I visited both campuses last summer. The Duke tour was possibly the best tour we had of all the colleges we visited (tied with USC in LA). However, in the end, Duke felt isolated to me. Durham was sort of a let down and you can’t walk there from Duke. Vanderbilt was an OK tour- went to pre-VU. The tour was a little long, and the tour guide wasn’t that into the tour either. I asked the tour guide why she picked Vanderbilt and she couldn’t really tell me why. To me it immediately felt like Vanderbilt wasn’t her 1st choice. My overall impression was that the whole campus needed a “pick me up.” It just seemed a little “tired.” They were doing lots of renovation projects when we were there, so hopefully it’s better now. Nashville was nice and a quick uber ride to fun areas. But again- Nashville didn’t seem as walkable as other cities like Chicago, SF, New York, and Boston. It seems like Nashville was a bunch of little neighborhoods that ended up merging together. Seems like Duke would be better for you.
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