<p>Our younger son's top two college choices are VU and Wake. My wife and I are trying very hard to not hover but we are both of the opinion that VU is the better school for a number of reasons. Our older son is a junior at VU and has had a wonderful experience there.</p>
<p>Please help me compare and contrast the two schools. Maybe I can find some additional info that will help his decision making.</p>
<p>This is my first post so I am looking forward to being part of the community.</p>
<p>Our son was admitted to both schools mentioned by SeniorDad and felt he could have grown up and gotten a great education at both. He would have been proud to go either place and met great kids both places. Faculty at Wake are amazing First Name Basis influences on students. Vandy also has succeeded in being a bigger school with pockets of small school academia advantages.
Perhaps you second son wants an option to call his own. I wouldn't stress over it till you see what schools admitted him. Our son did not make a final decision till late April and changed his mind like three times. I would however, encourage son number two to at least make a serious application to Vandy, and to then visit around a bit in April if he couldn't decide.<br>
Wake is a very sporty school with lots of school spirit and excellent access to full professors in all subjects. Grade deflation is sometimes an issue if your son is not the kind of person who aces tests and if he has his heart set on say premed..but graduate schools know that Wake never inflates GPRs and Wake is respected at graduate schools. I think Wake has a few programs that exceed Vandy..one that comes to mind is their superb accountant training track which seems to place everyone in great jobs. Vandy is not a place for easy grades either. Both schools are pretty tough in the classroom.
We used to live in Nashville and spouse has a Vandy degree. We are also very mixed in background..not southern really...spouse from NJ and we ADORE Nashville as a city that is very welcoming and enterprising and booming. Winston-Salem in my opinion is not as exciting a city for a college setting..which would be the obvious drawback in that comparison. However, if you are East coast based, it is a "fur piece" west to drive to Middle Tennessee and the NC cities are pretty accessible for NE and SE families. </p>
<p>Make sure to support your son in casting his net, and don't force issues about ranking colleges right now. Our son applied to seven schools, which in our community is considered excessive, and it is hard to manage a teens feelings when they feel allegience or crushy feelings toward one or two schools and yet they need to keep an open mind until April. Our son expected to be rejected at three/four schools..three were clear reaches. He hoped to win some merit money at a couple of matches. Unexpected things happened. Impressions changed. </p>
<p>Enjoy this year with son number two and while he may have crushes on a school or two, my best advice is this "attach to his match" colleges first and foremost. The best thing we did was to feel proud and happy when our son was admitted to his match schools. Son attended classes at the match schools and was relieved to see that it would be a privilege to attend them. Match colleges have faculty just as exciting as reach colleges and often just as many opportunities. Our son was waitlisted by his "crush" and surprised to be admitted to two reaches...which created a problem because he had already decided he was thrilled with the match schools. This is a good way to feel about things come April.</p>
<p>Well it's an easier decision if your son is thinking about engineering. If not, this is probably a fit-and-feel call. </p>
<p>I feel Vandy is the better call if you get an admit to both, but you already know this.</p>
<p>wake: medium sized city. school looks like a country club. unified design with buildings. very impressive. somewhat removed from the city itself. heavy greek. tough academics renowned for being "work forest". was #2 for child #2. very very impressive.</p>
<p>vandy: urban but doesn't feel like it. the vandy bubble is somewhat insular in that you aren't aware that surrounding areas could be questionable. car trashed by some of those. love the school. child #1 attends as a senior. very personal relationship with teachers (but this could depend on the school). at child's #2 hs all seven very smart kids but from suburbia were rejected--everyone applying to wf was accepted. it's so weird. the hs that is far wealthier and elite got everyone in. in fact that hs is the epitome of elitism so draw from that what you may.</p>
<p>vandy has changed dramatically over the 4 years that my child #2 has attended. far more diverse, far harder to gain admission for kids that aren't in the current vogue for what they're seeking. if you can get a copy of the most recent magazine and articles about admission you should be able to discern if your kid falls within that range.</p>
<p>both schools are awesome. one is better known nationally but wake could change that within the next few years.</p>
<p>mistake==child#1 attends vandy and has the four year experience. child #2 ultimately found Washington and Lee and that's all it took. game over. vandy came in a distant third for that kid.</p>
<p>Thanks to all that have replied. A couple more observations. We live in Atlanta and we know many kids here who attend both schools. Everyone who attends Wake raves about it and everyone who attends VU raves about it.
Our older son at VU is a KA and this holds an appeal to the younger one.
