Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone…Vanderbilt’s ranking is a blessing at and a curse.

Without fail, if the school is really going to take the most academically qualified kids, it will turn into every other top 20 school.

Far less sports attendance, dwindling Greek interest, etc. Based on many responses, the transition is well underway.

Bloomberg published a clickbait article which seems to neglect what is actually happening at the school.

I generally agree with this. It’s hard for a strong academic school to maintain its character. You saw this with Stanford. Then Northwestern. Then Duke. And now Vanderbilt.

They were all regarded as the fun smart school. But over time, they all get the same smart kids - more career oriented, more nerdy, more driven. And the lively, more impulsive, and more creative students don’t get in anymore. Add risk averse administrators and you get a Top 20 that all seems kind of the same.

I have a kid that recently graduated from Vandy. Great experience. But he was noting that the younger students tend to be extremely academic and studious, which is generally good. But they’re in the library Sunday through Thursday, not on Broadway. Vandy’s reputation as a chill school is vastly overstated. Those kids are grinding.

I will give props to Vanderbilt for trying to maintain its character as a more socially and intellectually healthy university compared to its peers and near peers. I think that’s why they stress “leadership.” They value engaged students who put themselves out there. And they seem to be reflexively against imposing some political or ideological Borg on the school - as so many other colleges did in recent years. You can argue and debate at Vanderbilt. No small thing that.

And it’s helpful that their football and basketball teams have had some success in the SEC lately. Say what you will about college sports, but having winning teams in the top conferences does foster a sense of community. So hopefully Vanderbilt’s time as the “fun” smart school will last for a bit. But the reality is that most Vandy students aren’t having that much fun on a Tuesday. They’re in the library.

Okay but did the parents here on DCUM go out on Tuesday nights during college? I went to Dartmouth and no one went out on Tuesday nights because the parties were all on the weekends. In fact, the library cleared out on Wednesday nights so everyone can go to their house meetings, which are actually meetings for planning the parties (they are not parties). Being in the library on Tuesday night was the norm then and is probably the norm now, and is not a sign of anything.

No one at Vanderbilt is going out and partying on a Tuesday night.

Source

My kid

Anonymous wrote:Other than the E-school, Vanderbilt is significantly less intellectual of an environment than schools it pretends to be peers with (Ivies, Duke, Northwestern). WashU is more intellectual these days. Additionally they take 200-250 substandard caliber students as sophomore transfers, all full pay and not the level that would have gotten in or even WL from high school. It dilutes student quality in the classroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Smart, unlike my stupid Alma Mater, Harvard, which chose -disastrously - to leak private negotiations with the administration which would have set it up better than Columbia University - and now has to sue and settle for $300m. No, Trump was not the bully. Alan Arbor disastrously envisioned himself as the tool of the left and champion of American universities. Sure, Harvadd won at the district level -it did so in front of the SAME judge - as in the Fair Admissions case (an Obama appointee who should have recused herself). Ask any lawyer in Mass. Case will be affirmed by liberal pro-Harvard first circuit and reversed SCOTUS

If you went to Harvard I'm the Pope

Anonymous wrote:Other than the E-school, Vanderbilt is significantly less intellectual of an environment than schools it pretends to be peers with (Ivies, Duke, Northwestern). WashU is more intellectual these days. Additionally they take 200-250 substandard caliber students as sophomore transfers, all full pay and not the level that would have gotten in or even WL from high school. It dilutes student quality in the classroom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone…Vanderbilt’s ranking is a blessing at and a curse.

Without fail, if the school is really going to take the most academically qualified kids, it will turn into every other top 20 school.

Far less sports attendance, dwindling Greek interest, etc. Based on many responses, the transition is well underway.

Bloomberg published a clickbait article which seems to neglect what is actually happening at the school.

I generally agree with this. It’s hard for a strong academic school to maintain its character. You saw this with Stanford. Then Northwestern. Then Duke. And now Vanderbilt.

They were all regarded as the fun smart school. But over time, they all get the same smart kids - more career oriented, more nerdy, more driven. And the lively, more impulsive, and more creative students don’t get in anymore. Add risk averse administrators and you get a Top 20 that all seems kind of the same.

