Anonymous wrote:It makes a difference to have proximity to NYC though, even if students don't go into the city often. Especially for the arts, it's much easier to bring in speakers, visiting professors, lecturers who are NYC based.

I mean, Williams is as close to Boston

Nobody is choosing either bcs of access to city. Loads of other schools do that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Williams is preppy and in the middle of nowhere—boring! Vassar’s student body is artsy and creative, and it’s not far from NYC.

??? Vassar is 2 hours from NYC. That isn’t “the middle of nowhere” but it isn’t “not far from NYC” either. The University of Pennsylvania is about the same distance from NYC as Vassar.

No one is talking about U Penn.

It makes a difference to have proximity to NYC though, even if students don't go into the city often. Especially for the arts, it's much easier to bring in speakers, visiting professors, lecturers who are NYC based.

Anonymous wrote:Williams is preppy and in the middle of nowhere—boring! Vassar’s student body is artsy and creative, and it’s not far from NYC.

??? Vassar is 2 hours from NYC. That isn’t “the middle of nowhere” but it isn’t “not far from NYC” either. The University of Pennsylvania is about the same distance from NYC as Vassar.

Williams is preppy and in the middle of nowhere—boring! Vassar’s student body is artsy and creative, and it’s not far from NYC.

Anonymous wrote:Not even in the same league.

Not sure if it’s still true but Vassar was seen as artsy fartsy with not many straight males.

Statements like this, insinuating there is some precipitous drop in quality of education once you get past Pomona on the US News LAC rankings, make me laugh. Tell me you haven’t really read anything about Vassar in 30 years without telling me. I don’t have a child there but I do have one seriously looking at it, and what I know is that it is an incredibly hard admit with applicant expectations just a touch more forgiving than the WASPs. It also has incredible student outcomes. Did you know the school has a joint 5 year MPH option with Columbia, and I believe a joint engineering masters program with Dartmouth? Of course, not as strong in finance and consulting, but are those really the only worthwhile occupations that talented students should consider? Jeez. I know posters on this board have a very narrow perspective generally and unreasonable expectations, but some of you need to touch grass. Vassar, just like Williams, is among 40 or so hardest admits in the country. Get over yourselves.

Anonymous wrote:My cerebral, anti-sports, no-interest-in-finance son would 100% prefer Vassar over Williams. Asking about the "better" school when we don't know anything about your child is impossible to answer.

This describes my D to a T. She's at Williams and Vassar was her second choice. They are both outstanding in the arts with Vassar being stronger in theater and Williams being stronger in music. I thought Vassar was a better fit, but she wanted to go somewhere that didn't have a majority of people like her. It took some time to find her people, but she's been very happy.

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of guys like that at Williams.

There’s no hiding from the academics in the tutorial style classrooms

Perhaps, but bear in mind the tutorials are optional, and most students don’t take more than one over four years.

On the other hand, it’s hard to hide from academics at any LAC given the smaller class sizes.

Vassar is an excellent school. Historically it was part of the Seven Sisters, the group of elite women's colleges that included Radcliffe, Wellesley, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Bryn Mawr, and Barnard. It's been coed a long time, but in the US, the women's colleges that became coed have had a harder time attracting men than the formerly men's colleges (like Williams) that have turned coed have in attracting women (you can develop your own theory on why that is).

Vassar is considered especially strong in theater, English, the humanities. It's quite a difficult admit. A student I know (a legacy) who was a strong but not very top student was rejected there. I think people underrate how hard it is to get in.

Poughkeepsie is depressing but bigger and closer to NYC (and other cities) than Williams.

There are a lot of guys like that at Williams.

There’s no hiding from the academics in the tutorial style classrooms

My cerebral, anti-sports, no-interest-in-finance son would 100% prefer Vassar over Williams. Asking about the "better" school when we don't know anything about your child is impossible to answer.

Anonymous wrote:Not even in the same league.

Not sure if it’s still true but Vassar was seen as artsy fartsy with not many straight males.

Still very true. Vassar is a fine school, but remains artsy fartsy with not very many straight males.

Williams is usually regarded as the best small Liberal Arts college in America. There really isn't a comparison with Vassar when it comes to both academic experience and reputation. Williams is at a different level. The most oft-mentioned downsides to Williams are its fairly remote location and the fact that it has a very high percentage of student-athletes - nearly 40 percent. But graduates do tend to be very positive of their experience and they generally do very well professionally.

Not even in the same league.

Not sure if it’s still true but Vassar was seen as artsy fartsy with not many straight males.

Williams is >>Vassar.

Williams is on a level of ivies/t15 privates as far as how the graduates do in careers as well as getting into law school. Vassar is great—but is a notch down, on par with T16-30 private unis. It is not as highly targeted by top consulting and the like

can someone explain to me how these two schools are compared? as experiences and by reputation? (sorry, not from US)