I feel like Vanderbilt has a strong dichotomy: (mostly) white frat guys/sorority girls, and other campus groups defined by multiculturalism and diversity. That being said, the latter tends to be swept to the side a lot and viewed with disgust by a lot of people (the whole bag of poop on the black cultural center situation was a prime example of this. To elaborate, a blind girl accidentally left her guide dog’s feces on the doorstep of the black cultural center, I believe, and a multicultural student organization got very upset about it. When it was revealed it was an accident, people starting attacking that organization for “overreacting” and “attacking the blind girl”. I personally thought their reaction was justified, and likely fueled by the campus attitude towards diversity, but you may make of that situation what you will).
Of course, I am considering transferring out, so if you’d like to label me a jaded gdi (not an uncommon accusation around these parts), I understand that. I would be more than happy to answer any questions anyone has, and I will try to do so as impartially as I can, but my final piece of advice here would be: exercise caution in picking Vanderbilt; I argue that its ostensible qualities, those seen at first glance, are not in agreement with the true nature of the school. I actually had a lengthy conversation with one of my professors who wrote me a letter of recommendation about that very topic…