Thanks.
By diversity I meant more racial diversity particularly with international students. It’s a cultural leap for many of them though my D has grown up with all races as co-students. And if I take out city factor, would you still recommend Hamilton on diversity factor.
Thanks for your views.
Still Vassar. I think it’s a bit of an easier place for an international student.
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If your daughter might be interested in applied psychology, then she may want to consider whether she would be interested in Hamilton’s semester-length program at the New England Center for Children.
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Not sure how true this is. A quick Google reveals Hamilton’s course requirements (beyond those required for a major) to be
three writing-intensive courses, at least one quantitative and symbolic reasoning course, the physical education requirement…a course that addresses how social categories structure the world in which we live.
for Vassar they are
All graduates must comply with the Freshman Writing Seminar requirement, the Quantitative Course requirement, and the foreign language proficiency requirement.
Vassar’s foreign language proficiency requirement could be onerous for a student who comes in with no foreign language background. I know one can satisfy the requirement with a sufficiently high score on a foreign language AP exam (including Latin!).
One thing to look into is the ease of getting into courses. Psychology has become a very popular major and lots of students want to take Psych courses. Best to ask the schools directly, e.g., by sending emails to undergrad advisors at each school.
Your daughter may also want to reach out to current students at each school through Instagram pages for student groups at each of the schools, etc. My kids found talking to current students very helpful when making college decisions.
What a great question! TBH, I think the city factor tends to be exaggerated with Vassar. I mean, after all is said and done, it still means boarding a train and traveling an hour and a half each way and who does that more than a few times over the space of four years? That being said, I would still choose Vassar on points. Both student bodies are somewhat self-selected, and to be honest, people choose them for different reasons: people choose Vassar for the sophistication and inclusiveness of its student body; you are much more likely to come across interesting, quirky, non-conformists there. Hamilton is the sort of place New Yorkers send their kids in order not to worry about their safety; 1600 kids surrounded on all sides by woods and farmland. Take your pick.
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Then, visit both Hamilton and Vassar, and let the visits tell you which you would prefer. (50%)
Also, look at available majors and courses (and curriculum – try to plan four years at both schools) to figure out which more greatly aligns with your academic interests. (50%)
To be honest, New England LACs are not racially and ethnically diverse. Many individuals in the majority consider them “diverse” compared to their neighborhood or high school environments, but if you are a person of color you will be in the minority. Of course, that degree depends on which racial or ethnic group you are in. These colleges are all at least 50% white. Some NE LACs (like Amherst and Wesleyan) are better, but the numbers don’t lie.
Here is the breakdown of racial and ethnic groups at Vassar and Hamilton. (Data is pulled from each college’s recent Common Data Set)
Vassar / Hamilton
Nonresident Aliens: 8% / 7%
Hispanic, Latino: 11% / 10%
Black, African American: 4% / 4%
White: 55% / 65%
Asian: 13% / 8%
Native Haw, API: 0% / 0%
Native American: 0% / <1%
Two or more races: 8% / 6%
As I mentioned, we are African American. When we looked at schools for D20 and S23, we were not only looking at numbers–we were also looking at the experiences of students of color (particularly Black and Hispanic/Latino) at those colleges. Just because a university has a high number of students of color, does not mean they are integrated into the community and experience the same success with their social life, diverse groups of friends, leadership positions, internship assistance, research opportunities, etc. D20 has a diverse group of friends, a great social life, and plenty of opportunities. So although the number of Black students is low (it was higher when she applied), she is thriving.
We didn’t look at Vassar, so I can’t comment on international students or students of color there. However, I would strongly urge you to reach out to international students/student groups on campus to get their take on student life for international students. I often chuckle when posters in the majority express how “diverse” and “welcoming” a campus is for all students, yet they are obviously coming from a VERY different perspective. While I appreciate CC, I honestly don’t think people who are not from that background can say how it will be for those students. After all, they are not walking their daily existence on that campus. This is what we did for both D20 and S23.
Best of luck. They are both fabulous choices.
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Correction: enrollment is 2,055
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Wow. Thank you. That’s a lot more students than I thought they had! 
Do you have a student at Hamilton? My son graduated last May. He (and I) would disagree with the “fratty/ jock-y” comment. Vassar may be more “progressive”, but Hamilton isn’t far behind.
