Vandy 2017er Here To Answer Questions!

Vanderbilt17
Sat, 26 Oct 2013 20:26:35 +0000

Corvette: sorry it took me so long to respond; midterms are taking their toll.
Anyway, I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED THIS QUESTION. That was my biggest fear coming to Vandy. I am pretty much the polar opposite of preppy. I dress very, very casually to class. There is a contingent of very nicely dressed people here, but you will absolutely not be judged at all for not being part of that minority. I was so pleasantly surprised by that when I first got here. People here tend to work hard, and so showing up to class in sweats nearly every day because you’re tired from studying is pretty normal.

To respond to your second question: I actually am planning on double majoring in engineering and arts & science, so I can probably give you some insight. I am planning on being a biology and computer science major, but at the moment I am a potential bio major in a&s.

Double majoring is without a doubt difficult. I obviously have not yet declared, so it’s going to be more difficult for me since I didn’t know I wanted to do it from the beginning. If you are absolutely sure about a double major with either one or both majors in engineering, you need to either indicate it in your application or inform your advisor once you get in. There is flexibility, but your schedule will be pretty rigorous and structured in engineering, and having a second major outside of the engineering school (or even in it) will just add to the need to have that structure from the start. So it’s something you need to think carefully about, and then commit to. For me, I am probably going to have to take classes over the summer to fulfill engineering requirements and then fulfill AXLE (liberal arts) requirements here at Vandy.

What Pancaked said is 100% true about business. There is a major in Peabody called HOD (human & organizational development, or something along those lines) that is closest to a business major. I’m not in Peabody, and I don’t really know much about it. It is not as rigorous as an engineering major, however, so that might be a good option with a double major in engineering if you’re interested in that. I’m not sure about the specifics of majoring in both Peabody and Engineering–it would definitely be unique, but certainly not unprecedented.

They claim that ED doesn’t help your chances, but it does show a great deal of interest that arguably boosts your application. The stats are always slightly higher for ED students–nearly half of the students here are accepted through ED (1 or 2). That being said, an ED applicant who isn’t qualified is not going to get in just because he/she applies ED.