How Southern is Vanderbilt?

Faline2
Sat, 08 Sep 2012 12:08:01 +0000

Placido, aren’t you a student at Brown? I don’t recall anyone else from Brown over the years bothering to come over to the Vandy board to stereotype half the student body before.
Many students at Vandy probably applied to Brown and respect Brown. You were lucky enough to be accepted. Some Vandy students turned down Ivies for various reasons including merit aid -which is not offered at Ivies-- but is a possible outcome for the lucky at Vandy, Duke, Emory, Rice.

For students whose best option in April is Vanderbilt (my Independent, not Greek youngest son’s best financial and academic package was Vandy his senior yr in HS), you will find vestiges of the old south culture of the formally more regional Vanderbilt in the social whirl of Greek life that resembles UVA’s… and in the alum who are still of course representing the university scattered throughout the USA. More girls are in sororities than in most top 20 universities, --for men, it is similar to UVA, Duke etc. re percentages in Greek life.

The alum and the current student body are very very different from one another geographically and in many other respects. If you matriculate to Vandy, you will be part of a very exciting and intense academic community where every one of your peers is quite talented, motivated, special in their own right. If you matriculate to Vandy, you are part of an undergraduate university with incredible resources and with a newly national and very diverse student body. It will be interesting to see how the undergraduate university develops culturally as the student body continues to be more and more selective and diverse.

Nashville is a great host city and an excellent “third coast” city, less federal money and less of a hub than Houston or Atlanta, but a fine city with truly excellent artistic institutions and sports venues. And one of the pleasant things about life at Vandy is that the host city loves Vanderbilt…they have a great relationship. There are plenty of places to intern in business, education and political institutions locally.
Nashville is a very southern city in the middle of a very red state. But commerce is actually pretty lively in Nashville. And the arts are surprisingly rich.