Vanderbilt University Panel

Webinar Transcription

2020-07-30 Vanderbilt University Panel

[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. Welcome to Bullseye  admissions is, uh, college panels with, uh, Vanderbilt. So this is our last panel of the July college counselors. Um, my name is Alicia. I’m a program manager at Bullseye , and I’m going to be your moderator for tonight. So just to get everyone oriented with the webinar structure and the different functions that we have, we’re going to start off with a presentation about Vanderbilt, but led by our lovely panelists.

And then we’re going to have a live Q and a so on the sidebar, you can download tonight’s slides in the handouts tab, and you can also start submitting your questions for a painless in the Q and a tab throughout the panel. We’re also going to have some holes, offers some handouts, and we’re also going to go over the August.

Webinars series. So that’ll be an interesting preview. Um, so getting started, I’m super excited to introduce you guys to our Vanderbilt panelists. Um, we have, um, Rashmi who is a, going to be a rising senior at Vanderbilt. She’s studying public policy studies and also minoring in neuroscience. And we also have clay who recently graduated from Vanderbelt.

He majored in engineering, [00:01:00] science, and he also minored in economics. So next up I’ll rush. You’re going to tell us more about that. Thank you Lilly. So Vanderbilt is located in Nashville, Tennessee, which is in the south, and it is such a great city to go to school. And there’s such an amazing food and music scene.

Um, and you can probably find a concert happening most weeks. Um, there are also some great hiking trails nearby if that’s more of your scene. So the animals are located in the heart of the city. So it’s very easy to get outside of that campus bubble and engage with the Nashville community. I’m from Louisville, Kentucky, which is roughly three hours away.

It’s north from Nashville. And I find the two cities to be pretty similar in terms of population size and the familiar. Which I’m sure helped me with my trans transition from high school to college. Vanderbilt is a private medium sized institution with a student faculty ratio of seven to one. And I’m a pre-med student.

So I’m used to pretty big lecture classes, but even in those settings, I feel like professors really take the time to get to know [00:02:00] their students. Um, in my organic chemistry class with of over 200 individuals, my professor knew the name of every student in the class, and then you’ve got the opportunity to, um, meet with her.

One-on-one whenever I was struggling with a concept aside from these premed classes, though, I would say that this ratio is pretty accurate when it comes to elective.

Okay. Okay. So now moving on, let’s talk a little bit about notable alumni. The first, um, Albert honored Gordon Jr. Is the American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th president of the United States from 1993 to 2008. Core was so Clinton’s running mate and their successful campaign in 1992.

And the pair of rules reelected in 1996. Kimberly Brian is an African-American electrical engineer who worked in the biotechnology field of gen and track Nova Nordisk, vaccines, um, diagnostics and Merck, and [00:03:00] 2011, Brian founded black girls code a training course that teaches basic programming concepts to black girls who are underrepresented in technology careers.

And then Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker economic and civil society leader, who was awarded the Nobel peace prize for founding the Grameen bank and pioneering the concept of micro credit and micro finance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs who are too poor to qualify for traditional bank.

And then there was some fun facts. Um, I personally have not kissed the statue of the Vanderbilt say under Cornelius Vanderbilt. Um, but I do agree with the Vanderbilt had the happiest students in the U S.

okay. So now let’s get started into talking a little bit about academics at Vanderbilt, therefore undergraduate schools, there’s the college of arts and sciences, the school of [00:04:00] engineering, where school of music and Peabody college of education and human development. When you apply, you’re applying to one of the four schools, not a major within the school, and you do have the option to pursue a major or coursework in the other schools.

If you’d like to which you are a part of the college, I’m a part of the college of arts and sciences. And since I’m not majoring in something that closely aligns with the PM medical group, I have a pretty full course, but I found that it’s pretty easy to fulfill those actual requirements, which is basically our liberal arts core.

Um, and a lot of the classes I need for my major and minor, um, are fulfilled within these requirements, fulfill these requirements. And I actually enjoy taking a lot of doxa classes because I find that I can find a cost that, um, like that’s close to my interest and I can see it in an interdisciplinary manner, which will help me broaden my perspective.

And because my major itself is an interdisciplinary major, almost all my classes have students from other majors, which only makes class more [00:05:00] interesting. And then in terms of scheduling classes, I found that professors are really willing to work with you. There were a couple of classes where I found myself on the waiting list.

He couldn’t get in, but by simply emailing the professor, I was able to get off the waiting bus and get into the classes that I really wanted to.

okay. So let’s talk a little bit about the graduate school. Um, Vanderbilt has eight graduate schools and the awesome part is all of these graduate schools are located on campus. And speaking from the pre-medical perspective, I find it very easy to get involved with the school of medicine. And I also have a lot of friends who do research with the school of engineering and Peabody college.

You just have to take that initiative to reach out to professors and they will work with you to find opportunities to do research or whatever it is that you want to do. Vanderbilt also has the Vanderbilt undergraduate summer research program in which undergraduate students complete our research project under any Vanderbilt [00:06:00] faculty member.

Um, it is a paid experience that many students get involved in. So it’s a wonderful way to get involved with the graduate schools as well. And then certain majors have a four plus one person. And that’s when you complete four years of undergraduate studies and then one year in master’s studies and some of these programs do not require you to take a graduate school exam, like the GRD.

So this could be a great way to also get more involved with the graduate school.

yeah. Great overview Rashmi. Um, so before we have Claire, tell us a little bit about student life at Raymondville. I have a trivia question for you guys. Um, so Vanderbilt’s campus has a reputation for being home to a very large population of what animal. So let’s go and see if you know how well you guys know Vanderbilt trivia.

Okay.

okay. And just as a heads up, you guys, do you get to see each other’s answers so you guys can crowd sources answering, figure it out [00:07:00] together.

so he has a few seconds to answer the trivia question. So far, it looks like the leading answers squirrels. And then second up is chipmunks

All right. So I’m going to close the poll release in, on the answer with squirrels, the good job guys. Um, and then, so clay, why don’t you tell us a little bit about Vanderbilt? Sure. Thanks Lilly. So let’s get into student life at Vanderbilt’s. Uh, there are more than 70 different majors to choose from as a Vanderbilt students.

