Registrar

New Students

Welcome from Dean Richard McCarty

Welcome to the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University! I am pleased that you decided to be a member of the Class of 2012, where you will be in the first freshman class to live and learn in the Commons. Within the Commons, you will be involved in the activities of your house, you will participate in Vanderbilt Visions, and you will be a student in the College of Arts and Science. In an increasingly complex era, the broad perspectives engendered by the liberal arts serve as crucial intellectual underpinnings for those who hope to comprehend our contemporary, global contexts and challenges. Independent, judicious thought – the primary goal of a liberal education in a democratic society – flows from an informed and open mind.

Over the next four years, you will be presented with an array of choices that will shape your undergraduate education. I encourage you to explore new and unfamiliar opportunities both in and out of the classroom to benefit from exposure to diverse ways of thinking and learning. The contributions that each of you will ultimately make as educated and informed citizens of the United States and of the world will be shaped by the choices you will begin to make, and by the ways in which you benefit from opportunities made possible by those choices.

Along the way, don’t forget that you are a vital part of our living-learning community. All of us studying and working on this beautiful campus have committed ourselves in various ways to Vanderbilt – as an institution, as a learning community, and simply as a group of people living and working together. You will have a chance to explore in depth the privileges and the responsibilities of being part of the amazing Vanderbilt community.

Again, welcome to Vanderbilt! I look forward to working with and learning from you and your classmates over the next four years.

– Dean Richard McCarty



Links of interest for new students: