Vassar College Top Questions

I don't feel like Vassar is competitive at all, at least not relative to where I come from. People try and do well, of course, but they don't compare grades or GPAs and try and outdo each other constantly. There's some competition between individuals in classes, but I wouldn't say it's a competitive environment. The history department is fun. A real comraderie has arisen among the seniors, all working on theses together, and we talk about our professors and sometimes hang out with them. I've loved working with this department for four years.

I love academics and Vassar— they're everything I was looking for and more. I'm an English major, and there are so many knowledgeable professors in my department, and so many fascinating classes! Vassar's education is definitely not based on practical job skills, but it's far more comprehensive than most universities are. Vassar doesn't have a lot of requirements for graduation— you have to have taken 34 credits total (usually one class = one unit), and have had a freshman writing course (which doesn't have to be in the English department), one unit of foreign language (but you can test out), and one "quantitative" course, which can be anything from math to biology to psychology (I took astronomy!). The requirements are easy, and I like that, because it's a recognition of your status as an adult, and your right to study whatever you want to learn about.

most of my professors know my name. my favorite class is my psych seminar because it is a small class with all seniors and is totally discussion based without a lot of lecturing. my least favorite class is a women's studies seminar because there is way too much reading and class discussions are dominated by two people. vassar students have a lot of intellectual, or pseudo-intellectual conversations outside of class, and apply different theories and observations to the real world and pop culture. most student's aren't competitive in the typical sense, however the student body is almost entirely students who were at the top of their high school class, so we have all been competitve at some point which is how we got in to vassar in the first place. the most unique class i've taken is child abuse and domestic violence. I am a psych major, and the psych department is huge. i tend to take classes with professors i know again and again because i like them. occasionally i'll meet with professors outside of class to discuss leading class discussions or paper topics. i like how vassar doesn't have a lot of g.e.'s and allows students to pursue their own interests. education at vassar is definately geared toward learning for its own sake, which is part of the reason seniors are so stressed out about the real world.

Professors 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} know your name. They may not be the best professors in the world but they will definitely take the time to get to know you. My favorite teacher of my life is Abigail Baird of the psych department... check her out. Class participation is a big deal here, there aren't very many big lecture classes. Intellectual conversations outside the classrooms are quite common. I'd say students are competitive but only because everyone wants to do well, but most people don't discuss grades. I love that Vassar has such a teeny required course load, sitting in a class you don't enjoy is a useless practice.

Professors know you rname and were very helpful . My favorite class was bio with cynthia damer we made up a song for our science project about c. elegans. it was a fun class. Least favortie class was chem lab cuz its so longggg.. Students study ALOT but i didnt. im naturally smart haha. class participation is the usual but theres always one kid trying to be better than the profesor trying to prove them wrong. There are always inteleectual conversations after class, sometimes i though there was too much and i wanted a break from it . Students are competitive in the fact they want to do very well but wont sabotage eachother. Most unique class psych with baird or bio classes. Bio dept was good professors very helpful but i didnt spend much time with them after class. Academic requirements are a little rough but its do-able. Learning is definately geared just for learning its very liberal.

Each and every professor knows my name and I still keep in close contact with many of my past professors. An early experience I had at Vassar which sealed the deal for me took place in a Freshman Course. I was writing a paper on tattoo iconography in prison and was having trouble finding literature on the topic so I went to meet with my professor. After I told him my dilemma, he picked up the phone, called Dutchess County Jail and arragned an appointment between me and the gang specialist there. Moreover, he actually drove me to the jail where I met not only with the gang specialist but also with an inmate. I think one would be hard pressed to find professors at other school who show this kind of devotion to the education of their students. Virtually everyone participates in class. A fair number of my conversations with friends outside the classroom are rather intellectual and range from thoughts on current (inter)national political affairs to obscure philosophical theories to why the rolling stones anre better than the beetles. Students are motivated and driven to be succesful in class, but this never impinges on classroom relationships and people are generally willing to help each other understand difficult material. Vassar very much stresses the liberal arts doctrine and encourages students to take courses outside of thier major. While I see the benefit in doing so, it can get a little annoying when academic advisors try to sell you on a bio class when you could care less about paramicium.

Professors do know you by name cause most of your classes will be small. Again another hard one but one that I'm taking now is called Politics of Difference with Luke Harris. Such a stimulating class-things i've heard before but spun in a different way. Just awesome. Least favorite: would have to be Research Methods for my sociology major. Good at some points but kind of eh in others. yeah wasn't always excited to go that class. Students here overall know when to study and when to party so its a good balance I think. Class participation is so common in fact its greatly encouraged and it makes class so interesting. Yeah intellectual convos. happen all the time which makes this school even greater. Students are competitive but mainly with themselves not concerned with how the next person did b/c here its about what YOU do and you put pressure on yourself. Most unique class: Definitely Philosophy of the Arts: Censorship in the Arts with Michael Murphy. It was so high-level and intense and just DIFFERENT that I really ended up liking the class. I am a sociology-anthropology major and both departments are pretty tight and always keep us students informed of happenings in the departments (such as lectures or job/internship opportunities) and also have food get-togethers!! I do spend time with profs. and the requirements. are so flexible and I love it. Makes you really take responsibility for your studies. Really geared toward learning for its own sake BUT at the same time taking those things you learned and transferring those skills to the real world. Cause you gotta eat hey and to eat that requires making money!

