<p>Hey guys and gals.
Accepted for the Class of 2009? Any questions about Vassar? I'll be happy to answer them.
Email me at: asdiamond at vassar dot edu. </p>
<p>Here's some of my info:
Name: Ashley Diamond (no joke)
Class: of 2008
Sex: Male (straight)
Race: White Australian
Major: Classics (probably)
Minor (aka Correlate): Music (probably)
Residence: Main (Wellness)
Home residence: Westchester, NY
School interests: Italian, Ancient Greek and relevant tragedies, Music history and theory, the music library.
Real-life interests: Singing (with real, not modern, jazz band), trumpet, musical outreach at nursing homes, studying with my grandfather (an alternative MD), tennis, frisbee, my turntable (for 'listenin', not 'freestylin'), other eclectic bits and pieces.
Boring admissions related crap: SAT 1440, blah, blah, blah...
Financial aid: Lots! Thanks Vassar!
Other info: Ask me!</p>
<p>Hey there! I'll be attending in the fall, and I have a few questions.</p>
<p>I asked on my housing form to be put in wellness housing, so could you just say something about that--has it been worth it, just overall what it is it like?</p>
<p>What's extracurricular music like? I want to be in orchestra but I hear it's by audition and that makes me kind of nervous...is music very competitive at Vassar?</p>
<p>Is there anything else I should know before I move out there in August?</p>
<p>Thanks so much!</p>
<p>(I also got a 1440 SAT! Lots of people are right around there but I don't know anyone else who got exactly a 1440...woot)</p>
<p>Wellness is worth it. I did not request Wellness for my freshman year, but I chose it sophomore year! Noise is not a problem generally, but if you want to be a bit more rowdy you can just walk a few feet away to another part of the dorm. I was happily surprised.</p>
<p>There are various levels and types of extracurricular music, and they are almost all auditioned for, but many are very low pressure. If you played an instrument throughout high school you should have no problem fitting into an orchestral group on campus. In my opinion, the musicians at Vassar can be a bit elitist, but at what college aren't they? The music library is great, too.</p>
<p>A few tips:
Don't bring a car for freshman year. You can't park on campus, and it is generally not necesary.
Verizon cell phone service worked ok for me (several services are meant to be terrible).
Work for campus patrol. They have very flexible hours, pay, and are generally the best job on campus (especially for financial aid kids).
Email me when you get on campus if you want any help or some cool sophomores to hang out with.</p>
<p>My verbal score was 700 and my math was 740. How about you? Edit: Nevermind, I read your welcome post. For somebody with the same overall score, we differ a bit in the individual sections. I'm definately not a math/science person at Vassar, though!</p>
<p>I'm not sure how much you may/may not know about this, but nevertheless: I've heard mixed things about Vassar's visual arts (mainly fine arts) program...I'm a serious artist, attending summer courses at RISD and so on, blah blah, but am also hoping for a strong liberal arts education, as I'm pretty strong academically and SAT-wise. Is Vassar a good possibility?</p>
<p>I visited Vassar and fell in love but feel a little uneasy with the 70/30 ratio. My friend Polina is a freshman there and described the boy to girl scene as "cut throat" and terrible. Would you say that's accurate? Any opinions?</p>
<p>sw: A good possibility for you as an artist, or a good possibility for you to get in? Just make sure to send your portfolio in. That should be a nice boost to your chances. I've heard good things about the visual arts programs, and Vassar is definately a top candidate for places to go to get a broad education.</p>
<p>hlp: This is very important: Vassar is 60/40, not 70/30! 60/40 is the average ratio for liberal arts schools. Yes, the class of 2008 was 70/30, but that was out of the ordinary and means that they are probably looking to balance that out with more males in following classes. As a guy, I don't know how cutthroat the girls are, but I don't get the impression that it is really as bad as a lot of people make it out to be.</p>
<p>hilo-
The ratio is not 70/30. It is more like 55/45 or 60/40, depending on the year. I don't think the word "cutthroat" is a word to describe the students at Vassar. They are open-minded, inquisitive creative and supportive.</p>
<p>My daughter is trying to bring up her scores this summer and is considering Vassar as a reach school.</p>
<p>She has a strong transcript and is a fine writer....a bit weak in math.Yet high scores on verbal 750 and 780 ap history and junior yr GPA 97.42.</p>
<p>She has a passion for art and photography......but not many EC's.....she wants to study English and maybe minor in classics...her favorite subject this year was Greek Mythology. I say that since you mentioned the classics for yourself. How do you find classics classes?</p>
<p>This is why we say "reach" school.........but we are looking anyway</p>
<p>How would you describe the student body? Would her academic background seem to fit in?</p>
<p>What are the kids like there for the most part, from your experience? Many Long Islanders?</p>
<p>How is the social life.....I read that Vassar is in a bubble? What's Poughkeepsie like? What does everyone do on weeknds?</p>
<p>Anything you can share about the campus and people would be helpful. What do you suggest we check out when we get there or vital questions to ask the tour guide?</p>
<p>Thanks for taking the time to talk.............I appreciate it, looking forward to hearing back from you.</p>
<p>If I majored in music at Vassar, would I graduate with a BM in piano (I'm a pianist) or a BA in music? Do you think there's a huge difference between the two degrees? Thank you,
Alden</p>
<p>BA in music. With a BM (which mostly only conservatories offer), almost all of your classes (usually about 75%) are in music. This means that you really don't have a liberal arts education. Many people who got BMs and don't suceed in performance (and there are MANY of these) realize that they can't do as much with a BM. With a BA, usually about 30% of your classes are in music. Plus, you have more diversity in music offerings and more freedom to take world/electronic/history of music courses.</p>
