Founded in 1873 through a $1 million endowment from Cornelius Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt University is situated on a 330-acre campus in Nashville, Tennessee. The university comprises 10 schools and colleges, including the College of Arts and Science, School of Engineering, and School of Medicine. Vanderbilt is renowned for its commitment to interdisciplinary research, academic excellence, and fostering a diverse and inclusive community.
| Nickname | Commodores |
| Motto / Slogan | Crescere aude |
| Colour | Black and Gold |
| Mascot | Mr. Commodore (“Mr. C”) |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Location | Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee, United States |
| Address | Vanderbilt University, 2201 West End Ave, Nashville, Tennessee 37235, United States |
Our mission lies in the quest to bring out the best in humanity—pushing new ideas into the frontiers of discovery, challenging the limits of what’s possible and working diligently in the service of others.
We are committed to the pursuit and recognition of excellence in all aspects of our community, including the hiring and promotion of faculty and staff, the allocation of resources, and the admission and support of students.
We foster an environment of bold inquiry and discovery, grounded in a commitment to open forums with a range of perspectives, institutional neutrality, and civil discourse, where our faculty and students are free to pursue their academic interests without censorship or retribution.
We are committed to minimizing financial and other barriers to attending Vanderbilt and cultivating a vibrant campus community that supports our students’ academic and personal growth and pursuit of purposeful lives.
Opportunity Vanderbilt: Our need-based financial aid program makes a top-tier education available for talented scholars from all social, cultural, and economic backgrounds.
For many Vanderbilt students, study abroad programs provide an enriching counterpoint to their time in Nashville. The Office of Global Education is committed to offering hundreds of accessible and academically rigorous programs, regardless of a student’s financial situation or chosen field of study.
UNDERGRADUATE:
POSTGRADUATE:
Entry requirements vary. Check the application page for requirements.
Application requirements and deadlines vary by academic program. You can view a list of GRE requirements, language proficiency, and fall application deadlines by program.
The Graduate School application requires three recommendation letters from people best qualified to attest to your capacity for graduate work. We prefer to have academic references representing your major field. We recommend that your recommenders comment on qualities that will be relevant to your academic pursuits, particularly research.
Along with your application, you must submit a Statement of Purpose that is an essay that outlines why you are applying to the program, how you have prepared to pursue this degree and what you hope to accomplish both during and after your training. You may find other school/program-specific requirements that are listed on the application.
UNDERGRADUATE:
POSTGRADUATE:
Email: [email protected]
Phone : 615-322-2561, 800-288-0432
He served as president of Hartwick College, a four... read more
Before she joined Vanderbilt University in 2015, Ruza served as Deputy Managing Counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where she oversaw development and support for a team of 150 attorneys and counseled senior OGC officials on significant legal issues and communications to the Office of the Secretary. Prior to serving as the Deputy she was the first client-based attorney advisor to the Department’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, advising on complex and novel civil rights and civil liberties issues. Prior to serving with the Department, Ruza was an associate attorney at Hogan Lovells (previously Hogan & Hartson) in the education practice group, which represented and advised public school districts and higher education institutions nationwide. In this role, she advised higher education clients on issues related to student financial aid, accreditation, academic freedom, conflicts of interest, campus safety, student privacy, and student discipline. Following her graduation from law school, she clerked for Judge James Robertson of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and for Judge Judith W. Rogers of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Vanderbilt named Diermeier chancellor in late 2019 after a... read more
Upon stepping into his role in July 2020, Diermeier immediately committed to safely and successfully bringing students back to campus during the COVID-19 pandemic, making Vanderbilt one of a very small number of the nation’s best universities to do so. Today, in the spirit of Vanderbilt’s motto, Crescere aude, or “dare to grow,” Diermeier leads an ambitious program of expansion and improvement, driving efforts to create a culture of radical collaboration and personal growth and to increase Vanderbilt’s presence and reputation both nationally and globally. During a time of unprecedented criticism of higher education, and with society facing urgent and even existential challenges, Chancellor Diermeier has been nationally recognized as a leader in free expression and civil discourse on college campuses and has eloquently made the case for the social value of universities and their unique role as engines of innovation, exemplars of civil discourse and educators of tomorrow’s leaders.
Raver is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is the Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Psychology and Human Development at Peabody College.
Since joining Vanderbilt in 2021, Raver has catapulted the university’s scholarship and research operations by recruiting visionary leaders, launching new pathways for faculty support, and establishing processes to facilitate bold and collaborative discovery across the university. She has worked to empower Vanderbilt undergraduate, graduate and professional students by expanding the Career Center, elevating resources for student health and wellness, enhancing support for graduate students, and undertaking other transformative initiatives.
Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Sweet was dean of administration and finance of Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In this role he oversaw the financial and administrative operations of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, which encompasses Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The School of Engineering and Applied Science and the Division of Continuing Education.
The $1 million that he gave to endow and build the university was Vanderbilt's only major philanthropy. Methodist Bishop Holland N. McTyeire of Nashville, husband of Amelia Townsend who was a cousin of Vanderbilt's young second wife Frank Crawford, went to New York for medical treatment early in 1873 and spent time recovering in the Vanderbilt mansion. He won the Vanderbilts' admiration and support for the project of building a university in the South that would "contribute to strengthening the ties which should exist bet... read more
McTyeire chose the site for the campus, supervised the construction of buildings and personally planted many of the trees that today make Vanderbilt a national arboretum. At the outset, the university consisted of one Main Building (now Kirkland Hall), an astronomical observatory and houses for professors. Landon C. Garland was Vanderbilt's first chancellor, serving from 1875 to 1893. He advised McTyeire in selecting the faculty, arranged the curriculum and set the policies of the university.
For the first 40 years of its existence, Vanderbilt was under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. The Vanderbilt Board of Trust severed its ties with the church in June 1914 as a result of a dispute with the bishops over who would appoint university trustees.
From the outset, Vanderbilt met two definitions of a university: It offered work in the liberal arts and sciences beyond the baccalaureate degree and it embraced several professional schools in addition to its college. James H. Kirkland, the longest serving chancellor in university history (1893-1937), followed Chancellor Garland. He guided Vanderbilt to rebuild after a fire in 1905 that consumed the main building, which was renamed in Kirkland's honor, and all its contents. He also navigated the university through the separation from the Methodist Church. Notable advances in graduate studies were made under the third chancellor, Oliver Cromwell Carmichael (1937-46). He also created the Joint University Library, brought about by a coalition of Vanderbilt, Peabody College and Scarritt College.
Vanderbilt's student enrollment tended to double itself each 25 years during the first century of the university's history: 307 in the fall of 1875; 754 in 1900; 1,377 in 1925; 3,529 in 1950; 7,034 in 1975. In the fall of 1999 the enrollment was 10,127.
In the planning of Vanderbilt, the assumption seemed to be that it would be an all-male institution. Yet the board never enacted rules prohibiting women. At least one woman attended Vanderbilt classes every year from 1875 on. Most came to classes by courtesy of professors or as special or irregular (non-degree) students.