So I’m sure you could find at least one that kind of matches up with your interests, but, uh, these five are the most popular first. We have computer science. Um, my roommate all four years in college was actually a computer science major. Uh, so I became pretty familiar with the major itself and the people in it.

It’s the largest major in the engineering [00:08:00] school, uh, with about, I want to say a hundred to 110 students that graduate every year. And many of the large tech companies like Microsoft, Amazon, uh, recruit computer science majors at Vandy U for software development roles after graduation. Uh, next we have economics, uh, I would say economic seems to be the most popular major on a yearly basis at Vanderbilt, uh, with about 250 graduates every year.

Uh, so when you think about it, that’s about like a sixth of the student body. I want to say. Um, as was mentioned previously, I was an economics minor and I had a bunch of friends who were economics majors, uh, have since gone on to investment baking commercial banking, uh, consulting and master’s degrees in finance whores, similar fields like.

And then we have mathematics. Um, I want to say mathematics has about a hundred grads every year. And what I’ll say about math is that many combined math with [00:09:00] another stem major, uh, such as computer science and math, or, um, mechanical engineering and math. And this is because students are already taking a lot of the core math classes that they need, um, in their other stem majors.

So it’s pretty easy to kind of double dip and just add on a math major, um, and take just a few additional classes. Uh, there are very few people who major in math alone, I would say. And next we have interdisciplinary stuff. So this is more of a category of majors than a major itself. Uh, but interdisciplinary studies, I would say speaks to Vanderbilt’s academic flexibility.

Um, so you can take classes in any of the four undergraduate schools and you can even kind of design your own major or curriculum, um, with which I think is really cool. Um, and as far as interdisciplinary studies go, these are programs like, um, African-American and diaspora studies. Um, let me see what else, communication of science and [00:10:00] technology, medicine, health and society women’s and gender studies.

Um, even my own major, which was engineering science is considered interdisciplinary. I got to choose my own core class list. So I took classes in, um, you know, economics, business technology, managerial studies and engineering, which is really cool. Um, And just to add onto the interdisciplinary studies explanation, I would say something like 35% of Vanderbilt students either choose to double major or pursue interdisciplinary studies.

So it’s a very popular route among, uh, Vandy students. And then last we have social sciences. So again, this is a category of majors. Uh, it includes anthropology, um, history, political science, sociology, and probably most notably, H O D M. So HOD is human organizational development. It’s a major, I would say it’s pretty unique to [00:11:00] Vanderbilt.

Um, and it’s focused on kind of finding human centered solutions to, uh, problems in organizations and communities. So HOD is another big one on camp. Um, moving on to athletics. So athletics is another big component of student life at Vanderbilt. Um, so at Vandy we play NCAA division one sports, um, mostly in the sec conference.

So that’s with other big name schools like, um, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, just to name a few, uh, there are 351 athletes on campus, um, who play for 16 different varsity teams. I would say we’re probably most known for our baseball team, which is always really, really good a year after year. Uh, we’re actually the most recent NCAA baseball champions.

We won the college world series in 2019. So hopefully we get to defend that title again this upcoming year. And [00:12:00] I think also the women’s bowling team won. NCA NCAA championship, which is kind of unexpected, but interesting as well. Um, and beyond, uh, the varsity level, there are tons of clubs, sports available.

If you’re not quite at that division one talent level, um, they’re fairly easy to join. My friend was the captain of the men’s club volleyball team for a couple of years. I knew a lot of people on the club hockey team and the ultimate Frisbee team. Uh, so club sports and other way to get involved. And then finally we have intramural sports as well, which are popular among Greek organizations and really just the student body in general.

Um, those don’t require any experience to join more for fun than anything else. And they run throughout the whole year. So tons of ways to get involved, have athletic plea at Vandy. Uh, moving on so more on student life, um, student organizations. So student organizations are the heart and soul [00:13:00] of student life at Vanderbilt, I would say, and there are more than 510 different undergraduate student organizations that you can join.

So basically, no matter what your interest is, I’m sure it exists as a club at Vanderbilt. You would have no problem. Finding a group to join that who shares a similar passion as you do. Uh, Greek life Greek life is fairly popular on campus. There are currently 12, or excuse me, 10 fraternities and 10 sororities on campus.

Um, that number tends to change on a year to year basis, uh, is probably dwindling over the next year or so based on current events. I’m not going to really get into that right now, but if anyone has a question about that would be happy to answer it in the Q and a section. Um, but nevertheless, Greek life, at least at this stage is still pretty popular.

Um, so this says 96% of undergraduate students live on campus. Um, I would say it’s probably a little bit [00:14:00] less than that. Based on my personal experience, I would say a decent amount of seniors and at least a few juniors every year ended up living off campus, either in apartments or houses. Uh, I lived off campus my senior year.

Uh, which was pretty nice, but uh, most students do end up living on campus all four years. Uh, the residence halls are really nice and fairly new. Um, so freshmen will all live together in the commons, which is kind of like the freshmen specific area of campus. Um, and then upperclassmen will live in residence halls on main campus.

Um, and if you were to enroll at Vanderbilt, I would recommend Bronson college or Zappos college. So those are the two newest, um, residence halls Bronson opened two years ago. I wanna say. And Zappos college is opening up this year, actually. Um, I talked about club sports before 30 plus clubs sports that you can get [00:15:00] involved in, um, musical theater and dance groups.

So these are also very popular student organizations on campus. Um, many of these are kind of centered around cultural groups, so they’re cultural based. Um, one that comes to mind is the banker doors, uh, which is pre-populated. They perform like Indian dance styles. Uh, but of course you don’t have to be Indian or Indian-American to join the organization.

Um, another popular one that comes to mind is the melody doors. So that’s Vanderbilt’s, um, male acapella group, um, pretty famous. They’ve won tons of awards, been on TV before. So, um, definitely recommend cashing a melody or show at least once. Um, but these groups hosts tons of different performances and showcases throughout the year, uh, that are usually free to attend and very fun to attend.