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With respect to the study of literature, this article discusses a few of Hamilton’s attributes:
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Looks like Vassar may have other ways of fulfilling that requirement which may be considered if the student has knowledge of another language or was schooled primarily in another language. OP should check further if this is a consideration.
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With recent acceptance rates for Hamilton and Vassar of 11.8% and 18.7%, respectively, it seems that these schools’ admission offices do some selecting as well.
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BU is not an option. Forget it. Last cycle, they waitlisted about 5,000 students and admitted 3. Yes, 3.
The options are Vassar or Hamilton. Both schools have high freshman retention rates, meaning students return for their second year. Both of these schools are going to have a lot of campus clubs and activities to keep students busy on campus. There is no need to get to the city on a regular basis and in fact, students will stay on campus the majority of the time. That is where their food, bed, and friends are.
Vassar is not particularly convenient to NYC, but it’s very doable. Hamilton is much less so. Hamilton is probably slightly more academic in feel, but both are going going to be very rigorous. Vassar is definitely more arty and creative in feel. Hamilton is a bit more mainstream. Both are beautiful. If your child is an arty, creative type of person, Vassar is probably a better choice.
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But apparently more selective for women than men:
Class of 2026 Profile:
Vassar M- 41% F- 59%
Hamilton M- 46% F- 54%
But you are still asking about BU. You know…it isn’t exactly a tiny university.
If she likes to be smack in the city…why isn’t Fordham still being considered?
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I am not disagreeing with this statement but would respectfully suggest it is “convenient” as there are numerous periodic ways to get from campus to the train station across town. It takes 15 minutes and you can arrive very close to departure times as tickets (typically under $30) can be bought electronically. It is however inconvenient if you don’t have the hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours to spend on the Metro North.
I did it frequently for a college internship (things were not as automated or predictable) but used the time to study and found it to be a very effect study opportunity with no distraction.
Good luck both are great schools, meaning Hamilton and VC I agree that you should forget BU.
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You can’t go wrong. Both excellent schools, and if your child finds a telling detail that makes one school “fit” - then great!!! Go with it, no regrets.
That said - I have a son at Vassar, and am thus partial to that school, and think that sometimes folks underestimate how intellectually focused the school is, as opposed to its well-earned artsy/creative vibe.
Note that Vassar is particularly recognized for Psychology as one of the nation’s leading feeder schools (per capita) for Psychology PhDs.
Swarthmore publishes lists of the per-capita PhD production rate of colleges and universities derived from published NSF statistics (in which Swarthmore always does quite well 
).
Doctorates Awarded :: Institutional Research :: Swarthmore College
In looking through this document, you’ll see that in the category Psychology and social science, Vassar ranks 13th in the US (Harvard ranks 14th) among the percentage of its graduates who go on for a PhD in these fields, with Hamilton a respectable 75.
In Humanities and the Arts, Vassar ranked 12th in the nation for per capita graduates going on for a PhD. Hamilton ranked 63rd (still phenomenal, considering the more than 3500 universities in the US).
Looked at another way, not per capita, but just comparing raw numbers among liberal arts colleges, a higher ed blogger has used the NSF data to make a searchable table where you can adjust type of degree, date range, type of college, and so on, to investigate undergraduate institutions of people who get PhDs in the US. Baccalaureate origins of doctoral recipients (highereddatastories.com)
Playing around with this tool, you can see that from 2008-2018 (the most recent years for this tool), Vassar had 109 graduates who went on to graduate schools and received PhD’s in Psychology (the most of any liberal arts college, or baccalaureate college, in the US). In that same period, Hamilton (a smaller school) had 39 graduates receive PhD’s in psychology.
In that same period, Vassar had 57 students who received PhD’s in literature (or “letters” as the search tool lists it) second most behind Oberlin among US liberal arts colleges, while Hamilton had 22.
Your child may not be interested in potentially going to graduate school - but what these numbers indicate is the likelihood that your child would be in classes with students that were deeply engaged in the field, doing research, and with the intent of continuing on after their BA. This shapes the climate of the classroom discussion, faculty advising, and the peer climate.
It does NOT measure intelligence, drive, achievement, quality of faculty, etc. - but I still find the data useful for what they are.
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