<p>i was reading a website borednet.com and the forum was pretty controversial. a lot of ppl on the website were saying that there were lots of things that needed to be changed about vassar and that there was a big division between the student body that needed to be changed. i was just wondering what that was all about and how much of it is true? i am going to vassar nxt year and i am very excited but that website kind of worried me.</p>
<p>I know the site you're talking about, and would point out that, first off, it's been taken down because there were people who were posting highly inappropriate content and slander about fellow students on it. This was a move headed off by the administration and, among most of the people I know at least, has been well-received. </p>
<p>Moving on to your actual concern about the negativity of students on the site... frankly, Vassar is a fantastic place, but it isn't right for everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of what you saw up there was written by a few individuals for whom the school isn't the right fit... they were using the forum as a way to get all their bad feelings out.</p>
<p>Lastly, addressing your concern about whether or not Vassar needs major changes... most definitely not, as far as I'm concerned. Things are done pretty darn well here, overall. I don't know exactly what was written on the site, so if you have more specific concerns (ex: Is there anything to do on weekends?) feel free to ask either in a PM or on here as another question.</p>
<p>I hope this helps soothe some of your concerns, and congrats on getting into and picking Vassar! :D</p>
<p>Boredat is a vile, useless display of the absolute LOWEST Vassar has to offer and I would implore you to NOT take anything you read there seriously. It has since been shut down because of the absolutely horrific content that was available for public perusal there. It makes me sick to think that prospective students read the content on that website and I would just like to reiterate that Boredat is not at all an accurate representation of Vassar's student population... seeing as the majority of Vassar students don't spend their time writing vulgarities about people they don't know on the Internet.</p>
<p>Vassar is a unique and special community. The thing about anonymous websites is that anyone can post and it is secret. This is obvious.</p>
<p>However, what is not obvious is that the majority of the campus was NOT posting on this site. Rather, they were talking about how they disliked it. It is a common cognitive availability heuristic to make assumptions about a large group based on the most available and salient data. </p>
<p>The data presented at boredat.net is most likely the opinion of a few malicious and evil individuals. Because names are secret, it is more than likely that individuals have posted numerous times under different names.</p>
<p>So. I guess what I'm saying is - don't knock the Vassar Community until you've tried it. There are positive and negative aspects of every college. Some people will love it. Some people will dislike it. It happens. Unfortunately, a small, outspoken minority has attempted to tarnish our reputation.</p>
<p>Please, I implore you to take their comments for what they are: the comments of a few, cowardly individuals (who post anonymously!). </p>
<p>I'm sorry if my post was long or redundant. This is issue is extremely important to me. </p>
<p>Just remember, we recently rated one of the happiest campuses in the nation!</p>
<p>I second and third everything written above. Vassar is a great, vibrant, fun place to go to college. You should be thrilled. You will love it. Relax!</p>
<p>As a parent of a recently accepted and matriculated student for the class of 2012, I'm trying to find as much information as I can about what my child will be experiencing for the next four years at Vassar.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I've been reading about the boredat.net mess and, in conversation with another soon-to-be Vassar Mom, I openly wondered when, if ever, this kind of middle-school-level cyber bullying will ever end. Presumably these are kids who are 18, 19, 20 or older and they were apparently engaging in the same kinds of cruel taunting that goes on amongst 8th graders! What gives?</p>
<p>I guess my larger question to current Vassar students is this: does the culture of the school enable, in any way, a division of jocks versus artists or hipsters versus hippies or any other version of the Us against Them mentality?</p>
<p>When I read that kids are calling other kids fat and ugly, annoying and other words too vile to repeat, on a publicly-accessed website I have to wonder what exactly is going on to create all of this animosity and when are we supposed to expect young people to graduate from middle school and stop whispering and pointing in the hallways? Does this tell me that Vassar is as cliquey as your typical American high school? I sure hope not!</p>
<p>I'm really happy with my kid's choice; I just want some clearer picture regarding how together or divided the Vassar student body is.</p>
<p>In my opinion, there isn't any real "Us versus Them" mentality present on-campus. I really do feel like the campus is, overall, pretty unified because of its small size and the wide overlap that all of the different academic, extracurricular, and social offerings create. There are, as in any place, plenty of people who group together as "friends" because they all participate in a certain activity, hold a common interest, or live together in the same dorm, but these groups are as a whole quite inclusive. So no, I really don't feel like the school enables or somehow encourages the existence of an "Us versus Them" mentality.</p>
