vassar
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Anonymous
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It hardly ever seems to come up in discussions here. It's ranked T25 of liberal arts schools in USNWR, pretty campus, and yes it's expensive but so are a lot of other schools DCUM kids seem to gravitate to.
Just curious -- anyone have any theories as to why? |
Anonymous
Why what? |
Anonymous
| Didn't the feminists do away with single-sex higher education? |
Anonymous
| It’s odd- certain schools just become hot in certain areas (and even within certain high schools.) Nobody applies to Vassar/Middlebury/Bates/Bowdoin from my kids’ school but plenty apply to Haverford/Swarthmore/Wesleyan. Doesn’t make a ton of sense other than trendiness. |
Anonymous
| Our top public HS that spends fortune per pupil seems to send at least one top student a year to Vassar. Wonderful school. |
Anonymous
| It’s on my kid’s list, along with Wesleyan and Brown. All open curriculum schools. |
Anonymous
Interesting. Kids @ my DCs' school apply to all on your list, though the least probably apply to Bates. |
Anonymous
It's co-ed. |
Anonymous
| They’re asking why it doesn’t come up as much as other similar schools. Some come up over and over, others much less so. |
Anonymous
Whereas I think of Bowdoin and Middlebury as being very popular. Not sure why you don't hear more about Vassar. The campus is striking (in a traditional/classic sense)--especially the library! It is small. The town is not compelling, but travel to NYC is easy. I think it is definitely worth considering for SLAC-seekers interested in STEM as well as the Arts. It appealed to my DD initially, but she was little turned off by our odd guide (who described feeling disconnected to others on campus). The counterculture look of several students also seemed to influence her (i.e.,she is more preppy). But again, it has much to offer the right person. |
Anonymous
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Parent of a current Vassar junior here. It was the right fit for her, though it was not on our radar at all until we happened to add it to a tour of other NY LACs just because it was near others she wanted to see! Let's say that the visit bowled her over, and us parents, too. I won't go into details unless you want, OP, but the visit really made DD want to attend. Why isn't it better known down here? I think people in this region, the DMV, unless they are from or went to college in the Northeast somewhere, simply aren't very aware of Vassar. It's small (2,600). People might not realize that it's no longer a women's college (it's been co-ed for 52 years!) so they might assume it's still single sex and therefore maybe not what their kid wants. And there are so many liberal arts colleges nationwide that even an excellent one just doesn't necessarily get noticed. I do note that some above say they know of high schools sending kids to Vassar from this area so it's not unknown.... OP, do you have a kid who is looking at colleges now and maybe thinking about Vassar? Can I try to answer any questions? DD is having a terrific experience there and I should add, it's been an in person experience--they only lost some of spring 2020 to distance learning but were on campus fully all of last academic year and this year so far. |
Anonymous
| DC was interested but not enough to apply ED, it was a reach and didn't happen. A friend with great stats and ECs was a legacy and admitted RD, but it was too expensive and there was no flexibility there. It was another acquaintance's dream school, but she didn't get in and is very happy at Smith instead. She was from a top private and had very high stats. Anyway, don't know if/why it comes up less, but it's very selective and well liked. If it is out of vogue, it's still hard to get. As I recall they had additional CSS profile questions, that were more intrusive than similar schools, so I suspect they're quite guarded with need based aid, but fair's fair. |
Anonymous
| I think there is some new HBO show "Sex Lives of College Girls" that is shot at Vassar. Beautiful campus. May lead to an uptick in applications. |
Anonymous
+1 since 1969 no less |
Anonymous
Still something like 60% female though with a large population of gay males. I’ve heard this makes for a rather depressed dating scene. |