<p>Hello! I am currently a sophomore in high school, but I have begun looking at colleges, and I have a few questions about Vassar. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>How good is Vassar's English program? </p></li>
<li><p>How far is Poughkeepsie from New York City? Do students venture into the city very often? </p></li>
<li><p>What is the political/religious atmosphere like on campus? I am liberal and agnostic, although I am not very in-your-face about my beliefs. Would I fit in? </p></li>
<li><p>Are there many feminists at Vassar? </p></li>
<li><p>How heavy is the course load, and how hard are the courses? Are students extremely stressed out over work? </p></li>
<li><p>What types of universities do Vassar students typically gravitate towards for graduate degrees? </p></li>
<li><p>What are on-campus activities and organizations like? </p></li>
</ol>
<p>1) Vassar has one of the best English programs in the country. Word is that it’s hard to get into some of the creative writing classes though.</p>
<p>2) Vassar is about 75 miles from New York City. Some students go there a few times a semester and others never do. It’s an available trip by train if you want to go.</p>
<p>3) Vassar is more liberal than most colleges…even more liberal than some “liberal” colleges, but unless you are “in your face conservative” I think you would fit in. Vassar has the reputation as being very accepting.</p>
<p>4) Yes.</p>
<p>5) Vassar’s reputation is that the student body is smart and curious, and due to the level of student Vassar gets, ,you can be sure that there will be work to do. The students there are generally more helpful and less cutthroat with each other than at similarly elite colleges.</p>
<p>6) All kinds. People from Vassar go on to be doctors and lawyers and go into academia and just about everything you can name.</p>
<p>7) Vassar has the reputation of having about the most activities going on at any one time of just about any college in the country. They call it the “Vassar bubble” because people tend to stay on campus. The college does a good job of bringing entertainment, speakers, etc. to campus.</p>
<p>Many of these questions are answered on Vassar’s own website. You should go there too to see what THEY say about themselves. </p>
<ol>
<li>The normal thing is to take a cab to the Poughkeepsie train station and then take cabs or public trans in the city. Most people find this more convenient and relaxed than driving. You would probably not go down for night life very often, but Saturday trips for performances and shopping are fairly common.</li>
</ol>
One has to be very careful when choosing a college with the intent of taking a significant number of creative writing courses. Many colleges, including Vassar, do not guarantee admission to all courses.</p>
<p>I’ll try a jab at some of the questions. I’ve only been here for a semester though.
How good is Vassar’s English program?
It’s very strong, as stepay said. Also papers aren’t graded directly, which I found to be kind of weird. But it’s nice! LOL I’ve taken something called a freshman writing seminar in the English department, and so far it’s been very enjoyable. They cap the class at around 17 students, and my professor schedules individual, 30-minute 1-on-1 conferences regarding each paper we write.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How far is Poughkeepsie from New York City? Do students venture into the city very often?
I think like a 1.5 (2? don’t quote me on it) hour train ride away. It’s about $34-ish for a round trip. Students venture into the city a bit, but not frequently enough to make it regular trips. A lot of my friends are from NYC though so they go into the city during breaks (fall break, Thanksgiving, etc.). I myself visited the city twice during this semester (with friends). </p></li>
<li><p>What is the political/religious atmosphere like on campus? I am liberal and agnostic, although I am not very in-your-face about my beliefs. Would I fit in?
Students are very open-minded and liberal. There is also a niche for conservative students if you’re interested at all. In general students are open, especially to views on non-binary genders, sexuality, feminism, (institutional) racism, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>Are there many feminists at Vassar?
There are many. I think there’s also a feminist club, but I can’t remember its exact name.</p></li>
<li><p>How heavy is the course load, and how hard are the courses? Are students extremely stressed out over work?
It’s finals week now, so a lot of people are stressed. But it’s not normally like this throughout the semester (obviously). The work load depends on the courses you take, and what grades you’re aiming for. I’m planning on doing pre-med, and since the college is small, there aren’t any “caps” on the number of A’s professors hand out, which is really nice. My roommate is taking Introduction to Cognitive Science, and he stresses over the class a lot, but the professor he has is one of the best in the country (in that field). So sometimes it also depends on the professor you get. But in general expect more work to be put in (for a decent grade) than high school, regardless of which college you go to.</p></li>
<li><p>What types of universities do Vassar students typically gravitate towards for graduate degrees?
Not entirely sure. </p></li>
<li><p>What are on-campus activities and organizations like?
They are very active, but it’s what you make of them. There are many, many different organizations that you can choose to participate in. They range from performance groups (a-cappella is very prominent here) to social justice (there are a ton of them) to intellectual (debate and others).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Okay now I need to get back to studying haha.</p>
So, are you a sophomore (as you say on 11/24/14 & 11/28/14), a junior (as you say on 3/20/15) or a senior (as you say on 10/21/14)?
Based on the threads you have started, you are looking at competitive LACs (Vassar, Wellesley and Amherst) or large schools (eg, NYU v SMU) or have you already applied to a batch of Ivy’s / high-end name schools, with 10 APs completed.
I get that part of the college process is discerning what you are looking for, so evolution is to be expected, but what is it that you are really looking for here?
How hard is it to get onto the boys’ tennis team? (Prospective applicant is a freshman in high school currently playing top position on high school’s JV team but not ranked very high by USTA.) Is there a junior varsity team too at Vassar? Is there club or intramural tennis at Vassar for boys?
@collegemom3717 I share this account with my sisters. We are different ages, have different tastes, and have many of the same credentials (we went to the same school and did much of the same activities). I am looking at Vassar.
What’s possibly not to like about Vassar is that there isn’t much going on outside of the campus, and it is a “depressed” area outside of the very local neighborhood Vassar is in, which is called Arlington. There are hardly any stores, for example. You have to go to a mall via campus bus to do any clothing or housewares shopping. However, this doesn’t seem like much of a hardship for most students, who are busy with campus activities and schoolwork. Another negative might be seeing the same faces constantly (or that can be seen as a plus). In other words, it’s that “Vassar bubble.” There can be a feeling of no escape. On the other hand, this situation also breeds intimacy, great friendships, and close relationships with faculty.
1- my student is an English major, with focus on creative writing. He had to submit a portfolio of his writing in order to get into the advanced creative writing classes, and it is competitive. So yes, you are not assured of being able to be in this track beyond the intermediate level. The department as a whole is fantastic (and very demanding). The faculty seems superb. One professor, Ron Sharpe, used to be the president of Kenyon College and went back to teaching (at Vassar). All the teachers seem to be superbly qualified.
4- I would think the vast majority of students consider themselves “feminists” (including the men). And many can tell you the differences between “first wave,” “second wave,” etc. feminism. This is a very liberal campus where issues of minorities, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, etc. are taken very seriously (recently there has been much criticism of how the campus security police have handled some difficult racially-charged situations and the administration was pressured to look at themselves and take appropriate action).