I have a kid that recently graduated from Vandy. Great experience. But he was noting that the younger students tend to be extremely academic and studious, which is generally good. But they’re in the library Sunday through Thursday, not on Broadway. Vandy’s reputation as a chill school is vastly overstated. Those kids are grinding.

I will give props to Vanderbilt for trying to maintain its character as a more socially and intellectually healthy university compared to its peers and near peers. I think that’s why they stress “leadership.” They value engaged students who put themselves out there. And they seem to be reflexively against imposing some political or ideological Borg on the school - as so many other colleges did in recent years. You can argue and debate at Vanderbilt. No small thing that.

And it’s helpful that their football and basketball teams have had some success in the SEC lately. Say what you will about college sports, but having winning teams in the top conferences does foster a sense of community. So hopefully Vanderbilt’s time as the “fun” smart school will last for a bit. But the reality is that most Vandy students aren’t having that much fun on a Tuesday. They’re in the library.

Okay but did the parents here on DCUM go out on Tuesday nights during college? I went to Dartmouth and no one went out on Tuesday nights because the parties were all on the weekends. In fact, the library cleared out on Wednesday nights so everyone can go to their house meetings, which are actually meetings for planning the parties (they are not parties). Being in the library on Tuesday night was the norm then and is probably the norm now, and is not a sign of anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. Regarding duke, it's still top on many kids lists. But as a parent, a few things stood out. Duke is trying to create a college-house system and get rid of greek life.
I didn't like the fact that freshmen live on a different campus a bus ride away from classes and main campus. Also, Duke pushed greek orgs off campus so we hear that parties are now held in fields and are a bus ride away? Maybe it's fine, but doesn't sound great to me. Duke has great basketball but Durham isn't that interesting and not easily accessible to other cities.

From what I understand, Duke is actively selecting for students that wouldn't be into Greek Life and as a result interest in fraternities and soririties has plummetted among freshman this year

Funny. I know several very Greek-type kids in the current freshman class. Greek life is less than it used to be and is much less visible since it is no longer on campus, but there is definitely a significant contingent of them.

Duke has gotten a lot more polar. There are the very Greek kids who are athletes, legacies, etc. - again, not as many as there used to be but still plenty. Then there are a lot more nerds, combined with FGLI's who aren't interested in the traditional social scene. It wasn't well-publicized but Duke used to have a lot of kids in the middle - fairly social, liked to go to parties, but not typical frat boys/girls (I was one of them). They have been squeezed.

+1. Admissions I our area reflect this. Admits are the very wealrhy/connected/legacy and FGLI. Nothing in the middle.

Seems to me that’s most well known schools admit the very wealthy and FGLI. There is no middle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. Regarding duke, it's still top on many kids lists. But as a parent, a few things stood out. Duke is trying to create a college-house system and get rid of greek life.
I didn't like the fact that freshmen live on a different campus a bus ride away from classes and main campus. Also, Duke pushed greek orgs off campus so we hear that parties are now held in fields and are a bus ride away? Maybe it's fine, but doesn't sound great to me. Duke has great basketball but Durham isn't that interesting and not easily accessible to other cities.

From what I understand, Duke is actively selecting for students that wouldn't be into Greek Life and as a result interest in fraternities and soririties has plummetted among freshman this year

Funny. I know several very Greek-type kids in the current freshman class. Greek life is less than it used to be and is much less visible since it is no longer on campus, but there is definitely a significant contingent of them.

Duke has gotten a lot more polar. There are the very Greek kids who are athletes, legacies, etc. - again, not as many as there used to be but still plenty. Then there are a lot more nerds, combined with FGLI's who aren't interested in the traditional social scene. It wasn't well-publicized but Duke used to have a lot of kids in the middle - fairly social, liked to go to parties, but not typical frat boys/girls (I was one of them). They have been squeezed.

+1. Admissions I our area reflect this. Admits are the very wealrhy/connected/legacy and FGLI. Nothing in the middle.