Vassar College Top Questions

Its a great school with really interesting students on a small yet beautiful campus

Vassar is one of the county's most prestigious institutions, and for good reason. Some of America's most intelligent students receive some of the best undergraduate instruction in the country. It's a small school, which means you can develop extremely close relationships with faculty and with the community. It's very easy to get involved and earn leadership positions in extracurricular life. But there's just this sense of pure love that students and alumni have for the place. That love is really hard to define. But I could not have chosen a more rigorous, launching education. Vassar is incredible.

The most important thing about Vassar is that, as we used to joke when I was there, it is a place where "square pegs in round holes" can build themselves a square - i.e., normal is not the norm.

Vassar is a wonderful place to go to college—I honestly could not be happier. There is definitely a lot of pressure and a lot of work, but it is also incredibly fun. The people are so interesting and so motivated; I never stop meeting fascinating people who have accomplished amazing things and yet are very down-to-earth. Poughkeepsie gets a bad reputation, but personally, I don't think it's so bad. Within a 5-minute walk from the campus, we have countless restaurants, barber shops, HSBC, Bank of America, an amazing bakery, clothing stores, coffee shops (Starbucks is not too far either!)... the list goes on. The Hudson Valley is an area with much history and character. Vassarions are all basically in love with their school—it's just a very happy place to be. I would describe it as a "work hard, play hard" kind of place: people are driven and devoted to their schoolwork (obviously...we all got into Vassar after all), but there is also time to relax with friends and attend literally hundreds of lectures, parties and events each week. Sports may not be as big as at state schools, but even in the past few years, athletics have really come into their own. Our Men's Soccer and Men's Basketball teams are doing especially well. The residential life system is one of the most unique and special things about Vassar. It provides the familial feel of a smaller community within the larger college. Overall, I highly recommend Vassar. It's an incredible school that can offer students so many opportunities for academic and extracurricular success. Plus it has a strong alumnae/i base, which proves helpful in the hunt for jobs and internships.

The best thing about Vassar is, hands down, its students. Everyone has a story, and if you take the time to talk to them, you'll gain a huge appreciation for the breadth of experience of the student population. There are very few people on campus who actually present justifiable reasons for dislike. The worst thing about Vassar is the Poughkeepsie. The area around campus, while "developing," is disappointing. There have been (somewhat misguided) initiatives by the administration to increase offcampus foot traffic, but there are fewer than 10 businesses around the campus that are actually worth a visit.

The best thing for me was the sense of community and the amount of academic choices. Many colleges or universities have a core curriculum, but Vassar doesn't really. The college only has 3 curriculum requirements, which are in addition to your specific major requirements. It really is a liberal arts college, in which you can take all sorts of different classes, in different disciplines and be really well rounded. For instance I took music, art history, film, sociology, and philosophy classes, while I was a psychology major. I also loved the sense of community. I have always been a liberal, but I am from a fairly republican, Christian suburb. While conflicting views and debate can help clairify your own views, it is nice to not have to defend your beliefs. Vassar was a place where I could be myself, and I was surrounded by people like me.

When you tell somebody that you go to Vassar, they will either say, "Wow! That's an amazing school! You must be really smart!" or they'll say, "Huh? Where?" Vassar is a great place if you are liberal. Everyone has the freedom to be who they want to be, and interact with people from different cultures and backgrounds. We are a very welcoming bunch, Vassarions. BUT! Careful with joining some of the clubs in the ALANA center. They take self-victimization very seriously.

Like anywhere you go, you have your BAMFs and your assholes. There's lots of pretension floating around in some circles, but most kids are just looking to make genuine friends, laugh a little, maybe smoke. There's a big drug using population but no judgment taken against the drug-free. You can find your people whoever they may be, it might take time.

People's reactions were always interesting becaues I live in Oklahoma. Some people were like "hey, well done!" and some didn't even know where or what kind of school it was. The best thing about Vassar is the community. We have a really tight knit student body, (sometimes called the Vassar bubble). I actually really like the size of the school, because it's big enough so that students don't feel confined, but small enough so that you can obtain the one on one relationship with the professors and administration.

Vassar is a self-satisfied liberal arts college that trains its students to pride themselves on being smart enough to carry on an academic conversation, and lazy enough to imply that they have other things to be doing (namely, blowing lines off of their dresser). An accurate description of Vassar can range anywhere from a rich kids' playground to a really freeing intellectual space in which to explore a wealth of ideas and experiences--it really depends on what faction of Vassar that a student associates themselves with. (Yes, I mean faction. Not clique. Faction.)

Beautiful campus, smart kids. A lot of alternative styles. there is little political activism since everyone agrees.. the only real debates are liberal policies vs. very liberal policies. Lots of hipsters. The town sucks but the campus is awesome. Great place to spend time outdoors.

I love that Vassar gives students a good amount of freedom when choosing classes and activities to prepare them for the future. There is more diversity than there is at many schools and we are not at all the average "frat" college. It is considered a small school, but I believe that this is only to students' advantage because classes are smaller and professors are easier to contact. Since we are not known as a party school and there are no fraternities or sororities, Vassar students find other ways to have fun. The dorms each organize a couple campus-wide parties/dances/activities a year, seniors throw parties, and many students use the on-campus dance floor/bar, "the Mug." Due to campus opportunities, students rarely leave campus. Poughkeepsie is not the most exciting college town, but the social life is good enough if you do not mind staying on campus.

