Vanderbilt University

Date: Sep 11 2008
Major: Math (This Major's Salary over time)
Be prepared to go to college at a country club. The large majority of students here are extremely rich; as an example, roughly half of the students here are capable of paying the all-things-considered price tag of $52900 per year without any financial aid.

Frat parties are the main form of social interaction at Vanderbilt. The majority of students are Greek, and most students who are not still hang out at the frats. For those who don't drink and don't want to go Greek, religious groups and ethnic minority groups tend to be only ways to get involved socially (not that there's anything wrong with either of those, but more variety would be nice).

The undergraduate academics here are a mixed bag. There are several notoriously easy departments, especially in the Peabody College. In A&S and engineering, many intro level courses, especially calculus, chemistry, and economics, have a deserved reputation for difficulty, but upper division classes tend to be quite easy regardless of department. From discussions with students elsewhere, the curriculum was about as good as it is at some of the more prestigious state schools.

The campus really is beautiful, but maintenance money seems to be distributed very haphazardly. For instance, the S&E library and the computer labs are top-notch and well kept up. However, the math & physics buildings, which are right next door, are ugly and falling apart, with exposed wiring, sporadic heating and air-conditioning, etc.

The newly opened freshman dorms are quite nice, but a few of the upperclassman dorms (especially Kissam and the Alumni Lawn dorms) have had very serious problems with water damage and mold. Starting this year, everyone has to live on campus for a full four years except for a few very limited exceptions.

In the end, all of Vanderbilt's flaws can be ignored except for the exorbitant cost. Every university has its problems, but very few of them charge you a total of over $50,000 to put up with them. And keep in mind that, while about half of the students here receive "financial aid", the vast majority of that aid comes in the form of loans. Vandy likes to tout the actual scholarships that it does give, but it only awards these to 3% of the incoming class.

The benefits of attending here, instead of somewhere cheaper, don't even come close to matching the extra costs.