<p>I'm thinking about applying early decision to either wake or vanderbilt next year, but I just wanted to see which one yall thought was better or whatever, expecially if you had to choose between them in the past. Thanks!</p>
<p>Having applied to both schools in the past, I've done my research on both schools. This is strictly my opinion though.</p>
<p>Academics - Vanderbilt
Social Life - Vanderbilt (Both have a large Greek scene)
Location - Vanderbilt (Nashville > Winston-Salem)
Prestige - Vanderbilt
Sports - Wake Forest</p>
<p>vanderbilt is a better school, but it depends on your stats; it's also harder to get into</p>
<p>Vandy way over Wake.</p>
<p>If I were you, I wouldn't put any stock whatsoever in CC posts when choosing an ED school. </p>
<p>Neither will open more doors or make more mouths drop open than the other, if that's what you're asking.</p>
<p>I agree with the above post to a certain extent. You should definitely use CC only as a guide in terms of choosing a school, but when it comes to Early Decision, you should apply ED to the school where you feel the most comfortable. It has to fit you well.</p>
<p>As far as the opening more doors and mouths dropping comment, while Wake Forest is certainly a solid school, Vanderbilt is definitely the more prestigious school (not that that should be a deciding factor or anything). In terms of top Southern universities, Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory and Rice are often seen as the cream of the crop with Wake Forest a bit behind the schools just mentioned.</p>
<p>Here are the SAT scores of the middle 50% of accepted students:</p>
<p>Vanderbilt CAS
1360-1510 / 31-33
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=333350%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=333350</a></p>
<p>Wake Forest
1280-1400
<a href="http://www.wfu.edu/admissions/pdf/wfu.search.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.wfu.edu/admissions/pdf/wfu.search.pdf</a></p>
<p>As a Wake alum, I've always considered Vandy to be a larger version of Wake. They are very similar socially and in terms of student body, though Vandy's admission stats are more selective. What avant-garde says seems pretty accurate.</p>
<p>I would choose Vandy over Wake in a second, but you cant go wrong with either. Theyre both excellent schools.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt, for size, location, and selectivity.</p>
<p>
[quote]
In terms of top Southern universities, Duke, Vanderbilt, Emory and Rice are often seen as the cream of the crop with Wake Forest a bit behind the schools just mentioned.
[/quote]
I should think UNC, William & Mary, and UVA come in there somewhere. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Here are the SAT scores of the middle 50% of accepted students
[/quote]
If you're bringing up stats, why not mention that Wake has produced 11 Rhodes Scholars since 1986? Vanderbilt has produced exactly 1 (10 years ago!) in the same stretch of time.</p>
<p>The number of Rhodes scholars is all fine and dandy, but it does not say much about a school's selectivity.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Selectivity is all fine and dandy, but it does not say much about the students a school produces.
[/quote]
Fixed. :p</p>
<p>I agree with most of the posters. I had to make this decision, not just which one I liked better, but which school I wanted to apply early decision. Wake Forest is nice but Vandy is just the better version of Wake. The big difference for me between the schools was that Wake is really in the middle of no where, while Vandy is in Nashville. Also, Vandy still has a beautiful campus even though its in a city. I would really advise you to visit both schools. Also, Wake is smaller than Vandy and I wanted a medium sized school which Vandy is. </p>
<p>Vanderbilt is also more selective and has a better rep. </p>
<p>PM me if you have any other specific questions about the school. I visited both and researched both.</p>
<p>Now as far as the campus goes, I'd definitely favor Wake. The dominant feature on the Vandy campus that I recall is the power plant smokestack.</p>
<p>First time I set foot on the Vandy Campus that smoke stack killed me! How could they do that? The trees have really grown and the campus is an arboritum. The smoke stack is an unfortunate exception to an otherwise beatiful campus.</p>
<p>I actually made this decision less than a month ago when choosing where to attend for 2007. I chose Vandy, with CU and Wake being 2nd and 3rd</p>
<p>Much of the decision was due to the culture and what I wanted to do. I actually loved all three campuses (9/10 for vandy and CU, 8.5 for wake)</p>
<p>-CU was truly my favorite campus b/c of its location. I am an outdoors oriented person and love CO-where I live- but I wanted to discover a new culture and Vandy offered a Southern Metro lifestyle that I have never experienced. Also, the actual campus is as pretty at Vandy as at CU, but the buildings are in amazing condition at Vandy. Versus, old and beat up at CU. Wake seemed to be like my current city in CO, and I wanted to get out of "vanilla valley".</p>
<p>As for academics. I love both business and engineering- I am doing engineering at Vandy. Vandy does not offer a business school for undergrads, but does have a HOD ("soft business") degree and a great economics degree- I understand both provide great class quality and top notch career prospects. On the other hand, the business school at Wake is top notch- and my conclusion was that for hard business (finance, etc) that this was the one area that Wake held a definite advantage. Also note, Wake does not offer engineering.</p>
<p>Also, Vandy offers great AID (merit and financial). I was able to land a scholarship with less than amazing stats- will reduced and used to replace a portion of my financial aid. My friend also got a great package (30k a year grants, myself-19k/yr grants 6k/y reduced scholarship). Other people have also gotten amazing packages, and the department at the school is great to work with (other schools would not consider omitting my dad who will not contribute- Vandy did, without any obstacles and recalculated this years aid for expected business losses.)</p>
<p>I will apologize for ranting. I hope this helps-</p>
<p>PS I didn't consider applying early to either school, but if one is not "Early Decision" but is "Early Admission" I would choose to apply early to the early admission school and then apply to the other RD</p>
<p>Also, Both schools have a significant party scene.. if that isn't for you these are top notch Universities and there will be tons like you. However, if it is for you, Vandy is the only school with top 20 academics and parties.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt has a park-like campus with lots of trees and squirrels. The school is nationally recognized as an arboretum and is well-known for its beautiful scenery. Nashville also has tons of great restaurants and live music venues which would likely offer a more vibrant experience than Winston-Salem. </p>
<p>In terms of the undergraduate student body, Vanderbilt is more diverse with minority enrollment at 25% and the international community coming from more than 50 countries. The new residential colleges for freshmen will also be completed for next years class. Impact Symposium at Vandy has long hosted some of America's greatest speakers such as JFK and Martin Luther King Jr. The yearly tradition brings high-profiled speakers and fosters discussions on campus [Dobbs, Gingrich, and Harold Ford Jr. spoke this year]. Also -- Nobel Peace-Prize winner Muhammad Yunus spoke at commencement this year (he is also a Vandy alum).</p>
<p>Vanderbilt might have more prestige and the stronger student body, but both schools offer a top-notch education. Each school has small classroom sizes, great professors, and highly spirited students. Visit both schools and see which place feels like home. Good luck!</p>
<p>it's also worth it to note that wake forest is supposed to be <em>hard</em></p>
<p>i have heard there is extreme grade deflation there</p>
<p>but yes, like people above are saying, you really are lucky to be choosing from two such great schools</p>
<p>hey thanks everybody for your input and advice, I have visited both schools and think they both are really great, but it's still kinda early to decide and I'm suppose to visit more colleges soon so I guess I could end up not choosing either, but I really liked them both and just wanted to see what people had to say. And one more thing, I plan on taking the SAT again but right now I have a combined score as 1430 and 2140 - Is this score in range of either wake or vanderbilt? - Thanks!</p>
<p>it's in the range of both, though it puts you in the 75th percentile at wake</p>