So I recommend them for. And then we have a school events, traditions, and attractions. So the first one is [00:16:00] founders walk. A founders walk is when incoming freshmen walk from commons to main campus at two, at the beginning of their, at their time at Vanderbilt. Um, and undergrad under other undergrads will come together with their student orgs and kind of line the path that they walk to cheer them on and welcome them to campus.

Uh, the VU hand sign, um, looks like this. So we have the V here, the you there. I don’t know if you guys could see that, but, um, you’ll be, you’ll be flat. You’ll be crashing that hand sign a lot as a Vanderbilt undergrad, um, the honor code signing. So this is another freshmen tradition, uh, where Vanderbilt freshmen all come together as a class and basically sign on or code, which is, um, a promise to maintain academic integrity throughout your four years at Vanderbilt.

And let’s see, then we have star walk. Um, star Trek is a less lesser [00:17:00] known tradition. I would say it’s so centered around the football team. Uh, basically before home games, um, fans and students will align the path from McGukin center, which is an athletic center, um, to the football stadium and kind of cheer on the football team before they take the fields.

Uh, the Alma mater and fight song. I’m going to be honest here. I don’t know the Alma mater or the fights. I don’t know any of the lyrics. I don’t even think I sang it one. Um, but I mean, it’s still good to know. Definitely at least try to learn it. Don’t be like. Um, and then we have common or quake and rites of spring.

So these are two of the music festivals that Vanderbilt hosts every year, uh, common or quake is Vanderbilt’s homecoming music festival. So it takes place in October, um, during homecoming weekend. And it’s a concert in the basketball stadium where Vanderbilt gets usually two or three big names in hip hop [00:18:00] or rap to come perform.

So, um, I think during my year we had like big Sean ASAP for. Migos and like one other, one other group that I’m forgetting come play. Um, yeah, so that’s fun. And then we have rites of spring, which is, uh, Vanderbilt’s spring weekend music festival. So it lasts for two days. It’s in April. Um, and Vanderbilt gets a ton of big name artists across different genres to come and play on alumni lawn, which is right in the center of campus.

Um, and when I was a student, we got some of the bigger names, were Gucci mane, 21 Savage DNCE race rumored. And I think before my time, we even got like chance the rapper 21 pilots, um, Drake. So I guess that gives you an idea of the types of names that that Vanderbilt gets to campus, but overall really fun [00:19:00] weekends.

Um, I guess after this, we’re going to have freshmen clay, both tell us about why they chose Vanderbilt. But before that, I have a really similar question for you guys. So are you guys planning to apply to Vanderbilt? Um, let us know in the poll,

we’ll keep that open for a few seconds. Let you guys vote.

okay. So for a lot of people are saying it’s in their top three schools, great sign. Um, hopefully, you know, this webinar will help you guys learn more about during your bowl. It really hear from students and get the student perspective. Since that’s not something you can always get from just like a school website.

Okay. I’m going to close the poll in a few seconds, but it seems like most people have it, you know, in your top three, um, versus you guys letting us have it on your college list. Are you still deciding it’s going to close the poll and then the rationale, why did you choose standard? [00:20:00] Okay. So I’m going to start off by reading what I wrote.

Um, so I chose to interrupt because I really enjoy hearing about how collaborative the students and faculty work. I did not want to feel like I was constantly competing with my peers. And after three years, I’m happy to say that the students and faculty are so supportive, uplifting. So I came from a, um, high school where everyone was constantly doing incredible things, just constantly competing with each other, not being super collaborative.

It was very cutthroat. And that was not an environment that I wanted to be a part of when that, um, I went to college. And so I was definitely looking for a school where the students were collaborative. They were interested in supporting each other, the faculty and it’s software. Wanting to get to know their students and find ways to support them throughout their professional and even personal journey.

And so other, definitely the feeling that I got when I first got onto campus and then like, even within the first, second, third weeks I was meeting so many people, I was like just asking random questions to some [00:21:00] upperclassmen that I knew that came from my high school. And then they would connect me to other upperclassmen and help me really get to know the campus and really get to engage with a lot of students on campus.

And they would tell me a lot about their orchards and stuff like that. Um, and then even beyond that, like it was my first, um, bio season, my first semester, freshman year. And I had a major biology final coming up and I was really struggling and I was sitting in the library like pretty much ready to cry, but one of my friends saw me and like came up to me and asked me what was going on.

And he ended up sharing his study guide that. So hard to create on his own. It was a 40 page biology study guide, and he shared it with me without me even like contributing. So I, these are the kind of people that are on campus. They really are there to support you and make sure that you can be successful during your Vanderbilt career.

So, yeah.

Cool. So I’m going to keep mine short and sweet, but [00:22:00] basically the three reason why I chose to go to Vanderbilt is it’s really the best of so many worlds. So I wrote it’s incredibly well balanced, and it’s just so much more than top notch academics. Of course, you’re going to get a really great education top 15, top 20, depending on who you ask, if you go to Vanderbilt.

Um, but it’s so much more than that. Uh, Vanderbilt has a really great social scene. Uh, students are extremely passionate and committed and involved outside of academics and in their extracurriculars. Um, of course you have sec sports. So if that’s something that you value, I mean, it doesn’t get much better than that.

And being a Vanderbilt student, you really get all of the benefits. Being just steps away from downtown Nashville. So, um, the Vanderbilt campus itself is very nicely isolated. Um, you can’t really tell that you’re in the middle of a big city when you’re on campus, but you can walk, I mean, five minutes and you’re right in the middle of downtown Nashville.

So, um, all of the advantages that come with being in a really vibrant city like that, [00:23:00] you get as a Vanderbilt student. Awesome. Thanks guys. Um, so before we have clay, tell us more about the application process. I have another poll for you guys. So where are you all currently in the college app process? Um, so I just sent that pullout.

