<p>Whatever question you may have, ask it here and I'll try my best to answer it!</p>
<p>How’s the food like? I’m a pretty picky eater and I’ve heard the food at vassar isn’t the best.</p>
<p>The food at the All Campus Dining Center (the cafeteria, all you can eat) isn’t always the best, but when you’re hungry and in need of sustenance, it does the job. I myself am partial to the cheeseburgers. There’s also The Retreat with plenty of options and much more delicious and fresher than the meals at the ACDC. There’s a smoothie/coffee place that’s open until 2am if you’re staying up late and need a snack, and there’s a cafe in the library basement. Additionally, the surrounding restaurants off-campus are really good and no more than a five minute walk away.</p>
<p>What do Vassar students do in their dorm on a regular night? Do you guys hang out, listen to music, watch movies, party (be honest lol), etc.?</p>
<p>All of the above!</p>
<p>Personally, most evenings, I have rehearsals for drama and dance stuff, but I have plenty of friends who spend their nights chilling in their rooms, doing homework, jamming to music, catching up on TV, etc. It’s normal to be a homebody, and these days tend to be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays tend to be the party nights. There’ll be house parties at senior housing, smaller (though that’s not always the case) parties in dorm rooms, and the like.</p>
<p>Although pretty much 7 days a week, Vassar keeps you entertained with events and productions and visiting speakers and concerts. For example, this past weekend, there were three drama productions going on, one dance concert, several music concerts, and a guest speaker (author Jonathan Safran Foer). You’ll never be at a loss for things to do, but if you want to stay in your room and watch movies and eat Ben & Jerry’s with friends (a.k.a. my Tuesday night), that’s cool too. :)</p>
<p>How are the math and premed departments? Are they cut throat? Rigorous to the point where you won’t have a social life In your opinion, in what field are the “strongest” students? What is the toughest major?</p>
<p>Also, how is life for a commuter student?</p>
<p>(Sorry, I always ask a lot of questions :-)</p>
<p>Are there many kids from Miss Porter’s School?</p>
<p>MPS is thought of as a feeder school for Vassar. Many of the traditions (Daisy Chain etc) actually begin at MPS.</p>
<p>Are kids aware of the historic connection between the two schools?</p>
<p>You mentioned you were in drama productions…what can you tell me about the theatre department at Vassar? Are you a major? How prominent is musical theatre?</p>
<p>@HelloSunshine93
I’m not very familiar with the math department (I came to Vassar to avoid math, haha), but I’m sure it’s very strong. I have many friends who are taking class with the math department and they enjoy it/I haven’t heard anything bad.</p>
<p>As for pre-med, your track will be as rigorous as you want it to be. There’s an outline of what they recommend pre-med students take, but you pretty much build your own focus. I know many pre-med students who still live life outside of labs and homework. I dance with one pre-med student in the dance company, and he’s pretty balanced in his pre-med studies and other activities. Same for another dancer: she’s a senior pre-med student and manages a minor in French (she even went abroad last year) and is the president of the student-run dance group.</p>
<p>As for where the “strongest” students are, I would honestly have to say every field. I’ve yet to meet a student at Vassar who is in over his or her head. Everyone here is brilliant in what they do, once they’ve discovered what their forte is. Of course, I could always say that the Media Studies department has the best students, but I’d just be plugging my department!</p>
<p>I know a commuter student and she says it’s easy. She literally lives ten minutes away in the city of Poughkeepsie, and she doesn’t feel any different than if she lived on campus. I still see her at events and she’s doing well in her studies.</p>
<p>@kennimom
I am not a drama major at Vassar, primarily because I was a drama major in high school and I didn’t want all of my energies devoted on just drama. The department here is very good, but they expect you to pour your entire being into it. If that’s your style, by all means, Vassar has great facilities and resources for drama students.</p>
<p>As for the theatre/drama scene in general, it is astounding. There is literally a production going on every weekend. The straight-play student group (Phil, for short) has more shows than the musical theatre group (FWA, Future Waitstaff of America), but all of the shows are entertaining and well done. FWA puts on two shows a semester, and at least one cabaret a semester. Not every actor in these groups is a drama major; in our production of The Wild Party (which I’m in!), we have students from the department of Drama, English, Environmental Studies, and Psychology! I’m sure there are more fields of interest, but majority of us haven’t declared since the cast is mostly freshmen, haha.</p>
<p>Hope that answered your questions!</p>
<p>Hey! Thanks for the speedy reply! It really helped, but I’ve yet to finnish my supplemet :P</p>
<p>BTW, in regards to the commuter question, On average, how many commuter students are there in Vassar? Is it obvious who they are?</p>
<p>I’m not sure what the exact statistics are; maybe you can find them on the school website. Commuter are just like any other students here at Vassar, and certainly not discriminated against.</p>
<p>So I just got in and started taking a look at the different dorms, which one would you recommend/what are the different dorms like?</p>
<p>It’s not really a question about recommending a certain dorm. Freshmen aren’t able to choose their housing; they’re simply placed there.
Also, more often than not students have a surprisingly large amount of dorm pride, and most will claim that their dorm is better than the rest. All have their own strengths and weaknesses, and usually you’ll fall in love with whatever dorm you’re placed in. Students can switch dorms basically whenever they want so long as they have a reason and there is availability.
As for what dorms are like: there are stereotypes for all the dorms, but if you ask any Vassar student these stereotypes rarely paint the entire picture / are not always entirely true.</p>
<p>I have a question about Vassar’s ethnic diversity here. So from what I see from my research, Vassar doesn’t seem to be too diverse. ************** claims that 72% of the school is white but I don’t know how trustworthy that is, so from your own experience, how diverse would you say the school is? Much thanks!</p>
<p>What are the average stats(academic wise) of a Vassar student ? I want to be certain I fit into the mean of this school because I do intend on applying for EDII.</p>
<p>Hey! I was just accepted last friday. I was wondering: are there any freshman pre- orientation trips at Vassar?</p>
<p>Absolutely! Especially for ED students. I believe the focus weekend for ED students is sometime in Aoril, around the time RD kids send in their apps, haha.</p>
<p>:( That makes me sad I’ll be out of the country in April :(</p>
<p>Is admission much tougher for international students? (those who need significant financial aid I mean) I was planning to apply ED II so this is very important for me.</p>
<p>I would say Vassar is very diverse. Those who tend to say otherwise came from unusually diverse high schools, often in ethnic neighborhoods or low income areas. Compared to my high school, Vassar’s extremely diverse and if not ethnically, in terms of socio-economic diversity. I have friends at Vassar from all all over the socio-economic spectrum, and from backgrounds as varied as you can imagine.</p>
<p>The average Vassar student is very hard to pinpoint academically because our admissions chooses people from such a large spectrum academically. Everyone has different strengths, and things like SAT scores do a shoddy job of reflecting that. I would say if you’re anywhere in the 1800-2400 SAT range it’s worth applying. I would say that the personal statement (college essay) is very important in admissions and can cover up for any low test scores or some low grades.</p>
<p>Also, for international students: yes, I’ve heard admissions can be a bit stricter. But don’t let that turn you away. If you think you’ll add to the class, the admissions committee will find a way to pay for your financial aid.</p>