Johns Hopkins or Vassar?

College Search & Selection
21

<p>I am, overall, very happy at Vassar. Although it wasn't my first choice when I was applying to schools, I'm very happy I ended up there. If you're interested in more information about the school, check out the Vassar section of the college confidential website: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vassar-college/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/vassar-college/&lt;/a>. That being said, here are some personal pros and cons.</p>

<p>PROS
[ul][<em>]The people. One of the things that surprised me about Vassar when I first arrived was how genuinely nice and interesting everyone was. The admissions office does a fantastic job of selecting students who are not only intelligent, but also--for the most part--highly articulate and friendly.
[</em>]The amount of majors. Vassar offers over fifty majors, and as such, provides its students with classes in a huge variety of different subjects. As someone who enjoys trying all sorts of different subjects, this is something I truly love. For example, this past year, I took classes in history (my major), math, biology, Russian studies, anthropology, political science, psychology, and medieval & renaissance studies.
[<em>]The professors. They're well-educated, friendly, good teachers (mostly), and always willing to help students with whatever they need.
[</em>]The open curriculum. Not having a core of classes I'm required to take is fantastic. It's wonderful to be able to take whatever I want and not spend time studying something I have little to no interest in.
[li]The housing plan. Vassar has a system of seven houses where students live from the freshman to junior year. They're basically dorms; however, are more community oriented in that they host events for house mates and the rest of the campus throughout the year.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>CONS
[ul][li]Poughkeepsie. Although New York City is an option for the weekend, Poughkeepsie itself isn't all that interesting or lively a city. There's a few shops just off campus that are worth a visit and a shuttle service to a mall-movie theatre complex; however, other than that, there's not much interesting in the immediate area of Vassar. That being said, there's usually so much going on on-campus that I personally haven't found much of a desire to head off.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>That's just about all I can think of for negatives... as I said, attending Vassar has been an excellent experience for me.</p>

22

<p>just throwing that out there, I;m a "pre-med" at JHU...but "pre-med" is NOT a major here at JHU!!!! </p>

<p>Its an 'advising" program, it tells you what classes to take to fufill your requirement, you get a special adviser, they help you out with the whole process, etc..</p>

<p>So you're going to HAVE major in somehting if you come here to JHU...</p>

<p>Good Luck!!</p>

<p>p.s. JHU medicine is straight up epic though, so if I had a choice I'd go with JHU.........oh wait...I did :)</p>

23

<p>JHU all the way.
Vassar does have great placement for grad schools though... I grew up in Poughkeepsie and both of the kids that went there, whom I know, went to Harvard for grad school.
Of course, you have to live the rest of your life as a Vazhole.</p>