Undergraduate Admissions
2305 West End Avenue
Nashville, TN 37203-1727
615-322-2561 | 800-288-0432
admissions@vanderbilt.edu

VU HOME | HOME | COUNSELORS | THE SELECTION PROCESS: WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Every year Vanderbilt receives more than 12,000 applications for one of 1,600 seats in our freshman class. Between November and April, our Admissions Counselors spend countless hours reviewing applications to assemble a talented, intelligent, diverse community of scholars and leaders.

• Since more students want to join the Vanderbilt community than we have room for, every step of the selections process is as important to us as it is to the student.
• We look for a reason to admit students. We do not dissect or “nit–pick” applications negatively.
• Admissions decisions are not a judgment of your worth. Most of our applicants would do extremely well in our community. Unfortunately, we have to make difficult decisions. That doesn't mean that many other schools wouldn't be ecstatic to have you on campus.
• We do our best to personalize the process. We never have, nor will we ever, treated a student like a number. Our goal is to give all students every opportunity to convey who they are as completely and accurately as possible.
• Vanderbilt is proud to read applications blind to financial need. Ability to pay is never factored into domestic student decisions.
• All information about applications is confidential. We are happy to explain the overall process, but we are unable to comment on specific applications.

• When a student submits an application to Vanderbilt, it is immediately opened, processed, and entered into a database. Each part of the application is tracked by barcode as we complete a personal admissions application file.
• Those files, when complete (check our FAQ section for the full list of ingredients), are distributed to the appropriate Admissions Counselor for a “first read.”
• This process balances academic achievement with extracurricular involvement, leadership, community service, and diversity to learn as much about a student as we possibly can. Admissions Counselors review each part of an application in order to make an overall recommendation.
• Counselors typically spend 20 to 30 minutes reading each application.
• After the first read, applications are submitted to a second reader who goes through the same holistic review. We do this to double check the first read and to broaden our perspective on the overall application pool.
• After the second read, about a third of applications are given final decisions for Admit, Non–Admit or Waitlist. The other two–thirds are shelved for the Admissions Committee.
• The Committee ensures the correct numbers of students are enrolled in each program and that our new class reflects the talents of our applicant pool whether we are considering violinists or defensive tackles.
• Committee meetings usually involve an Admissions Counselor presenting and several senior staff members asking brief questions. During these meetings, the role of the Admissions Counselor is to positively advocate for the applicants.
• Final decisions are made during Admissions Committee meetings. Those decisions become the coveted letters that land in mailboxes in December for Early Decision I, February for Early Decision II, or April for Regular Decision.
• Admitted Regular Decision applicants have until May 1 to notify Vanderbilt of their intention to enroll.
• After nearly six months, our 25 to 30 staff members will have narrowed our class to the 1,600 new Commodores who will join the Vanderbilt community the following August.