In the state of Tennessee, there are two schools that are part of the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference, and one of those is Vanderbilt University. Also known as Vandy, the college is located in the beautiful country music capital of the world, Nashville. Vanderbilt is the smallest school in the Southeastern Conference with its meager enrollment of just over 12,000 students, but they do not lack in athletics or academics. Vandy is also the only private school in the conference!

In the late 1800's, the school was founded and the man who made it all happen was the very rich Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cornelius gave money in the amount of one million dollars in order to get the school started and without his knowledge, the school was named after him. One million dollars in that day equals to about eighteen million in present day! He died before the school was constructed but his legend and generosity was never forgotten. Cornelius was a very powerful man who made most of his money through railroads and steamboats. His grandson, George Washington Vanderbilt II has close ties to the South because he is the proud owner and builder of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. It was also because of Cornelius, and money that was given to George after the passing of his grandfather, that the Biltmore Estate could be built. So, Vanderbilt was built and in 1875 the first two hundred students were enrolled. Today you will find a staff of close to 3,400, nearly 7,000 undergraduates, and almost 6,000 postgraduates.

At Vandy, there are a number of college and schools in which undergraduates have the opportunity of achieving any of seventy majors. The four undergraduate schools are: the Peabody College of Education and Human Development, the college of Arts and Science, the School of Engineering, and the Blair School of Music. The Graduate schools include: the Owen Graduate School of Management, the Law School, the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the Graduate School, and the Divinity School. It is not a walk in the park to get accepted into Vanderbilt! On average students must obtain between 1440-1540 on their SATs and the admissions team usually only selects nearly seventeen percent of applicants. The school is known for being highly selective!

Vanderbilt University's colors are black and gold and their teams are referred to as the Vanderbilt Commodores. As a charter member of the Southeastern Conference, the Commodores have much to live up to the high standards of the SEC. Although they do not excel in football, they do excel in men's and women's tennis and women's basketball. Going to football games is still a lot of fun with tailgating and cheering on the Commodores! Since the SEC does not have lacrosse as a sponsored sport, Vanderbilt is a member of the American Lacrosse Conference for their women's lacrosse team. Being that Vanderbilt is the smallest school in the SEC, they do not have all of the varsity sports played at most of the conference schools. Volleyball and Softball are not played at Vandy at the moment but word on the street is that the programs will be added sometime soon! Make sure to check out all our black and gold game day dresses at SidelineSweetie.com to get your outfits ready for the next tailgate, homecoming, gameday, sorority or fraternity function, or graduation!

Vanderbilt is known for its medical center. In middle Tennessee, it is the only Level I Trauma Center. The medical center includes the Hospital, the Psychiatric Hospital, the Children's Hospital, the Ingram Cancer Center, the Clinic, the Bill Wilkerson Center, the Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, the Eskind Biomedical Library, the Vanderbilt Sports Medicine, the Dayani Human Performance Center, the School of Nursing, the Page Campbell Heart Institute, and the School of Medicine. This medical center employs over 21,000 people and is second to FedEx as the largest employers in the state. The hospital itself is consistently listed as one of the nations top hospitals.

The Vandy campus has quite a lot of history as does many of the schools in the Southeastern Conference. The university is located in midtown Nashville and covers an area of 330 acres. If you were to glance at the campus on a map you would see that it roughly resembles a fan shape. You can walk from one end of campus to the other in about twenty-five minutes. In the middle of the busy city of Nashville, you will find that Vanderbilt University has an abundance of trees and green space located in the oldest part of campus. Over three hundred tree species are included in this area, which includes all the indigenous trees of Tennessee. There is one tree in particular, a Bicentennial Oak, that has been marked as the oldest living thing on campus because of the fact that it was there during the American Revolution!! Other parts of the main campus that are notable would be the first college building, Kirkland Hall, the Medical Center, Greek Row, Memorial Gymnasium, Vanderbilt Stadium, Hawkins Field, and the Student Recreation Center. Near the Medical Center, across the street, is the Peabody Campus. It was actually not a part of the original campus of Vandy and is built in a completely different style than the rest of the university. The Peabody campus includes the Peabody College of Education and Human Development and housing for all Freshman called The Commons. The campus is known to be a gorgeous place to visit to see unique architecture and beautiful landscaping.

There are quite a few Vanderbilt Commodores alumni that everyone is sure to know. Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, as well as another Vice President John Nance Garner attended Vandy. Funny thing about these two Vice Presidents is that neither of them actually graduated from the university! Other world leaders that went here include include the Prime Minister of Somalia, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, and a former United States Supreme court Associate Justice and U.S. Attorney General, James Clark McReynolds. In the National Football League, famous alumni include NFL Quarterback Jay Cutler and Offensive Tackle Chris Williams. Famous Musicals Dinah Shore, Amy Grant, and Dierks Bentley went to school here.