Um, yeah. And if you guys are just starting the process, it’s also totally. Okay. Um, you know, right now is a great time to start and, you know, by researching schools and coming to webinars, you guys can definitely learn more about different schools. So I’ll keep that open for a few seconds, right? It looks like a lot of you guys are working on your personal statement, shared at.

College lists. So a lot of things have started, which is a really good sign.

Right. So I’m going to close the poll. Um, so Claire, can you tell us more about the application process for Vandy? I would be happy to. So there are three different application rounds. If you want to apply to Vanderbilt, there are two early [00:24:00] decision rounds, one with a deadline of November 1st and one with a January 1st deadline.

And then there’s one regular decision. Round with a deadline of January 1st as well. And I guess for those who don’t know the difference between early decision and regular decision early decision is binding. So that basically means that, uh, if you apply to Vanderbilt early decision and you get accepted, you are, um, essentially agreeing to withdraw all of your other applications and attend Vanderbilt.

So you’re kind of bind it to that commitment. Um, and regular decision is non-binding. So of course you can spend an application to Vanderbilt, uh, explore other options and ultimately decide to decline an offer of admission to Vanderbilt if that’s what you so choose. Um, personally, I applied regular decision, um, just because of.

Want to be kind of locked into any particular school, but if you know that Vanderbilt is truly your top choice school, your dream school, and you would [00:25:00] have no qualms about attending Vanderbilt at all. Um, I would recommend applying to one of the two early decision rounds. Um, mostly because the acceptance rate is higher, um, in, in those two rounds then in the regular decision round.

So you would have a better chance of acceptance, uh, Going into the supplements. So Vanderbilt requires one additional supplement, um, beyond your personal statement, which is your common app essay. Um, and that’s a 400 word essay on basically the topic of extracurriculars. I think the prompt is something like, uh, please elaborate briefly on one of your extracurriculars or, um, work experiences.

I think that’s what it is. Um, and Vanderbilt, I would say the admissions committee really values students who are, um, involved outside of their academics and who make impacts, uh, within whatever their communities are. So this is really the chance to kind of explain how you’ve done that and show that off to the [00:26:00] admissions committee, um, acceptance rates.

So the acceptance rate hovers at about 9%, uh, which. Pretty daunting. Um, total number of applicants. I think this was last year’s data was 37,310, 3,402 were ultimately accepted and 1,604 enrolled. So your class size will likely be around 1600 students. Um, which I think is a really nice size. Um, it’s not too big to where you kind of will be able to recognize at least all of the faces of the people in your class by the end of the four years.

Uh, but it’s also not too small to where you’re still kind of meeting new people as you go.

Excuse me. Okay. So more on the application process, uh, these are the average stats of embedded students. So admitted students have an average GPA of 3.9 in average act score of [00:27:00] 33 through 35 in average, sat of 14, 60 through 1560. Um, and I would say again, just keep in mind, these are average scores. Um, Necessarily have to fall within these ranges or, you know, have a three nine GPA in order to be accepted to Vanderbilt.

There are plenty of students who, um, did not have these types of scores that were accepted. Um, because as of course, the admissions process is holistic. Um, but as you can see on average, uh, most people who are accepted to Vanderbilt excelled, um, academically in high school and have really high GPA and test scores, um, financial aid.

So Vanderbilt is really good about giving out tons of financial aid to students. Um, I want to say I saw a statistic that said Vanderbilt was the number two school in the U S in terms of the amount of financial aid that they’ve given, um, to students. I think 65% of students receive at least some type of [00:28:00] financial aid.

And there are three ways you can apply for financial aid. First is through FAFSA. Um, second IDOC through, um, from the college board and then third, the CSS profile, um, more info on Vanderbilt financial aid. So Vanderbilt is need-blind, which means, uh, they don’t discriminate against applicants who may need financial aid in order to attend the university.

So you don’t have to worry about that. Um, they give 100% of these students demonstrated need and, um, they don’t give out any loans. Uh, they give grants. So you don’t have to worry about, uh, paying any of your aid back that you receive from Vanderbilt, which I think is also really nice.

Awesome. Um, so around the topic of financial aid, if you think you’ll qualify for need-based aid or other things like fee waivers for your application portals, it’s also likely that you’ll also qualify for the bull’s eye scholars program. So this is both sides pro bono [00:29:00] program. That’s going to give free advising to safety scholars.

So this is a need based program. So if you’re a first generation college student, or if you’re from a lower income family, I definitely recommend applying so that you can get help on your college apps for free. So I’m going to send out that link to everyone right now. Um, and then just as a heads up, the applications are due in two days on August 1st.

So I would recommend applying, you know, sooner than later, just to make that deadline. Um, you guys look you’re back on August 15th, whether or not you were selected. Um, and so both has always been really deeply committed to giving back to community and, um, we’re all about, you know, ensuring education equity.

So, um, that’s why the feed program exists for you. So I’ll give you guys some time to click on that link. Um, and then the meantime we can get started. Um, so that’s the end of the presentation part of the webinar. I hope, you know, that was really helpful hearing from freshmen clay. Um, when we, for the like QA now, um, I’m going to read through the questions that you guys submitted in the Q and a tab.

And then for each question that I slept, I’m going to paste it into the public chats. You guys can see it and then rush me and clay. We’ll give you guys some answers. So we’ll likely [00:30:00] have you guys alternate your answers. Um, we also have a few breaks and we also have a speed round point at the end, um, as a heads up, if you’re trying to submit to the QA tab and it’s not letting you submit, I’ll just double check that you entered the webinars through the custom link that came in your email, not from the website landing page, because that doesn’t give you QA access.

All right. So the first question that I have for you guys is what is something about Vanderbilt that you wish you knew before going, um, good and or something you hope to improve? Yeah, I’ll go ahead and answer that one. This one isn’t necessarily Vanderbilt specific. I think it applies for, um, any college that you end up going to, but I wish I had utilized the career center more.

