<p>Okay, so prestige does matter, sort of..well, especially when one has Asian parents (ahem, me). However, as a Georgian resident, I haven't come across many people who've even heard of Vassar's existence. I know that it is indeed prestigious, but I've only gotten to know Vassar through the Internet. And this is mostly out of curiosity's sake and my parents worries--just how prestigious is Vassar? Can you name some other more-well-known-to-the-layman schools that have the same level of prestige?</p>
<p>You’re already off on the wrong foot man. Stop looking for prestige, start looking for the right college. A prestigious college means nothing if you won’t fit well there. </p>
<p>Firstly, Vassar is in the middle of nowhere, NY, like 100-some miles from the city. Are you OK with that?</p>
<p>Secondly, many people don’t know of Vassar because it is not a school which prides itself in “name” and “rank” yet the academics are still phenomenal and it is highly competitive. </p>
<p>Lastly, if you would like to rank Vassar on prestige, I suppose I could throw some numbers at you. They had a little under 23% acceptance for undergrad admissions last year, and the mid-range SAT is 2210, putting it well above BC, NYU, and many other well-known colleges. Are you qualified enough to go to Vassar? </p>
<p>Lot of factors to consider, before you go prestige-hunting…</p>
<p>Hey now, don’t be so quick to assume that the OP is prestige-hunting. It’s one thing to fall in love with a college and know that it is reputable and indeed a fit in all respects, but another trying to get Asian parents to be as equally enthused when they only have HYPS on the brain. </p>
<p>Plus, the OP has already gotten in. ;)</p>
<p>I’ve been wanting to ask this question for a while now, but I haven’t out of fear of getting an answer like the one above. I know that Vassar is highly competitive and highly regarded by those who know even a little bit about highly selective colleges and LAC’s, but what about the rest of the world?
I live in Arizona and Vassar is my number one choice right now, but the only thing that worries me is that most people here have never heard of it. Is it more prestigious in the northeast?
Insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I’ve been curious about this too, but I’ve been refraining from asking because apparently whenever a person asks about the prestige of a school, no matter how kindly the request is worded, the person simply must be “prestige-hunting.” I wish people would mature up and accept that some people would like to have insight about prestige, and not a lecture about fit all the time; I think by now, we all accept that fit is the overwhelmingly dominant priority.</p>
<p>This is just my experience but I don’t think Vassar has a very much fame to its name. I live in New York City, and most of my classmates have not heard of Vassar, which is understandable seeing that it’s located in a secluded places 75 away from NYC and student population-wise, it’s even smaller than my high school. Then again one high school is a pretty poor indicator of prestige so this answer may be completely off.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Vassar is famous enough to be parodied by The Simpsons a few times if that means anything. Vassar also rank fairly highly on the Usnews top liberal arts college list (12). Our raw admission stats are nothing to scoff at either.</p>
<p>Ultimately, I’m not well informed enough to answer the OP’s question so if anyone has a more educated answer, it would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Mm, yes, I was afraid someone would call me out for “prestige-hunting,” where in fact, I’ve been accepted to Vassar and it is my top choice right now in terms of fit, which is why I wrote about my parents worries and my own curiosity. Right now, my mom is pushing me towards Emory because it is:
- A university (she doesn’t really know what LACs are)
- It’s actually known to our population (Georgia, which…speaks for itself)
- She knows it’s prestigious</p>
<p>…Not to totally say my mom is going only for prestige, I think it’s for reassurance that I’m actually going to a good school rather than a random school she thought was an art school. lol.
And then, since everyone around me has never heard of Vassar makes me question my own Internet research, which has shown me that it is prestigious.
Gah. How prestigious is Vassar in the academic world? And would you say it is on par with Emory? If I can prove it is, I can make a more solid argument to go to Vassar, haha.</p>
<p>Well firstly, to answer your question, Vassar is quite prestigious at least in the liberal arts field of colleges. Which really brings me to the next point that Emory (and most universities) are completely different from vassar. hence the liberal arts tag. Also, word of mouth is not a way to judge a university, as i can tell you where i am from no one has ever heard of Emory. </p>
<p>When it comes down to it, the school doesn’t matter so much as your own intellectual ability does. If you are smart and work hard, you can make it! </p>
<p>And if i can just put my own opinion in…I think that unless you are going to Tier I type universities (which Emory is not in the league of), i think the liberal arts education is better due to the emphasis on undergraduate learning. Trust me, I went to a university that has a much bigger “name” and prestige than Emory, but talking with my friends i wished i had taken a liberal arts route for my undergraduate studies. you havent felt anger until your intro courses at emory are taught by lazy TAs and you get no access to facilities due to the almighty graduate students. </p>
<p>Haha so i would tell your mom that Emory isn’t even really that prestigious when compared to top universities and that you really want to go to Vassar for the education!! I just felt like i had to create an account an answer due to going through the exact same situation!! Anyways i hope i helped a little :)</p>
<p>Unless you are an ivy, colleges tend not to be known nationally to “lay people” unless they have sports teams. This, obviously, means that large universities are far better known than small liberal arts colleges. </p>
<p>How would you like to judge prestige? In the job market? Applying to grad schools? Asking someone in the middle of nowhere oklahoma if they have heard of it?</p>
