vanderbilt university application essays

Application Process: First-year

Application checklist for first-year applicants.

• All required parts of the Common Application or Coalition, powered by Scoir, including the personal essay and short answer
• $50 nonrefundable application fee, or fee waiver for qualified students
• Official high school transcript
• Counselor letter of recommendation
• Two academic teacher letters of recommendation
• SAT or ACT scores (SAT code: 1871 / ACT code: 4036)
• Schoolhouse.world portfolio (may be uploaded via MyAppVU portal)
• U.S. citizens, including undocumented students, attending high school in the U.S. may submit a 60-90 second video through Glimpse .

Additional Requirements

All first-year applicants must complete the application checklist for first-year applicants when applying to Vanderbilt. See the sections below for additional application requirements for specific circumstances.

All applicants to Blair must complete the Blair School of Music Application in addition to the Common Application, Coalition application (powered by Scoir), or QuestBridge application. Please visit blair.vanderbilt.edu/admissions/apply for all details and latest information regarding application requirements for Blair applicants.

Blair School of Music Application Required Materials:

• One artistic recommendation (with space for an additional, supplemental artistic recommendation)
• Music resume
• Repertoire list
• Prescreening video

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Blair School of Music Application  cannot be accessed until your Common Application, Coalition application (powered by Scoir), or QuestBridge application has been submitted and your MyAppVU portal has been created. Once your portal has been created, you can access the Blair School of Music Application through the “Application Checklist” section.

No additional requirements are needed for homeschool applicants.   

As long as a homeschooled student has submitted all required pieces of the application process, we will consider their candidacy as we would any other student. Homeschool students should use the appropriate sections of their chosen application platform to explain curricular, social, or philosophical circumstances concerning their academic preparedness. It is often helpful to the Admissions Committee to understand the reasoning behind the homeschool choice.

The School Report should be used to upload the mandatory transcript, and any additional supporting academic documents, including a detailed curriculum guide, and/or school profile, if available. While a detailed curriculum guide is not required, it is often helpful in providing a fuller picture of the student’s academic background.

Recommendations for Homeschool Applicants 

Individuals completing recommendations on behalf of homeschooled students applying through the Coalition Application should address the questions below in their recommendation (Used with permission of The Common Application®). Individuals completing recommendations on behalf of homeschooled students applying through the Common Application will be prompted to complete these questions through the Common Application.

• Please provide any information about the applicant's homeschool experience and environment that you believe would be helpful to the reader (e.g. educational philosophy, motivation for homeschooling, instruction setting, etc.).
• Please explain the grading scale or other methods of evaluation.
• Optional: If the student has taken courses from a distance learning program, traditional secondary school, or institution of higher education, please list the course title and content, sponsoring institution, instruction setting and schedule, and frequency of interactions with instructors and fellow students (once per day, week, etc.). In addition, if the student has taken any standardized testing other than those listed on the application, please also describe below.
• Are you a member of a homeschooler's association?
• Association name

Applicants through the QuestBridge program should follow all application instructions outlined on the  Vanderbilt page of the QuestBridge web site .

Additional Requirements:   

• International applicants will be prompted to complete an international section of the Common Application
• Applicants whose first language or language of instruction is English are not required to submit English proficiency exam scores.
• Applicants who score above 26 on the ACT English section or above 630 on the SAT Evidence-based Reading and Writing section are not required to submit English proficiency exam scores.
• English proficiency exams must be sent from a testing agency or high school official directly.
• English proficiency exams will not be superscored.
• International applicants requesting consideration for need-based financial aid are required to submit the CSS Profile showing their sources of financial support or the ISFAA (International Student Financial Aid Application).
• Students attending high school internationally or non-U.S. citizens attending high school in the U.S. may schedule a video interview with InitialView .

All application pieces must be provided in English. Transcripts and recommendation letters not originally in English must be officially translated by the high school or certified translator; applicants may not provide their own translation of materials. An EducationUSA advising office can assist students with translation.

Applicants must submit an official high school transcript, including all high school classes and grades or marks to date. Submitting only leaving exams will not complete your application.

Additional requirements:  

• Green cards should be uploaded with your application. Green cards are manually processed by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and may take up to 5 business days to show as complete on your portal.
• Only valid, current green cards will be accepted and will complete the green card requirement on the checklist.
• I-94 approval should be uploaded with your application or uploaded to your MyAppVU portal. I-94 documents are manually processed by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and may take up to 5 business days to show up on your portal.

