Vanderbilt c/o 2016 Applicants (2012-2013 Cycle) Forum

[shntn]

Joining in on this forum after several months hanging on the Georgetown one. Their admissions office drove me crazy and now I'm leaning towards Vanderbilt. Just registered for the April 5 open house and hope Vandy lives up to its reputation. Any issues people have been having that I should know about or is Vanderbilt really the paradise it sounds like?

Vandy is a blast.

[wannabelawstudent]

Joining in on this forum after several months hanging on the Georgetown one. Their admissions office drove me crazy and now I'm leaning towards Vanderbilt. Just registered for the April 5 open house and hope Vandy lives up to its reputation. Any issues people have been having that I should know about or is Vanderbilt really the paradise it sounds like?

Vandy is a blast.

So you're going to vandy and withdrawing from WUSTL right now?

[muskies970]

Joining in on this forum after several months hanging on the Georgetown one. Their admissions office drove me crazy and now I'm leaning towards Vanderbilt. Just registered for the April 5 open house and hope Vandy lives up to its reputation. Any issues people have been having that I should know about or is Vanderbilt really the paradise it sounds like?

Vandy is a blast.

+1 Admitted Students Day was awesome.

[muskies970]

"I didn't like lie or anything"

"What program are you in?"
: Grabs the microphone :
"I'm in law school"

Haha that was the response to my question, she came up to me at the auction and apologized extensively. Definitely an interesting Q & A though.

[kraffcook]

Joining in on this forum after several months hanging on the Georgetown one. Their admissions office drove me crazy and now I'm leaning towards Vanderbilt. Just registered for the April 5 open house and hope Vandy lives up to its reputation. Any issues people have been having that I should know about or is Vanderbilt really the paradise it sounds like?

We are still talking about the school in Nashville, right?

I kid, I kid. But seriously, what type of issues are you looking for, did you have with Georgetown? I haven't really seen anyone have any real issues with schools other than wishing they made admissions and scholarship decisions more quickly. I am not sure what happened or what you are looking for, but maybe your expectations are a bit high?

Edit: After skimming your posts, not receiving merit based aid is not a reason to be mad at their admissions. And calling and arguing with them until they agree to review your file is a poor way to handle it. I am not sure what you expected.

You're taking my posts completely out of context. Georgetown's admissions office has been notoriously unhelpful this year for many admitted students, including myself, and if you don't know the details, I'd appreciate you withholding your criticism.

[Crowing]

I liked midtown better than downtown in general, and walking distance is definitely a huge plus over cab fare. There were a lot of undergraduates though.

[fallingup]

Definitely crossed Vandy off my list after the admitted students program.

[gravitygravity]

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[timeandspace11]

Waitlisted. I really like Vandy so I want to stay in consideration. Do any of you know if Vandy gives money off the waitlist? It is definitely a great school but I dont think I could go for sticker especially when Texas gave me such a great offer.

[sublime]

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[DoveBodyWash]

You're taking my posts completely out of context. Georgetown's admissions office has been notoriously unhelpful this year for many admitted students, including myself, and if you don't know the details, I'd appreciate you withholding your criticism.

That is fine. I did say that I only skimmed the posts. However, I cannot imagine a situation in which calling the admissions office and "arguing" with them about financial aid and "demanding" that they review your file is appropriate.

I see both sides here. GULC...to put it nicely..has dropped the ball this cycle from PR standpoint. I myself rage-withdrew. But calling the adcomm to argue, while completely justified (props to you brother), probably wasn't the most tactful thing to do.

Anyway forget GULC, you're in the land of milk and honey that is the Vanderbilt thread!

[Rlabo]

I'm curious as to what exactly happened at the ASW that polarized ppl either for or against Vandy?

[DoveBodyWash]

I'm curious as to what exactly happened at the ASW that polarized ppl either for or against Vandy?

Maybe just nashville?

[BigZuck]

So fallingup hates Vandy and gravitygravity loves it? I find that amusing.

What was everyone's impression? Did the students come across as dumb or something? I couldn't tell what you guys were trying to get across by quoting them.

For people who didn't like it, why? If you liked it, why? Just curious because unfortunately I can't make it to either ASW this year. Seems like a beloved, fun school but I'm worried that it would just be an extension of undergrad. In a bad way (or good depending on your perspective).

[fallingup]

In my personal opinion, they did a great job with the admitted students program. The current students and the professors were incredibly open, warm, and friendly. The students were very fun, too. Many people loved it and said they were going to commit after the admitted students program. I just decided the culture wasn't for me. That is not a knock on Vandy - it is a comment about my personal fit with the school. It is silly to expect everyone to love a school and fit in at the school. If a school has a distinct culture, naturally some will love it and some will hate it. For example, ALL the current students at Vandy that I spoke to criticized Georgetown and said they would have hated to go there. That doesn't mean Georgetown sucks or that Vandy students are wrong - it just means some people like some schools and some don't.

