<p>bluebayou, i hope this helps</p>
<p>Visit Recap:</p>
<p>I just got home after the 13 hour long drive each way! I went up on Wednesday, got to visit all day Thursday, and we drove back on Friday. </p>
<p>Arriving to Nashville on Wednesday, I was struck by how beautiful the city was (at least the part I saw). The bridges were lit up, the buildings weren't dilapidated, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. </p>
<p>Luckily, the beautiful weather continued onto Thursday, my day of visiting. My dad and I got lost driving to the admission office because of the somewhat labyrinthine streets on the campus (and because I didn't bring a campus map) but once we did arrive on campus, it was breathtaking. I'll go over the campus more once I get to the campus tour, though.</p>
<p>The first order of business was an appointment with Associate Dean McIntire to talk about my scholarship and Vanderbilt in general. I asked him lots of questions, of which the important ones I will try to relay. </p>
<p>First question was about AP credits. I asked him how they would transfer to my degree and if they would affect my standing (freshman or sophomore). He told me that they are trying to enact a new system and that he isn't too sure of the details yet, but that he expects that Vandy will accept only 18 credits toward graduation. This is a change from the 30 hours previously accepted. He said, however, that the credits beyond 18 would still appear on the transcript but would just not count towards anything. </p>
<p>My second question was about research opportunities for undergrads. He was honest with me and said that the researchers on campus have a large pool of graduate students and post-doctorals to help them with their research and, as of now, there wasn't an extremely large offering. He told me, though, that they are very earnest in their efforts to find a way to include undergraduates more extensively into their projects. Despite this, he shared that there are grants of about $4,000 for students to stay during the summer to research and that this usually happens the summer of sophomore year.</p>
<p>The third question I asked was what he thought distinguished Vanderbilt from its peer institutions. His answer: balance. He discussed the balance between academics and social life, between different areas of study (liberal arts education), between the campus and the city, between a drive to do well and a harmony between students (ie - no sabotaging or cutthroat competition); the list goes on. </p>
<p>During the whole conversation he was remarkably at ease and did not seem to be trying to rush me through his schedule. In all, I spent about 40 minutes there and not once did he look at his watch or take his attention away from me, which I thought was incredible considering that he is an associate dean. He even walked my father and me over to the office of admissions for our information session.</p>
<p>The information session re-emphasized many of the points that Dean McIntire made in our conversation, in addition to their desire to see continuity throughout the application, new SAT/ACT policy, etc. The most important issue that was discussed here, for me at least, was the Greek life scene. I think that the numbers were around 50% of the women and 30% of the men participate in sororities and fraternities. This is a bit higher than I was hoping for, but then I got great news: the greek houses are not residential; only the top 6 officers of the organization live in the house and the rest of the members live in dorms with the rest of the student body. I welcomed this news because it means that, although Greek life is still a major force on campus, its energy is more diffused throughout and not concentrated on fraternity/sorority row and does not create what the admission officer giving the session called "a bifurcated community."</p>
<p>The campus tour was horrible, the campus was phenomenal. The reason why I say the campus tour was so bad is because our tour leader seemed to lead us and stop at all the wrong places. We did a good deal of the tour circling some sort of factory building that had very loud noises disrupting her speeches and obstructing the otherwise stupendous campus. Also, when she stopped to talk it would be at the corner of an intersection with huge and loud trucks going to whatever the factory was or in the middle of the intersection of walkways where people were constantly trying to navigate their way through us. Aside from that, however, the sights were amazing. Every tree native to Tennessee is represented on the campus so, as you can imagine, the landscape is ideal. The grass was far softer than the prickly and stiff St. Augustine stuff we have down here in Florida and there were people reading, talking, even napping on the lawns. All of the buildings, with the exception of Furman Hall, are brick and seem to grow out of the ground as a natural extension of the earth because they seem to be so well-nestled in the surroundings. The campus, once again as the admissions officer described it, is like an island in the city in that is a refuge of calm in the bustling city right outside its gates.</p>
<p>The tour guide took us to visit a dorm (I forget which Hall it was, though) and I was very surprised at its cleanliness and atmosphere. I've seen many college dorms and this one is definitely among the top three in terms of quality. There was a large lounge area for students, the hallways were carpeted, the walls of the hallways were scratchless and stainless and, most importantly, the dorm was fairly large, surprising because it was only a single and the guide told us that it was the smallest one on campus. As for other dorms, she told us that the split between single and double rooms is about 50/50. Some of the doubles are suite style, in that there are two double rooms sharing a toilet and a sink. All of the dorms have community bathrooms (but separate shower stalls) to make sure people don't become hermitic and stay in their room.</p>
<p>After the tour, I went to a class: a freshman seminar called "Concepts of God." The professor was 10 minutes late to class but was very happy to let me come in and watch his class. We talked about the story of Abraham and the difference between "infinite resignation" and "faith" and it was a very cool class. The students interacted, he provided good examples, and he seemed to truly care whether the students understood what he was teaching. </p>
<p>After class, my dad and I went to the Rand dining hall, which is the main cafeteria. There were a good deal of "restaurants" to choose from and we both enjoyed our food. The only warning I have is that the little "Water" button on the soda machine dispenses seltzer water, not normal water!</p>
<p>As for the student body, I had to stop twice to ask for directions to the admissions office and both people I asked seemed very happy to help me. The students didn't go out of their way to say hello, but they definitely weren't the type that walk around campus with their heads down. I interacted the most with the people in the class I attended, and all of them seemed very happy with Vanderbilt. And, to address the issue of preppiness, there were definitely a lot of khakis, boat shoes, and orange and turqoise apparel, but there was also a lot of jeans and t-shirts. I didn't get the sense that if you don't dress preppy you don't fit in.</p>
<p>Lastly, the surrounding community is very nice. I heard somewhere that there are about 50 restaurants within walking distance of the campus and apparently the Vanderbilt ID cards are becoming acceptable means of payment even for off-campus activities such as at Chilis or a taxi cab. The area also has a vibrant intellectual feel to it; my dad and I went to the Frist Center for Visual Arts just 1.5 miles off campus to have a docent-guided tour of several art exhibits. My final impression about the city is that if you want to leave campus there is plenty to do.</p>
<p>So, I think that about concludes my recap. I hope I answered some of your questions about the school and, if you want to know anything else, just ask and I can try to help.</p>