<p>1)i heard the school is like really left so is ithe student body like granola?</p>
<p>2)i am not gay. i am a guy. am i screwed?</p>
<p>3)my family makes like below $60000. how is vassar with financial aid? is it mostly loans?</p>
<p>4)how big is the drug scene? i mean i love pot and i enjoy blazing it up but if its like TOO BIG that it would turn me into some other hardcore drug addict... iam a little worried. </p>
<p>thanks guys :O</p>
<p>1) Yes, the school is quite far left - political diversity is not one of Vassar's strong points. The dynamic of the student body is slowly shifting, however, and the college is nowhere near as liberal as it was, say, five years ago.</p>
<p>2) No, you're not screwed.</p>
<p>3) Vassar is pretty amazing with financial aid, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. </p>
<p>4) The drug scene is significant, but not obtrusive. If you want to get involved in it, you'll have ample opportunities, but no one will force anything on you, ever.</p>
<p>I'm attending Vassar in the fall so I have little experience... but I'll give answering a shot. </p>
<ol>
<li>Wouldn't know... </li>
<li>Eh... don't worry, we (girls) wouldn't mind more guys... :)</li>
<li>I agree with Azmodi, Vassar aid is awesome (from my experience) and mine was 95% scholarships and 5% loans/campus employment</li>
<li>Sorry, don't know...</li>
</ol>
<p>thanks guys. i wanna add one more question</p>
<p>5) i found out that vassar college campus is 1000 acres. do you feel that the campus is too big or small? also does the 1000 acres... is that including some sort of a vassar owned forest or something? i want a pretty a big campus. thanks again guys.</p>
<p>and feel free to answer the other questions as well!</p>
<p>people smoke pot, but not obsessively. recreational baby.</p>
<p>you wont have trouble finding girls- the F:M ratio is something like 60:40, subtract the gay guys, and the odds are significantly in your favor.</p>
<p>I know I am just a Mom ( well, old hippie Mom ) and my freinds' kids are comparing Vassar more now to Oberlin . ....which I think is awfully strong on all five points but the guy/girl ratio .</p>
<p>Re: the campus: (I'm an alum and my daughter will be a Freshman this September)
It's gorgeous (really). The part of the campus which contains the dorms and classroom buildings is manageable - I'd guess that it might take ten minutes to walk from the farthest dorm to the farthest academic building (Skinner). It's full of trees and grass and a couple of lakes and streams. It feels like you're on a campus, not at all like you're in a city; there's alot of space.
Much of the 1000 acres is "farm". I literally never went there when I was a student but it's used for classes as well as walks and bike rides.</p>
<p>can you elaborate on what you mean by amazing?
how do upper middle class (as in combined income around 100 000) faire?</p>
<p>Why do you say Vassar is less liberal now than it was five years ago, Asmodi?</p>
<p>I say Vassar is less liberal now that it was 5 years ago because, in nearly all respects, it simply is. Politically, there are a great deal more self-expressed moderates and conservatives on-campus than in the past (not to say that this is a large number, but simply a larger one). Along with this, the stereotypically "hippy/artsy" population (people with dyed multicolored hair, political activists, etc.) has greatly declined in recent years. There are also a great deal more students concerned about how good a grad. school they can get into, how much money they can make, Vassar's prestige, their (and other people's) grades, etc. - all relatively new trends.<br>
The conduct of both students and the administration is also more staid (again, not that it IS staid) - when I was a freshman I went to parties in Jewett tower where 100+ people were crammed onto the floor (which was covered in beer), the vice-president of the dorm was serving from a keg in the bathroom, and it took security a good hour or more to break it up. I can't see that happening nearly as frequently now, if at all (largely to JJ Jackson being the new dean, but the mere fact that she was chosen is indicative of a sway in the administration's philosophy). My freshman year, the campus was littered with beer bottles and people openly smoked pot on the quad... No longer. And then there was the Homo Hop (which ended right before I became a student), which by reputation was sort of the apotheosis of college debauchery... Now it no longer exists (per the request of the city of Poughkeepsie), replaced by the much more tame Halloween Party.