[Bloomsie]

In my personal opinion, they did a great job with the admitted students program. The current students and the professors were incredibly open, warm, and friendly. The students were very fun, too. Many people loved it and said they were going to commit after the admitted students program. I just decided the culture wasn't for me. That is not a knock on Vandy - it is a comment about my personal fit with the school. It is silly to expect everyone to love a school and fit in at the school. If a school has a distinct culture, naturally some will love it and some will hate it. For example, ALL the current students at Vandy that I spoke to criticized Georgetown and said they would have hated to go there. That doesn't mean Georgetown sucks or that Vandy students are wrong - it just means some people like some schools and some don't.

Vanderbilt is still one of my top choices, but I think ASW was a really mixed bag. Partially I just think that many events in 2 days starts to feel a little stale. I think Vanderbilt also really tries to downplay their regional identity, and to emphasize that Nashville is a cosmopolitan city, and I don't think ASW support that, particularly. Nashville feels like you're in the South, which isn't bad, but makes Vandy's advertisements of it ring a little false. Also everyone who mentioned political involvement was in the Federalist Society, and the ACS didn't even have a booth at the fair. Again, this is fine, and doesn't change my mind, but Vandy's advertisements of their "diversity" just seems like a dog whistle for "way more conservative than the T14." I think that my biggest complaint with ASW isn't that I didn't like the law school or that I don't think I would be happy there, but that by this morning I was tired of how they were selling their product.

I actually don't want to go to any more accepted students days, I think I'm just going to visit the cities and stop by admissions offices to pick up the literature.

[gravitygravity]

...

[kraffcook]

You're taking my posts completely out of context. Georgetown's admissions office has been notoriously unhelpful this year for many admitted students, including myself, and if you don't know the details, I'd appreciate you withholding your criticism.

That is fine. I did say that I only skimmed the posts. However, I cannot imagine a situation in which calling the admissions office and "arguing" with them about financial aid and "demanding" that they review your file is appropriate.

I see both sides here. GULC...to put it nicely..has dropped the ball this cycle from PR standpoint. I myself rage-withdrew. But calling the adcomm to argue, while completely justified (props to you brother), probably wasn't the most tactful thing to do.

Anyway forget GULC, you're in the land of milk and honey that is the Vanderbilt thread!

I may have exaggerated in my original posts. I wasn't in a good mood and the Georgetown forum already isn't the happiest place in the world. I'll address this part because it was an odd circumstance. Basically, I was told I'd get need-aid, then I didn't. I called to ask why and it took some back and forth with the financial aid office, explaining my circumstances, for them to look up my file. After a quick 5-minute review, the guy told me he'd pull my file for a full review and get back to me. That's where I am now.

Vanderbilt, meanwhile, has been nothing but helpful since I was accepted and was my top choice before I was drawn by the allure of living in Washington. I know nothing about Nashville or that state of Tennessee in general, so I guess I'll see how much I like it when I come up in a couple weeks.

[wert3813]

So fallingup hates Vandy and gravitygravity loves it? I find that amusing.

What was everyone's impression? Did the students come across as dumb or something? I couldn't tell what you guys were trying to get across by quoting them.

For people who didn't like it, why? If you liked it, why? Just curious because unfortunately I can't make it to either ASW this year. Seems like a beloved, fun school but I'm worried that it would just be an extension of undergrad. In a bad way (or good depending on your perspective).

First of all the dude mentioned G'town and frustration in passing. Do dig up his own posts and bring them up when he was asking about Vanderbilt is lame. (I know it wasn't you Zuck)

Full Disclosure: I grew up nearby, nearly went there for undergrad. I have lived out of the south for a bit, but I'm sure my opinion is based on more than just weekend.

Southern, conservative (this is the only thing I felt like they tried to hide the ball on), not a regional law school (they made sure to convince us of this and I bought it), a place where people are generally pretty happy. I think money being equal I would choose Vandy of any school below and perhaps including Duke (haven't visited so I don't know.)

That said they kept talking about how Vandy "punches above it's weight", in fact a few different people used that phrase. My fear is while Vandy may punch of its weight in quite a few areas, but when the school is bragging about being equal with certain schools in certain areas maybe that means you should just go to that other school instead.

I also felt like there was a possibility of graduating without a job. The numbers they gave were great, the financial aid office seemed great, and the student panel was generally positive about jobs, but I read between the lines of all three and felt like there were definitely people who were having poor outcomes.

No one seemed dumb. I was more just quoting because I thought they were funny.

