Chance at Vanderbilt?

LegalShark
Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:52:58 +0000

I’m gonna give you a VERY rough idea of my stats:

Asian male, Taiwanese
Transferred from Tier 3 college in Florida (music, full scholarship) with 3.92 GPA and applying as a psychology major (no previous psych classes)

High School 9th to 11th grade: a small international school in Taiwan
Senior year: Idyllwild Arts Academy–relatively prestigious fine arts school in California

SAT: 720, 650, 720
SAT II (Spanish, biology, literature): around 500-600+, rather poor grades

High school student body president
MUN delegate
Assistant editor for two different Model UN conferences
High school GPA around 3.7 or so
Two honors classes in senior year (a B and an A, if I remember correctly)
One AP class (music theory)
Miscellaneous awards in high school such as the Fine Arts Award
Work experience as a waiter (ha) and an assistant for a law professor

What I sent them:
Several DVDs and CDs of my past piano performances
Several rather sarcastic and provocative newspaper articles which I wrote for MUN (One of them depicted me half-nekkid and muscular in my friend’s bikini and Lolita dress, long red hair, holding an oversized bunny, and everything, another one was titled Corporal Punishment Justified…you get the idea)
Three extra essays so they can “get to know me better”

Now, my grades are definitely mediocre compared to yours (and I’m sure my grades are VERY poor, compared to those of a lot of other people at Vandy), but I was recently accepted regular decision without being waitlisted.

I came to the conclusion that, with my sub-par grades, I was most likely accepted because I demonstrated:


exceptional musical talent (in addition to those DVDs, I mentioned in an essay that I played in my first piano recital when I was seven years old)
good writing skills (though I’m sure you’re just as good a writer as I am, if not, a hell of a lot better one)
a distinctly gregarious and daring personality that reeks of sarcasm, non-stereotypical Asian-ess, and … um … leadership (ha ha)


That’s about it for now. I was rejected by nine other schools this year, including my safety school, UIUC (they told me that my my hours don’t fulfill their requirement for transfer)

I’m wondering if they accepted me despite my mediocrity because my ethnicity (ironically) makes me an underrepresented minority in Nashville

I’m no expert, but I think you’ve displayed a passion for your intended major through excellent writing, which is what I did.

And although it seems like you neither possess the impressiveness of STUGO presidency nor the ability to pound big piano pieces, your better grades and crapload of AP classes, in my unreliable assessment, definitely more than compensates for those leadership roles you didn’t display.

From my research, Vandy seems to be a perfect habitat for me, and I have yet to see another school that I like more (not that I have many choices). I think you have a decent chance of getting in regular decision, and I really hope you will. Though if you absolutely fell in love with Vandy, I suggest you go ED.