Vassar College Top Questions

There is a pretty wide range of groups with a strong grouping of athletes and theater kids.

Vassar gets incredibly interesting speakers. These range from the Attorney General to world-famous authors. We have INCREDIBLE concerts with really well-known artists. The social life is what you make it -- join one of the nearly 150 student organizations, and you'll quickly find a brilliant group of friends. Each organization receives a large budget to plan activities and host huge events.

I am the Editor in Chief of the Miscellany News, Vassar's newspaper since 1866 (miscellanynews.com). Since the first week of my freshman year, I have soaked myself in the Miscellany and have devoted ridiculous amounts of time to the paper. This year, we launched a new Web site with lots of continuously updated multimedia content. Check it out to get the inside scoop on Vassar! I should say that I don't actually have an interest in pursuing journalism professionally; I'm Pre-Law. Law schools look favorably on applicants who work on college newspapers, because editors must learn to manage their time, express themselves clearly, and research topics thoroughly. So although I love the Miscellany News and have learned so much from being its editor, I do not actually intent to pursue a career in journalism. (For those who are interested in journalism, though, the Miscellany is a wonderful place to start!)

Most weekends, multiple events are going on- acapella shows, Barefoot monkeys (circus club), dance shows, plays, lecturers, sporting events, musicians, etc. But if that isn't really your scene- not a big deal. A lot of people just listen to music or watch movies / TV shows with friends. We do party on the weekends, but it's not a big deal. Again, we are a very liberal campus- if you don't drink, you can still hang out with your friends. Security is fairly easy going with the campus' biggest concern being students' safety and not getting you into trouble.

Ladies, men will be in high demand since there are so few of them that are straight, within those, so few will be attractive, and even within those, even fewer will be single. Guys, girls will be all over you.

Anything you could ever want--a capella, ski team, outing club, rugby, habitat for humanity, buddhist sangha, movie screenings, plays, a lake, trees. Going to events aren't popular unless you are going to support a friend. No Greek life at all. People often rely on drinking and drugs to have a good time.

In dorms, a lot of people leave their doors open. You can always hear music or laughter--it's generally a nice place to live. I met my closest friends in my fellow group. Every freshman gets a fellow group that they eat with for the first couple weeks, which I think is a great idea! We also have some fun traditions at Vassar. There is Serenading for the freshman, where freshman from each dorm serenade the seniors while having chocolate and other gross stuff poured on them. It sounds disgusting, but it's a good bonding experience and all in good fun. Founders Day is another awesome tradition--it's a carnival day that has concerts and food and ends in fireworks. One thing that I love about Vassar is the fact that we don't have sororities or fraternities.

Social life is stunted and weird on its bad days, close-knit and lukewarm on its good days. Here is the cycle: workworkwork, drinkdrinkdrink, have a semblance of normal interactions while drunk, wake up the next morning, feel awkward about it, and then back to workworkwork. As far as the romantic front goes, everyone here is either married or in dysfunctional dating situations--the male/female ratio puts a weird spin on things, regardless of sexual orientation. Be a straight man here---you won't do anything for four years except get interesting, brilliant, attractive ass, round the clock.

There really isn't much to do outside of campus. Students usually go to The Mug, the on campus "nightclub/bar", or senior housing to party. The school also hosts big parties occasionally. We often attend those.

Security is getting more strict, although compared to other schools they are fairly tolerant. Lots of people (but definitely not everyone) smokes pot. Big parties are at senior apartments or nearby off campus houses. People never charge each other for alcohol, booze is always free (never 5 bucks at the door like most schools). The mug and school-sponsored dances are also popular on weekends, mostly with people who have already been drinking and want to dance and/or hook up. In general, there are usually big parties on thursdays, fridays, and saturdays. otherwise, its dead. a lot of freshmen leave their doors open. otherwise, "open door" policy varies dorm by dorm, even floor by floor. Athletic events aren't popular AT ALL. Finance is getting more popular with students. The finance club was just started, and the CDO is now putting more focus into the financial fields.