Leslie Sanderfur, representative from Vanderbilt University, visited AHS on October 15, and met with about 25 students in the Upper School Library’s College Corner.
Mr. Sanderfur started the presentation by encouraging the students to have a question and answer session. The AHS students did a fine job of learning more about the only private college in the SEC. It’s a medium size university with about 6,800 undergrads. We learned a number of things about “Vandy.” For instance, all freshmen live in 10 houses called Commons, and each is staffed by a faculty member. Vanderbilt has a core curriculum; it does have some flexibility in terms of the requirements, but ultimately, all students graduate having taken about a third of their classes in arts and sciences. About 45% of students “go Greek,” and rush is not until the spring. Typical fraternity and sorority houses do not exist on the Vanderbilt campus. Instead, there are small houses for officers of Greek organizations, and all the other members are spread throughout all housing on campus. The most popular majors are English, political science, and communications. Ninety percent of the classes have 50 or fewer students.
A few tidbits about admission: the admission rate is higher for ED than for regular decision (22% vs 10-11%). Mr. Sanderfur encourages students to send supplemental recommendations and any SAT subject test scores that are over 700. They are need-blind in the admission process, but they do meet 100% of demonstrated need. Families do need to fill out the FAFSA and the PROFILE as part of the financial aid application.