The fact that the Joel and the football stadium are off campus is a negative....to some extent to the younger one......also no fraternity houses.</p>
<p>I have also been surprised that many Wake students are upset about the lack of a true student rec. center. VU has a very nice center....not like the Ramsey center at UGA but still very nice for the smaller student body....also, I would not compare Nashville and W-S, especially for country music which the younger one enjoys. </p>
<p>So I guess it will be about fit and feel. Please keep the comments coming. You have been very helpful.</p>
<p>SeniorDad</p>
<p>re music in Music City..the bars and every little venue are full of truly great musicians. One reason my son is not at Vandy is that he did not feel he could fit into the orchestra that is part of Blair School of Music because he knew he would not practice enough hours weekly to not stick out as underprepared in his section. Blair School of Music attracts serious teachers and players, but also includes new age and bluegrass instruction from super talents as well as classical pursuits. Our S only wanted to play a few hours a week, but he LOVES classical. However, he is also content to attend classical venues to meet this need, and he only wanted a couple long practices a week as a college student player.
Nashville is home to many music lovers...constant big shows on tour, but also a magnificent new classical music hall for the NSO on the river..recently written up in the New Yorker as an exciting Symphony Orchestra. The Blair Hall is also host to truly talented musicians in every segment of music performance and there are tons of studio musicians dining around Vandy daily in places near West End, and near Music Row. As you can hear from my years there, for any lover of music and the arts, Nashville will never disappoint. The sports scene in Nashville is also big fun, and Vandy sports are a plus, and tend to be well attended by alum which is another positive.</p>
<p>Greek life doesn't get a lot of play around CC. I'm sure your sons have had many conversations about how it can impact the college experience. That will be the tie breaker, if you need one. If you are having trouble rounding up WF voices on the topic, try to find some Duke people to talk to - they greek in a similar way. My Duke friends and I had pretty similar experiences then and continue to today with the group of classmates we’ve made parts of our lives since commencements.</p>
<p>From our daughters experience and her friends, Vanderbilt is much harder to get into than Wake. If you apply early decision to Vandy it helps. Although Wake Forest is a great school we know many who are there because they did not get accepted into Chapel Hill. Also, we know some who have transferred to Chapel Hill or other schools after freshman year. The ones who go to Vandy have stayed and are happy.</p>
<p>"Everyone who attends Wake raves about it and everyone who attends VU raves about it."</p>
<p>There's got to be different reasons why these kids rave about their different schools. That's where the answer is going to lie.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is highly integrated with its host city and has good relations with Nashville (sigh, our son is in Durham). Nashville is also a capital city and therefore has many internships and business opps for upperclass students needing exposure to the work force. I believe Vandy is the number one employer in the area, and therefore when a student is ready to get off campus..you will find it easy to mix with employed people in medicine, law, business and gov't if you need to do this to meet academic requirements. We have friends who are Greek and happy at Wake by the way..but their houses are "designated areas" in the dorm.
Another Wake friend took up biking..NC has many great byways near there.</p>
<p>The fact of so many posted replies shows that both schools have tremendous positives!! I can add the perspective that is similar to your son's. Two brothers finished at Wake. Both loved it (very different personalities). We've been there as a family a million times for great football and basketball weekends (off-campus stadium and coleseum are a non-issue, it's so close and everyone gets there). When my turn came, parents leaned hard toward Wake, but I chose elsewhere. Still, Wake is fantastic! Both brothers formed relationships with professors that will be lifelong! Yes grade-deflation, but graduate and professional school get it! Second brother got into all medical schools to which he applied in spite of a considerably-lower-than-average-applicant gpa (very good MCAT, but not a slam-dunk) and no special hardship circumstances. He did have a professor--and an entire department--who got him published several times, took him to national scientific meetings, inspired and mentored him, etc., etc. First brother was a business major--a decision point for some since Vandy does not have a true business school. The business school had alumni relationships even in our home area that provided him with an excellent summer internship and many job connections after graduation. Vandy IS higher ranked. I have heard, at a family weekend, one element of Wake's perspective on its ranking: though it is a national university, it consciously chooses to limit its graduate programs to areas where demand exists for these degrees. This limitation keeps its national recognition down. Wake EXISTS for its undergraduates, and all professors, even Dr. Maya Angelou, teach undergraduates. My brothers could both walk into any professor's office, even the dept. chair, and ask a question or express a concern and did so many times. Other pluses: national award for best rate of return on its endowment (i.e. great steward of parents' investment); class size (Wake keeps even the huge intro lectures like premed bio small); standardized laptops and software issued to each student at beginning of freshman and junior years (I am missing this asset now that I am trying to keep my own laptop virus free and running. If brothers' laptop crashed the night before an exam or paper--or a roommate spilled his coffee on it--they would just dump it off at IT for repairs and pick up a loaner--free--this is huge); Wake is wireless EVERYWHERE (no more ethernet cable); great piece of geography (Wake students can be found on weekends skiing, at the beach (long weekend), or checking in with friends or experiencing the great ACC athletic rivalries at all the other nearby fantastic institutions--UNC, Duke, Davidson, VA tech, etc. Finally, I don't know about Vandy from this perspective; but, at least in our area, Wake alumni are so loyal that they are practically a cult!! From here, probably equal numbers choose Wake and Vandy, lots of friends at Vandy. Happy is wherever you are in October! Good Luck to your family!</p>