Um, I didn’t really even know about the services that the career center offered until my junior year when I was like really seriously applying for internships. Um, but the career center is extremely helpful for students looking for internships and full-time jobs after graduation. Uh, they can help you explore what your interests are and maybe what roles would be good fits for you.[00:31:00]

Uh, they can help you connect with alumni in specific roles or alumni who worked for companies that you’re targeting. Uh, they can prep you for interviews, review your resume and so much more. Um, they’re always hosting information sessions on campus, uh, where, uh, tons of company recruiters come to campus.

Um, um, there’s multiple career fairs every year that go on, um, and just tons of networking opportunities. So. My advice would be for you to take advantage of the career center, as soon as you step on campus and kind of begin to build those relationships with the people that work there, uh, get to know your career advisor, because they can really help you in, in amazing ways.

And it can be an excellent resource that I think, um, is, is really underutilized for sure. Awesome. Thanks. Um, next question we have is how is fair, but when it comes to providing financial. Yeah, so I can answer that question. Um, so Claire already touched a little bit about [00:32:00] how financial aid works at Vanderbilt and how they meet 100% of your demonstrated financial need without loans.

That means that they give grants. Um, and that’s not something you had to be back to the college. If you do need to take loans, um, with, beyond that, you’re more than welcome to, but that’s like one of the selling points is out Vanderbilt because a lot of other schools, um, we’ll make that in 100% demonstrated financial need encompass a loan part as well.

But I really do, um, have like, have had a good experience talking with the financial aid office, um, making sure that I can talk to them if I have any other questions. Um, and they’re very, very accommodating to addressing my needs. And, um, for me, in particular, I got to study abroad the fall semester of my junior year.

But the program that I was studying abroad in, um, actually ended up costing more than Vanderbilt would. And, um, because they are still financially inclusive, they made sure to augment my financial aid. So I could still study abroad in the program that I chose. So [00:33:00] that’s definitely something that you should consider, um, when I’m applying to Vanderbilt is that you can even apply your financial aid towards study abroad programs that you do in the fall or spring semester.

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Um, next question may be good for both of you guys. Um, what extracurriculars did you do in high school to get into Vanderbilt? Yeah, so I can start this one off. Um, I was kind of all over the place. I participated in a lot of different. Extra curriculars across a variety of different categories.

Um, let’s see, I played two varsity sports. I was on the lacrosse and volleyball teams. I was an editor on the school newspaper. Uh, I was a member of the engineering and entrepreneurship clubs. Um, and a big thing for me was community service. I think I registered somewhere around 300 community service hours in high school.

Um, tutoring, children, mentoring, children, organizing food, drives, things like that. Um, And I would say I would [00:34:00] consider myself a pretty well-rounded person, which I think made me fairly attractive to the Vanderbilt admissions committee. Um, just because I think a lot of Vanderbilt students are kind of the same way and that, uh, they have very multifaceted skills and interests across different areas.

Um, but I would also say you certainly don’t need to be that way in order to be admitted or be successful at Vanderbilt. Um, as long as you have something that you’re super passionate about that you love to do, um, pursue that. Um, as long as you can show that you’re committed to one or two at least organizations in high school and that you were highly involved in and made a difference in them.

Um, I think you will stand out to the admission.

Yeah. So now I can talk a little bit about my experiences and I like to echo a lot of the things that clay said. Um, and actually it’s kind of funny because community service is something that I was very involved in, in high school. Um, like that I would say, like if I had to try to [00:35:00] determine the reasons why I got into Vanderbilt, it would be due to my community service.

I was involved at the teen board at my local children’s hospital and we organized fundraisers and different projects for the children’s hospital. And so that was a wonderful way to give back to my community in order to be involved in the hospital because I am pre-med and I was interested in medicine even in high school.

But I think another thing that really helped me out was the, I did, um, research at my local university, um, all for years of. High school and that’s just happened to be because my high school was literally across the street from the local university. So I was lucky enough to get that opportunity. And that’s not something that I’m sure it’s available to students across the country.

But other than that, I was a dancer. I do do three different types of dance. And I was also, um, pretty involved in a lot of other activities in school. Like I was in the future business leaders of America and he did state and like national [00:36:00] honor society. Like, I didn’t know, like everything, cause I like wasn’t 100% sure about medicine.

I wanted to make sure that I was exploring my options, but really you have to do what you’re passionate about. And I really think that, um, Vanderbilt’s supplemental essay kind of echoes that because they ask you to speak about an extra 30 activity. Um, and that’s done asking or are you passionate about, cause usually you take your purchase into your extra community activities.

And so if you do something that you really care about. It will be more than enough to help you stand out. So the applications. Awesome. Good answers guys. Um, next question we have is does Greek life dominate the social scene? And if you’re not involved, what are some other ways to socialize and have fun at Vanderbilt and Nashville?

Yeah, I’ll take this one. Personally, I was a member of Greek life. And if you would’ve asked me this question, like two or three years ago, uh, I probably would’ve said yes, Greek life does tend to dominate the social scene. [00:37:00] Um, I would say it tends to dominate the social scene in terms of like the party scene specifically, if you’re into that kind of thing.

Um, but it certainly doesn’t dominate the social scene as a whole, um, Greek life organizations can be exclusive and there are inherently, I would say several kind of problems or issues that play Greek life organizations in that regard. Um, but Greek life parties, at least on campus, parties are open to all undergraduate students.

Um, and. I would say, at least my, um, organization never tended to be super exclusive. We always try to include everyone. Um, but there are plenty of other organizations you can join to make friends and kind of find your social niche if Greek life isn’t your thing. Um, none of these organizations are like mutually exclusive.

Um, I would say a lot of the people that I knew at Vanderbilt, um, didn’t kind of [00:38:00] homogenize. They were, they were friends with people outside of their organizations that they were involved with. So, I mean, athletes hang out with non-athletes and Greeks, hang out with non Greeks. I think that’s, uh, a pretty familiar theme across campus.

Um, but I would say some popular non-Greek orgs that, um, That students tend to join would be club sports. I know I talked about club sports a lot already, um, career oriented fraternities, like, uh, AK PSI, which is a, the business fraternity. Um, theta tau is the engineering fraternity. So those are good alternatives.

