Notre Dame or Vassar?

<p>I am a international student from China, and I just got accepted by both Vassar and University of Notre Dame. I love both of them so I can't really decide where to go. So can you guys give me some advice. Thanks.</p>

<p>I plan to major in science or math and minor in political science or psychology (ND better). I might go to grad school after college. I am a little shy and quiet when I first meet up with people so I want to go to a school that is friendly to international students and is very inclusive (Vassar better). The location is not as important as the weather (I heard ND's whether sucks?). </p>

<p>Please give me some advice! Don't just say "ND is great blah blah blah" I want some objective advice. Thank you!</p>

<p>hey I got accepted to ND through early action. I’m from Hong Kong. ND is super nice to internationals, I even got an xmas card from the admissions committee in xmas. I’ve bonded with a lot of ND current students and alumni in HK. The alumni president in HK is very enthusiastic in organising various social activities for ND students and alumni. So I guess you definitely won’t have any problems fitting in! I didn’t apply to Vassar so I can’t give any comments about it sorry!</p>

<p>Both have a beautiful campus. Vassar was formerly an all female school, while ND was all male. When we visited four years ago, Vassar had a “queer life” house. ND obviously does not. As we sat on a bench at Vassar on a wonderful November 1st day, my son, a current ND student commented that he could feel the “liberalism” in the air at Vassar. An astute comment for a then 17 year old. Which you would prefer may depend upon which end of the political spectrum you are closest to.</p>

<p>Given that Sperky is from a completely different country and political culture (one I’m personally very familiar with), I doubt they have much opinion about whether they’re ‘conservative or liberal’ (a somewhat unique American phenomenon). 99% of the time it won’t even play in to your day-to-day life as a student unless you get involved with a political action group or something. As a whole, China tends to be socially conservative, but you’ll meet a wide variety of Chinese who would call themselves ‘conservative’ but have very different opinions about abortion and gays than American conservatives.</p>

<p>Sperky, if you don’t care about the ■■■■■■■■ culture wars our country loves to engage in, it won’t matter where you go as far as politics is concerned. You’re not going to choke on the ‘liberalism in the air’ (whatever that means) if you go to Vassar, and you’re not going to be murdered by xenophobic gay-bashing right wing religious wacko bigots at ND. The majority of ND students might lean conservative, but most are friendly and open. I had a good time there regardless of my political persuasion. </p>

<p>Speaking personally as someone who studied science and engineering at ND, I think I got a pretty awesome education and it was no trouble getting into a good graduate program. ND is cool too because faculty do research there, so it’s easier to get into undergrad research projects. You won’t have that as much at Vassar, as it’s a liberal arts college. However, I have two good friends who went to Vassar and had a very good time as well. They both got into good graduate programs too. I guess with Vassar you’re likely to have smaller and more personable classes, but that’s often the case at ND too once you get beyond the big freshman courses. Congrats on getting into two great schools though, you’ll really do well at either as far as academics go. </p>

<p>The weather at ND isn’t so pleasant, but Vassar isn’t much different in climate. ND is a way bigger school with a huge football culture that can be a lot of fun, while Vassar is much smaller and has quieter traditions.</p>

<p>神姆大学欢迎你!At ND, you’ll find a very inclusive culture. 例如,在ND很多的人学中文,也跟中国人喜欢打交道。 我就是一个美国人!It is similarly difficult for me to comment on Vassar, but I went to ND and loved it. I studied physics and Chinese but am now studying chemical engineering at a top 5 graduate program (Having chosen this over 5 other top ten programs, I can assure you, the ND brand means something whether you’re looking for employment or graduate school). Good luck!</p>