I’d like to apologize right off the bat, because this is going to be a long post. I’m a High School junior from a small town in New England. I hadn’t really considered Vassar at all, but I toured it this weekend because I was in the area. I was struck right away by how beautiful the campus was-- I’ve been touring a lot of city schools that are pretty jarring to my lifestyle. I was also generally pleased with most of the classes offered and the academic level of the school. I had a few questions, though:
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I’m really not into the party scene (at least the drug/alcohol end of it). I don’t drink or smoke, and ideally, I wouldn’t have to be around that at all (I know that’s not really an option on a college campus-- I’m an atheist, so I don’t want to go to one of those religious teetotalist schools). I’ve heard conflicting stories about this scene on Vassar-- some have laughed at the suggestion that it’s a party school, while others have told me that the party scene is very active. It definitely seems like a liberal hippie school, so I would imagine at least mary jane is popular. I was wondering if any current or former students could speak to this.
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In terms of my career interests, a city school might end up being better. I’m interested in communications (undecided exactly what I want to do, but I would enjoy being in broadcast journalism, journalism (ideally sports or politics), or being in the entertainment industry as a screenwriter or actor.) Communications encompasses all of these-- I know Vassar does have a very strong dramatic program, but putting all my eggs in the acting basket seems very risky. Are there any communications-type classes offered? Also, is the film college creation-based or more of a film analysis program?
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I’m not exactly sure how to put this one without it sounding somewhat sexist/bigoted/obnoxious, so I apologize. For the record, I consider myself a liberal and a feminist. Anyway, when I went on the campus tour, I noticed for one that it seemed like half the guys on campus were gay. To be clear, I’m not a horrible person-- I have no problem whatsoever with gay people. However, I’m an avid sports fan and I do enjoy lots of more stereotypically masculine activities. Would I feel out of place on campus? Also, (this could sound really bad), but on my tour, almost every girl I saw was relatively unattractive. I’m obviously not making my college choices based on this criteria, (and I swear this is less important to me than most guys I know), but I would want to date in college, so that would potentially be a factor that affects my enjoyment of college life. I know that sounded relatively misogynistic, but I’m just trying to be frank and get all my questions answered-- sorry if I offended anyone.
OK, that’s all for now. Sorry about the long post. Any responses would be greatly appreciated!
My son is a junior at Vassar. As for the drugs on campus, my son lives on a wellness floor. This is something that Vassar offers and this is a floor in the dorm were people self select to not allow any drugs or alcohol on the floor. Just from the feedback I get from my son i hear that people get to drunk like any college. I haven’t heard him say anything about drugs and in the many times I have been there all hours of the day I have never smelled weed anywhere. I think modern hipster culture is not a drug culture. My son is not gay but I know a number of his friends are. I feel there is a higher percentage then average number of gay men there but i wouldn’t say they are the majority necessarily.
When I think of Vassar I think of fairly attractive women, although virtually none are bouncy blonde cheerleader types. They are more fashionable and with style that pushes boundaries. If you’re a straight male, I would be shocked if you didn’t find someone! There are students from nearly every state, in most years, several also from small towns. Vassar likes diversity geographically as well as socio-economically and in other ways. In other words, you will probably find people you like. You may ask for a quiet hallway or dorm. And although there are gay men and women, I always felt that there were lots of straight men and women too. I graduated from Vassar maybe too long ago, but have been involved ever since. I have a son who does not like to drink or smoke, does like to write, is straight, and I would not hesitate to send him there as the community is accepting of virtually all types and the education is excellent. People are respectful if you don’t want to drink or smoke in general; like they will help you avoid the things they know you don’t like, rather than use peer pressure to get you to do stuff. There’s not an overwhelming party scene there–no Greek life at all. I worked a campus job as a night-shift security job for the medical clinic and the nights were really, really quiet. Almost no one ever seemed to need to come in at night for emergencies, at least the nights I was working. Vassar is gay tolerant but there are plenty of straight guys. Many people talk sports and there are several Div III teams, including rugby, basketball and lacrosse, for men’s teams, among others. I learned so much about baseball while I was there, it wasn’t funny! That being said, Vassar is in no way a big football school and sports are not center stage, not at all. You can definitely find friends to watch the World Series and Superbowl with, though. The film department you can make films, documentary and other. Journalism per se isn’t offered, but several graduates have gone on to make extremely successful careers in journalism. I suggest getting an internship at a newspaper or magazine or the like to gain knowledge in that area. Since Vassar is so close to nyc (about 90 minutes by train; you can come and go in one day) you have access to everything there in publishing and media, theater, and nearly any other field, and many connections through alumni and current students. Not sure about communications, but at least Vassar is known for producing writers in all fields–not the same thing, I know! But it’s certainly part of the package.
My daughter is finishing her freshman year, and from what she says, drinking is big on the weekends. Hard to find a college campus where that isn’t the case. She hasn’t seen too much drug use, but it is there for sure…again like just about any college campus. Smoking is prohibited on campus (new this year). As was mentioned, there are “wellness” floors where everyone agrees not to smoke, drink or do drugs on that floor. There are definitely many gay men there, and my understanding is that they are encouraged to be themselves, so they don’t really hide it like some might do on other campuses, so it might just be more visible there. There are definitely straight men there though, and my daughter has even found a boyfriend there. At about 2500 students, even with a percentage of gay men probably higher than where I went to college (1800 students) there are likely more straight men there, so keep the size of the school in mind. Vassar is obviously not a big college, but there are a lot that have fewer students.