<p>Because I'm getting antsy about it...</p>
<p>What is the deal with the pink bike system? Would you recommend bringing your own bike if you plan to be riding off campus? Do you know if there is any indoor bike storage space for bad weather/winter?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Pink bike system kind of sucks. Great concept; didn't work, because Vassar students tend to not know how to take care of things. You should DEFINITELY bring your own bike if you plan on riding off campus. Or if you plan to be riding at all, because by the end of this year it was impossible to find a pink bike when you needed one (or ever, for that matter). I don't know about storage...</p>
<p>Bikes on Campus:
My daughter will be a sophomore this year and bought a bike to use on campus as a freshman because she needed to get from one end of the campus to another quickly to get to class a couple of times a week. My impression is that you don't really need a bike to get around campus, although they are fun to have. She also uses her bike to run errands just off campus, although that means riding on the streets with traffic. If you plan to go off campus on a bike, you should definitely bring your own (and be careful!).
During rainy or snowy weather, she stored her bike in the basement of her dorm (Lathrop); I imagine all of the Quad dorms have spaces for bikes in the basements, but I don't know about the other dorms.
The pink bike system did not work out very well last year because there were not enough bikes to go around and people tried to hold on to them instead of sharing them. If they greatly increased the number of bikes, it would be a wonderful system.</p>
<p>Thanks for the prompt answers! Very helpful. Also, one more thing: is it absolutely necessary to have a lock for your laptop at Vassar? Is it recommended?</p>
<p>Laptop Locks:
I don't think my daughter used her laptop lock, although I wish she did. I think it is prudent to have a lock on your laptop if you will be leaving it unattended, particularly in the library or other public space (I have seen Macbook Pros in the library left unsecured by trusting students!). I actually installed the "lojack for laptops" on her Macbook in case it was stolen, but it would be better to deter theft in the first place rather than worry about recovering a laptop once it is taken. Aside from the expense, it would be an incredible pain to lose schoolwork, photos, ipod music libraries, etc.</p>
<p>How much cash do you need?
Do you need a credit or debit card?
Is there a special kind of card for students?</p>
<p>This is a great thread for information - Thank you so much!!!</p>
<p>RushFan</p>
<p>You rarely need cash on-campus. The only things I use cash for are the farmer's market (which is basically the highlight of my life), occasionally buying T-shirts or whatever from people selling witty Vassar merchandise, and contributing to funds for my dance group's parties. Everything else can pretty much go on V-Card or credit/debit. I got an HSBC account that my campus job paychecks go into for my incidental cash withdrawals because there is an HSBC ATM on campus and I don't like paying ATM fees.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if you can use a check/debit (not charge) card in the bookstore? The website says you can use credit cards or the V card but doesn't say anything about check/debit cards. This is a VISA check card from Bank of America. Thanks.</p>
<p>As long as there is a Visa logo on a debit card you should be able to use it anywhere that accepts Visa credit cards. So yes. They just don't have a PIN pad.</p>
<p>Oddly the HSBC website does not say that there's an ATM on the Vassar campus or anywhere in Vassar's zip code for that matter.</p>
<p>I'm trying to figure out if my kid will be able to use his non-check debit card on campus to draw down cash. It works at a local bank ATM here in Baltimore even though it doesn't have the VISA or Mastercard logo on it (since its not a check card).</p>
<p>We have it through USAA and it is supposed to work at any bank's ATM, anywhere. My only worry is the last poster specifying that there has to be a VISA or MC logo on the card. We're having his paychecks deposited into this account and I want him to have ready access to that cash as he needs it. It would suck big time if we've gone to this trouble only to find out that HSBC is the only bank on earth that won't recognize a cash card without the VISA or MC logo. Any thoughts, Vassar students?</p>
<p>I promise there's an ATM on campus, unless it's been removed since May, which would be weird. The HSBC branch might be in the 12605 zip code. </p>
<p>My comment on needing the logo is for purchases at the bookstore, etc. - I've never had a non-check cash card, so I don't know if it would work at the ATMs. You can probably call HSBC and find out. However, I would recommend getting an HSBC account with an HSBC debit card to avoid ATM fees, which are a huge pain in the butt (I think it's $1.75 at the HSBC ATMs and like $2.50 at the Poughkeepsie Galleria).</p>
<p>Thanks for the info and advice, dc89. Our USAA account covers the ATM fees of any bank's machine that we use to access our USAA money. I'm pretty sure they've negotiated a nominal fee with other banks so it's a cents-per-transaction cost to them rather than the whopping $1.75-$2.00 fees that are levied by banks on consumers. Which I agree, are a huge pain in the butt.</p>
<p>Sorry for the late reply on this one... I just noticed that I went unanswered.</p>
<p>Question: Is it absolutely necessary to have a lock for your laptop at Vassar? Is it recommended?</p>
<p>Answer: That really depends on what you're planning on doing with your laptop. If you're used to leaving your laptop lying unattended on a table in the library for five or more minutes, then yes, I would advise you to have a lock for your laptop. If, however, you're careful about not leaving it lying around and lock your dorm room when you're not there, I would say that a lock isn't necessary. That being said, I don't know of very much stealing that went on last year; however, it is better to be safe than sorry.</p>
