<p>hey guys, i've just "discovered" vassar and i've heard that it's absolutely gorgeous and an amazing LAC. i've just got a couple questions:</p>
<p>1) exactly how prestigious is it?
2) where does it rank among other top colleges?
3) what are the admissions rates into top 10 or top 15 medical and business schools?
4) how is their med and business department?</p>
<p>i'm probably visiting next week and so far i love it but i'm worried about placement rates among top grad schools since i've talked to a few people and some of them have never heard of it. anyway, thanks for any info!</p>
<p>it's really not pre-professional. they don't have a pre-med or pre-business major. everyone's pretty laid back. that said, they do have very high grad school acceptance rates because it is a very good school.</p>
<p>but seriously, don't pick any school based on rankings. pick it because it's the best for you.</p>
<p>After Vassar Within five years of graduation, approximately 80% of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study. Graduates are accepted regularly at top-ranking schools of law, medicine, business, and education. Vassar is a leader in producing Ph.D. candidates. The Office of Career Development provides counseling and connections with hundreds of top employers nationwide.</p>
<p>Vassar is indeed well known for being a good, well rounded school. I think that elsewhere in the website you can find actual admissions statistics, but they are pretty impressive.</p>
<p>I just finished my college process (after a long stressful senior year), and I'm happy to say that I'll be attending Vassar next year. </p>
<p>To answer your question, Vassar is a prestigious LAC. It was originally a seven sister school (it went co-ed in 1969) and is quite well known for that. A good number of people assume it is still an all-female school (although it is now pretty well split between men and women)</p>
<p>To me, the most important thing about picking a college was not the level of prestige. Personally, I was accepted to a number of great colleges and universities (some more well know then Vassar). When looking at schools of Vassar's caliber, all schools are prestigious enough and will probably afford you the same opportunities in life. The small classes, accepting atmosphere, and unique curriculum make Vassar special.</p>
<p>Vassar is not pre-professional and does not have a major in business or pre-med. However, a good number of students chose to study microeconomics and are usually placed in a great firm. The medical school placement rate is twice the national average.</p>
<p>you can definitely do pre-med. They have pre-med committees to advise you every step of the way. The science depts are amazing and the teachers give more personal attention than any other lac we have seen.</p>
<p>it says in the viewbook that there's an Office of Pre-Professional Advising that "provides specialized services, including advice on course selection and sequence, information and referral to summer programs, and assistance in applying for admission to professional schools and in securing financial support for graduate studies" for students considering medical/law/business schools. </p>
<p>hope it helps :) as the second poster said, it's not a pre-professional school but with the open curriculum you can really tweak your major and have all the required courses for medical school.</p>
<p>Vassar's preprofessional advising is pretty exceptional, but also in a transitional phase - Susan Davis, who did the advising since the mid-80's (at least) recently retired and her replacement, Lisa Kooperman, is still learning the ropes. Nevertheless, I'm sure that she'll get up to speed quickly.
Because Vassar is so small, preprofessional students get a great deal of attention - you can make appointments to see Lisa Kooperman pretty much as often as you like. I am not sure what the process is for pre-law students, but pre-med students choose/are assigned an advisor during the year they are applying; this advisor is in-charge of drafting the composite letter that is submitted to medical schools during the applications process. This composite letter will be as good as your advisor and the committee can make it - Vassar wants its students to get in to medical school. This means that the recommendation letters you submit will be cherry-picked for the best quotations to make you look like the best possible candidate. Mercenary, but effective.
Mind you, the preprofessional advising is great, but you need to actually use it for it to be effective (obviously); many students simply ignore this great resource, which really hinders them later on.
Finally, the preprofessional advising office (at least when Susan Davis ran it) is refreshingly honest - you WILL be told if you're a good candidate, whether you should consider other options while applying to law or medical school, or whether you really just shouldn't waste your time. Some find this rude, but I think it is ultimately fair and helpful.</p>