Um, I talked about, uh, musical and cultural groups. So, um, you know, their student orbs for people, industry in improv and dance and singing and, uh, those type of creative arts that are, that are really good to join. Um, another one off the top of my head. It would be alternative spring break. That’s a great one.

So that would be [00:39:00] one in which you, and a group of out like 10 or 12 students, uh, travel to a community in need and do a service project over a spring break. And I think they also have a ones for Thanksgiving and winter break. Uh, so there are tons of ways to meet students and, um, you know, get involved with whatever your passions are.

Um, and I guess this would be a good time for me to talk more about Greek life that I kinda mentioned earlier, um, right now, um, on campus, um, we have what’s, uh, we have what’s called like the abolish Greek life movement. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah. So there’s this movement going on right now called abolish Greek life, which is kind of bringing to the surface.

A lot of the inherent problems in Greek lives, such as, um, exclusivity. Um, I mean, racism is a big one, sexual assaults, things like that. [00:40:00] Um, and as a result of this movement, um, there has been a decent amount of students dropping from their fraternities and sororities. There’s been, um, Greek life organizations that have come together and decided to, um, disband or like, you know, stop existing on campus.

Um, so I would say the trend right now is definitely that Greek life is dominating the social scene less and less. It’s being reformed, um, at the very least so that these problems don’t continue to exist. And that it’s more, um, more open for the Vanderbilt community. Yes.

Great. Thanks clay. Definitely. Very insightful. Um, next question we have is can you speak in detail about the career opportunities at Vanderbilt? Yeah, I can take this question. I feel like I want to be speaking more from the pre-med angle, but then I would go a little bit more general towards the end. But, um, what I love about Vanderbilt is that we have a very supportive, um, [00:41:00] pretty hard professionals advising office.

I probably said that wrong, but it’s called the HPA and our mentors. There are just so incredible, so insightful and so willing to help like work with you and you can meet with them starting your freshman year. Um, and then they’ll guide you through, like, if you want to shadow, if you want to do research and you can just talk to them about whatever concerns you might have.

I am particularly concerned about studying abroad because it’s pretty difficult for a pre-med student to fit all of that into their schedule. But I was able to figure it out with the help of the, um, members in that pre health advising on advising office. And so I think that is definitely one of the strengths for any.

Potentially minimum pre-med students, but, um, clay has already talked about the career center and I’d like to echo, they are such a wonderful resource. Um, and yes, I, I am a pre-med student, but I still went to this office to learn how to work on my resumes, how to make cover letters, because I am also interested in health [00:42:00] policy and I wanted to apply to internships related to.

Um, I only knew a few internships, um, that I found through Google, but they had access to all whole database of internships. I would not have found otherwise. So they really do have all those resources. You just have to go out there and utilize them. Um, other than that, um, Vanderbilt has a lot of career for years throughout the year.

I think September is a very, um, copier time for people interested in consulting. There are big fairs and a lot of repeaters that come, and this was often the time where people got their summer internships and maybe potential full-time jobs on after they graduate. And then, um, I feel like that’s more killer to consulting, but we do help career fairs for engineering students, people interested in science, but not pre-med and things like that throughout the year.

So there’s definitely a lot of support for your career. Um, I would just recommend that you actually utilize those support systems that are available. Awesome. Um, so before I move on, let’s take a quick break. So I also [00:43:00] do want to tell you guys how you can get involved with wildlife after this webinar. Um, so if you want to get in touch with Vanderbilt advisors and get help in your college apps, you know, from people like Rashmeen clay on both a has two advising plan.

So we have the starter plan, the scholar plan. And so they’re both in the form of these monthly subscriptions where you can choose what advice you’re gonna work with, or you can get matched with an advisor and then you can get one or two hours of one-on-one advising each month. And then so our advisors will help you with crafting the perfect supplemental essays for Vanderbilt and also for your other applications.

So I’m going to send, um, everyone here, the link, um, for how to sign up and then just to tell you a little bit more about our advising plans. Um, we’ve had both our clients get into all of the, um, all of the Ivy league schools and also every top 25 schools in the country in the past. Um, our rating out of 10 is 9.8.

And that’s just because, um, the advisors that we have here, you know, people like Rashmeen clay, they really put a lot of care in working with you personally, one-on-one throughout every step of your life. So, if you want to work with either of our panelists today, um, this is a really good opportunity to get help from them.[00:44:00]

Great. So I’ll give you guys some time to click on that and then moving on to the next Q and a question. Um, this might be a good question for both of you guys. Um, what is your at your common personal statements about? Yeah, so I’ll go ahead and go first on this one. Um, I want to say I answered the first common app prompt, which was like some students have a meaningful background or, um, identity that would make their application incomplete without it, something to that effect.

Um, and I actually wrote about being a twin. So I have a twin sister. Uh, we were always really close growing up, but I kind of wrote about the experience. The of kind of being always looped together with her kind of, um, you know, being, being seen as one collective person, um, and kind of had that experience of losing my individuality early on in life, kind of pushed me to become more of an independent person later on in [00:45:00] life and kind of step to separate myself from her.

So I kind of used that fact about myself to, um, explain my personal growth from, um, not being very independent early on to, to blossoming into my own person. So kind of a unique topic for sure. Um, when that’s probably not applicable to a ton of people, but that’s, that’s the one that I went with.

Yeah. Um, I can speak about my common app as well. So I mentioned before that I’m a dancer. Um, and so I actually completed my dance graduation. Um, I think between my middle school and high school years, but after that, it’s like, what’s next? And so I wrote about what was next and how I took it upon myself to explore other kinds of dance.

Um, just like ballet and tap and how it was like, starting like later in the game, like when I was 14 or 15 versus people who’ve been doing these kind of dances since like they were [00:46:00] five years old. Um, and I was like in like the little kids class, so I was like towering over all the other students, but it’s kind of just me exploring other ways to pursue my interests and passions.

Um, yeah, I that’s really all I thought. Awesome. Thanks guys. Um, next question that I have is, is there anything you dislike about. If you guys need some more time to think about that one, feel free to let me know. There’s not a lot. I dislike about Vandy to be honest. Um, one thing this is kind of on a superficial level maybe, but, um, I would say dining options were not my favorite.

