<p>MKM, of the ~1100 male students only ~261 are varsity athletes. Assuming that the athletes are a closed group, which they are not, there are ~ 840 male (a significant number who are straight) non-varsity athletes with whom he can associate. Add to that, there are over 100 clubs and organizations. </p>
<p>Seriously, what other college will you find synchronized skating, a circus arts troupe (The Barefoot Monkeys) that spins fire, and co-ed equestrian polo? Also, it’s worth mentioning, none of the aforementioned requires experience. One of the women on the Polo team never rode a horse before attending Vassar.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone. This is exactly what I wanted to be able to pass along. This is really helpful information for students to have. I think that he (and other guys) just want to know that they will have a normal college social life. Sounds pretty normal to me. :)</p>
<p>One late voice: Vassar puts a lot of emphasis on your ‘fellow group’ in first year. Fellow groups live together, go through orientation together, and have activities throughout first year. There is great care taken in forming these groups, trying to make them both diverse and yet likely to get along. In my D’s group you can find every sort of kid- from LAX bros to Physics geeks, from conservative and liberal backgrounds, east and west coast,etc - and they are getting along famously. They don’t spend every minute together, but they regularly do things together - from hanging out in their common room, to walking to the dining hall, to going to see a show (and there seem to be an awful lot of types of performances to go to) to cheering on a team, to participating in the House Cup activities and so on. They seem to be a pretty studious lot, but they all meet in the common room on Sunday and Thursday nights for a study break (treats provided). It is pretty normal, though slightly more academically focused than some schools- not that it is harder / smarter / whatever, just that there seem to be a lot of kids who are interested in learning for learnings sake, not just getting the grades or getting through college.</p>
<p>My daughter has lots of guy friends at Vassar - athletes, straight, gay, musicians, etc. Everyone gets along really well - athletes hang with musicians who hang with artists, etc. Vassar is really good at building community through the “House” system and a lot of activities on campus involve different houses/dorms and the different events they all sponsor. It would be nice if more guys were interested in Vassar. I think if they visited they could see if it was a good “fit”.</p>
<p>Another similar post here: my son is a straight male, loves Vassar. He has a whole bunch of similar male friends. Some are more activist, some not. I think being somewhat political (which doesn’t have to mean “angry”) is a typical stance for very smart college kids. As for fun: It is very easy to make friends at Vassar. As someone posted above, you get very close with the people on your floor at first: There is a sophomore advisor for your hallway and there are group meetings, etc. And you have a roommate. And you go to classes and the classes are pretty small and there is a lot of class participation, so you meet students that way too. There are also “official” parties (I remember at the beginning there was the famous “ABC” party: Anything But Cloth – in other words, you make a costume from anything but cloth, could be a plastic bag, etc.) - so this is a kind of activity that you might have at a camp, to promote a feeling of group solidarity and belongingness. There are also Vassar traditions: one dorm sings for the other dorms or something (I don’t remember the details!) but these organized events are totally INclusive. And you meet people because ALL The freshmen are new and everybody needs to make friends! ANd as with any college there are tons of extracurricular activities you can join. People are quite friendly. My son is not the most extraverted person in the world, but he has become much <em>more</em> so at Vassar (it’s his third year) because there are so many friendly students. Also it seems that there are a lot of people from California (next to NY it’s, amazingly, the most represented state! weird, given the distance)(maybe that’s why the students are friendly?? - stereotype alert). I thought it would be much more “hipster-snobby” but it really isn’t. Probably most socializing is just kids hanging out in their dorm rooms talking, talking, talking, and then there are loads of parties every weekend, with music and dancing, in the official spaces where this kind of thing is held. I imagine if you were posting to the Wesleyan board or the Williams board or etc. etc., you’d find similar posts (at least I think so!) HOWEVER if your son or anybody else’s son is going to feel stigmatized going to a “girls’ school” or a “gay school” (all total misunderstandings, but still…) maybe that should be taken into consideration. In the sense that life is hard enough… oh and my son’s friends are not athletes, but they do tend to go to the gym a lot (my son is in much better shape now!) (I think this is a Young Person thing in general, though, isn’t it? (going to the gym) I don’t know). If there is a social problem it’s more the “Vassar Bubble” that people talk about,which means that it’s kind of insular, not much to do in Poughkeepsie, you’re always on that small campus bumping into the same people. And I agree that the students do tend to do learning-for-learning’s-sake, but would that not be true at Williams, Amherst, Wesleyan, etc.? I would think so.</p>