Frequently Asked Questions

After submitting your application, you will be instructed to create your MyAppVU portal. Through this portal, you can upload additional application materials, change your decision plan, update your email and mailing addresses, etc.

Vanderbilt does not offer interviews through the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Through partnerships with Glimpse and InitialView, Vanderbilt offers optional video submission opportunities for applicants. U.S. citizens, including undocumented students, attending high school in the U.S. may submit a 60-90 second video through Glimpse . Students attending high school internationally or non-U.S. citizens attending high school in the U.S. may schedule a video interview with InitialView .

Yes, first-year applicants can defer admission to a later start date. One- or two-year deferrals of admission are granted on a case-by-case basis for entry into a subsequent fall term only. To request a deferral, you must send an email to [email protected]   by July 1. State your full name and that you are requesting a deferral. Once we receive your email, we will send you a deferral request form to complete. Once you have submitted the deferral request form, we will notify you of our decision within two weeks.

To be granted a deferral, you must have claimed your spot in your entering class by paying the $400 matriculation deposit (or having it waived.) Deferral requests are often approved for students seeking additional educational or personal enrichment opportunities such as travel, internships, or service, or for students who have religious reasons or military obligations. Deferral requests from students planning to enroll in degree-seeking, full-time programs at another college will not be approved.

Yes, Vanderbilt generally awards college credit for a score of 4 or 5 on an Advanced Placement exam or 6 or 7 on an International Baccalaureate exam, though required scores vary depending on the exam. Details can be found in the Undergraduate Catalog .

For Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and Regular Decision, Vanderbilt does not consider demonstrated interest. While we welcome students to visit campus, participate in virtual visit programs, and contact our admissions team with questions, we do not track these interactions for the purpose of the admissions review.  Waitlisted applicants will be asked to re - confirm their interest in attending Vanderbilt throughout the waitlist process.

Yes, Vanderbilt may defer an Early Decision application. This means that the application will be considered within the Regular Decision application pool. Students applying through either Early Decision I or II may be deferred to Regular Decision. A defer to Regular Decision indicates that the application may be competitive for admission in the Regular Decision pool. Students who have been deferred to Regular Decision are released from the binding nature of the Early Decision application. Students who are deferred to Regular Decision should ask their school counselor to submit their first semester (or second trimester) grades once the grades are available.

The admissions process at Vanderbilt uses a holistic approach to review applicants. Our process primarily includes review of applicants' academic achievement, community engagement and leadership, personal essay, short answer, and letters of recommendation. An alumni affiliation is merely one data point out of many data points considered during the application review process. Vanderbilt does not hold spots for students who have an alumni affiliation. Legacy applicants are held to the same standards of admission and are part of the same process as all other applicants. At all times, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions is looking to enroll the most highly qualified class who bring a wide array of talent and perspectives to campus, and who will foster a welcoming and highly engaged Vanderbilt community.

Anyone on our admissions team will be happy to answer your questions.

Because Vanderbilt receives so many more applications from highly qualified and capable students than there are available positions in the class, some students in whom the admission committee is very interested will receive an offer to join the waitlist. Once it is known how many students have accepted Vanderbilt’s initial offer of admission, the admissions office will use the waitlist to fill the remaining spots in the entering class. The waitlist is not ranked; the selection of waitlist students will be based on a variety of factors and remaining needs for the class.

We understand that many students will use various forms of assistance as they prepare their application; ChatGPT and other forms of AI may be viewed as one of these sources of assistance. For example, students may rely on an essay-writing class to help brainstorm topic ideas for their essay. Or they may use grammar tools available online to check grammar in their writing. Or students may ask a parent or guardian or peer to read their essay and offer feedback on clarity or offer advice regarding structure of the essay. However, students should understand that it would not be proper to ask a teacher or parent to come up with the essay topic or to re-write an essay for the student. Likewise, AI should never be used to replace independent thinking on the part of the applicant. As applicants complete the essay portions of the application, they should always use their own voice and write about their own life experiences.

Matriculation deposits may be waived based on the student’s financial need. Admitted students receiving a federal Pell grant as part of their need-based financial aid package automatically have their matriculation deposit waived.  Students admitted through QuestBridge College Match automatically have their matriculation deposit waived. International students receiving a need-based aid award automatically have their matriculation deposit waived. All students who have matriculation deposits waived MUST STILL claim their spot on their MyAppVU portal to secure their place in the class.

For U.S. citizens, eligible non-citizens, DACA, and undocumented students, Vanderbilt accepts all application fee waiver requests submitted through the Coalition Application and the Common Application. The application fee is automatically waived for all applicants applying through the QuestBridge Application.

