Vanderbilt for International Students?

Senior2016M
Tue, 08 May 2018 19:45:52 +0000

“will I be able to still have a good experience at Vanderbilt and make friends with a variety of people?”

ABSOLUTELY! So much of what you have written above is commonplace among the barrage of stereotypes that we all read about Vandy. I was wary of the same things when deciding whether or not to attend, as I too feared the alleged dominance of Greek life (which isn’t dominant at all if you ignore it and pursue your real interests). I am not a minority student, so I can’t really speak to that specifically when it comes to personal experience, but I have an abundance of friends from all walks of life and all backgrounds, many of whom happen to be minorities, and I see that they all have a varied circle of friends for themselves regardless of race or creed, and most people have circles of friends with people who are both domestic and international students. It’s really easy to find your community here if you just take the plunge and put yourself out there as much as possible. The only people I know of who have (or maybe once had) less than enriching social lives are those who came with bitter preconceptions about Vanderbilt and exuded negativity in the opening weeks. Maybe in some cases they were upset over not being at their top choice school if they wanted to go elsewhere instead, who knows. But you meet those people everywhere - I’m sure there are people at Harvard who wanted Stanford or people at Columbia who wanted Princeton, or indeed people who wanted an Ivy and got Vanderbilt or Duke. But those people are themselves a minority here.

As for “conservative values,” this is the least conservative environment I have ever been in, and I went to high school in one of the Northeast’s most liberal states, so don’t worry about that if that’s a serious fear you have. If anything, there is a noticeable lack of free speech on certain issues for those who hold opinions remotely right of center, or anything other than far left, which is its own severe problem at all of America’s elite universities. But if you’re a liberal yourself (which it sounds like you are) then you probably won’t feel directly affected by this. The administration is on your side of the political spectrum too, as in most US colleges.

Vanderbilt is absolutely wonderful, and you’re wise to consider it among the many fine elite universities in the US. Good luck with applications and the like!