Vanderbilt or Wesleyan University for ED2

International student with GPA 3.9/4.0 108 TOEFL IB 42/45 SAT1470(don’t want to submit) decent activities

Are they in the same tier or having similar prestige? I like Wesleyan and also really interested in its film project. But I really don’t like its campus aesthetic. I think Wesleyan is more match for me but I prefer to study in south and like University than LAC’s. Is Wesleyan university’s film project good enough compare others? Which one should I choose foe ED2 between Wesleyan and Vanderbilt?

I am fine with valuing prestige, but I don’t know if anyone here can really value the ‘prestige’ difference in these 2 institutions.

By the way, I think you should submit a 1470. If you don’t, it will be assumed you had a much lower score.

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Submit a 1470 to every school in the nation

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I don’t think Vandy compares to Wes in film. A Florida State would be a better choice than Vandy. I’d choose Syracuse or USC over Vandy. Since you want South, U Miami.

Good luck.

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I don’t love the word “prestige” but I think it would be fair to say they have similarly high reputations for general academic quality. So ordinarily I would say you should let your preferences for format and location decide the issue, but with an interest in Film–I mean, Wesleyan is widely recognized as one of the top undergrad Film schools in the US, indeed the world. See here, for example:

I note as a result they are super well networked, and that really matters in this industry. So it is up to you, but in this particular case I would have a hard time actually recommending you bind yourself to Vanderbilt if Wesleyan might actually be an option.

Finally, since you are an International, before recommending either for ED2, I would want to understand your pay status. Will you be applying for aid? If so, how much can you actually contribute for everything combined (tuition and fees, living expenses, books, insurance, travel, and so on)?

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This is important, as Wesleyan is clear that they defer virtually all international students seeking aid to RD.

Here is a more comprehensive list of US undergraduate film schools (Wesleyan is at #40 out of 50 programs ranked):

If you serious about pursuing a career in film, USC should be considered as well as Chapman. Loyola Marymount is in the neighborhood.

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Do you think you’ll be able to remain in the U.S. after graduation?

With respect to your interest in film, i really haven’t heard of Vanderbilt being on the map for that, whereas Wesleyan definitely is.

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It seems Wesleyan University is still one of only two traditional LACs to make the list, the other being Morehouse College in Atlanta.

I don’t think I could get admitted with any aids, I’m from China and there is only one person could get aid, the Asian Freeman, each year, so no aid.

I don’t think that will depends on me, better to stay though.

If you like the South, check out Davidson. My son loved both Davidson and Wesleyan.

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I think I understand your position. You’re a “full-pay” Chinese national looking for a good film studies/production program, but just about every research university in the United States that is prominent in the field (UCLA, USC, NYU and a couple of others) is currently rejecting 93% of all its applicants regardless of major. American-style LACs are less well-known even within the U.S. mainly because they do not have televised sports franchises, and their locations are often described as being “tucked away”* in small towns. For these reasons, they tend to reject fewer applicants, “only” 80-90% of everyone who applies.

So, it sounds as if you have visited both Wesleyan and Vanderbilt. They are very different places. Vanderbilt has 4x as many students (including grad and undergrad) and is located in “The Country Music Capital of the World”. The fact that you are still considering a LAC speaks volumes about the quality of Wesleyan’s academic offerings. I see international students walking around campus all the time; they seem happy. It is a very studious place; you can see students anywhere they can find a cushy chair, all over campus, faces buried in their books and laptops. They seem to come alive at music events which can include anything from rock concerts to Javanese shadow-puppet shows (there’s a significant Ethnomusicology influence at Wesleyan due to its pioneering work in the field.)

Btw, I agree with others who have said that submitting a 1470 SAT is fine.

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OK, so understanding you are planning to be full pay, I would personally advise not applying ED2 at Vanderbilt, because to me it is not a great fit for you. In contrast, you could certainly consider applying ED2 to Wesleyan, if you liked it overall enough.

But maybe some other schools entirely are a good idea. Like, are you applying to the LA schools? USC seems like a really obvious choice. No ED2, but that’s fine.

And then Loyola Marymount is the other one that seems really obvious to me. Excellent overall school, and from what I understand very connected. They actually do have ED2 if you are interested.

Now to be sure, these are popular colleges with Internationals too, so are not going to be easy admits. But they seem like ways to maybe avoid the tradeoffs you are concerned about with Wesleyan and Vanderbilt.

Thanks for replying me. Decision made, I’ll apply Wesleyan.

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