<p>All of the top liberal arts colleges have a huge amount of prestige among the first two, and in general, other educated people (from the ivys and the top universities and other LACs) understand what Vassar is. But do you think that the guy in the middle of nowhere could tell you about Vassar? Probably not. Maybe more likely than, say, Bowdoin or Middlebury simply because of the history of being a Woman’s college and the 7 sisters, but that doesn’t mean anything, and certainly doesn’t speak any less of those two other colleges.</p>
<p>It’s important to realize the prestige/sports connection. University of Michigan is a great college, but people know it because of football. And because of football, they know about how good a University it is. Does that mean it’s “better” than Vassar? Are colleges that are regionally known as being great actually win you more points in the job market than ones far away? Of course not. People know the colleges closest to them the best. And they are likely able to rank the colleges within that area. But that is the extent of the average joe’s understanding.</p>
<p>I second a lot of what Joshsnow and VassarGrad said and just add my own experience. I’m in my last year at Vassar and I just got accepted to one of the top grad schools for my field. And when I got a follow-up email from a professor at this grad school, surprisingly, it wasn’t from the professor I had in mind as my potential advisor. It was a Vassar alumna teaching in the same field. It turns out that it was the Vassar grad really pulling for me in the admissions process! So the connections, at least in academia, are worth a lot. Of course, the strength of my application had a large part, but the school I came from also had a major influence on my success in the process. </p>
<p>So, I think the “prestige” or recognition depends on the field you want to go into, as VassarGrad pointed out. Perhaps you need to consider who you want to impress with your bachelors degree. If you have at least a vague idea of what you want to do later in life, maybe you should look up people in that sector and see if anyone comes from Vassar or Emory. You can make a case for either school this way, stating that this school can get you to where you want to go in life. Your mom might come around.</p>
<p>I would also emphasize Joshsnow’s comment about classes taught by “lazy TAs”. I went to Vassar because I wanted an education from actual professors. My work/essays were graded by professors, not TAs, who usually gave thorough and thoughtful comments. They actually wanted me to improve my analytical and writing abilities and come out a critical thinker. And I got to know a lot of these professors very well and got opportunities I never would have gotten at a large university because of them. Research experience, internships, fellowships…good advice on life. I also think my resume looks a lot more impressive than some friends I have at big universities because of this.</p>
<p>It depends on what you want to major in or at least what you are interested in. Vassar is a good school for those who are interested in languages, literature, and political science. </p>
<p>Google the Forbe’s list of America’s best colleges. This particular list ranks colleges on a liberal arts basis and Vassar is listed at #23 beating Tufts, Duke, Vanderbilt, Brown, and Dartmouth to name a few. Emory is listed at #53. </p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I have Asian parents too! You know how they are. They like to brag to other Asian parents. Let me just say that, even though the majority of my parents’ friends have even not heard of Vassar, my parents still had plenty to brag about ;).</p>
<p>So far, almost none of the people around me have heard of Vassar either. But… I don’t really care since it still has great academics. It’s not considered a hidden ivy for nothing. If you want name recognition, aim high for graduate school since grad school is what matters in the end.</p>
<p>I had heard of Vassar long ago from rural PA, even though I had never heard of LACs like Williams, Davidson, Middlebury, etc.</p>
<p>I’m aware that “heard of” and prestige are 2 different things…but S1 went to Brown - S2 will attend Vassar. In our circles, more people have heard of Vassar than Brown.</p>
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<p>Yes, in the same list you had Vassar and Centre College (KY) duking it out for 23rd place!! The Forbes list is widely considered to be utter trash. Haverford (14) “better” than CalTech (19)??!! Swarthmore (7) better than Harvard (8)??!! You tell me how many Harvard admits chose Swarthmore over Harvard and I will eat a hat for each one!</p>
<p>^^actually, you are probably wrong there: Swat, which is unique, may well be the only school (other than maybe CalTech or MIT which are specialized) where overlaps would actually attend Swarthmore over Harvard- Swat is not an ivy league “mini-me”- Swat’s applicants heavily self-select.</p>
<p>How is Forbe’s widely considered trash? Do they draw names out of a hat when ranking things? LOL!</p>
<p>Go here to see how they ranked the schools: [Methodology</a> - Forbes.com](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/01/best-colleges-methodology-opinions-colleges-10-ccap.html]Methodology”>Methodology)</p>
<p>^^ Agree with Dad2 100%.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Susquehanna Hat Co](<a href=“Susquehanna Hat Co - YouTube”>Susquehanna Hat Co - YouTube)</p>
<p>On a question like “prestige” it’s all in the eyes of the beholder. Instead of asking people who probably have some affinity to Vassar, it would make more sense to poll the constituency you hope will be impressed with Vassar’s prestige. There’s really no other way to get a decent read on something as subjective as “prestige.” In the Deep South, the name “Vassar” will mean little or nothing to most people, while the big jock football schools will be highly impressive. This holds true for most of the Ivies, too. So, if you want to end up working in a bank in the South, you’d find Vassar to have little “oooh and ahhh” capacity. But you’d need to ask those people what they think.</p>
<p>But, yeah, it’s an unfortunate question to have to ask. I’m sorry for you that you need to take that into consideration. However, if you’re saying it’s absolutely necessary and you regret having to ask the question…my advice is to ask the question of the people you need to ask, not people who follow the Vassar forum on College Confidential.</p>