How prestigious is Vanderbilt?

[Anonymous]

I had no idea how elite it was until we were sitting in their admissions building watching the presentation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it is prestigious in some circles but I agree with that it doesn't have the universal name recognition of the ivies and elite publics. If I hadn't looked at the ranking before writing this post I would have thought that it was ranked similarly to BC and BU.

This is off. Vandy is top elite -- is it MIT, Uchi, HYP -- no but it is in the next tier. Rankings are all messed up now. You cannot use them for anything. There are about 40 elite schools. Yes some are more elite than others but there are about 40. BC is in there -- BU is not. Not the same kids/same results.

Maybe not in old Grammy’s mind, but BU is about the same these days.
It likely has a more diverse group of kids and a wider spectrum compared to BC, but many elite Boston-bound kids these days split between these schools based on their preferences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think that it is prestigious in some circles but I agree with that it doesn't have the universal name recognition of the ivies and elite publics. If I hadn't looked at the ranking before writing this post I would have thought that it was ranked similarly to BC and BU.

This is off. Vandy is top elite -- is it MIT, Uchi, HYP -- no but it is in the next tier. Rankings are all messed up now. You cannot use them for anything. There are about 40 elite schools. Yes some are more elite than others but there are about 40. BC is in there -- BU is not. Not the same kids/same results.

Oh, dear. No. Vanderbilt is not “elite.” What on earth…?

[Anonymous]

Vandy/Georgetown/Rice are all abt the same prestige-wise

[Anonymous]

Not elite, maybe in the same bucket as Tulane or Pepperdine.

[Anonymous]

Elite. Extremely tough admit.

[Anonymous]

Very hard to get into…nearly impossible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No one is doubting that Vanderbilt is a great school. However, many people (even highly educated people) are not aware of how good it is.
My kids just visited and I've talked about it with about a dozen DC friends over the past week or two. All of them were shocked at how hard it is to get into Vanderbilt in 2024. No one had ANY idea that it has a 6% acceptance rate. These are all highly educated DC professionals who are hiring managers for good jobs at top companies--not people who are off the turnip truck in middle America.

I'm telling you, if you don't have a senior or you're not in academia you very likely think of Vanderbilt as being a very good but not elite school.

Remember, the Vanderbilt acceptance rate even in the early 90s was 65%! I'm 49 and I graduated from high school in 1992. So people who are now in their late 40s likely viewed Vanderbilt as a pretty sure bet when they applied to college. Not an elite school. Unless you've had a kid apply to college since there, you likely don't know (or have given any thought) to much things have changed with Vanderbilt admissions. And MANY hiring managers are in their late 40s. So I'm sure many will not be as bowled over by a Vanderbilt degree like they would by say a Yale degree (although Vanderbilt is now just as difficult to get into as Yale.)

Just to be clear, in 1990, UChicago and UPenn had acceptance rates near 50%, yet they were - and still are - great schools. Admissions for ALL schools used to be much more regional than they are today, though schools even today pull most strongly from their region. But, within their region, Vanderbilt and UChicago were always considered top schools.

this, plus Northwestern.

It's 1990, Kansas City. Affluent white suburb that looks like Falls Church or Potomac. Doctors' kids and the like.

The genuinely bright, hard-working handful of kids in my Class of '90 were easily admitted to Northwestern. Also Grinnell, Marquette, and SMU. These full-pay kids all applied to this list of schools and got into all of them, NBD. Nobody thought Northwestern was "tippy top elite" compared to SMU or Marquette. None of the Northwestern-bound kids in my school -- and there were many -- had "national level ECs" or legacy or football recruit status. Just regular, bright kids with a 32 ACT and full pay parents.

The crazy-accomplished few kids targeted Georgetown

[Anonymous]

Perspective from living in Fl. part-time & having oldest child attend hs in Fl. Vanderbilt similar level of prestige & desirability as lower ivies, Northwestern. Just a hair beneath Duke. Tough admit. The few from our school we know of who got in were hi-stats, decent ec’s & had monied parents w/big titles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Compared to the other schools ranked 11-25.

Ignore all the people who are comparing it to tippy top T10, that is not what you asked.
Among the T11-25, Vanderbilt is not as prestigious as the lower ivies (Dartmouth/Cornell are typically below T10, Columbia ha been recently and Brown was always below until they snuck in this year), and not as prestigious as UChicago(which should be T10). Vanderbilt is generally viewed as similar prestige level to Rice, Washu, Notre Dame, a bit above Georgetown/Emory, and absolutely above UVA, Michigan and UNC no question. In other words, it is solidly a T20, borderline T15 and in academic circles is thought of as right below Ivy and Ivy-plus(which has been defined in many studies as the quartet of MIT/Stanford/Duke/UChic). Some consider it on par with JHU and Northwestern which are solid T10: most consider it just below those.

TLDR Vanderbilt is definitely prestigious, no question, just not quite ivytype level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not elite, maybe in the same bucket as Tulane or Pepperdine.

no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A step above a community college. No one thinks it is a good school.

For those who didn't get it, this was extreme, dripping, condescending sarcasm.

Vanderbilt is one of the top schools in the country. It has one of the highest SAT averages of any school. Those who say otherwise are just plain old fashion ignorant haters.

PRE-test optional, absolutely was one of the top. The Pre-TO ranges matter most, though the significant high percentage of TO at Vanderbilt is mildly concerning: hopefully they will go back to test required as most of the T10s will be doing (by spring of 2025 if not already)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Compared to the other schools ranked 11-25.

Ignore all the people who are comparing it to tippy top T10, that is not what you asked.
Among the T11-25, Vanderbilt is not as prestigious as the lower ivies (Dartmouth/Cornell are typically below T10, Columbia ha been recently and Brown was always below until they snuck in this year), and not as prestigious as UChicago(which should be T10). Vanderbilt is generally viewed as similar prestige level to Rice, Washu, Notre Dame, a bit above Georgetown/Emory, and absolutely above UVA, Michigan and UNC no question. In other words, it is solidly a T20, borderline T15 and in academic circles is thought of as right below Ivy and Ivy-plus(which has been defined in many studies as the quartet of MIT/Stanford/Duke/UChic). Some consider it on par with JHU and Northwestern which are solid T10: most consider it just below those.

TLDR Vanderbilt is definitely prestigious, no question, just not quite ivytype level.

In almost no universe is WashU even part of the conversation…I don’t know anyone that considers it above Georgetown or on par with Vanderbilt.

Cmon people.

[Anonymous]

Our kid is a Vandy senior and we live in DC. The name has definitely opened several DC doors in the past few years, paving the way for interviews. Kid always gets the interview. Have no idea if this would be true in NYC or west coast tech, but the school is a known quantity in classic DC circles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A step above a community college. No one thinks it is a good school.

For those who didn't get it, this was extreme, dripping, condescending sarcasm.

Vanderbilt is one of the top schools in the country. It has one of the highest SAT averages of any school. Those who say otherwise are just plain old fashion ignorant haters.

PRE-test optional, absolutely was one of the top. The Pre-TO ranges matter most, though the significant high percentage of TO at Vanderbilt is mildly concerning: hopefully they will go back to test required as most of the T10s will be doing (by spring of 2025 if not already)

Vandy just copying UChicago with TO to drive up test scores.