palmettotree

You're comparing apples to oranges and this is the downfall of Vanderbilt. You people that go to the highest ranking or best 'tier' University you get into really need to stop applying to Vanderbilt you're killing it, thank God it's not on the East Coast or it would have already become the next Duke by the 90s. While it still is barely hanging on to its identity as a Southern school, it will soon change as the NY-NJ-NE broheims that couldn't get into HYP or a "lower ivy" keep sneaking into Vanderbilt in the hope that going to a high ranking University will get you a sweet job that you couldn't otherwise land.

I definitely don't feel alone in choosing Vandy over a "HYP" ivy in addition to other similarly "ranked" and "academically elite" schools, and trust me, after visiting each and determining how MY undergraduate experience would pan out, the decision wasn't hard. Most of all, know that plenty of Vanderbilt students fit a similar mold. You are comparing apples to oranges and that is the WORST thing about this whole ranking bonanza. Stick to New York if you care that much about a list.

Do you think it's feasible to hope that with enough signatures USNews will just stop ranking Vanderbilt? I'm going to look into this as I guarantee you within a year it would be on its way to returning to its old and right self. Some people need assurance from a number and reputation to "get you a job", some don't, schools like Duke, Emory, and Tulane have lost all signs of their old culture, even Davidson, Wake, and W&L's are quickly changing, spare one?

P.S. The worst thing about this whole sharade is how Vanderbilt's administration could stop it all easily. Obviously the whole heavily recruiting minorities and admitting them through AA is ridiculous, and the funniest thing about it is how even many Asians are seeing through it and turning them down (Vanderbilt inflates its Asian% by shipping in a ton of Malaysians for the school of engineering). The Administration could also stop shutting down news stories that would probably turn away one or two Northerners. Just last year two gay guys got verbally attacked and then beaten up when they were walking around in the Student Life Center or something like that (I don't know the whole story but it definitely happened). There's also the issue of Vanderbilt renaming "Confederate Memorial Hall" into just plain old "Memorial Hall". Many fraternities also celebrate Confederate Memorial Day late in the semester each year, but they of course choose instead to publicize an Indian Dance Festival that 20 people attend.

Basically what I want you to get out of this rant is the following: Rankings are ridiculous. If you really do care that much about rankings and don't know "anything about Vanderbilt until your senior year", do the school and the culture its students in the past and present have cultivated a favor by just skipping over it and trying your heart out to get into a school that has better reputation on Wall Street.