<p>OK, Bernie. I have lived in Atlanta four times, worked in an Emory owned health care center on Clifton Road and worked and lived in Nashville twice. And I have a son applying to Emory for grad school and two sons employed in Atlanta.</p>
<p>Yeah Buddy. Atlanta and Houston have much more in common with each other as first tier large host cities than they do with Nashville which has over 1.5 million people in the 13 county area. Nashville is often compared to middle American cities with that extra something culturally…far from the East and West coast highways, and Austin is often used as a comparison with its population of over 1.8 million people and its vibrant music and arts scene. </p>
<p>If you are going to apply to Vandy, I would also apply to Rice which is nestled in a cozy neighborhood in Houston on one of America’s most beautiful campuses. When our son applied in the recession, Rice was giving a modest but significant stipend of merit money to 20-30% of the admitted students. Our son didn’t receive any money from Rice, but did receive a Chancellors offer from Vanderbilt. As a Chancellor’s scholar he spent a great deal of his four years at Vanderbilt with students from international backgrounds and he did not participate in Greek life. Rice is Greek free and has a wonderful housing system similar to Yale’s where freshmen live at least three years in the same House, thus building up a family like atmosphere and attachments to your own House on campus.</p>