Vanderbilt admissions reality check
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Anonymous
| What does Vanderbilt value in applicants and how do they evaluate fit? Kid really wants to ED but school counselor steering my kid away from vanderbilt ED, indicating high rejection rate of top students in past and unpredictable outcomes. Strong ny private school with excellent college placement but few kids accepted by vanderbilt in past, relative to other top schools. Kid has strong grades/test scores/EC in academic area of interest (although u don't apply by major there). Maybe my kid reflects what they want, or maybe not? Trying to assess if worth the ED or try for somewhere else with more predictable track record from our school. Appreciate any insight and experience from others. |
Anonymous
| I can only give personal experience but my kids also go to school with very strong placements and it usually only gets one Vanderbilt ED per year. Last year, multiple top stat students were passed over (and rejected not deferred) in favor of a student with lower rigor, TO, whose father is a Hollywood something or other (she regularly leaves campus for premiers, etc). Totally anecdotal but it was shocking at the time. |
Anonymous
| My very well qualified DC was rejected last year ED1. Not deferred, rejected. We were told by school and paid counselor that the school is very popular now and even more selective. |
Anonymous
| Op: thanks. We hear similar stories from our school. Other top schools accept both ''connected' kids as well as strong candidates. But vanderbilt is seen as unpredictable and highly rejection. That's why I wonder if they seek certain type of student? And if so, what is the type they like? (Beyond the celebrity/hooked kids). |
Anonymous
| long post about this a while ago (what vanderbilt looks for) |
Anonymous
| My DS would love to apply there ED. Very strong student and great scores. But he will not be, way to unpredictable and rejective to waste his ED applying there. |
Anonymous
| Who knows? Our high stats, high rigor kid rejected last year, too. |
Anonymous
| It was 40% in the early 2000s when I got in. |
Anonymous
|
national level awards or class president.
check out their stats: they specifically call out awards (Percent of students who received one or more significant honors or held major leadership positions: 100%) https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/vandybloggers/2023/03/class-of-2027-regular-decision-summary-statistics/ |
Anonymous
|
Until 2023, Vandy took a ton of kids from private schools in our city. With their liberal use of test optional, they’ve gone in a different direction. Vandy has a proprietary software they use to ensure geographical and perhaps other diversity. It’s been described on Reddit and other places.
OTOH, Vandy takes a shockingly high number of transfers. Acceptance rate for transfers is estimated to be over 30 percent. |
Anonymous
|
This is fascinating because our Big3 also told us that Vanderbilt is the most unpredictable top15 school they deal with. They can generally predict the Ivies, Northwestern, Chicago, etc. but Vanderbilt is a complete crap shoot, regardless of how impressive a kid is (and how high their grades are).
My very high stats kid gave him/her 3 schools and he/she advised against Vanderbilt in favor of the other two. |
Anonymous
| If the college counselor is discouraging your kid, I would listen. |
Anonymous
|
Looked up our Naviance stats for you. From NYC private school
(25-75 range) GPA: 3.78-3.91 SAT: 1440-1540 ACT 31-35 Lower than many. I think they take who they want. We dont have a lot of posse or athletes. Naviance section is down right now that shows how many admitted. (That's weird) but it's a few every year. ED makes a big difference there. If he wants it, I think they should go for it. But that's my parenting philosophy more than college admissions knowledge. |
Anonymous
Not true anymore. Transfer acceptance rate has been about ~17% past few years. |
Anonymous
I bet lots of those are test optional... |