Um, so Vanderbilt has the, a student center called a brand where Rand dining centers located. That’s like the main dining center on campus. Um, and if you are there at like 12 or 1230, or I would say, I should say 12 and one like in between [00:47:00] classes, um, it’s going to be packed. It’s going to take you like at least 20, 25 minutes to get a meal.

Um, I wish there were more frequent dining options and more kind of spaced out dining options on campus. Um, That’s that’s just one thing that comes to mind. Rashmi. You have anything else? Oh my gosh. I mean, it’s hard, um, to, to something that you dislike. Um, I mean, I guess if I had to say like something I’m and we already discussed that it is changing.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of PE choir. I mean, I, I even, I tried rushing and all that, but it just wasn’t for me. And I still was able to, um, become friends with a lot of people in Greek life and go to the parties and involve myself in the social scene. But it just wasn’t my favorite. But as you’ve already discussed, there is the, a Bosch free price movement going on right now.

So Greek got is getting less and less [00:48:00] prominent on campus since that’s already something that is changing. Yeah. Thanks for sharing guys. Um, sort of the opposite kind of question of all the colleges you were accepted into, why this. Did you share, like if you applied RD or ed, sorry to cut you off play.

Yeah, no worries. Um, yeah, like I mentioned before I applied regular decision, um, I’ll just give you guys an idea of the other schools that I applied to. So I applied to eight schools, um, Vanderbilt, um, I’m from Texas. So I applied to a lot of the local schools, uh, university of Texas, Texas, a and M SMU. Uh, I applied to Notre Dame.

University of Michigan, USC and Stanford. Uh, it was not admitted into Stanford. Um, but let’s see. I mean, just to kind of echo what I talked about [00:49:00] before as to why I chose Vanderbilt. I think out of all of those schools, Vanderbilt was definitely the most well-rounded and well-balanced so, um, I mean, out of, out of pretty much all the schools that I applied to, um, Vanderbilt had the best academics, uh, Vanderbilt is kind of known as a, um, work hard, play hard type school.

So students know how to have fun. They’re really involved outside of academics. Um, and within their communities, they’re creating lots of great change outside of their classes. Um, the location Nashville is one of my favorite cities that I’ve, uh, you know, been, been able to visit and live in. Um, you know, there’s tons going on.

Uh, nightlife is really great if you’re over 21, of course, um, you know, there’s tons of great live music options, concerts every weekend that you can go to with friends. Um, and I liked the idea of kind of this, uh, of campus being kind of secluded and itself. Um, like I mentioned [00:50:00] before, uh, when you’re on campus, you don’t realize that you’re in the middle of a big city, um, but you know, take a couple steps off campus and you’re right in the middle of Nashville with skyscrapers around you.

So that was something that appealed to me. Um, yeah, I really think it was just kind of the, the best, um, in terms of kind of all of those different categories that you’re looking for when applying to college.

Yeah. Um, for me, since I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, which is roughly two and a half to three hours away from Nashville, I’d actually come down to Nashville pretty often during my childhood. So they familiar with the fact that Randy existed. Um, and I’d even toured before I was applying to college.

Like I think when I was in sixth grade. So I definitely knew that. One of the schools. I was interested in coding too. Um, I ended up paying early, not early deficient while I did not do that. I can not do that. I did regular decision. Um, and, uh, I think [00:51:00] I ended up choosing Vanderbilt out to go to other schools in particular, due to financial aid, because that, that was definitely help.

Um, um, and like you said, at the end about, um, needs 100% of the demonstrated financial need. Um, and then also they had some incredible opportunities for pre-med students with that school of medicine and the Vanderbilt children’s hospital and the bandit road medical center, literally like five minutes from our campus, like our campus and like the main campus and the medical campus, or a little yet couch each other.

So like, it was really appealing to be, to be that close to the healthcare facility, to, um, grow upon my medical interests and then, um, create echoed a lot of the other, um, things that I was also pretty happy about, um, for Vanderbilt. So. Awesome. Um, so I guess we’re going to start off the speed right now. So we’re going to just try to get through as many questions as we can.

Um, keep answers short, maybe under a minute or so. And I’ll just have you guys alternate. Um, so this question probably [00:52:00] good for Rashmi. Um, so what kinds of pre-professional programs Vanderbilt offered to prepare students for the future, especially for pre-med students? Okay. So I already previously mentioned that we have the M HPL, which is for the art professors advisory office.

We have three wonderful mentors who will guide you through any, and every question that you have, they’ll connect you to shadowing experiences, um, on the medical campus, they can connect you to different volunteering opportunities and they have an incredible listserv that will literally tell you every single program, every single opportunity, and like in terms of research, they’re unmanageable or across the country that you might be interested to apply to, which I really love.

And I really appreciate, yeah. Awesome. Great fast answer. Um, next question. What is your favorite spot on campus? Ooh, I’ll take this one. Um, my favorite spot on campus is the Wondery. So the Wondery is Vanderbilt’s, um, newly built kind of science and innovation center. [00:53:00] Um, and the reason why it’s my favorite spot is.

In my opinion, the best study spot on campus. Um, especially when you get to the higher floors, they have, um, rooms that you can go to. Usually they’re pretty booked up, so it’s hard to find one, but they have rooms with like whiteboards and tables in there that you can, um, book with friends and study for five hours.

You can look out at a great view of Vanderbilt campus. Um, and then another thing that I took advantage of, um, at the Wondery when I was a student was, uh, the innovation lab itself. So if you like to make things, you’re kind of like a, um, you’d like to play with things, tinker with your hands, stuff like that.

Um, Vanderbilt’s innovation lab would be a great place for you and, um, all the materials there are. You have access to it? Um, whenever the one is open, um, and let’s see, I’m trying to think of things that I made. Uh, when I had a project for my, um, product management class, [00:54:00] I went there and was able to use all those materials.

