Parker
No. They are hipster
Mel
I would say most students lean to the left politically, but this does not mean that everyone is a radical. A lot of students are a lot of hot air with little action or understanding concerning the root of the problem. They mean well, but some students become frustrated by either the decidedly liberal slant to almost every topic and the lack of actually activism.
The eternal question a Vassar student gets, even the boys, is "isn't that a girls' school?" Vassar's approximately 60-40 girls to boys, and I have a lot of guy friends, though I have had a couple classes that had either one or no boys (I don't think that one or two classes out of 30 is too bad...). The ratio for each course depends on the department (Econ has a lot more men than Anthropology).
Talking to friends at other schools that do not have as prestigious a name as Vassar, I feel that Vassar students are not snobbish. Of course, some are, but it's not a widespread phenomenon. Vassar has a very progressive financial aide program, granting 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of need demonstrated on the FAFSA to every student and recently adopted a need-blind admissions policy. Starting with the 2008-09 Poughkeepsie High School graduates can attend Vassar on full scholarship. Vassar has a very active student group called the Class Issues Alliance, which works to support working class and first generation college students as well as spread awareness of socioeconomic class diversity in the academic world. The perception that Vassar is all rich snobs is false.
Miranda
I think these stereotypes are actually pretty accurate; while Vassar definitely includes a mix of students that fit into numerous categories, the majority of the Vassar student population are upper-middle class hippie-types-- alternative taste in music, bohemian garb, vegan lattes, etc. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it it the general zeitgeist around here.
Alex
no, the campus is growing more conservative each year. its losing its hippie feel.
Sasha
I think that Vassar students are creative. I come from an Ivy League college town, where the students there are overwhelmingly smart, but who all sort of look and seem the same. At Vassar, we're academically smart, but we do other things - I know people who study physics and also DJ, or who study psychology and also direct plays, or who study Chinese but are amazing jugglers.
Ainsley
Not entirely. There are plenty of people at Vassar from all over America (I'm from the Midwest!) and from all over the world (one of my best friends in from Albania). There are also plenty of kids who are from less affluent backgrounds (again, myself included), and there are some students of color as well.
But by and large, most Vassar students are liberal, and it's pretty hard to find any conservative voices. Some people have found Vassar's lack of ideological balance frustrating. However, it's kind of a problem endemic to the system (statistically speaking, the more educated you are the more liberal you tend to be), so I can't imagine this is a problem unique to Vassar.
Vassar kids do tend to be pretty pretentious, and have a distaste for all things mainstream (mainstream films, TV shows, music? you name it).
Blake
Only partly. As far as the pot smoking goes it's pretty huge but partying in general kind of encompasses that, the people here are more inclined to smoke up when it's social. Everyone is liberal though, that is definitely true. I've yet to meet a true conservative on this campus. As far as Vassar being gay... well yeah, it kind of is. The gay population is definitely present and accounted for but so is the straight population.
sarah
pretty much. Some people are fun and they do have more to them than the stereotypes but if you usually have nothing in common with these types of people you may have some trouble feeling like you fit in. ALso if you are on a sports team it helps because you are around more athletic people like yourself, which isnt the case for most of the people at vassar