Perhaps my experience has differed from that of others, but most members of the class of 2005 I've spoken to about the issue feel that there was a real shift in the campus dynamic as the years went by (I point to the entrance of the class of 2007, myself, as a definitive point of change). I don't think this is a recent trend, however - the class of 2001 also felt Vassar was getting "less liberal" and that incoming classes mirrored this.</p>
<p>That's exactly why I changed my mind about going to Vassar. I fell in love with Vassar when I first started looking into colleges. I thought that nothing would keep me from deciding to going to Vassar, apparently I was wrong.
The shift isn't really a negative change, but I come from an area that is 99.9% conservative so I wanted to experience pretty much the exact opposite while in college. Now I've set my sights on Hampshire College.</p>
<p>in response to azmodi's comment, i want to point out that i'm sure everything about vassar being more moderate in recent years is totally correct (after all, that's the general trend in the nation), but i think its going a bit far to say that now that the school is more conservative people pick it based on its prestige. vassar has always been prestigious and it would be hard to believe that for even the most leftist "artsy" types you described prestige did not play into their choice at all. just a thought.</p>
<p>I did not imply that because the school is more conservative people are more likely to choose it because of its prestige value - I merely said that the newer classes more often focus on Vassar's prestigious reputation than those previously. In the past, most students at Vassar at least gave the impression (hypocritical though it may have been in many cases) that they didn't care that it was a good school and that they chose it because of its open curriculum, etc., whereas now there is no hiding the fact that people are choosing Vassar because it will help them secure better positions in the future. And just in case anyone (perhaps weatherwoman) misunderstands me - Vassar is still very, very liberal and even students at Brown are surprised by some of the things I have described. The administrative policies are still generally extremely lenient and there are still a great many students there who don't give a damn about going to a good graduate school (or going beyond an AB at all), getting good grades, or making a lot of money.</p>
<p>i will bring back the party this fall with the class of 2010.</p>
<p>What does Vassar value in an applicant specifically, I mean what sort of particular qualities does it look for? And can someone describe the campus life? What are some of the perks about Vassar besides prestige, academic freedom, etc.</p>
<p>I'm also interested in the above poster's questions re: campus life. Also, does it seem that everyone is outspoken and/or politically active, or just a vocal minority? How might you compare Vassar to Wesleyan in terms student body, social life, etc?? Would you consider the academics comparable (humanities)?</p>
<p>Wesleyan and Vassar increasingly fish from the same pond of wealthy East Coast liberals with enough self-possession to eschew the Ivy League and its middle-class backwash. Vassar students don't always know what they want to do with the rest of their lives but are confident that with good grades and the right connections they will make their way in the world. </p>
<p>Wesleyan students often arrive on campus with various agendas; the hard-core use the the school merely as a base of operations; but, others, perhaps the majority, prefer to surf the the many opportunities that a talented and quirky group of scholars has to offer -- and, that's just the faculty. Fellow students represent a whole other education entirely.</p>
<p>Both campuses are attractive. Vassar's is a tad more Victorian in air whereas Wesleyan's is an admixture of New England river town and sixties idealism.</p>
<p>Academically, there are a lot of similarities; both point to their nationally recognized Film Studies programs as particualr strengths. Wesleyan has a lopsided faculty/student ratio among its science majors thanks to lots of federal money and the fact that the humanities and social sciences steal much of the thunder at this favorite whipping boy of the conservative right wing.</p>
<p>Wow - what a great post! Thanks</p>
<p>johnwesley, regarding what you call the "middle-class backwash" overrunning Ivies, how then to explain the 55% of students receiving financial aid at Vassar? I assume these aren't the wealthy --aren't they then part of the same "backwash" you find so objectionable at Brown? And how can you purport to have a liberal or even left-of stance if you refer to the middle class or any socioeconomic income group as "back-wash." If Wesleyan considers the middle class just a backwash like so much flotsam on the mucky stream, then perhaps it is not the place you describe.</p>