So, um, yeah, I would say definitely the one. Wondery awesome. Thanks. Bye. Well, next question. Are students more collaborative or cutthroat at Vanderbilt? I can take this question. I already talked about it when I said why Vanderbilt, but yes, they are more collaborative than cutthroat 100%. Awesome. Um, next question.

Are you still need blind for international students? Do you accept a lot of international? Um, yes, Vanderbilt is need-blind for international students and they do give financial aid, um, to international students. International students also can get merit scholarships as well. Um, and does Vanderbilt accepts a lot of international students?

Um, I don’t have any statistics for you, but, um, I would say probably, I don’t know. Rashmeen what do you think maybe 15 to 20% of the student body is international? You think that’s a [00:55:00] little bit too high or? I feel like more closer to 15, but I feel like that’s a pretty accurate after that. Yeah. So th there’s definitely a, uh, community of international students on campus for sure.

Awesome. Thanks. Um, next question. Can you switch your major after. Oh, yes, 100%. Well, first and foremost, you don’t have declared a major your freshman year. You don’t have declared until I think your spring semester, your sophomore year, you can declare, I think anytime that your sophomore software, but you have to declare it before you go on spring break your sophomore year.

So you can definitely switch. I mean, you’re, you’re not even like committed to one until that. So I know people just search all the way up until their senior year. So that is not an issue at Vanderbilt. Yeah. Just to add on to that quickly, I switched my major twice, so it’s very common among vulnerable students to switch.

Um, next question I have for you guys is what does a typical student at Vanderbilt like? [00:56:00] Um, interesting. You probably won’t be happy with this answer, but I would say there is no, we have not Vanderbilt. And that’s what makes Vanderbilt a great place. I mean, you’ll find all types of students, um, with all kinds of interests.

Um, I mean there, there is this kind of stereotype of a Vanderbilt student as like a, you know, Northern Jewish white student. Who’s really rich with lots of money. But, um, I think when, once you get to campus and experience the types of students that are on campus, that that stereotype loses its power. For sure.

Awesome. Next question I have is, is, is the Vandy community diverse? Have you guys met a lot of people from different ethnicities, nationalities and backgrounds? So sort of maybe it’s similar. Yes. I would say the banner about community is diverse. Of course, any community can improve their diversity. But I would say Ben about does do a good job [00:57:00] and meeting a lot of diverse individuals into the campus.

Um, and yeah, I have met a lot of different people of different ethnicity, nationalities and backgrounds. And, um, we talked about this, Macquarie talked about it, like where earlier, but there’s a program called alternative spring break. I think that was a great way to meet a lot of people, all these different backgrounds, because we’re all put in random into groups of 10 to 12 people to volunteer for one week, somewhere in the country.

And that’s like a, just an excellent way to really get to meet people, um, who are different from you. So just like recommendation. Awesome. Uh, next question. I have a tough luck slows Vanderbilt with dietary restrictions. Ooh boy. Um, I can’t really provide a lot of insight into that question because I mean, just personally, I don’t have dietary restrictions, so I was never really kind of paying attention to that.

But, um, I want to say I had a couple of friends who did have dietary restrictions and, uh, the [00:58:00] Vanderbilt dining centers were pretty accommodating. It didn’t turn out to be an issue for them. I don’t know if you have anything else I can speak to it. Yeah. Um, that definitely all true. Like everything’s true.

I’m a vegetarian and I feel like I have a lot of options on campus. We actually have a vegetarian only, um, from a diner. Um, it’s, uh, it’s called green. Well, I always say it wrong. Yeah. But like, yeah, that, that place is amazing. I really love their food. And my roommate, my freshman year, um, was locked us in par and gluten free, and she was still able to find a lot of options on campus.

And if you meet with the, um, I think the shops and the people prepare your meal, if they can make custom meal is for you as well. Awesome. Um, maybe like one or two more questions if you go quickly. So if I’m not in the top 10% of my class, would you still recommend applying? Yeah, I would still recommend applying.

I don’t think that. [00:59:00] Like that should be a big factor into whether or not you apply because, um, as we stretch from the past, like there is an average yes. But people, um, below average do get into the school. It’s just an average. And so I wouldn’t say don’t apply because you’re not in the top 10 percentile.

Like if you’re passionate about all your extracurricular activities and that really shows that could be the reason why you get in. Awesome. Um, probably our last question then don’t forget. We’re also gonna go over, um, the next set of webinars for August. So definitely stay tuned to get the link to that.

Um, so last question. What are your favorite Vanderbilt traditions?

I talked about some of those traditions previously in the slideshow. Um, I would say my favorite one was rites of spring and I think probably a lot of other students would mostly agree. Um, so that’s, Vanderbilt’s spring music festival. Um, I just think that’s one of the most fun weekends, um, [01:00:00] during the academic year at Vanderbilt.

Um, and it’s just really cool that a college can host like a two day of music festival, like right in the middle, um, of campus. So that, that would be mine. Awesome. So thank you guys so much. That is the end of the Q and a, and also the webinar. Um, I’m just going to wrap stuff up, but, um, before you guys go, I also want to remind you guys, we can do after the panel, if you want to work with, uh, Russia, So I met a reason that link where you can actually sign up for an advice and plan.

Um, if you want to work with them specifically, you should be able to note somewhere that, you know, that’s the advisor that you wanna work with. Um, along with that, I also want to give you guys the link to our next set of webinars. So, because you know, we’re at the very end of July right now. Uh, we have a whole new series planned for you guys for August.

So we have a bunch of topics. I know a lot of you guys are working on standardized testing. So we have a load in on that in a few days, um, and they’re going to are coming up, is going to be on women’s colleges. So we have a lot of stuff in this series. Um, we have, you know, experts coming in to talk to you guys and a bunch of those advisors to really want to share what they know with you.[01:01:00]

Um, so our next webinars women’s colleges and, um, when you exit this panel, your link is going to redirect. You can sign up for that webinar. So, yeah. Thank you guys so much for coming out tonight. Um, hope to see you guys in the next, you know, set of panels and huge, thank you again to clan Rashmi and I guess.