<p>you should ask this post on the wake and vandy forums. Then you'll hear both sides better :).</p>
<p>ps. I go to Wake and LOVE it. Since Wake was the only southern school I looked at I cannot give my take on Vandy vs. Wake. WakeForest has provided me with amazing opportunities.... but at the end of the day it depends on who you are and what you need.</p>
<p>I would choose Vandy In a second.</p>
<p>I've wanted to go there my WHOLE life.</p>
<p>I'll probably be applying ED myself in my senior year...</p>
<p>and WF and Vandy are playing each other in football for the next 7 years :O</p>
<p>RE: the smokestack.</p>
<p>While I see how jarring it would appear to someone visiting the campus for the first time, how often are you gonna look up once you've been there a while and get used to being surrounded by lush greenery and red brick (and Furman, too)? The campus is surrounded by high-rises since it's in the middle of Nashville; the smokestack just blends in with everything else after a while.</p>
<p>about that smokestack...</p>
<p>I pretty much grew up on the campus and I hardly ever even saw it none the less noticed it.</p>
<p>Definitely good 'ol Vandy! But there isn't that much of a difference that if you really liked Wake much more than Vanderbilt that you shouldn't apply there early.
Good luck next year, :)</p>
<p>to help you go to <a href="http://www.theu.com%5B/url%5D">www.theu.com</a> they have some really great videos!</p>
<p>I am quite amused about how some people think that this is such a clear-cut decision. It is not like Vanderbilt is Duke or Yale, and I know Wake students who picked Wake over both of those schools. Vanderbilt is slightly better in overall academics, and if you are an engineering major this should not even be a question. We do offer a sort-of engineering program with NC State, but I have never met someone who is doing it. </p>
<p>Wake is not THAT hard. It's not like the average GPA is 2.0, it is more like 2.8ish. But that is an awful reason to not pick Wake, becuase you will be able to do the work and handle the work load. </p>
<p>With Vanderbilt being larger, it is also a bit more impersonal than Wake. The professors truly are something special at Wake Forest. If you do very poorly in a class, it is your own fault, because the professors are always very receptive to helping you. </p>
<p>Go with whatever school is the best fit, but I think both schools are pretty similar, each with their own strenghts and weaknesses.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt is moderately more selective than Wake Forest with a moderately stronger average student. Neither is a large school (Wake-4332 and Vandy-6378). Nashville is certainly livelier than Winston-Salem, but both schools are pretty self-contained with active Greek life and students will enjoy a good social life at either. Athletically, both schools have historically been modest achievers, but their recent histories have been good and improving. Right now they are about the same level with Wake having just had a great football season and Vanderbilt now ranked #1 in the country in baseball. Wake's student body is a little more Southern and a little less diverse than Vanderbilt. Their weather is about the same and their cost is about the same. Both are great schools and offer a complete undergraduate experience.</p>
<p>willmingtonwave:</p>
<p>it is a clear cut choice for Vanderbilt is thats been your dream school your whole life :P</p>