<p>You know how different schools place different emphasis on things like essays, gpa, scores, recs, etc in the admissions process? From what you know about Vandy what order do you think they place these things? Perhaps those who were accepted might share what you think was the overriding factor that got you accepted? Was it the essay, scores, GPA, EC's.....? I know how Emory really likes prospectives to show a real interest in the school. Is there something like that the Vandy weighs a lot?</p>
<p>I will show my personal opinion as I look back step by step.</p>
<p>I personally think that Vanderbilt does not really care about SAT grades.(compared to other universities)
I am not sure this may be a right but I really had a low SAT verbal score and I got in. I had the math full mark (800) but about 500s in verbal. However, I got full mark on SATII mathIIc, a little short on Chemistry and also 500s in SATII writing. Even though they don't look for SATII scores, I believe it helped me in some way. In result, I got accepted into Vanderbilt Engineering school.<br>
I think Vanderbilt seeks people who is proficient in such areas of academic talent. In this case, one who is interested in math and science areas. If you are looking for admission in Peabody or A&S, you might as well show your high scores on verbal section also.</p>
<p>I doubt they factor in essays compared to other renowned universities. I wrote essay that was dull and not eye-catching as ones from many sample essays but still got in.</p>
<p>Maybe the GPA works as a major factor in Vanderbilt as I had a high GPA. Also having taken and still taking (during the senior year) AP courses really mean something to the admission faculty as I heard from Vanderbilt faculty.</p>
<p>EC's seems to be not a factor as I had poor ECs but got in. I had only one EC that was prominant but others were just so-so(eg. church helper, tutor, youth president etc.)</p>
<p>I hope this helps. But remember this is only my own admission to Vandy experience. Others might think different too. Cheers</p>
<p>boxcar, I heard from a good friend of mine who lives in nashville( he got rejected by vandy and later found out why from an admission officer) that vandy places a lot of emphasis on how certain you are about your future major. he put "undecided" and he thinks that is why he got turned down. so basically, don't put undecided!</p>
<p>i was just at saop and the chancellor was talking to a kid at my table and asked him what his major is and the kid said undecided. the chancellor said that's the best major there is for freshmen.</p>
<p>I have been surprised at college visits how cool adcoms sound about undecided. I thought it would be viewed at as a negative = lack of passion but they all say that it is the most common major and they talk about how many times the average student changes their major before graduating. That's interesting ecnerwalc3321. Generally I believe the admissions process is about marketing oneself which is why I asked the question. I believe it is pretty easy to put your package together in a way that highlights or focuses in on a particular angle of your strengths like highlighting community service, a passion or something unique in your essay, if you are a minority or bring diversity you can highlight that, etc. Matching the focus of your highlights with the aspects you believe the particular school values highly would be a smart thing to do.</p>
<p>i was undecided in high school, but i wrote about how i wanted to be a history major on my app because I thought it would sound better</p>