[JayJones78]

In my personal opinion, they did a great job with the admitted students program. The current students and the professors were incredibly open, warm, and friendly. The students were very fun, too. Many people loved it and said they were going to commit after the admitted students program. I just decided the culture wasn't for me. That is not a knock on Vandy - it is a comment about my personal fit with the school. It is silly to expect everyone to love a school and fit in at the school. If a school has a distinct culture, naturally some will love it and some will hate it. For example, ALL the current students at Vandy that I spoke to criticized Georgetown and said they would have hated to go there. That doesn't mean Georgetown sucks or that Vandy students are wrong - it just means some people like some schools and some don't.

Re the bolded
Can you please elaborate? I see a lot of these responses, esp I regards to work environments when taking about corporate America etc but sometimes about schools too. What in the culture felt off? I'm not saying in any way that it's invalid, just wondering. I tried to examine the culture at W&L ASW and couldn't really come to a definite conclusion. Thanks!

[sublime]

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[hneedle]

Definitely crossed Vandy off my list after the admitted students program.

I felt the same way. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I felt very "meh" about everything. A friend of mine left feeling in love with the school and committing that same day. For me, nothing felt quite right. I didn't love Nashville, I felt that while the school itself was pretty, right off of it was kind of harsh and industrial looking. I met students I liked, but none of them seemed like people I would hang out with.

I'm hoping at some of the other schools I visit that I really feel moved- but I realize I might not have a magical moment at any school. In that case, I'll decide based on cost and stats.

[alwayssunnyinfl]

Sure, the girl from Mississippi was in FedSoc, big surprise. I'm a pretty liberal person, but if people are nice and willing to engage in a non-confrontational way, I don't care if they go to meetings and opine on the glories of small government. Other than that, there wasn't anything that screamed Southern conservative to me. Hell, there was a dude in drag at the auction last night. There is plenty of room to be right of most of the T14 and still not lean conservative, and that's probably where Vanderbilt is. It's not Pepperdine.

[BigZuck]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the discussion. If anyone has anything more to add I would love to hear it!

[fallingup]

In my personal opinion, they did a great job with the admitted students program. The current students and the professors were incredibly open, warm, and friendly. The students were very fun, too. Many people loved it and said they were going to commit after the admitted students program. I just decided the culture wasn't for me. That is not a knock on Vandy - it is a comment about my personal fit with the school. It is silly to expect everyone to love a school and fit in at the school. If a school has a distinct culture, naturally some will love it and some will hate it. For example, ALL the current students at Vandy that I spoke to criticized Georgetown and said they would have hated to go there. That doesn't mean Georgetown sucks or that Vandy students are wrong - it just means some people like some schools and some don't.

Re the bolded
Can you please elaborate? I see a lot of these responses, esp I regards to work environments when taking about corporate America etc but sometimes about schools too. What in the culture felt off? I'm not saying in any way that it's invalid, just wondering. I tried to examine the culture at W&L ASW and couldn't really come to a definite conclusion. Thanks!

I asked a couple current students and they both said they thought Vandy was close to an even split between conservative and liberal (politically). I don't want to get into a fight with anyone over whether that is problematic or not - all I'm saying is that it's not for me. The school and city were also overwhelmingly white. I am neither white nor black and felt very out of place - some people don't care about that, so more power to them. I also felt that the school was very preppy. Again, nothing wrong with that - I just found that I had very little in common with most of the current students and the fellow admitted students. There were a few admitted students and a few current students with whom I felt I had a lot to talk about, but they were clearly not the typical Vanderbilt student in appearance, dress, interests, or demographics. I went to a very preppy, rich, southern undergrad and enjoyed the hell out of it, but it was also one of the most diverse schools in the country and extremely intellectual and academic - I am used to that and I want to continue learning in that environment. There were people wearing mock Native American costumes and one guy cross-dressing at the auction event last night at Vanderbilt - an auction that was supposed to benefit the school's public interest stipend. I personally found that to be a turn-off. Finally, I felt that Nashville was provincial. I noticed that the stores, events, and musical artists that I enjoy don't frequent Nashville. I don't live in a big city and don't aspire to, but I still feel like I have access to more "worldly" experiences in my hometown. So there you have it - it's not my culture.

My #1 concern is that Vanderbilt is a regional school in terms of employment. Of course, people can get jobs in other states or jobs in big law firms (i.e., 250+ attorneys) from Vanderbilt. But if I want to be in State XYZ, I'd rather just go to a comparable or better school in State XYZ. It was telling to me that Vandy had the initial ASP reception at the biggest, most impressive law firm in Nashville, and it only had 170 attorneys. I crunched the school's employment numbers using the handouts they themselves provided to us, and about half of Vanderbilt grads are employed in the South. That is too high of a number for me, as a person who wants to attend a school with a truly national reach.