<p>I'm a freshman at Vassar.. I applied Early Decision and didn't finish applying to other schools so I'm not sure what my chances are elsewhere and I'm also not sure where exactly to transfer to. </p>
<p>All I know is that I've been having a horrible freshman year here in Poughkeepsie.. I feel imprisoned by the Vassar bubble. I need to go to school in or very close to a city. </p>
<p>My city of choice is New York City but the only schools that I feel are comparable to Vassar in NYC are Barnard and Columbia. However, I feel like Barnard would be a step down (especially financially because of its small endowment and Vassar's financial aid dpt has been really good to me) and Columbia would be out of reach because my GPA is a 3.5 and you pretty much need a 4.0 to transfer in to an Ivy. </p>
<p>*Any thoughts on Barnard vs Vassar?</p>
<p>*What other bustling universities or LAC near major cities should I consider that are not a step below Vassar but are still attainable? Northwestern, U Chicago, Emory?</p>
<p>Ahh I need to hurry if I'm going to get reccs out :(</p>
<p>I imagine that at Vassar you have a campus-centered experience.
I suggest that, as you evaluate more urban schools, pay some attention to the degree to which they deviate from this.</p>
<p>It may be that at some schools people just routinely flitter off into their respective cities and there is virtually no on-campus life at all. Practically commuter schools with dorms. The dorms may not even all be on campus. No parties in the dorms, no substantial campus life outside of classes; very different than what you are experiencing, probably.</p>
<p>If you apply someplace and are accepted you can evaluate the accompanying financial aid offer; if it is insufficient don't go. Likewise, if your GPA may be deemed to be inadequate for some school they may reject you, and you won't go. But that doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't apply, rather just that the odds of succeeding may not be great. </p>
<p>I don't know about some huge "step down", I personally don't regard these two as so humongously different, but YMMV. Depending on your preferences you could be taking courses at Columbia, and there will be some Columbia students in your classes. Certainly available class offerings are far beyond Vassar's, via cross-registration with Columbia.</p>
<p>Which brings to mind: many of the city schools are universities, Vassar is a liberal arts college, and there are many differences in these environments.</p>
<p>Maybe a suburban school like Haverford would work for you, don't know; and of course if you like Columbia there's Penn..
Wash U..</p>
<p>with a 3.5 you probably will not get into Barnard. Barnard is more selective than Wellesley with freshman admissions anyway(26% admit rate versus something like 34 for wellesley). WIth Barnard you have the best of both worlds small LAC and Columbia university. You get degree from Columbia University.Classes excet fro freshman english/writing seminars usually have a mix of Columbia and Barnard students. got into wellesley,barnard as freshman. Waitlisted at Rice and Wash U. st louis. Got off wait list at wash u but turned it down for Barnard. Never applied to Columbia. NYC/Barnard/Columbia have a lot to offer:internships,clubs,music, etc.</p>
<p>"with a 3.5 you probably will not get into Barnard."</p>
<p>I just don't know that this is necessarily true, coming from Vassar. The GPA stats that get bandied about might lead one to think that grades earned at any school are all the same. They aren't. All these other schools know what Vassar is.</p>
<p>According to Barnard’s wikipedia page (which is not necessarily reliable) it is the most selective women’s college in the country. Barnard is a really unique school because it has the small, liberal arts college feel with a very personalized academic and advising environment, yet it has all the resources of a major, ivy-league university. Also, housing at Barnard is guaranteed all 4 years, though for transfer students the policy may be different. There are plenty of things to do on campus, but the neighborhood around Barnard, Morningside Heights, really is the campus. There are tons of amazing restaurants, shops, parks, etc within a few blocks of the school, not to mention a subway stop right in front of the front gates. I am not even a student, but I am deciding between Barnard and one other school and I’ll tell you, I chose to apply to Barnard over Columbia because I thought it was a better school, it has all the advantages of Columbia’s classes, professors, and student activities, with better advising and a much smaller, more nurturing environment.</p>