What colleges/universities are like this?

[Anonymous]

Reed, maybe. When we visited pre-COVID, there were no homeless encampments in the vicinity of the campus, but there may be now.

[Anonymous]

Rice
Notre Dame (less to do in the surrounding area though)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What other schools have the following attributes, which Vanderbilt has; these characteristics are extremely attractive to my child:

-cohesive campus feel, with all students clustered or living on campus for 4 years
- easy to double major, even across colleges (e.g., anthropology and HOD)
- strong campus community/vibe which is not diluted by being in an urban area/neighborhood
- access to restaurants/resources outside campus
- social fun energy
- newer dorms with AC

Thanks for any suggestions. Open to SLACs

Newer dorms eliminates most top 25 schools, unless you mean recently renovated is ok.

Renovated is good.
Thanks!!

UVA! It even comes with fireplace, electricity, and running water.

[Anonymous]

5Cs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What other schools have the following attributes, which Vanderbilt has; these characteristics are extremely attractive to my child:

-cohesive campus feel, with all students clustered or living on campus for 4 years
- easy to double major, even across colleges (e.g., anthropology and HOD)
- strong campus community/vibe which is not diluted by being in an urban area/neighborhood
- access to restaurants/resources outside campus
- social fun energy
- newer dorms with AC

Thanks for any suggestions. Open to SLACs

Vassar has housing all four years, double majoring seems fairly common, and a lot of kids do a major plus minor or more than one minor (my DC did a major and two minors). DC knew people who had double majors like biology and drama, so double majoring in different disciplines is doable. The open curriculum makes that possible. Access to "restaurants/resources outside campus"--not sure what you mean by "resources" but the area around campus has a few restaurants; it's in a mid-sized city but the area near campus is fairly limited so there's no big row of lots of restaurants nearby, just a handful of them. (Up side? No bar scene across the street from campus!) Newer dorms with AC, well, not necessarily, but there is a wide variety of housing types including dorms, townhouses and apartment-style housing.

My DC would absolutely say it has "social fun energy" but at any college that really does depend on your kid's own nature, as in, how willing he or she is to go out and join things and get involved.

Of course everything really hinges on the majors/programs your student wants, and if those aren't at an ideal campus that fulfills your whole list, there are going to be compromises (like that AC in every dorm...not happening at many older schools). I really advise visits, once you narrow down a list that's based on the majors, curriculum approach, etc. Nothing replaces an in person visit, IMHO. We did not have Vassar on our radar at all, but added a day there to a few days of visiting other schools in the Northeast; the casual visit turned into DC putting it at the top of the list. I'm not saying that to push Vassar specifically, but to note that a visit can really make a difference. Other colleges that were great on paper and in other ways were knocked off the list after a visit. Best of luck to your DC!

Vassar is for the artistic types. Meryl Sheep went there. Of course, you can do STEM, CS.... You need to factor in your kid's interest, learning personality, etc. it's very cohesive cuz there's very little in town. Kids stick together on campus after hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One potential answer is Davidson, if not too small.

I was going to mention Davidson. Had one at Vanderbilt, and now have one heading to Davidson this fall.

[Anonymous]

Tulane, particularly the honors students get the nicest dorms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tulane, particularly the honors students get the nicest dorms.

+2 Starting with the class of 2028 (freshman this year) they are required to live on campus for 3 years. Lots of new dorms have opened and more opening soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One potential answer is Davidson, if not too small.

I was going to mention Davidson. Had one at Vanderbilt, and now have one heading to Davidson this fall.

Excellent choice!!

[Anonymous]

Second vote for Davidson!

[Anonymous]

Another vote for UVA (new dorms all have a/c)

[Anonymous]

SMU and TCU

[Anonymous]

Hamilton is 4 years on campus. Precisely why DC said “no way”!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What other schools have the following attributes, which Vanderbilt has; these characteristics are extremely attractive to my child:

-cohesive campus feel, with all students clustered or living on campus for 4 years
- easy to double major, even across colleges (e.g., anthropology and HOD)
- strong campus community/vibe which is not diluted by being in an urban area/neighborhood
- access to restaurants/resources outside campus
- social fun energy
- newer dorms with AC

Thanks for any suggestions. Open to SLACs

Vassar has housing all four years, double majoring seems fairly common, and a lot of kids do a major plus minor or more than one minor (my DC did a major and two minors). DC knew people who had double majors like biology and drama, so double majoring in different disciplines is doable. The open curriculum makes that possible. Access to "restaurants/resources outside campus"--not sure what you mean by "resources" but the area around campus has a few restaurants; it's in a mid-sized city but the area near campus is fairly limited so there's no big row of lots of restaurants nearby, just a handful of them. (Up side? No bar scene across the street from campus!) Newer dorms with AC, well, not necessarily, but there is a wide variety of housing types including dorms, townhouses and apartment-style housing.

My DC would absolutely say it has "social fun energy" but at any college that really does depend on your kid's own nature, as in, how willing he or she is to go out and join things and get involved.

Of course everything really hinges on the majors/programs your student wants, and if those aren't at an ideal campus that fulfills your whole list, there are going to be compromises (like that AC in every dorm...not happening at many older schools). I really advise visits, once you narrow down a list that's based on the majors, curriculum approach, etc. Nothing replaces an in person visit, IMHO. We did not have Vassar on our radar at all, but added a day there to a few days of visiting other schools in the Northeast; the casual visit turned into DC putting it at the top of the list. I'm not saying that to push Vassar specifically, but to note that a visit can really make a difference. Other colleges that were great on paper and in other ways were knocked off the list after a visit. Best of luck to your DC!

Vassar is for the artistic types. Meryl Sheep went there. Of course, you can do STEM, CS.... You need to factor in your kid's interest, learning personality, etc. it's very cohesive cuz there's very little in town. Kids stick together on campus after hours.

To clarify, Vassar has strong departments in the arts but it's an outdated stereotype to paint it as mostly "for the artistic types" as if that's it's entire personality. The college is especially strong in biology and environmental sciences, and has a special engineering program in which students can study at both Vassar and Dartmouth and receive bachelors' degrees from both colleges.

[Anonymous]

JMU