<p>My D was recently accepted to both Smith and Vassar in RD rounds. I am familiar with Smith College since I live Mass. I really like the fact that they have five consortiums
( Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and University of Massachusetts at Amherst (UMass). I just don't see how you can go wrong with that. Smith has also offered a great financial package. Based on the offer and college savings no loans will need to be taken. My D did overnight in the fall and said it was just ok. </p>
<p>Vassar College is unknown to me, not knowing anyone who has been or currently attending. D visited last Feb vac for a day of dance and classes and loved it. We have not received Vassar financial package yet, but I'm hoping its similar to Smith's. </p>
<p>D is not sure of her major maybe international relations or political science with minor or double Spanish. Her intention is get her Master. Which school would help secure the best chances of her doing so? Can someone help with Pros and Cons of both schools? Any thoughts would be helpful. She will visit both for admitted students in April.</p>
<p>Vassar is about a two hour train ride to NYC, so weekend excursions are not out of the question and they have a shuttle that goes to the train, I believe. It’s very strong in the arts, tends to have a bit of a hipster vibe. Poughkeepsie is a bit of a dumpy small city, but there are some nice restaurants and shops near campus. The campus itself is very much a bubble and absolutely gorgeous. My younger son applied and was accepted, but ultimately decided he wanted some place bigger. (He’s at Tufts.) I probably said more in the visit reports section of this site.</p>
<p>Both schools are excellent and she should have no problem pursuing her chosen field coming from either school. Visit and let her decide which one she likes better.</p>
<p>mathmom- Thank you for info about Vassar. D wants to live in NY . Had her heart set on Barnard College , by yda her poor heart was crushed . I would love for her to stay in MASS but she refuses ; BS and BU have also given her good offers . She seems to more interested that Vassar is in NY then just “Vassar”. Tufts is in a great location , easy to get around , lots to do. I’m sure your son is having a good time.</p>
<p>emilybee- You are so right , I need to let her decide ,but goodness… that is so hard. If only my heart could remember that!!</p>
<p>Zayda, It’s not like Poughkeepsie is that far away! A quick trip on 84 (maybe 2/12 hours) and you’re in Boston. </p>
<p>My mom, sister and several cousins are all Smithies but I am trying not to be biased. That being said, they all loved Smith and are still involved alums years later (in my mom’s case 63 years later.) But I’m equally sure Vassar alums are as involved. </p>
<p>Personally, I find Vassar’s campus dark and dungeon-y.</p>
<p>Zayda- Vassar is a terrific academic institution but if she wanted to live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, she is in for a disappointment. The trains run frequently but she will end up in NYC twice or three times a semester-- it’s just not close enough to run in for an evening.</p>
<p>They really are very similar. If the financial aid is similar, I would say let her do overnights at both and then decide based on sheer preference.</p>
<p>Feel free to PM me if you have questions about Smith, or post in the Smith forum here on CC, which has many active parent members.</p>
<p>I think Smith and Vassar would both provide your D with an excellent education and prepare her for graduate studies in her area of interest. How important is proximity to NYC? It’s certainly easier to get there from Poughkeepsie than it is to get there from Northampton. That being said, I’d prefer spending four years in Northampton–in my mind, a much nicer college town.</p>
<p>I think these schools have very different personalities. Both are very strong academically, but Vassar is much more hipster and artsy, especially performance arts-oriented. I’d describe Smith as a little more intellectual, quirky, and offbeat, though it certainly has its hipsters and artistes. As between the two, I much prefer the vibe at Smith, but to each her own. </p>
<p>I agree with the observation that Northampton beats Poughkeepsie hands-down as a college town. Northampton is great. Mathmom described Poughkeepsie as “a bit of a dumpy small city,” I’d say that’s being kind: Poughkeepsie is an outright dump, and parts of it are quite dangerous, though the Vassar campus has a safe, walled-off feel.</p>
<p>Some people are drawn to Vassar because it’s only a 2-hour train ride into NYC. I agree that most Vassar students probably get into the city only a few times per year, but it’s certainly possible to do a weekend day trip for a visit to an art museum or some special event. We were also told when we visited there that every year there are a few students who manage to arrange their schedules to do a 1-pay per week (usually Friday) internship in the city.</p>
<p>As for the 5-college consortium, it’s nice to have as an option, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in it. The colleges are far enough apart, and the transportation sufficiently limited, that it’s actually not so easy to work a class at another consortium college into your schedule. We’ve had a number of students at several of these colleges tell us that 1) they’ve never actually taken classes at any of the other consortium colleges, and 2) they know only a few other people who have done so, and then only on a limited basis It’s not nearly as functional as the Bryn Mawr-Haverford consortium where the colleges are just 1.5 miles apart and class schedules are conveniently staggered to allow a half hour for transit time between the campuses, or the Claremont Colleges consortium where all the schools are within walking distance of each other.</p>
