Students sit on Library Lawn, as captured on Nov. 4, 2022. (Hustler Multimedia/Laura Vaughan)
In the survey, approximately 56% of respondents identified as women, 42% as men and 2% as nonbinary or gender-nonconforming. The racial and ethnic breakdown of respondents yielded a majority white/Caucasian cohort (64%) compared to 30% African American/Black, 29% Asian/Pacific Islander, 4% Middle Eastern/North African and 3% Native American/Alaskan Native.
Evan Houser, first-year Black Student Association representative, said that despite the Supreme Court’s recent end to affirmative action, he expects the percentage of racial and ethnic minority students at Vanderbilt to increase in future years due to the United States’ growing diversity.
“I believe all the minorities at Vanderbilt were accepted on their merit and accomplishments and not because of affirmative action,” Houser said. “I trust Vanderbilt will continue to create a diverse student population and environment and believe this ruling will have minimal effect on Vanderbilt’s racial composition.”
Students were given the opportunity to select multiple race category options, with 12% of students identifying as multiracial. Thirty-eight students identified their ethnicity as Hispanic/Latino.
Respondents also shared their sexuality in the survey, with nearly 78% identifying as heterosexual, 12% as bisexual or pansexual, 5% as gay or lesbian and 5% as questioning or unsure.
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The five most popular states from which domestic students hail are Tennessee (46%), Texas (30%), California (23%), New York (21%) and Florida (19%). Of the 7% of international students in the Class of 2027, most are from Asia.
“I believe there are a lot of expectations among first years, especially those who have not had these experiences, that college is not only their first chance but the place where they have to engage in them,” first-year Teo Kitanovski said. “As an international student, this has been very interesting to me since these are things that a lot of my peers experienced earlier, and ironically a bit more naturally, whereas here everyone seems to be under pressure.”
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Of the students surveyed, just over 2% are athletes or members of ROTC. ROTC enrollees can be scholarship winners or not, and they must serve four years or three years in the Army after graduation, respectively. Approximately 4% of students identified as living with a disability.