<p>From an alum:</p>
<p>It had exactly the program I was looking for and by far the highest quality of education I could get in my two fields simultaneously. I loved the vibe of campus – intellectually engaged with a laid-back midwestern feel – as well as the location. Evanston was small enough not to be overwhelming, but close enough to Chicago to prevent boredom. The size of the student body was also great: it wasn’t so big that I felt out of sorts, but it was big enough that there were always new people to meet.</p>
<p>Other things I didn’t consider while choosing that I ended up really loving about NU:</p>
<p>-The off-campus culture: Most people move into apartments by junior year. I didn’t think I would like this, but it ended up being really fun. You get to have much more freedom than in a dorm.
-The amount of distribution requirements: It’s not as involved as a core program, which allows a lot of freedom, but it’s definitely enough that it pushes you out of your comfort zone. Sometimes the classes can really be a drag, but if you go out of your way to find ones that might interest you, you can dabble in some really interesting topics.
-The quarter system: it can definitely be rough sometimes, but I really loved getting three rounds of classes a year. It allowed for some very focused class-topics, and let you try a larger breadth of subjects.
-The wide variety of subjects NU excelled in: I applied to NU for my program specifically, but there were a lot of people in my class who applied because of the prestige of another program. This allowed for really interesting intellectual diversity. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My daughter had an amazing experience at MIT. She made life-long friends, fell in love with a great guy she’s still with after 4 years, traveled with MIT grad students to help build a particle detector in Germany, participated in several fascinating research projects, learned how to sail, and went on to study physics at Harvard. When she was at MIT, she lived in a dorm, and by the time she was a senior, she had made friends with some students who were several years below her. She now has an apartment of her own close to Harvard, but she still regularly hosts “game night” for friends who are now just finishing up at MIT. As a grad student, she’s far from rich, but she is definitely self-supporting and very, very happy This summer she was at the Large Hadron Collider, working on the ATLAS team, and she’ll return to France next fall. She still feels a far greater connection to MIT than to Harvard. It just feels like home.</p>
<p>As a parent of a current student (who loves the school) and an alum of Vanderbilt, I’ve been thinking how best to answer your question–how to differentiate Vanderbilt from the 20 other schools of roughly similar size, type of student, selectivity of admission and D1 sports, of which you posted this question (the large top tier public schools are more easily distinguishable). All of the schools have outstanding professors and competitive students, many of whom will continue their education at the graduate level.
Aside from the hard-to-quantify atmosphere at Vandy that the students are more friendly, less cut-throat and more willing to let loose on weekends than you might find at the other schools, Vanderbilt has a few other things in its favor: the Freshman Commons, Nashville and, last but not least–wonderful financial aid/needs blind admission.<br>
The Commons is the 10 dorm “complex” where all freshman live in either less than 10 year old dorms or dorms renovated within the last decade. In addition, there is a very nice cafeteria building which also has classrooms, lounges, and a workout facility in the Commons. There are social events and mentoring opportunities throughout the year that are designed to make to adjustment to college better and bring the new freshmen together to bond; my brief description does not do justice to the outstanding “freshman experience” that VU provides.
Nashville is a great city; an ideal size, fun things to do (not ONLY country music), campus is fairly urban and the city likes the school and its students which is not always the case. As a bonus, the weather is better than you would find in Chicago, South Bend, Ann Arbor or, other extreme, Houston, IMO 
Finally, Vanderbilt is very generous with financial aid (your family doesn’t have to be earning below the poverty level in order to qualify) and the school has a needs blind admission policy which means it does not factor in your ability to pay when evaluating your application.</p>
<p>As another poster on this forum likes to say, Vanderbilt is one of the few schools that gives you the full college experience (good academics, good social scene, D1 sports…) with a well respected name on your diploma. Good luck with your college search!</p>