<p>As for your comment about the nasty things that people wrote on the blog... once again, all I can say is that what was written was the work of a few irresponsible, immature individuals who really don't represent the vast majority of the student body. Most of the people I've met here would NEVER write what was written on boredat.</p>
<p>By the way, if you're interested in seeing some more student opinions on life at Vassar, you might want to check out two particular blogs, both of which have a large following on campus. The first, Life in the 9 (<a href="http://lifeinthe9.blogspot.com/)%5B/url%5D">http://lifeinthe9.blogspot.com/)</a>, is a blog which features the work of twenty or so members of the class of 2011 who are living, spread out, through the nine dorms. The bloggers write pretty much about anything that's on their mind, so it's a pretty good glimpse into the mindset of some students at Vassar: what they're thinking about, what they're looking forward to/dreading, what they're up to on-campus, etc.</p>
<p>The second blog is called Mads Vassar (Mads</a>) and is run by a male member of the class of 2011. This blog focuses less on personal opinions and more on presenting to Vassar students news that the blogger feels is important... as well as some humorous stuff every now and then. The comment area of this blog is particularly active, so if you're interested particularly in student opinions, that would be a good part of the blog to check out. There's also several things posted on the blog about the recent boredat controversy, so if you want to hear more student opinions about that, try looking at some of these articles (and the comments associated with them): Mads:</a> Middlebury's Similar Problem, Mads:</a> Boredat Update, Mads:</a> Boredat Back Up, Mads:</a> BoredatVassar Taken Offline.</p>
<p>Also, please note, that these blogs are run by students and not affiliated with the administration. I hope you find them interesting and that they give you a better glance at the student body. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in a thread or by PM. Also, congrats to your son/daughter on getting in and choosing to attend!</p>
<p>littleatheist, thank you so much for responding so quickly and so well to my questions of this morning. I have actually already found and perused the Madsvassar site but I'll look forward to reading Life in the 9.</p>
<p>You sound like such a great kid and that gives me lots and lots of confidence that all the noise around the few bad apples is just that: noise. Unpleasant people are, unfortunately, often very good at drawing attention to themselves.</p>
<p>I will approach your suggested reading with great interest and, as a blogger myself, look forwarding to hearing all the different voices posting. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I'm a writer for blog9 (aka Life in the 9) and we agreed as a group to NOT mention BoredAt because, as I said before, it's not worth it. It's disguuusting. And it is a few bad apples. I have my suspicions as to who these bad apples are, because I'm pretty sure the majority of them are from the freshman class, and they're just nasty, uncouth, inappropriate people to begin with... so their Internet behavior doesn't really surprise me. It's unfortunate that they're here, but intelligence doesn't necessarily indicate kindness... </p>
<p>In response to your other concerns, yineyes, Vassar IS cliquey. I think I'm a little more bothered by it than most because I went to a performing arts high school that was anything but cliquey, so I'm not used to it at all, but it can get a little annoying sometimes. But I've found my niche here and I have an amazing group of kind, inclusive, talented, insane friends who DON'T post nasty things about other people on the Internet. It's easy to figure out who those people are, and it's easy to avoid them. </p>
<p>Vassar has "bad eggs." And the bad eggs at Vassar are pretty awful, because they're smart people - and mean smart people are terrifying, because they know just how to get to you. But the amount of truly wonderful people at Vassar far outweighs the presence of these creeps. Your child made a good choice. It's an intense place, and it's not for everyone, but it's worth it if you can hack it.</p>
<p>Thanks, dc89 for your very honest and thoughtful response. I guess I had this rose-colored-glasses, kind of goofily utopian view of college life that didn't include cliques or bullies or any other kind of underdeveloped wierdness.</p>
<p>So it goes. I know from both you and littleatheist that Vassar also has lots and lots of kind, intelligent, funny participants who eschew all that other crap and enjoy the life that a school like Vassar offers.</p>
<p>I know no place is perfect, but as long as those who mar the experience are few and largely keep to each other, it should be fine.</p>
<p>I'm trying to access the Life in the 9 blog and keep getting an error message from blogspot that it can't be found. Has the blog been taken down? Thanks!</p>
<p>I don't believe so... or at least I have no trouble accessing it, although I also got the error message when I tried to access it off of the link I posted in my previous post. Anyway, let me try once again and see if that makes a difference... blog9</a> | life in the 9. it's personal.</p>
<p>EDIT: It should work now. Enjoy!</p>
<p>Thanks, L.A.; the blog is available now and I've bookmarked it so it should no longer be a problem.</p>