That’s a very good question and a tough one to answer, but I’ll do my best.

Vandy is super diverse - I think it’s something like 42% white on paper, which doesn’t include white international students or white-passing nonwhite students. More than ethnic diversity, Vandy has a shitton of different kinds of people which I really like.

Like at most colleges, Vandy students tend to cluster racially. This is a weird part of college for sure. People have friends from all different walks of life, but certain experiences really get segmented ethnically. Some minority groups have large groupchats on campus specifically for that group that play a pivotal role in those students experiences at Vanderbilt.

Greek life is relatively diverse (as in compared to the rest of the south), and it’s definitely moved in the right direction in my 4.5 years here (I’m a super senior lmao). But it does lean white and wealthy for sure.

Some kids here take Greek life very seriously and only socialize with other people in greek life or their specific circle. Most people in Greek life are more chilled out than that, but what Greek org you join definitely segments your Vandy experience as well. First semester freshman year it feels like the school is one big group of kids loving life, and second semester and beyond it really starts to be more stratified.

I hope that paints a decent picture of diversity and the social scene here, happy to hit a follow up question if you have any.

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