<p>Would like to come down from NY with my Junior son to visit, since he is very interested in applying to Vandy this fall.</p>
<p>The earliest we can get away would be Mid May, but I presume school would be out by then, would it still be worthwhile visiting?</p>
<p>And any suggestions on where to stay or other recommendations?</p>
<p>Graduation is May 11, so I assume the campus will be populated by just a handful of Maymester folks. A really good time for a visit is in the fall when they are having an home football game. You get to see the wide variety of folks - some look like they just drug themselves out of bed 5 minutes earlier and others are dressed to impress, but they all seem to be having a great time! You can do a morning tour and information session and then go to the game. The Marriott adjoining campus is wonderful, but pricy; there is a Courtyard a few blocks down from campus on West End that is nice and more reasonably priced (although it can be expensive when something big is going on such as commencement or parents weekend (which I think is still the last weekend in Sept.)).</p>
<p>Thanks. I noticed that graduation is the 11th (unfortunately the only weekend we both can get away). </p>
<p>I'd like to wait til Fall, but Vanderbilt looks right now to be my son's #1 choice and he may want to apply ED, so just to be sure and also to demonstrate his interest, we may go up Monday after graduation weekend anyway and then come back again in the Fall.</p>
<p>Can you go on a PreVU Monday? We were not able to visit spring semester because of hs spring sports so we went in June of 05-it was a great visit. We saw few undergraduate students but there were about 200 prospective students who were attending the same event-good for surveying the crowd of potential classmates. I believe there is more structure than the typical tour and admissions chat. If memory serves, there were breakout sessions by college and a dean spoke at each one. The director of admissions spoke (I took notes, D didn't care then, but he gave very good information on the application). There was a pretty good student panel discussion on life at Vanderbilt-most kids would dismiss it but I thought there was some interesting information, must be the parent thing with me. Vanderbilt is exceptionally good at these events-you are made to feel welcome and wanted. The Loew's Vanderbilt is another good hotel and costs slightly less than the Marriott. Cabs are plentiful. It probably costs a little more to rent a car than cab both ways to the airport (20 minutes). With PreVU you can fly down on Sunday and leave Monday afternoon with a 4:00 flight. There is a PreVU day in early September on a Friday with a football game the following day-if you choose to go then, book your hotel very soon. Going back for an admitted students' day in April only reaffirmed what I thought about Vanderbilt from the earlier PreVU session when there were relatively few students on campus.</p>
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Vanderbilt is exceptionally good at these events-you are made to feel welcome and wanted.
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<p>Son and I found this to be true when we attended accepted students' Engineering Day recently. Everything was very well done, very informative, a lot of professors and students on hand to mingle with prospective students. </p>
<p>We stayed at a Hampton Inn two blocks from campus on West End and 19th. Free internet, very nice free breakfast in the lobby, free and convenient parking, perfectly adequate room. Easy walk to Vanderbilt.</p>
<p>I'm a student at Vanderbilt and actually a tourguide too. I would definitely recommend visiting campus either in the fall as someone else mentioned, on the weekend of a home footballl game, or if not in the fall, in the spring time around april... I know that for seniors that is decision time, but that is actually when I decided to visit Vanderbilt. </p>
<p>The reason I recommend these times go beyond the nice weather... they are also generally popular times for people to visit and the campus is bustling. There's just an energy in these months that is unbeatable -- I personally think the quality of the tours are top-notch at this time of year as well (either in the early fall, pre-Thanksgiving, or in the late spring, after Spring Break). </p>
<p>Take it for what it's worth, but I think both of those will give your son a better idea of what he likes if he is there when students are there. I can't imagine the campus being very busy in May after everyone goes home for the summer...</p>
<p>Good luck and don't hesistate to PM me if you have any questions.</p>