<p>I am heading to Nashville this weekend for the engineering open house to help solidify my college decision. I was hoping to meet other incoming Vandy freshman to get a feel for the composition of the class. I am having a tough time deciding between Washington and Lee-(Johnson Scholar full ride) and Vandy-Curb scholar and some financial aid, but still 25K/year.
This is the most grueling decision I have ever had to make. I hope to meet some of you there, and if you have any advice, spill it. :)
Thanks!</p>
<p>Do you have expensive graduate school plans? Look up the costs and the reality of borrowing or using parental funds for graduate school, and weigh that in. We were a bit surprised to see some of our fine state professional schools requiring our FAFSA till our kids are 28.</p>
<p>Wash and Lee gives an excellent education among stellar teachers on a historic, beautiful campus but if you would not like Greek life, Vandy has a much better life for independents IMHO. </p>
<p>Vandy has many small classroom experiences but it is not a liberal arts college so it can’t be compared as apples to apples to Wash and Lee. Our son loves the mix of large venues and smaller more intimate opportunities at Vanderbilt</p>
<p>Congrats on your Johnson scholarship…that is a great achievement. </p>
<p>for its small size, Wash and Lee has a very impressive alumni support system beyond what you might expect
just random thoughts…in this recession, I would look seriously at a full ride from any fine college, but then…every family has different resources of course</p>
<p>yes, I am planning on graduate school, and your points are excellent. Thank you so much for taking the time to write. I truly appreciate it. I feel like Vandy may be a better fit for me due to its size but that amount of money is hard to walk away from. The uncertainty of the economic future also plays a part.</p>
<p>We are in bad times. A professional degree is very expensive and the job market is soft for some professions for paying back debt. As parents we simply can’t borrow on home equity anymore in our circumstances…and we have not put back money for grad schools so we have little assists to offer there. Obviously grad school in general costs LOTs more than it did in our era. We feel we overspent on undergrad college for our kids but then they started pre recession.</p>
<p>Another comment, is that the Wash and Lee grads we know…had better luck in the job market than many other undergrads right out of college. As I said, the alum network is vaster than size would indicate and many are in business as well as other professions.</p>
<p>you could justify…is if you plan to major in a hard science and to study it in grad school…if you are confident in your talents there…or if you feel you will be employable in four years.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong…our son would not have been happy at Wash and Lee and is very happy at Vandy as an independent student–we are big Nashville fans and he did win some money at Vandy which was a huge tipping factor in his final decision.</p>
<p>However, I have very high regard for the Wash and Lee student/teacher relationship which is amazingly strong. The school really delivers a great education and it is also a stunning place.</p>
<p>2010Emily, </p>
<p>I see that you are considering the engineering program at Vanderbilt. If you stick with engineering, the cost of many graduate programs will be covered by stipends. Your tuition and fees would be covered, and an additional living stipend would be offered in return for research and/or teaching while in the graduate program. (I am referring to PhD programs, but many have told me that for engineering, masters degrees may also be covered by stipends.) </p>
<p>I completely agree with Faline that students need to think ahead and consider future education costs when making their undergraduate decisions. The situation for engineers, many sciences and some social sciences (e.g. economics) is very different, though, than for law, medical, veterinary, MBA and some other programs.</p>
<p>Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Thanks! I am planning on majoring in engineering/physics because math is my strength and I love it. You are really helping me with this decision! 
You are the best!</p>
<p>midmo! (she knows her stuff)
emily…didn’t read or figure out you were engineering. Now That is a different story! You should be considering doing your best at Vandy and entering a path that is more optimistic for those who took the tough path of engineering. </p>
<p>am I correct that Wash and Lee offers that 5 year deal that so many LACs will offer for those that want a more hard core engineering program? Where you have to leave after three years?<br>
from what I hear, few people really want to leave their classmates for those programs no matter how sensible</p>
<p>hmmmm…hope you will strongly consider Vanderbilt. :)</p>
<p>(our sons are not on this practical path and have expensive grad school ideas with dicier outcomes re income)</p>
<p>Open House suggestion: </p>
<p>When my son attended the VUSE open house a few years ago, there were a lot of professors (and older students) available for you to ask questions of. (In particular, at the lunch banquet, but there were other opportunities also.) I really would take the opportunity to ask the profs what the current situation is with regard to funding graduate engineering programs. I have found the Vanderbilt professors amazingly straightforward and eager to talk to students, prospective students and even their parents. </p>
<p>The VUSE open house sealed the deal for my son, as well as for me, the mom. Take advantage of the opportunities to get your questions answered, and to meet some of the other prospective students. I suspect you will have an enjoyable time.</p>
<p>My daughter will be attending the engineering open house</p>
<p>Great, Feliz…good luck with her decision making as well</p>
<p>Oh good, I will talk to as many professors and current students as possible, talking isn’t a problem for me. I hope I meet your daughter, Feliz. I hope to get a good feel of the school.
Thanks again!</p>
<p>I’m helping with the A&S open house. GET PUMPED!!! haha</p>
<p>I’ll be leading tours at the VUSE Open House! I’m so excited:)</p>
<p>I am very excited about meeting everyone at Vandy. I pray this decision will become clear to me. ahhhhhh!!! :)</p>
<p>daughter LOVED Vandy! the engineering open house was great! now she doesn’t want to go visit washU next week! oh well. I loved Nashville, her problem will be that my husband and I will be enjoying Nashville way too much! seriouslly, what zn amazing universty and town. I am so happy for my daughter, what a great opprortunity. she is sold on BME major at vandy! Good luck to all of you, amazing young adults, making your decisions.</p>
<p>I have to echo midmo’s comments. My D will graduate in may with a ChemE degree. Seek out the professors and students. They will let you know what it is really like. I don’t think my D would have rather went anywhere else other than Vandy. It really is the best of all worlds, IMHO.</p>
<p>Feliz, so happy you enjoyed Nashville in bloom and that your daughter was excited by the prospect of living and working at Vanderbilt.</p>