Vassar College Top Questions

Topics generally revolve around sex, gossip, music, and increasingly, sports. Everyone pretty much knows everyone's business, and this involves their sex lives. With the brief appearance of boredatvassar, this phenomenon was amplified and encouraged. Now, however, people just gossip the old-fashioned way, as in not anonymously.

The student body at Vassar is little more than a bunch of spoiled rich kids, who've never had a difficult moment in their lives, and have never had to take responsibility for their own actions. There are blatant racists, an often militant LGBT community. The students profess a doctrine of tolerance and acceptance, yet they themselves are among the least tolerant of differences between people that I have ever seen. This is coming from someone who spent a few of his formative years in a place where Catholic churches are firebombed by Muslim activists. The students are predominately Liberal, and will often verbally (and once, physically) attack anyone who strays anywhere near the right. Interestingly, most of these liberal hypocrates are within that stereotypical Republican top 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the country's economic strata.

Vassar students are extremely privileged, and in social science and humanities classes, the limited diversity of experience among the students can be frustrating. basically, a lot of liberal white kids with money who have never criticized themselves or society, but claim not to be racist, sexist or homophobic. i fear the student body is actually getting more and more conservative. this is not to say there is no diversity in terms of race and class, but i expected more, and i expected the white kids to be less lame.

You can wear absolutely anything anytime anywhere. There is a group for just about anyone, and students active in one group are usually active in about three or four others. Vassar students want to change the world, and they want to do it now.

You'll feel out of place at Vassar if you're a conservative, if you're a Republican, if you're very homophobic, if you don't like learning. There are lots of social circles and subcircles and people often find friends based on their weird/unique interests (gaming, theater, sports, singing, dance, circus arts, you name it). This is not really because students are cliquey - it's more because you spend a lot of time with the people who are doing the same activities you're doing. But it's not unusual to be a part of several such groups. For example, when you spend 10 hours a week dancing with the dance company, you get to be very close friends with the other students who are also dancing. And then you leave dance rehearsal and go work on the play you're directing, where you're working with all of the same drama students you worked with on a different play last semester. We don't talk about how much money we'll make when we get real jobs, we talk about whether we're planning on getting real jobs, or even whether we're planning on growing up.

Fashion at Vassar is very varied. Everyone kind of brings their own style and it's not a big deal. There is a huge array of student activities and clubs so almost everyone can find their niche. Students are generally very friendly with each other and inviting.

Vassar tries to promote racial, class, and sexual orientation diversity. The last two are true, but there could be more racial diversity.

Vassar is incredibly geographically diverse; people come from all over, both in and out of the US. It's also socioeconomically varied, to the extent where the true minorities are people not on financial aid. That said, Vassar is incredibly non-diverse, racially, and perpetuates that to an extent with the different minority organizations on campus, and most efforts to integrate are regarded with skepticism on both sides. Almost everyone's a liberal, and the conservatives tend to have a persecution complex that is moderately earned; but once again, more people complain about the hippy types than actually fit the bill, so we're much less radical than we used to be.

Vassar is extremely liberal, socially and politically conscious, etc. There is a very strong gay community, and people are always debating about current issues. The problem can sometimes be that Vassar students focus so much on being "liberal" and "progressive" that they think they can do no wrong. Racial incidents have occurred on campus, and when such things occur, the campus community realizes that in fact it is not immune to problems. They pride themselves on being hyper-liberal, yet the fact remains that no one is perfect by any means. Conservatives, however, are hard to find on campus, and I would imagine would feel very out of place at this school (although people are always trying to hear new points of view). Students' attire is extremely casual (often see anything from hipster-trendy to pajamas or sweatpants). Clothing and fashion is not a large issue. Financially, a large majority are from middle-to-upper class financial backgrounds, although money is not talked about much either. It is by no means a pre-professional school--students aren't out to prepare for a high paying job, rather to have an amazing undergraduate experience and do something worthwhile post-graduate.

Vassar is not terribly racially diverse. We have plenty of international students, but American minorities tend to either be mixed-race or socialize mostly together or both. It might be that being away from home for the first time is so frightening that getting to know people who are as culturally familiar to you as possible is the easiest way to transition. Students of different socio-economic statuses interact often, and money is not discussed with regularity. What few religious individuals there are mingle freely among the overwhelming atheist population, and LGBT individuals are rabidly accepted. Most students are left-wing and many are very politically active; I don't know of anyone who isn't at least politically aware.

Vassar is a place very friendly to all minority groups, with the exception of people who aren't decidedly left of center politically. A conservative would feel out of place.

Visit us! We will take you into our homes, show you the Vassar deal. There is no thing I can write of short length that would adequately describe this student body, diverse of mind and face and walk and fashion and interest, united in sisterhood brotherhood damn it just plain hood that brought us here in the first place.

