Stuck Between a Few Schools? Analysis of College Location…
This past weekend, I went up to Boston to visit my best from grade school at Tufts University. As soon as I got to Boston, the city came at me with full force. Everything was at a fast pace, people rushing in and out of subways to get where they needed to go. While the city is definitely loaded with culture and character, I didn’t get the same feeling of intimacy and safety that I get when I roam around the city of Nashville. By no means am I trying to discount the city of Boston or those that live in and around it; I can definitely see how so many love it. All I am saying is this past weekend was affirmation that I picked the right place.
READ BELOW if you are somebody that is very concerned about the location of their college in the way I was.
I have mentioned in previous blogs that I consider myself a person that gets energy from being around a lot of people. I tend to be really extroverted, but I definitely need some quiet and alone time. In my experience, I cannot regroup and calm down if I am in the middle of a big city. I just get stressed out when I am exposed to ubiquitous hustle and bustle. Being in very urban, statue-populated Boston, I really started to miss the beautiful and serene scene of the nature-infused city of Nashville. If you are like me and want to set your own pace in college, Vanderbilt has it right. I can get out into our big city Nashville, but also take refuge on that beautiful and safe campus that we call our Vandy-bubble.
Tufts definitely has its similarities to Vanderbilt. The student body is roughly the same size as mid-sized private schools (5,200 vs. Vandy’s 6,800). The big difference is the amount of students seen on campus. I like seeing everybody walking around Vanderbilt, going in their own directions. At Tufts, sometimes I would walk around for a few minutes and not see a single person. My friend affirmed that this was normal, seeing the campus so barren. The biggest reason for this was the fact that many upperclassmen live off campus. It is Vanderbilt tradition to keep the vast majority of students on campus. Even the student that technically live “off-campus” live in apartment complexes that are associated with Vanderbilt. I feel like our housing tradition really harbors a sense of community. To me, when too many students live off campus, it creates almost an “us and them” kind of mentality. If I were at a school with a lot of off-campus housing, I would feel so detached from the student body and almost subordinate because I would be an underclassman “stuck on campus.” I like how over 90% of students live on campus at Vanderbilt because not only does it make everyone so accessible, but also gives me the feeling that everyone is on equal levels, as normally its socially “cooler” to live off campus.
Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting Tufts. All of the students I met were so welcoming and sincere. I just missed the great balance that Vanderbilt has. It took about an hour to get into central Boston from Tufts, whilst we can almost pitch a rock and hit downtown Nashville from Vanderbilt. I’ll finish with that – I had a great time with my friend; seeing and experiencing another comparable academic institution really made me miss the layout of Vanderbilt’s campus and its rich traditions.