hey! i’m currently a first year at vassar and with admission decisions in the air i just wanted to offer any info/advice i can for first year admits, prospective applicants, etc. i’m also a student athlete on campus so if any of you have questions about athletics as well, i’ll try my best to answer those too!
and congratulations to the class of 2022! can’t wait to see you all in poughkeepsie.
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions about Vassar! I’m probably going, but I’m not 100% sure yet.
Is the stereotype of Vassar students being ultra-left wing and artsy exaggerated? Are there places for people who are less liberal (not necessarily in politics but in stuff like clothes/activities/interests) to fit in and thrive? I’m not personally artistic at all, but I do love that people seem to care about the arts at Vassar like some care about sports at other colleges. How would you describe the student body in general?
What do you think differentiates Vassar from other similar institutions? Excluding things like small class sizes, close relationships with professors…
If you’ve had experience with career services, how have they been?
Can you give any insight regarding roommates and how they are assigned?
@infinitejigsaw No problem! I’m happy and excited to help!!
Haha, yes I would say so. Vassar is definitely on the more liberal end of the political spectrum and students here are not afraid of speaking up for themselves in regards to defending their own views. I consider myself to be a bit more on the conservative side here at Vassar but I’ve never had anyone behave disrespectfully towards me for it. They hear me out and I’ve had some really enriching conversations that way. As for being artsy I would say that the use of the term best defines Vassar students in their openness to accepting diverse identities and how students express them, whether it be by dress or social media presence, etc. I actually love that about the school- everyone has their own vibe and style and their fearlessness in being loud helps creates a pretty comfortable environment! I won’t say that every single student is equally accepting but of the negative comments I have heard, it makes said person look bad rather than whoever it is they’re trying to bash. People here are quick to catch their peers on that. I would also add, however, that it depends on how you’re surrounding yourself with! Obviously negative spaces foster increased negativity.
Like any other school, Vassar is also a place that has its own unhappy people. Especially during the colder months of the year when the sky is gray for long periods of time, sometimes a heavy and glum vibe hangs over everyone. But when the sun comes out you see everyone out on the quad, and it really lifts the spirits of the students. It is so beautiful.
I think Vassar’s open curriculum and call for breadth in one’s academic experience is something that sets the school apart from others. They really encourage you to branch out from your major. Another cool thing about Vassar is Its proximity and accessibility to the city! (Once or twice a semester they run a 5$ shuttle to NYC there and back!) Lastly, I think the housing culture also contributes to Vassar’s uniqueness. All first years are sorted randomly into the on campus houses and you are assigned to a fellow group on the floor you live on, which is a great opportunity for even the shyest of students to meet fellow classmates.
As for the career services- In the beginning of the year for first years they’ll have lots of small seminars and talks for you to check out! I believe we had an alums from Google and Facebook speak and because Vassar is small, you have an easier chance meeting these people firsthand. Reps from grad schools such as NYU, UCLA, and Columbia also come out to at some points during the year since Vassar has close ties with them. I went to a workshop for career services and they walked me through creating a Linkedin profile and navigating Handshake, which is a cool tool Vassar students can use to find internships based on area or interest.
Oh man that was long but I hope that helped!!
@SaphaelEterna Hey! So during the summer you’ll get an email that will walk you through a survey first-years take online. It’ll ask for things like your sleeping patterns, whether you snore, how cleanly you are, etc. It’ll also ask you about your interests. Two significant options are for whether or not you want to live on a wellness floor or in all-female identifying housing. I think there’s a way to navigate through everyone’s profile and read the little blurbs Vassar lets you write about yourself(you can’t see anyone’s names though. it’s slightly anonymous). You can find a roommate that way, or through the incoming class’s facebook group too! Otherwise, your roommate will be decided based on your living/housing preferences and hopefully it works out! Also in terms of gender, I think it’s most common for roommates to be of the same sex their first year. Anywho! I know many people who remain best friends with their roommates and some who live together fine but don’t mesh well personality-wise.
Me and my roommate got along fine but I will be living in a single next year. Go Jewett!
@vassclass21 Thank you so much for your response!!
What about wellness corridors? Are they only in certain houses? Are there more of them in any given houses than others? Any insight into the house selection (our tour guide said they use the sorting hat 
)
@momcinco I am pretty sure every residential house on campus has wellness floors! Yes, some have more wellness floors than others depending on interest. If you request it on your application you will most likely be able to live on the wellness floor in your sorted house! Aha I can definitely see Vassar utilizing the lovely sorting hat :-). I would say just be 100% honest with your application and don’t stress too much about where you end up house-wise. I live in a very small double in Jewett but the people I have met in the house have made up for it greatly. If you have any serious concerns about your living situation then you can definitely reach residential life and they will work with you to find a solution (whether that’s changing rooms or houses).
Thanks - it’s for our son. Just curious. Not sure if he will actually end up requesting it…we’ll see. I like the way Vassar does a cross section of the student body for housing (at least for the first couple years). I think it makes for both cohesion and more mixing on campus. Our older son’s school does it that way too and the kids usually end up very happy. If not, they can transfer but surprisingly few of them actually end up doing it.
@vassclass21 Thanks for the in-depth answer! One more question: do you or other students feel isolated in Poughkeepsie? If you need to get away from campus for a little while, is it easily doable? Is getting into NYC as easy as the admissions office claims?
@infinitejigsaw No problem!! Hm, sometimes Poughkeepsie can definitely feel small and isolative. Poughkeepsie isn’t the nicest area and having a school like Vassar smack dab in the middle can feel as though you exist within an exclusive bubble. You can still get off campus to the nearby mall and target on weekends when the shuttle is running. I uber if I can’t wait, haha.
Getting to NYC is not difficult but it does require a bit of planning. If you go during the week you will probably uber to the station which is ~10 minutes away and then you can just hop onto the train into the city which will be about 18 one way or ~36 round trip (thats for offpeak) The trip is maybe an hour and 40 minutes. I would say that not as many kids go as I thought they would- only if they live in NYC do they go back frequently. Concerts are a popular reason to go and usually you’ll come back late at night! I’ve gone twice with my friends on the school shuttle Might go again before summer vacation!!
If you are not choosing the all-women dorm, is there another way to indicate your preference for a specific dorm? And also, if you are a straight woman, do you find that Vassar’s reputation for being a hard place to date men is still true?
@researchmamacita Unfortunately you cannot indicate a preference for dorm on the application. The residential office will try to sort your student into a house that they believe will fit them. To answer your second question- I am a straight female and while I’m not really on the dating scene, my friends who are straight females haven’t had a problem with finding men to date, or more commonly, hook-up with. If there’s anything difficult about finding straight men to date here, it’s coming across a guy who doesn’t have an entitled and disrespectful attitude. For that reason, Vassar seems to be more hook-up oriented when it comes to dating. So, I would say it is somewhat true but not for the reason I believe you’re implying (Heterosexual and Homosexual male ratio?). But again, I feel like it can change depending on who you surround yourself with!