This pretty much plays to the base. I would suspect that very few students choosing between those and seriously considering VU would scratch it off simply because of lack of residential system. For the most part they differ a lot. It would just be strange considering the usual results of a residential college system. VU’s culture is quite distinct and attracts a different type as of now. Residential College systems often result in a different vibe altogether (I think of Rice, Yale, Princeton, H maybe with the house system). Unless Yale or Princeton, I would hope a person who strongly prefers VU’s vibe or social culture would not choose somewhere of a similar caliber simply because it does not have a residential college system (usually they will end up with a completely different campus vibe which may not fit well). That would be naive (which I suppose 17 and 18 year olds are guilty of). Many of those schools do not have a true work hard play hard vibe and the types they attract usually do not care (hell many of them do not even overly care about QOL). Their base is often the more intensive/tryhard, nerdy, quirky, or very competitive types (seems some of the stereotypes of those places do apply). Those are looking for the prestige, intellectual culture and academic options that best fit that personality and many of those schools have it in great abundance and can very easily cater to them. This would work for people on the fence about whether or not they want that sort of environment versus somewhere like VU (and maybe Duke or Penn which have actually changed vibe a bit themselves. They have developed crap tons of options to academically entertain their incoming tryhards).
in terms of what Senior said: Not many places have an academic or faculty edge over Yale or even Chicago (or Princeton, Harvard, etc) so students extremely serious about that ain’t turning their backs on schools in that tier unless they get significant scholarships and are convinced that there is a path to at least semi-replicate what they could have easily done at those schools (again, many of those schools have ways to much more deliberately put talented students on advanced tracks in whatever their interest is and they tend to attract a higher than normal amount of students who actually care about that sort of thing and it creates a different culture that their types like/appreciate, but many won’t). Those looking for a more traditional college experience, but high quality academics (in a generic sense), certainly. Just those more into the details of the latter…maybe not (seriously, did you think of the extreme details of academic possibilities and what faculty you could work with while or before applying to college? Those schools have a surprising threshold of those people).
Basically, when you see construction of this nature, do not buy the Kool-aid thinking about how nice the campus will look, think about whether or not it is supposed to induce or entail any cultural or academic changes at the undergraduate level. Usually the places with these residential systems have a much more nerdy, quirky, and intensive vibe than places like VU are known for (known for very smart/bright students who want the work hard play hard lifestyle and want to just live a “normal” life). Essentially, how much will these systems resemble those at other schools which seem to deeply integrate the academic aspect into the reshall and actually get lots of buy-in from students. Is that the goal or is the goal to make nicer accommodations? If the former, then the administration there has much bigger ideas in mind than just recruiting and marketing. They are trying to change the culture.