<p>My daughter is considering transferring to Vassar. Her main concern is how difficult it will be for a transfer (spring) to fit in. When we visited and in what we read, we hear a lot about the houses and the tradition of the freshman groups staying together for three years. Does anyone have transfer experience or know a transfer student and can comment on this?</p>
<p>Question: My daughter is considering transferring to Vassar. Her main concern is how difficult it will be for a transfer (spring) to fit in. When we visited and in what we read, we hear a lot about the houses and the tradition of the freshman groups staying together for three years. Does anyone have transfer experience or know a transfer student and can comment on this?</p>
<p>Answer: I know a student who took a semester abroad to Vassar last year, and he had no trouble fitting in and making friends. Although it is true that some individuals who lived around each other as freshmen try to stay neighbors for their three years of dorm-life, this is not what everyone does. More importantly, even if your daughter ended up living near individuals who'd been living together for the past one and a half years, I doubt she would have much of a problem making friends. This is a certainly a generalization, but I would say that the majority of the student population on campus is quite friendly. As long as your daughter comes in with a positive, friendly attitude, she should have no trouble fitting in.</p>
<p>I see that Vassar for the past two years has had sharply improved success in diversity enrollments: in the class of 2011, "Students of color comprise nearly 29% of the class, by far the highest percentage in Vassar's history." The new class of 2012 nearly matches that figure, with 72% white and 28% students of color (Vassar</a> College). These are impressive numbers--better than at the other colleges to which my son applied (where the median SAT scores are lower, and the percentage of admitted applicants higher, than at Vassar). How do you account for Vassar's sudden success--is it a matter of new, more aggressive recruiting? more generous financial aid than at peer institutions?</p>
<p>Question: How do you account for Vassar's sudden success--is it a matter of new, more aggressive recruiting? more generous financial aid than at peer institutions?</p>
<p>Answer: I'm not really sure the answer to this (it's an interesting question); however, I can give you my own speculations. First, I would say that your point of financial aid may have something to do with it, at least partially. Vassar is well-known for being generous with financial aid, particularly when compared with other LACs. I have several friends, for example, here at Vassar who are on financial aid and who all said that Vassar provided them with "the best deal." In addition, the shift to a need blind policy for domestic students is additionally encouraging. That being said, I'm not sure that this would necessary mean that minority students are more attracted to the school: I would think it would probably encourage more low-income students than minority students to seriously consider Vassar.</p>
<p>I would like to think that Vassar's reputation as a very "open" community has something to do with this. It is known as a place where all students can find acceptance, regardless of race, gender, sexual preference, place of origin, socio-economic status, political sentiments, and religion. Perhaps this reputation makes it appeal to minority students.</p>
<p>Lastly, the fact that applications have significantly increased in the past few years is probably a reason for the increase in diversity. With a large pool of well-qualified applicants, Admissions has more individuals to choose from. I could certainly see how this could add to increased diversity: with more minority students applying to Vassar than ever before, more are naturally accepted.</p>
<p>How did you know Vassar was "The One?"</p>
<p>Question: How did you know Vassar was "The One?"</p>
<p>Answer: Frankly, I didn't think it was "the one" when I was applying to colleges. I liked it, of course, but didn't consider it to be my top choice: it was 4 of 7. I got into three of the schools I applied to (school choices 4, 6, and 7: Vassar, Ursinus, and Franklin & Marshall) and waitlisted at one (choice 5: Haverford), where the field hockey coach said she would do all she could to get me in. Basically, I ended up choosing Vassar because it was my favorite of the schools I got into/got waitlisted at. It felt like it had the most intellectual environment, had a beautiful campus, was frat-free, offered a good balance of extracurricular activities, was convenient to my home, was highly secular, and offered more classes in the History department of interest to me than the other three schools I would have had the opportunity to go to. Vassar didn't start out as my top school of interest; however, it became "the one" because it had the most qualities I wanted in a school (as listed in the last sentence) out of the options I had to choose from.</p>
<p>Hi, I have a few questions:</p>
<p>1) Could anyone compare Oberlin and Vassar for me? I was just wondering if there are any major differences between them as I'm quite interested in both schools.</p>
<p>2) What are the requirements for all students, such as the foreign language requirement? Or if anyone knows where I could look up this information, that would be immensely helpful. I have no idea how to find out.</p>
<p>3) How difficult are introductory foreign language classes? I'm terrible at learning foreign languages. I've taken three years of Spanish, but due to scheduling issues I wasn't able to continue it and when I enter college I will have gone two years without a foreign language class. Needless to say, I'm quite nervous about how badly I'll do in a college foreign language class.</p>
<p>4) How is the psychology department? Does anyone know how Vassar's compares to other top liberal arts colleges?</p>
<p>Thanks so much or sorry for all the questions!</p>