This residential academic experience provides qualifying students with a taste of college life. As a VSA student, you will live on campus and take accelerated courses with Vanderbilt professors, lecturers, and graduate students. Outside the classroom, our carefully selected residential staff members supervise the dining and residence halls, plan fun and engaging recreational activities, and help ensure that every VSA student has a fulfilling experience.
Cowboy boots and hats, honky tonks, and country music. You might think that’s all there is to Music City, but anyone who takes a harder look will see that Nashville means so much more than that. A good writer, a good adventurer, looks beyond the surface in search of the soul of a place. Our class will explore how to write about places that demonstrate a deeper understanding of the city they are in. We will find the overlooked neighborhoods, street corners and sweet spots where people are living, making music, creating and thriving in their own Nashville way. By practicing our observation skills, and ultimately learning how to know ourselves and the places we find ourselves, we will develop the skills to write about the true heart and soul of whatever city we are in.
Application process includes: online application, qualifying documents (test scores or portfolio), $40 application fee, 2 essays, transcript, 2 letters of recommendation. To be eligible for VSA, students may either submit ACT, SAT, or PSAT scores or a recent individual ability/achievement test at the 95th percentile and above in one or more subject areas. In lieu of the above mentioned test scores, students may prefer to submit a portfolio for further assessment and review. . Need-based scholarships are available with the completion of an additional scholarship application.