Bernie I think it is a mistake to assume Vandy’s ADCOM is less holistic or that other elite U’s don’t value applicants academic profile as much as VU. An argument can be made that VU is more diverse and holistic in terms of elite skill sets of it’s student body. They have student athletes that compete at the SEC and national level that other elite peer U’s don’t have. Many of these students would have no chance of acceptance at peer universities. They have top musicians at Blair and their music audition carries equal or more weight than their test scores. Many of these students would not be admitted at VU’s peers but their musical talent gained them admission at VU. Vandy participates with Questbridge to bring truly diverse students to campus who otherwise would have little hope of attending a peer university. Many of VU’s peers have more pseudo-diverse students…they look different but otherwise are very similar to each other.
The top high school students have many options but the truth is more and more are electing to attend Vanderbilt. That is why you are seeing HPYM numbers. It’s not that VU is less holistic or that other elite U’s suddenly stopped caring about grades and test scores.