Vanderbilt or Notre Dame?

happygirl837
Wed, 05 Apr 2006 21:42:24 +0000

I’ve currently narrowed my colleges to just two–Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. I have grown up loving Notre Dame, cheering for them at football games, and visiting the campus every year, as my mom went there. However, I was offered a $30,000 per year merit scholarship to Vandy that is very hard to turn down, since I would pay the full cost of ND. I just visited Vandy for the first time yesterday and, while the community didn’t seem as close-knit as ND (at least from the perspective of a first impression) and I don’t like the prevalence of Greek life, I really liked it and could see myself enjoying it there. The academics have very similar reputations, and both have strong science programs. If I hadn’t gotten any money from Vandy, ND would still have the edge in my opinion, but since I want to major in a science and eventually go on to medical school, I can’t completely discount the money–yet I don’t want to make my decision on the SOLE basis of money either. My head says Vandy, my heart says ND…any advice?