<p>I'm visiting for the first time November. What should I check out on campus? (Medieval Studies major.) What should I not bother with? I'll be there for an open house, but I'll have an individualized tour because I need something physically accessible.</p>
<p>I've driven past the campus before, but I've never been on it. I'm actually a lot more familiar with Marist's campus than I am with Vassar's.</p>
<p>Speaking of Marist, do students from the two schools socialize at all? I know they used to have mixers way back when, but I'm not sure about the relationship now. Socially, I'd probably be a better fit over there (blue collar Irish kid), but it has nothing I want academically.</p>
<p>beginning: I'm glad to see you're organizing everything well in advance- when you're visiting, the campus is so small that you will cover just about everything in one loop, including all the buildings you will have classes in.</p>
<p>The only areas of campus that you could probably skip are the TH's (town house apartments for upperclasses) and TA's (terrace apartments, also for upperclass.) The main athletic facility/golf course/observatory are up on a hill above the main campus (as are the TA's) so unless any of these are important to you, the tour wouldn't cover them. (But trust me, it's very pretty up there.)</p>
<p>As for Marist, it is unfortunate that there is not more contact- Marist (and New Paltz) are so close to Vassar, but I cannot recall any organized social events between the two schools. (This might have changed in the last couple years, but I can't imagine there's been too much change.) I found that unless you already have friends who go there, you really have to go out of your way to meet kids at other schools. It's hard to explain, but Vassar is in such a "bubble"- it is a very small place, and with people living and working together in such close proximity, it feels like another world. There is so much going on on campus that it's easy to forget what's on the other side of the gates. Vassar does offer plenty of internships/field experiences that will take you into the surrounding communities, but socially, there are far fewer ways to make that connection.</p>
<p>But I guess it's what you make of it- I was content with my Vassar "family," but if it's important to you to branch out, it's certainly not impossible (though you may have to work a little!)</p>
<p>Ooh. I should've pointed out that I'm going to be a transfer student for junior year, so I guess I will want to check out the accommodations for upperclasses if I can. Otherwise, I'm confident they'd give me a room in the more accessible buildings for the underclasses. (Out of curiosity, do you know if there are any singles available on campus?)</p>
<p>Thank you so, so much for the input! I genuinely appreciate it. There's nothing worse than showing up at a college that's totally inaccessible, even though the admissions department swore up and down it would be. (Looking your way, Wheaton in Massachusetts!)</p>
<p>beginning, i can share with you what I know about campus accessibility- virtually all the academic buildings are accessible, the only exception I can think of is Swift (history), which has no elevator. Very charming old building, but I think it's structurally impossible to install an elevator there!</p>
<p>As for the dorms, access is more limited. The best place I think would be Jewett (biggest dorm on campus) which houses both under/upperclasses. Has singles for upperclasses but can get noisy from all the people. The "old" TA's where I lived were not accessible, but the "new" TA's are- they were just finishing building them when I graduated, they are nice and roomy with AIR CONDITIONING. </p>
<p>Hope this gives you a better idea- some buildings on campus (Swift, Quad Dorms) are just TOO OLD to be updated!</p>
<p>Ack! As a Medieval Studies major, I imagine I would need to take several courses in Swift. However, I /think/ that under disability law, they would need to make all classes pertaining to my major available to me, so perhaps they could move a course or two down to the first floor? I'll definitely need to ask about this.</p>
<p>The new buildings must be accessible, even though they're on a hill. (I'll have to judge the grade when I'm physically on campus.) Do you know if any can be used as singles?</p>
<p>More about Swift: No elevator, but I remember ramp to first floor- on first floor there is one classroom, the departmental office, couple faculty offices, a smaller room used for seminars. There is another classroom (maybe two) on Swift's upper floors, but it's mostly faculty offices. Also, because swift is so small, some history classes are actually held in Rocky (near Library.) In fact, it was my middle ages history class w/ Prof. Bisaha that was in Rocky. And classes are small enough that shifting around locations can be arranged pretty easily.</p>
<p>As for housing, the TA's are apartments for groups of 4 students- each student has own room, bath/kitchen/living space is shared. Students form groups during the semester before they are set to move in, but open rooms sometimes occur. </p>
<p>Don't know how they handle housing for transfer students- I hope this board gets more active as application time approaches, so other people can offer more advice!</p>
<p>Most times Upperclassmen get doubles because they chose to share a room with a friend. I know most of the transfers from last year and they all have singles so I don't think you have to worry about getting a single. </p>
<p>As for accessibility to the dorms, I don't think it will be a problem. Residential life will provide you with a key for the elevator so you would never have to use the stairs. The TA's and TH's unfortunately are not accessible. The rooms in the TA's are upstairs and in the TH's I think there is only one room on the first floor but there are stairs to get into the TH's. You will probably end up living in the dorms. This doesn't have to be a bad thing though because seniors get first pickings to the rooms in the dorms so they get the best rooms. </p>