I am very happy with the size of Vassar. It is small enough that I see people I know all over campus and can develop a bond with professors, and large enough that as a senior I am still meeting new people. The town around Vassar isn't a stereotypical college town, and I don't go there that often, thought there are some really nice places and coffee shops that I would visit if not for the fact that I have a prepaid meal-plan on campus and can't really justify paying money for a coffee off campus. There are some good, cheap restaurants in walking distance. Some Vassar students complain about the "Vassar Bubble," meaning that students keep themselves isolated on campus, but you create your own bubble, it isn't imposed on you. One thing I really love about Vassar is the care they take with supporting Freshmen and creating a positive residential atmosphere. During Freshman year, everyone is part of a "fellow group" of other Freshmen from their hall, with a Sophmore "student fellow," who is there to help you with anything you may need as you adjust to college life. It is a little bit of a corny pre-made friends group, but it means that you have an automatic network of people, which is really nice. And you are by no means forced to hang out with them. There are some people from my original fellow group whom I never see, and others are some of my closest friends. The beautiful campus is another thing I love about Vassar. I told myself not to choose it just because of the pretty campus, and I think I did have better reasons than that, but in the end it isn't an irrelevant factor. It really can improve your mood to be in someplace so lovely.

Vassar's a fantastic place where you can do anything that you want to do if you really work with the faculty. The best thing about Vassar academically is that you have so much freedom. You can create your own major if you want, you can go to petition to go to any country in the world that we don't have a program in already, just to name a couple of possibilities. We're extremely quirky. We have a different weirdly themed dance every week it seems like, and we bring in some amazing talent every year to perform. Also, we have some pretty awesome traditions, like primal scream, where the entire student body packs onto the quad and screams its lungs out on the night before finals. They can hear us all over Poughkeepsie. One thing is that Poughkeepsie isn't a very exciting town, but we can barely be lured off campus to do the few good things that it does have just because there's such a large amount of stuff to do on campus. In Poughkeepsie there is a lot of good food, because it is also the home of the Culinary Institute of America, whose graduates often set up amazing restaurants in town.

In my opinion, Vassar is the perfect size. There are enough students that I felt like I could always meet new people, yet it was small enough to successfully create the perfect college/family atmosphere. Perhaps one of the more common student complaints are around the fact that Poughkeepsie is not considered to be a college town. However, it is the perfect opportunity for students to reach out to a community that is not catered to their needs.

The size is great... small enough that you see who you want to see, and big enough that you're still constantly meeting people your senior year. Poughkeepsie is the pits. There are a few good restaurants and one or two places to go, but if you don't have a car, you had better like the Vassar campus. Luckily, there's always something going on, and campus is beautiful.

Really great school for about 2.5 years, then it starts to feel sort of small. But for those first years it truly is fantastic and wonderful and magical and a lot like Hogwarts. No college town to speak of, not really any off-campus locales unless you have a car and the money to pay for gas. Vassar does frustratingly little to encourage students to have any sort of interaction with the larger Poughkeepsie area. After 2.5 years, you realize that Vassar, is, like any other institution, an institution. Driven by the desire for more and more and more money, such that they put the desires of rich alumni over the needs of the current students... or the environment. Recently Vassar has had problems with a great majority of students drinking themselves stupid every weekend and having to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.

Vassar is a great Liberal Arts environment. You are surrounded by so many people who are interested in so many different things. There are different clubs and extracurriculars; they all give you a chance to try something new and get to know different people. In my opinion, I think that size of Vassar is just right. I came from a high school of about 4000 student and I honestly didn't feel a drastic change coming here. Most people know each other but if you still want a place of your own, the campus is so large, you can definitely do that. Poughkeepsie Town isn't really a "college town". Across the street from Vassar there are a few restaurants but that's about it. Most students don't go off campus much because they are so busy with activities. However, joining extracurriculars like Habitat for Humanity or some kind of Field Work at a hospital, like I did, can give you a balance. The administration at Vassar is very nice. If you need help, they will gladly help you. Professors are super sweet. Cappy, our President even allows students to go Trick or Treating at her house for Halloween! One thing I'd change about Vassar: Female: Male ratio.

There is a lot of school pride for Vassar - but not in the traditional "pep-rally kind." We are a group of unique kids who love being unique. There is no mainstream here and there is no one way to "fit in." And if there was, no one would want to. What makes us Vassar students is that we're all different, and we embrace and learn from each other's differences. The small size of the campus makes it seem at times that you know everyone. We are a family.

Vassar is generally a very positive, happy place. Granted, like all colleges, it has its downsides, but the vast majority of students love it there. The small size (about 2400 students) can be somewhat stifling. When you're in search of anonymity or "alone" time, it can be hard to get. The upside, of course, is that you know a great deal of people at the college. Life in Poughkeepsie is pretty much non-existent. You'll spend most of your time on campus, and not feel so bad about it, either. In terms of school pride, it's a subdued inner pride, unlike some large sport universities. Students generally feel passionately about political and social causes, and demonstrations and stances are large and visible. But there is a place for all viewpoints at Vassar, as students are generally the academic "heady" type.