There is no process for appealing admissions decisions. All admissions decisions are final. We wish you the best as you pursue your educational goals.

Yes, Vanderbilt is need-blind when reviewing applications for all U.S. citizens and eligible non-citizens. Read more details about Vanderbilt‘s excellent financial aid , including how to apply .

Since Vanderbilt uses a holistic admissions review process, we do not have minimum coursework requirements. Most successful candidates will present a curriculum that includes the equivalent of five academic subjects each year for four years. Recommended course work includes 4 units of English, 4 units of mathematics, 4 units of natural science, 2 units of foreign language, 2 units of social science/humanities, and 4 units of additional course work in these areas, or other academic courses such as engineering science, computer science, social science or natural science research, or advanced work in the humanities. Close attention will be paid to the rigor of course work presented. It is highly recommended that candidates applying to the School of Engineering have taken calculus, calculus-based physics, and chemistry.

International students may apply for need-based and for merit-based scholarships. International students with demonstrated need who are admitted will have 100% of their demonstrated need met with grants and/or scholarships. Merit scholarship recipients with demonstrated need beyond the amount of the scholarship will have 100% of their need met with grant and/or scholarship assistance.

Note that Vanderbilt is need-aware in the admissions process for international students; we may take into consideration the student’s ability to finance a Vanderbilt education.

Learn more about financial aid for international students .

Students or counselors impacted by natural disasters should contact our admissions team with any concerns. We understand that during natural disasters, students may not be able to submit required materials by our published deadlines. We always try to offer as much flexibility as possible. There are times when students may need to apply Regular Decision because they are not able to submit required materials by Early Decision published deadlines. Most importantly, we will work with students and counselors on an individual basis during these times.

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Extracurriculars.

A Strong Vanderbilt Essay Example from an Accepted Student

Consistently ranked as one of the best schools in the nation, Vanderbilt University is world-renowned for exceptional academics. A top-tier reputation leads to a highly selective admissions process, so to get into Vanderbilt, you need more than just strong grades and test scores—you need stellar essays that set you apart from other academically excellent applicants.

In this post, we will share a real essay submitted by an accepted Vanderbilt student. We will go over what this essay did well, and where there is room for improvement.

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Read our Vanderbilt essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts.

Essay Example – The Power of Story

At an intersection in Oakwood, an elderly Asian man walks on the sidewalk. Behind him, a man in a black hoodie follows. Without warning, the man in the black hoodie pushes the Asian man to the ground, his face landing flat against the sidewalk, motionless.

Pausing the video, I watch my friends’ faces flicker between confusion, anger, and hurt. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes became personally painful for my Asian American friends. We encountered news of elderly Asian Americans violently thrashed and berated with slurs. But beyond our circle, conversations about these occurrences were absent. And despite the South Asian community being relatively safe from these crimes, I shared the sobs of my friends. 

A few years ago, I joined a nonprofit that empowers minorities to be civically engaged citizens. Engaging with this group of passionate individuals, I was inspired by their unrelenting dedication to improving others’ lives through community-building.

Eager to foster solidarity among Reno’s AAPI community in light of these tragedies, we pioneered a march against hate, where we invited student speakers to share their stories of racial discrimination. Listening to my peers’ journeys, from finding confidence as an immigrant to navigating implicit bias in the classroom, I became captivated by the power of story. 

Bonding over the commonality in our journeys and in our activism, I yearn to persist in championing the use of dialogue to build community in the face of adversity at Vanderbilt.

What the Essay Did Well

This “Extracurricular Essay” does a great job of telling a story. The beginning draws the reader in by including details like “ an intersection in Oakwood ,” and “ a man in a black hoodie ,” to help us visualize the scene. In the next paragraph, we realize that we are watching this situation through the eyes of the student. By first providing readers with the terrible situation directly, the student arouses our own emotions, which allows us to immediately understand the student’s shock and anger once we realize we are actually in their shoes.

The second paragraph goes on to provide good background on the student’s personal connection to the situation, which allows readers to understand their motivation for engaging in the extracurriculars described in the third and fourth paragraphs. By showing us the pain their friends felt (“ I watch my friends’ faces flicker between confusion, anger, and hurt ”) and explaining that this issue was at the forefront of their mind, but ignored  by many others (“ But beyond our circle, conversations about these occurrences were absent ”), we get a tangible sense of the student’s connection to the issue.