The professors are great. Thats why we come here. They know our names, know us as individuals, and respect us as learners. They are here because they want to teach - we are here because we want to learn. It works. The small classes provide for a rich academic experience. The curricular freedom is great and allows us to easily explore all fields that interest us. And yes, we go to our professors houses for dinner.

Students go to the library all the time but it's kind of a social space and the only cool place to study for everyone that's anyone. Students will talk on and on and sometimes it's hard to get a word in I wish I could spend time with my profs outside of class. Many of them are almost buddies of mine it seems and I wish I could see them more often. All of them are extra friendly and highly engaging.

Last semester, every professor knew my name. This semester, they don't know me quite yet because it's early but they will once I start to hand in papers and assignments. My favorite class is orchestra because I love playing music. Our conductor concentrates on Romantic music because our orchestra has that type of make-up. And I love Romantic music. My least favorite class was my French class last semester because it was really hard and the teacher was very strict. She had a thick Parisian accent while my high school French teacher was from New York. Students study whenever they're not doing anything social or in class. Class participation is very common. Many classes are discussion based. You can always hear intellectual conversations going on. That's one reason why I love the Vassar student body. Students are not very competitive. We concentrate on our own grades, not each others. You do well because you want to. And at Vassar, it's known and understood that everyone has a special gift and is talented. The most unique class I took was my writing class in my first semester. It was called "Science of Fiction and the Mind." It was all about reading and writing scientific essays and science fiction pieces. We discussed the sciences and where our technology is headed. I'm intending to be a Neuroscience major. My major is half biology and half psychology which are my two favorite sciences. I haven't spent much time out of class with my professors other than in their office hours. The academic requirements are not very stressful. I finished all of them in my first semester. The education is geared towards both, I think. You form exactly what you want in your education and you can work with the college to find a graduate program and a job.

Professors for the most part learn your name by the middle of the semester - of course not in large lectures, but in most classes there are no more than 30 students (they try to keep it around 25) and professors can get to know you very well if you are engaged and active in the class. My favorite class - I've taken sociology classes on drugs, on prisons, on deviance that have all been very interesting and exciting to learn about. Currently I'm working on my Political Science major and I've discovered an interest in racial power and colonialism (specifically that of Britain) and it's ties to modern day penal codes in America - I'm taking an Ethnicity, Race, and Nationalism course in the PoliSci department that has been very interesting and relevant to that. I'm also taking a seminar in Democracy and Power in America with a focus on war and more specifically, the Iraq war. I really like seminars because they really give you the chance to talk out the text with your professor and classmates. Students study a lot for the most part. It's a very academic environment, but we have fun, too. It also depends on your major and what kind of classes and how many classes you take, of course. Most classes are built around class participation. Intellectual conversations are quite common outside of class because students are very engaged in what they're learning about and also about social and political issues affecting the world at present. I would say students are not competitive. People try hard, but there is not the sense that I am pitted against my classmates for anything - it sounds cheesy, but it's more like competing with yourself to do better than with those around you. The most unique class I've taken was my freshman class. It was titled "Vampires, Lunatics, and Cyborgs" and it was a German literature class where we read a lot of wierd books and watched a lot of weird movies. I am involved with the Sociology and Political Science departments, and I've also interacted with the Drama Department a great deal through my job. If you're interested in social issues and politics I would recommend the political science department and also taking some sociology classes as well. I think sociology needs to be supplemented with other disciplines, particularly political science, because it's idealistic in nature - but that's the discipline as a whole, I think. In all three departments professors have been nice and helpful and always willing to lend an ear when I needed help or needed to talk out something that was concerning me from class. I'm kind of independent, so I tend to only go talk to professors when I need something, which is fine! I have other friends who will go to a professor's office hours just to shoot the breeze - professors like getting to know you here and they're interested in what you have to say for hte most part. I love the requirements! There's only three and you are on your own for the most part after that. Each major varies as far as requirements but they are all really flexible and they don't constrain you in any way. The education is geared towards both - you are there to learn and gain experience that is meant to help you in a variety of ways after you graduate. I think you are expected to come out well read and competent in ways that will make you appealing to a lot of different job markets and possibilities. A large percentage of grads are involved in fields that are completely unrelated to their majors.

Teachers work very hard to get know their students in my experience. They have regularly scheduled office hours during the week for extra help and if students can't make those hours they are more than willing to give up more of their time to help their students! Most of my classes are very discussion based! There are very few times when one of my classes is solid lecture. I don't know how much most people study but I would say on average my homework would take about 4-6 hours a day, its not busy work just a lot of reading!! The best part of the academics at Vassar is that there is no core curriculum, which means that I have been able to take whatever courses I have wanted since the very first semester I have been at Vassar.

