Living the Vanderbilt Experience through Inside ‘Dores

Posted by Ryan Burleson on Friday, January 20, 2012 in Academic Life, Commons, General Information.

One of the great aspects of our always-connected, social sharing era is the ability to more easily (and within a few clicks) see behind the curtain of businesses, restaurants, doctors and, yes, even universities. Blogs, social networks and certain websites give us unprecedented access to the thoughts and feelings of complete strangers, whom we somehow trust because they’re interested in the same things we are. In one form or another, this idea is essentially what the whole of the internet is based on.

As a high school student (or a college student interested in transferring), you’ve probably used some of the tools above to get a better sense of “fit” at the universities to which you’re most interested in applying. The questions you have – Are the students happy? Are any of them interested in the same music, hobbies, causes, etc. that I am? What’s the city like outside the school walls? How important is Greek life? – could go on, in many instances, to infinity. So why not turn to the hive mind of the web for insight?

Fortunately, at Vanderbilt, one doesn’t have to search long for answers to just about any question that’s germane to the college experience. And, while we do hope this particular blog serves as a resource for you, today we’d like to refer you elsewhere – to the student-written and edited blog Inside ‘Dores. Within the last week alone, current Vanderbilt students have written on Greek life, studying abroad in France, the Vanderbilt Career Center and its ability to connect students to internships and jobs, what it’s like to cross the street from your dorm and enter directly into Memorial Madness, The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons, and, well, Robocop. (Pro tip: Scroll over every one of the links in Nathan Hall’s posts for a good laugh.)

To be clear, these topics merely represent the tip of the iceberg. Dig through the archives and you’ll find that our student bloggers have covered every aspect of the Vanderbilt experience, including academics, student life, the first-year experience, the glory of Nashville (sorry, I’m biased), diversity at Vanderbilt, service organizations, on-campus programming (hello Rites of Spring!), and so much more. An added bonus is that the “experience” is covered from a multitude of perspectives – geographic and otherwise. Moreover, if you read a post and would like to follow-up with a specific blogger, almost all of them have included their Vanderbilt email addresses in their bios and would be happy to connect with you. (Speaking of, the same can be said of our tour guides, a few of whom are bloggers, too!)

As we’ve said before, at the end of the day, the words you read on an admissions website or the photos you peruse in a viewbook, while important, are just some of the tools at your disposal in evaluating your fit with colleges that interest you. For instance, I can use the admissions blog to tell you about our study abroad program, but I can’t describe for you what it’s like to represent Vanderbilt in Poland, as the student Nell Koneczny did last semester. So, in addition to visiting campus and staying in touch with your admissions counselor, please use Inside ‘Dores as a key resource while researching Vanderbilt. These students are living the very experience you might find yourself living before you know it.

Tags: Greek Life, inside dores, martha rivers ingram commons, Memorial Madness, Rites of Spring, robocop, study abroad vanderbilt, The Commons, vanderbilt career center, vanderbilt tour guides