Kind of homogenous in some respects. Everyone's pretty liberal, pretty democratic, pretty pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. Not that there's anything wrong with those things, it's just that those who have dissenting opinions can feel somewhat estranged at times. But you learn to live with it. I, for one, have pretty strong dissenting opinions on many matters, and I have no problem making friends or fitting into the social scene.

If you're a straight girl, be prepared. There are slim-pickings. A lot of the guys, (and mind you that's only 40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the population) are either gay, weird/unattractive, or taken. If you're a straight guy-- lucky you. If you're a gay guy, also lucky you. If you're a gay girl, also slim pickings. We have an incredibly accepting LGBTQ community, with lord knows how many support groups/orgs. Students are for the most part, pretty political. Rather, politically left. The conservative voice is VERY MUCH in the minority. It's a liberal-arts school. Don't come here if you're of the Westboro Baptist beliefs-- you will end up a complete social outcast. That being said, people of all political, religious, (whatever) backgrounds are highly respected. Just be aware that the environment very much leans to the agnostic/atheist politically left side of things. Don't be so surprised when you move in on the first day of freshman year to find that your roommate is gay, atheist, liberal/socialist, vegan, or enjoys a few elicit substances-- (or any combination of those).

Everyone at Vassar wants their voice to be heard, and for the most part, it is. the LGBTQ community is extremely prevalent on campus. There are numerous racial and religious organizations on campus, as well, and they sponsor a number of events throughout the school year. And if your race or religion or sexuality isn't represented in one of the organizations already established, the school is very willing and encouraging to have students create more groups. I would say, however, that Vassar is fairly homogeneous in both racial and socioeconomic terms, and this can often silence those that ARE racially or socioeconomically different. But, in true Vassar form, these groups of people are banding together to create more awareness on campus. Vassar students cannot be accused of not advocating for themselves. I would say that anyone, if they tried hard enough, could fit in at Vassar. I can tell you, though, who would have the hardest time: Conservative, fraternity/sorority-loving, Abercrombie & Fitch-wearing, straight laced types. That type is so different from the majority of Vassar students, and while we have the occasional Hollister shirt and pro-Bush bumper sticker, they are few and far between. Students at Vassar wear whatever they want. Seriously. No matter how ridiculous, or mismatched, or expensive, or bizarre, or comfortable. I've seen it all. And it's great--I never feel weird wearing things on this campus. What's also great about Vassar is that everyone is separated by about two degrees. I've often thought about creating a web to see how I'm connected to every student on this campus, because I'm pretty sure it's possible. I interact with students from all different areas: academics, athletics, drama, music, art, etc. There is certainly some hostility or judgment between groups, but when it comes down to individuals, people interact with most everyone.

The Vassar student body is overwhelmingly liberal, and more than half come from wealthy backgrounds. Still, there is a great deal of diveristy to be found here, and a great deal of school pride as well. Don't expect a great deal of activism on campus (the student body is surprisingly apathetic, at least politically), but most people you'll meet are extremely intelligent, friendly, and generally happy. Groups of friends are often spread out across the campus and encompass members of every standard college clique and beyond.

I wish there were more women who like women, we're surprisingly low on them even though there's a female majority.

Liberal. Liberal to the core. And for the most part, at least comfortably well off. We love to talk politics here, and we're a fairly hardcore "Barack Obama" institution. There's a student activist group for pretty much anything one can think of - yes, even anti-Coke and anti-Barnes & Noble groups exist. Sometimes it gets a little ridiculous, but for the most part, they mean well. Also, there's a large LGBT population; the Queer Coalition - as it is so named - holds a lot of power at this school. IF you find homosexuality even slightly unacceptable, you may want to look elsewhere. Everything here is gender-neutral, down to the bathrooms, so you'd best be comfortable with yourself, or you'll become so quite quickly.

We are ridiculous. We have our own language and even our professors speak it. The LGBTQ population is large and the Queer Coalition throws awesome parties. There is a Republican Party student organization (I think) and there are 6 members and five of them are only in it to be rebellious. Most of us (except for the philosophy majors) will probably end up making good money...or living in our friends' basements while we struggle through grad school; THEN we will make money. We aren't really that clique-y except for the sports teams. We do not have a football team but we do have a kickass women's rugby team. We party hard on the weekends and then hit the library HARD during the week. (We have an awesome library!!)

For a prestigious liberal arts college, Vassar does a great job at maintaining a diverse student body. There are lots of kids from all over the country and all over the globe. The Vassar Student Organization is full of groups that discuss racial, religious and LGBT issues on campus. There's an athletics program here, but it isn't the main focus of the campus, so there is not a jock "hierarchy" so much as a relatively visible presence. Most people are pretty liberal and aware of social issues.