging would indicate. There are more girls than guys who pledge, there is a real Greek Row with lots of parties and there are lots of activities that the Greek organizations do for just themselves or for the school…and of course Greek kids are involved in the school in other programs all the time. </p>

<p>That said, we decided that if you eliminate colleges with a strong Greek life you eliminate too many great places…although my son at Vandy is not interested in Greek pledging at all and would probably have been happy at a no frat college. </p>

<p>So then he looked at applying to schools that also had Greek life but where there was plenty of options for non Greeks. He is extremely busy in Nashville and on campus at Vanderbilt with friends who are Independents…but he has friends who pledged and has been to a couple of parties with them. That said, he is much happier being on a campus where a real city is at your feet and you and your friends can always find something great to do. It is easy to skip Greek World since this is not an isolated college with nothing else to do like Dartmouth…where the village is so small that you sort of have to find all your outlets on campus.</p>

<p>Son is at a Film festival this evening with friends…always out and about.</p>

<p>I’m currently an Oberlin student from TN. My .02:</p>

<p>Word to the poster who said that Nashville’s weather is more temperate. If you prefer sunny, warm weather–Oberlin might not be the best place for you to spend your next four years. It’s often cold and overcast here. People complain about the weather in TN being unpredictable, as it can change from week-to-week. In Oberlin, however, it can change from day-to-day.</p>

<p>Also, some Oberlin students will say that being in such a small town isn’t a problem for them because there’s so much going on on-campus. I thought I would be fine, having grown up in a relatively small town, but I often wish that I had chosen a school with more leisure opportunities in the surrounding area. I never took into account the fact that even if there is a lot going on, it’s still nice to be somewhere off school grounds for a while. Another issue connected to location: though Oberlin has the Winter Term program to allow for career exploration through internships, I think being in Nashville would allow you greater access to internships during the school year.</p>

<p>And continuing on my expansion of other people’s posts, the two schools have very different sensibilities. Oberlin is overall more socially and politically liberal, while Vanderbilt (at least from what I’ve read and seen), seems more socially conservative and politically moderate.</p>