<p>This morning we took the train from NYC to Poughkeepsie to see Vassar. It was a surprisingly gorgeous and relaxing 1 1/2 hour ride up the Hudson River. Truely lovely. However, the taxi rides to and from Vassar were the wildest and scariest I've ever taken in many cities across the globe. Also, as one parent at the information session put it, Poughkeepsie, a city of 100,000 (similar to our home city) seemed very run-down and a little "creepy" making security a bit of a concern, though the campus is very separate from the city. The parents were assured by the adcom that security is not an issue on campus. First we toured the campus guided by the highest energy junior college student I have ever met. 15 minutes into the tour, I was so exhausted from listening to him, I just wanted to sit in a quiet dark room. He obviously loved Vassar.</p>
<p>Although the architecture is somewhat mixed, most of the buildings are bland brick with little character...a surprise to us. It was not the charm of Williams or the clean quirkiness of Brandeis. We toured a dorm, classrooms, etc and all were somewhat run-down and not clean. It appeared that nothing had been cleaned since the students left in June and there were large piles of garbage in the halls and stairwells of both dorms and the classroom buildings. Other points about campus that the tour guide waxed enthusiastically about but we were not able to see were the art gallery, the drama and film center, the arboretum, and the observatory. Vassar also has a 9 hole golf course.</p>
<p>Vassar is a small LAC, but is a bit larger than Williams with a student body of 2500 or so. Freshman live in the same residence halls as sophomores and juniors (and a few seniors) in mostly doubles and triples. 60% sophomores and all juniors get singles. In residence in each hall are an upperclassman student fellow (for personal or campus advice), an admistrator who handles the nuts and bolts of running the hall, and a house fellow...faculty and their family who remain in residence for 2 to 3 years. Approximately 80% seniors live in halls that are described as "apartments with training wheels"...several seniors live together in an apartment, cook for themselves, clean for themselves, etc. The remainder live in standard residence halls at their choice. There is one "theme" residence hall with limited number of students which is vegan or vegetarian by choice and is self-sufficient which is not open to freshmen. </p>
<p>Vassar has an astonishingly large selection of course offerings for a school its size, some offered every other year. Admissions aggressively markets the "Field Work" program in which 500 to 600 students/year do internships or field work for usually 1/2 credit per semester usually in the local community of Poughkeepsie either as "career exploration" or "hands on course work." 25 to 30 students per year do field work in NYC. Vassar pays for/provides transportation to the field sites. They are also proud of the Vassar Junior Year Abroad program in which juniors study away (many overseas) for 1 or both semesters. In addition to Vassar sponsored programs, students are elgible for programs offered through other colleges. Approximately 40% students participate in this program and financial aid is portable to the study abroad program. Requirements for the program include that the program be in the student's major (i.e., a physics major can't go to France to study French literature) and that the student carry a B+ GPA.</p>
<p>Vassar has only 3 "core requirements": a freshman writing class, one quantitative reasoning class, and a year of foreign language which can be placed out of with appropriate AP, SAT II, or placement exam scores. This leaves a lot of flexibility in scheduling to pursue abroad opportunities, multiple majors or majors and correlates (the Vassar term for minor). The students we talked to loved this and noted that many of their friends had continued to take classes they liked and were pleasantly surprised that they had achieved a correlate in addition to their major for graduation. Strong programs include English, psychology, political science, and biologic sciences, though others are strong as well. Many students take advantage of film studies and a state of the art film-editing facility not usually found at such a small school. Music lessons for credit are open to majors and non-majors, are audition based, and if the student is accepted, are included in tuition. The tour guide noted that violin and voice lessons are most competitive and a student might not be accepted to for credit lessons for one or two semesters in these. </p>
<p>Students we talked to were very proud of the "balance" they feel they achieve in their education, not studying 24 hours a day, but also participating in sports, theater, and just "hanging out." Like Williams, Vassar is considered to be quite athletic (it is Division III) with 50% of students involved in one or more sports at various levels and with nationally ranked men's and women's rugby teams.</p>
<p>The adcom interestingly noted a "cut-off" for ACT scores of 29, but a mid-50% range for SAT's. She reported that accepted students usually have at least an A- average. This year, the SAT writing score will be noted, but not counted, and they expect the mid 50% range to be approximately 1300-1460 without the writing score. She noted that approx 20-25% student body are students of color and 5 to 6% are international students. Interestingly, in addition to 2 essays, Vassar requires a copy of an analytical writing sample from the student's high school experience which has been graded with the grade and teacher comments/corrections on the paper. Interviews are optional, off campus only, and evaluative and must be requested by the applicant. The adcom noted that it is "a little bit easier" to get in ED and that Vassar has ED1 and ED2 options. Also, the viewbook quite honestly noted that admissions is not always need-blind since need may exceed available resources but this would not affect approximately "95%" of applicants (i.e., for 5% of students, their ability to pay full-freight affects the decision for acceptance). All financial aid is need-based, and uses the Federal Methodology, which I understand may result in finaid amounts significantly lower than those calculated by other methods. She noted that average indebtedness in loans for a graduating senior was $15 to $16K which was twice that of Williams, but lower than other schools. 65% of students receive some financial aid.</p>
<p>Overall, a positive visit with the exceptions of the town and the facilities. The unique features of the school were the strength of the study abroad program and the minimal requirements allowing for flexibility in scheduling. Tomorrow we are taking the train to Yale to allow my D to interview, so won't be doing the tour/info session thing, so I won't be reviewing it. If there's any interesting info from the interview that anyone wants to know, please PM me. The following day we head to Wesleyan. G'night all.</p>