<p>I guess the biggest difference is that one is a women’s college and the other is a co-ed college. It must give them very different vibe on campus. Does your D have no preference? My daughter didn’t even think about all female college. She likes to see cute boys on campus…</p>
<p>I’m sorry you were not asking the vibe or the feeling of those colleges. Your D actually visited them both.</p>
<p>They are both excellent schools. I guess as long as the FA packages are similar, it comes down to where SHE wants to go. Smith being more familiar to you will not make it a best school for her. Do you think it’s like buying a house? You know when you stepped in, the right house speaks to you and you know this is IT.</p>
<p>“As for the 5-college consortium, it’s nice to have as an option, but I wouldn’t put too much stock in it. The colleges are far enough apart, and the transportation sufficiently limited, that it’s actually not so easy to work a class at another consortium college into your schedule.”</p>
<p>It actually can have a HUGE impact. It did for my d. and the major reason is the largest number of five college classes take place on the Smith campus. One of my d’s major advisors was a Five College Professor based at Mount Holyoke, but who taught all of his classes on the Smith campus. </p>
<p>The big difference is that one is a liberal arts college and the other is a women’s college that teaches the liberal arts. That impacts the entire environment at Smith.</p>
<p>I think that the 5 College Consortium is, realistically, a much bigger plus for Smith than the bus to NYC is to Vassar. I haven’t used the consortium nearly as much as some of my friends, but I have been to several lectures at the other colleges, and will be interning at one of them next year.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how strong Vassar is in political science or international relations, but Government is a very popular and strong major at Smith, and there is an international relations certificate (similar to a minor) if that’s the path she chooses.</p>
<p>Everyone thank you for your thoughts and comments. D is artsy and performance driven , loves to dance (contemporary and modern) sing and act … but doesn’t want to major in it. April will be a very busy month with overnight visited to both colleges. I will give update in a few weeks. I will not voice my thoughts or opinion to D unless it’s financial…I hope I can keep that…lol</p>
<p>Since Smith is bigger than the other three LAC’s I’m not sure the consortium has that much to add. Statistics on how many classes kids actually take in the consortium show they are surprisingly few.</p>
<p>I loved both schools when we visited. </p>
<p>D preferred another scholl, but my S loved Vassar, though he ultimately went somewhere else.</p>
<p>Even if kids don’t spend weekends in NYC, I think they do make connections useful in NYC at Vassar.</p>
<p>OTOH, I’ve really admired the extreme support Vassar gives it’s students, and I bet the FA package will be better, though that’s speculation.</p>
<p>I agree with the others. If the money is close enough, let your D make the decision. Both are excellent schools.</p>
<p>BTW: I think Vassar does have an intellectual vibe as well, and it’s paying more attention to the sciences of late.</p>
<p>So I think something specific would help when thinking about the Five-Colleges:</p>
<p>My d. had Smith’s highest academic merit scholarship. But she chose to go there because she had received a STRIDE scholarship that provided her two years of paid research work with a professor, beginning her first year. </p>
<p>They created a position specifically for her (she was only 16 when she entered). The Five College Consortium was planning to mount a production of the first opera ever written by a woman (from 1623). She was required to assist in coordination and, most important of all, to produce a performance score for the work (none existed.) The Consortium meetings (and the chair) were at Amherst. (The director, by the way, was from Vassar.) The supervisor of her work was a very well-known Renaissance music performer and scholar who was a Five College Professor, based at Mount Holyoke. She took Italian and began using it on day one- all the manuscripts were in Italian. The performances took place at Smith at the end of her sophomore year, with more than 2,000 people attending. We flew in for the event. (She also studied baroque violin with the professor, and medieval/Renaissance choral music at Mt. Holyoke.) She spent her junior year at the Smith College program in Florence (where she also played with a local symphonic ensemble), and then received a stipend from Smith to pursue her research work in Italy further. In her senior year, she was named a Kahn Fellow, Kahn being an interdisciplinary humanities institute at Smith including both faculty and students, with professors from several of the colleges, but conducted at Smith. Her work with the institute became her senior thesis, and was parlayed into a five/six-year Ph.D. fellowship at Princeton in both musicology and Italian studies. Starting in May, she is taking up a research fellowship in Venice.</p>
<p>All of this stemmed from her work in her first year at Smith, made possible because of the Five-College Consortium. </p>
<p>It’s a lot more, or can be a lot more, than simply taking courses on another campus.</p>