Then, the essay shifts to discussing the student’s extracurricular activity. The point of this kind of essay is to help admissions officers see that you are involved in your activities to grow and learn  about the world, rather than pad your resume. Because the student took the time to explain their passion for AAPI activism and demonstrate their compassion for others in the previous paragraph, we can clearly see that this nonprofit is genuinely meaningful to them.

Finally, although this essay just asks about an extracurricular, this student was still able to infuse elements of their personality into the essay in the way they told it. From the details included, we know this student is compassionate, an activist, and values justice and diversity. Being able to show the reader all that without telling us these aspects of their personality outright makes for an engaging, informative essay.

What Could Be Improved

The biggest thing this essay needs to improve is the shift in focus from the cultural context of the first two paragraphs to the student’s involvement in the extracurricular itself. Right now, that transition is rather abrupt, so although the topics are related, the reader is left to tie them together on their own.

For example, while the detail in the introduction describing the instance of hate is captivating, in such a short essay, that space could be used much more wisely. A better hook would immediately place the reader in the extracurricular activity, possibly like this:

“ STOP ASIAN HATE. PROTECT ASIAN LIVES. I AM NOT INVISIBLE. Hundreds of cardboard signs blocked out the strong Reno sun, the feeling of change hanging in the air. My throat sore and mouth parched after hours of chanting, I couldn’t help but smile knowing that we made this march possible. ”

With this introduction placing the reader in the middle of the action (a technique called “in medias res”), the rest of the essay could then be spent providing more details about what the student did as a part of the nonprofit. They tell us they “ pioneered a march against hate, where we invited student speakers to share their stories of racial discrimination,” but a stronger extracurricular essay would delve into the specific role the student played in planning these events.

Similarly, rather than ending the third paragraph by just telling the reader that they became “ captivated by the power of story ” through listening to others, this student could have demonstrated how that power tangibly affected their own actions, by adding a sentence along the lines of: 

“ Inspired by the stories I had heard, I encouraged my friends to submit their own stories as opinion pieces to our school newspaper, while I created flyers for the march that included photos of myself as a child, to humanize our movement .” Notice how this version both shows us what the student did and provides more insight into their character.

With a word count this low, you need to understand exactly what the prompt is asking for, and make sure everything you say is helping provide that. Background context is important, but if the prompt is asking about your extracurriculars, most of the essay should be dedicated to your actual involvement in the extracurricular.

Where to Get Feedback on Your Essay

Do you want feedback on your Vanderbilt essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. 

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

Related CollegeVine Blog Posts

Writing Studio

Writing application essays.

In an effort to make our handouts more accessible, we have begun converting our PDF handouts to web pages. Download this page as a PDF: Writing Application Essays Return to Writing Studio Handouts

Although writing application essays can be daunting, you do not have to have saved the world or cured cancer to write a good personal statement. As long as you have passion and show you have developed and experienced personal growth, you have a story to tell.

Below you will find a set of question that effective application essays will take into account.

Questions to Take into Account for Your Application Essay

What is the prompt asking.

How many parts are there? Does the question naturally suggest a structure for the essay? Make sure you understand what is to be covered.

For whom am I writing?

Ask yourself who will be reading the prompt and what they may be looking for. For example, if you are writing for a scholarship, learn about the person for whom that scholarship is named, and consider how your merits may be a good match for the award.

How will this opportunity help me get where I want to go?

Why should the committee select you? Try to show how events in your life have led you to pursue this step and how it will help you further your personal and professional goals.

Application Essay Tips

• Use an arresting image or phrase to make the first few sentences attractive to the reader.
• Try the “formative, transformative” moment structure. Take two significant events and describe them in detail. The formative event describes how you became interested in the opportunity and the transformative one describes what gave you the extra motivation or experience to apply and commit to the project.
• Make the most of a limited amount of space. Focus on your main ideas and cut out filler words and description that is not central to understanding your story.
• Write about moments or activities not explained in other parts of your application. This is your chance to provide new information.
• Remember that this is an essay about you, not your parents or teachers. Your essay should present you in a positive light and highlight your energy and passion for whatever opportunity you are seeking.
• Steer clear of clichéd phrases like “This scholarship will help me pursue my dream of…”
• Ask a trusted adviser, peer, or writing consultant to look over your essay for clarity and general appeal. Proofread it several times for both grammar and organization.

This handout was adapted from the Vanderbilt Office of Honors Scholarships, DePauw and Duke University Writing Centers, and scholarshiphelp.org.

Last revised: 07/2010 | Adapted for web delivery: 05/2021

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