<p>i agree with johnC</p>
<p>essentially, when you get down to the person/individual, all bets are off. you can’t possibly know where they came from or if they have had a positive or negative background. you can’t know if their parents beat them or spoiled them, or if they are brilliant and come off slow or are contrastingly dumb and are perceived as brilliant! </p>
<p>this is the way of the world, and a reality check would do some good to palmettotree;you need to stop talking like a bigoted idiot so that our prospects will know that not everyone here is like you. </p>
<p>there is a place for everyone at vanderbilt. EVERYONE.</p>
<p>i personally study engineering, but i enjoy the liberal arts classes that i take (a distinct vanderbilt opportunity is that you have the ability to study ANYTHING). </p>
<p>if you are nerdy (like myself), there’s lots of stuff to do that’s academic, but you can also join clubs. people like palmettotree turned me off of vanderbilt and made my first year here miserable. but then i realized: it’s all what you make it. opportunities for growth at vanderbilt are second to none. whether it is in the social arena (not necessarily mindless drowning of one’s sorrows in a bottle with others…), academic (research, excellent professors who are very easily accessible and personable for the most part…except for the math department), and extracurricular (honing other skills, like debate, or becoming involved in the community).</p>
<p>i WOULD like to echo the fact that because there are a number of people who display themselves as narrow-minded, and therefore extremely judgmental, it does require that you are either very strongly independent coming to school, or you learn to be that way while you’re here, quickly. it is a very nice addendum to the typical learning experience, that you can be educated and experienced in the art of truly learning about yourself, and what you allow to take priority in your life. i transferred from a school that was all about engineering and had the typical sense of nerdiness about everyone, and everyone was accepting of others (almost no exaggeration, seriously). so, needless to say, vanderbilt was very much a shocking experience. i now value the idea that vanderbilt holds people who don’t like me, or don’t care about learning who i am because it fundamentally allows me/us to begin to understand the way people operate in the “real world,” as people like to say.</p>
<p>i’m sorry for making this so long, but it is IMPERATIVE that people understand that you don’t have to fit in to have fun; after all, who do you want to fit in with? </p>
<p>do what you like, like what you do, and you’ll be good. vanderbilt is a great place to do it, too. just try to ignore the ignorant and bigoted, they’re everywhere.</p>