<p>can someone help me with this decision? i like them both! i have reservations about grinnell's location and i have reservations about vassar's supposed "pretension"... however, i have a scholarship at grinnell. agh, can someone give me some guidance please?</p>
<p>Err... shouldn't you have decided already?</p>
<p>ETA - scratch that, just read your reply to the other thread. </p>
<p>I don't know a thing about Grinnell (except that it's apparently in Iowa?), but Vassar is pretty freakin' sweet. It's a very unique place that isn't right for everyone, but when it's right for you, it's RIGHT for you. It's artsy and random and ridiculous, and full of crazy people who tend to surprise you. It's great.</p>
<p>i know that it's probably a hard thing to gauge, but what kinds of people would you characterize as the kinds that Vassar wouldn't be right for?</p>
<p>It's pretty hard to describe... it's just a very particular vibe, I don't know. People who are self-motivated, prepared to defend their opinions (you never know when you're going to get into an existential political philosophical debate in a diner at 2 AM), work hard under pressure, enjoy the abstract... although I guess a lot of those are general characteristics for college, haha. I wish I could help more! (Pick Vassar!)</p>
<p>thanks for the response! do you find that most people are very happy there? what are common complaints you hear from students about vassar?</p>
<p>Vassar probably wouldn't be right for someone looking for a big sports-centered school... we have sports, and there are plenty of student-athletes on campus, but its not an athletic powerhouse. It's also not a good pick for someone whose staunchly conservative and would be alienated by being on a campus where most students are somewhere between moderate and very liberal--although, on the other side of things, there are more conservative students on campus that I expected there to be. If you're interested in being able to go into a city every day, it wouldn't be good either... NYC's an option, to be sure, but is more of a weekend thing. Also, it's not particularly good for people who don't feel like doing any work at all at college, although I'm guessing that if you got into such good schools as Vassar and Grinnell, this probably isn't a problem :D. Lastly, if you want a school with a big frat scene, Vassar isn't a great option, seeing as we don't have them. Other than that, though, it could be a good fit for pretty much anyone... there are all kinds of people here, so it's pretty easy to find your niche. </p>
<p>I believe Vassar scores quite high on "how happy are our students" sorts of surveys, so if you believe those, students are quite content here. On a more personal basis, I would say that most students are indeed happy here and that the vast majority find Vassar to be, at the very least, a positive experience. As for your question about common complaints... well, Poughkeepsie isn't too popular (although between activities on campus and the availability of NYC, this isn't a big deal) and the food is sometimes brought up (it's not that bad though, in my opinion, and there's plans to make some changes next year).</p>
<p>What are you interested academically and extracurricularly? (Um, I just invented a word.) I picked Vassar because it's strong in English, history, drama, psychology and languages (my main academic interests) and also has fantastic extracurricular dance and theatre. It was really the extracurriculars that swayed it for me, though; the other schools I was looking at weren't as strong, and those are just as important as academics for me.</p>
<p>Those are the things I'm really interested in too... Grinnell, however, seems to be strong in similar things.
Is there a problem with fitting in if one is not a hipster at Vassar? Or a hippie? Or a goth? Or super artsy?
I definitely am into the arts... I sing and am in many choruses and have been in a bunch of musicals. I'm just not sure if it would be hard to get involved at a place like Vassar where it seems everyone is involved in such things.</p>
<p>I'm so NOT hipster, hippie, goth, super artsy. I'm very involved in the arts, but stereotype-wise, I'm really just average. And so are most of my friends who are in my dance and theatre groups. </p>
<p>You would LOVE Vassar if you're into all of those things. It's not hard at all to get involved, especially because there are so many opportunities (nine million acappella groups, a bunch of choirs, department musicals and a student-run musical theatre group) and a lot of them are student-run, so it's very un-intimidating and whatnot. It can seem a little overwhelming at first, but you'll find your niche soon enough.</p>
<p>i guess what i'm struggling with is whether i can deal with the colder, wealthier new york vibe as opposed to grinnell's friendlier midwestern vibe. with artsiness i think comes a little pretension, so i'm not sure i can deal with that.
however, i am from new york, so the proximity from home is a plus.
thanks for all your responses!</p>