All my professors know my name and value my thoughts, and have been very encouraging. Students study heavily. The library is pretty much full from Sunday through Wednesday--Friday classes are uncommon. People definitely talk about academics outside of class, too, oftentimes in social settings. But this can vary a little by social group. Students are absolutely NOT competitive with each other. Everyone who works their hardest does it for their own good and I have yet to meet a single person (really!) who wanted to compare their grades to mine to see who did better. And I'm a senior! The education is definitely for learning's sake, and not for job prep. The idea is once you've got a Vassar degree you have all the habits of mind and the intellectual skills you'll need to be a leader in any number of professional fields. You're versatile and well-informed in a number of areas. Who can say no to that?

My professors do know my name. Right now my favorite class is Verse Writing, a poetry class class I had to submit work to in order to be admitted. It's very small and intimate, which gives us a real sense of community - we're all working to help each other evolve as artists and poets. I'm also doing an independent study with the chair of the drama department on "The Winter's Tale", which I'm directing with my student run Shakespeare Troupe. My least favorite class is a bit bigger than the others (about 17 students) but is still engaging and enlightening. The most unique class I took was called "The Drama of Female Authorship". It was a class of all women, which was extremely empowering, where we explored female performance art and crafted and performed our own performance pieces as a final project.

Vassar’s professors are its number one asset. I have not yet taken a single class with more than 30 students, and I am on a first name basis with every one of my professors. No professor ever objects to an unscheduled appointment, either for homework help, or just to chat. How hard a student works is often dependant on which major they pick. No student has it easy here, but some students do have it easier than others. Vassar does not have a core curriculum, and some students use that to become a jack of all trades, perusing an English major along with a mathematics minor, but other students choose to buckle down and complete every single course a department has to offer. Vassar campus is very conducive to hard study habits. Although the main library only stays open until 1:30 AM on weekdays, there are several department libraries that stay open 24/7. Vassar is first and foremost a liberal arts college, so if you are interested in becoming a science major, you might find yourself frustrated by a lack of peers. Science majors are in a clear minority among students. However, our science facilities are top notch. The small number of students means small classes (less than 10 students in most cases) and huge personal attention from professors.

Academics probably can't be beat. Professors are experts in their fields and excited to teach. They know your name and are often available for consultation at any point in the semester. Often informal, personal, laid-back relationships with faculty members abound and make the learning process that much more engaging. Mostly everyone tends to work hard. Vassar is a place filled with ambititous people who want to get as far ahead in their field of study as possible. Cooperation is common and competition doesn't seem so prevalent. There are always those annoying freshman who attempt to put their intellectual prowess on stage by raising their hands every seven seconds in intro courses (which is why I've learned to avoid them), but that's before they realize it won't get them anywhere. The English department is popular and extensive and filled with a great faculty. Course offerings cover the whole breadth of subject matter, and many non-majors take courses up through the intermediate levels (for better or worse). In my opinion, the best professors are the ones who remain open to discussion, share their own wealth of knowledge, but are willing to put their foot down when someone offers some comment that isn't helpful or illuminating or is just inaccurate. Vassar is mostly a place for learning for learning's sake. Then again, you'll ultimately have to figure out what the hell you're going to do with that Philosophy and Religious Studies double major once you're out of here. But for four years, you're invited to pretend it won't matter! Yay!

Last week in class a professor I've had in a few classes before hugged me when I got an answer right that no one else seemed to know. Oddly enough, it didn't seem that weird. I feel totally comfortable going to a professor's office hours or just chatting with them after class. My professors usually remember me even after I'm out of their class. I <3 the Vassar faculty. I love Vassar because we're not very competitive. I honestly don't know how my GPA compares to that of my friends and the college as a whole. We only compete against ourselves to do as well as we know we are capable, and we try to help other students do well too.

professors know my name, where i am from, where i live on campus, and what i do for extracurriculars. favorite class has to be Politics of Difference, which challenged me to re-think an individual's role in society and participation in politics. Least favorite was economics. People study constantly. Class discussion is central. Intellectual conversations are happening constantly and is part of the academic experience here. Students are ambitious and borderline competitive. Greenville Prison class, where we went to prisons in new York. Poli Sci is a pretty sweet department, but you better like reading and writing. History is a great department, the professors are brilliant and make the students push themselves. I know a lot of my professors and have real friendships with some. there is no core curriculum, which means there are very few requirements and a lot of freedom! You will know how to read critically, write well and THINK, which makes you a good candidate for a job...but not any specific one.

All my professors know my names - I'm friends with a few of them and even met up with one while I was on study abroad. My favorite classes are in the history department, obviously, especially the Eastern European studies classes which can't be found many places. People study all the time, and class participation is a requirement. We always have intellectual conversations outside of class, but students are far more community-oriented than competitive. Vassar's academic requirements are hard but fair. Vassar is for learning for its own sake.

Yes, sign language, philosophy, all the time, very, yes, somewhat but not a rediculous amount, black feminism, sign language linguistic independent major, sometimes, very flexible, both.