I’m from Australia and I’ve been accepted to both UCLA and Vassar.
At first I was ecstatic about UCLA, but now I am thinking that Vassar is better academically and more arts/humanities focused (which is what I want to study).
However, coming from Australia, I’m very worried about the cold in Poughkeepsie. I’m also worried that I will get bored very quickly. Additionally, I’m concerned that the workload will be very hard to balance with social activities.
At UCLA, I’m worried that I will have to join a sorority to really get involved in the social scene. I’m also concerned that it will take longer to graduate because classes fill up quickly.
I know Vassar is considered a more prestigious school but it is less known internationally. On the other hand, I don’t want to choose UCLA and regret not taking advantage of such a prestigious school!
Can anyone please help me with any advice at all about the 2 schools?
Sorry for the long ramble. Thank you!
You’re kidding, right? It’s like saying you want to get a pet, but you can’t decide between a goldfish and a pit bull. They’re completely different!
(1) UCLA has fraternities & sororities. Vassar doesn’t.
(2) UCLA is huge (and underfunded) so you can expect lots of large classes. At Vassar, with the exception of a few 100-level lectures, most of your classes will be smaller, and you’ll have a better chance to get to know your professors (and your classmates).
(3) The social life at UCLA encompasses all of L.A., if you want it to. The social life at Vassar is pretty much at Vassar, unless you take the train down to NYC.
(4) And, yes, it snows at Vassar in the winter. It’s also one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, year round.
Figure out what’s important to you, and stop worrying about reputation and prestige.
Yeah, theyre very different schools. I wouldnt nitpick which school has more prestige–I would actually say UCLA is more pretigious, which helps explain why its more well known internationally. Of course, this is comparing small LAC and flagship state school, so each has its own advantages. The bigger question is which environment you will better thrive. You dont need to join a sorority at UCLA. I completely ignored Greek life. Only people who join sororities or fraternities care and make a big deal about their social scene. Everyone else (the majority) wont care.
Thank you phospholipase! Just wondering what you thought of your experience at UCLA and what you enjoyed/didn’t like about it? Did it take you longer to graduate because you couldn’t get into the classes you wanted/needed?
I also went to UCLA and I graduated a few years ago (2012.) I was able to get all the classes I needed to graduate in the normal amount of time. (Two years since I transferred.) I was not, however, necessarily able to get all the classes I wanted, or classes in the time slots that I wanted. But I assume this would also be the case at a LAC like Vassar.
Claims about the university being “underfunded” are just gossip by those unfamiliar with the university’s finances. UCLA’s annual budget tends to hover between 4 - 5 billion. Granted, most of that doesn’t affect the undergraduate students. But I think UCLA has little trouble allocating money where it is needed in the university.
Here’s the thing. Weather is always a factor, but it shouldn’t be a deciding factor. I hate the heat and I’m still looking at Tulane. UCLA is huge. Vassar isn’t. Is size important? How much will each school cost? That one is especially important. Have you visited them? I know it might be hard to fly to the US, but if you have the resources I strongly suggest visiting both.
I enjoyed that most of my profesors at UCLA really were world-class. I didn’t like the hills on campus. The class sizes were not a problem for me. I enjoyed being in a large crowd, but I could approach my professors when I needed or wanted to. I didnt have any problems getting the classes I needed. I graduated on time as well, but I took classes for three summers. I didnt feel like I needed to, but I wanted to.
Thank you phospholipase! Beyphy - what were some of your negative experiences at UCLA? Did you take part in the Greek life? What was the social scene like?
If prestige matters that much to you, pick UCLA. Vassar is definitely a more highly regarded school; but what’s the point of going to a prestigious school if almost no one else (including in the US) knows about it? “Prestige” existing in a near vacuum is meaningless.
Edit: Also have to agree UCLA is not crunched for money. If this were the case, where does it get money for its constant significant, construction? At worst, I think undergrads simply aren’t a high priority for university funding.
I didn’t have any negative experiences due to the university itself. I certainly had some personal problems (e.g.with relationships) while I was at the school. But I could have had those problems anywhere. With the school itself, everything from the professors, to my peers, to the quality of the student support services was top notch. I was especially fond of the Ashe (student health) center where I could make an appointment even 15 or 30 minutes beforehand online.
One upsetting aspect that I did have was when one of my professors thought it would be okay to change our class structure. The class was supposed to be a three hour session one day a week. And he decided that that wasn’t enough time, so he changed it to a three hour session two days a week. That was obviously very annoying for me and the other students enrolled in the class. And practices like that aren’t necessarily uncommon. Professors in science classes sometimes assign workload during quarter breaks. The students are expected to begin and finish the coursework sometimes before the class even begins. But from what I’ve heard and seen at the school, those events aren’t typically very common.
I was not part of Greek life. But I know people that were and they seemed to enjoy themselves. It really depends on what you’re looking for. If you’re big into partying, you can join the Snowboarding Club. They go snowboarding and party on the weekends in the mountains when their workloads allow. Then there are also dance clubs (hip-hop, swing, salsa, etc.), racial / cultural / religious groups on campus, and a variety other groups. Joining groups with people with similar interests is naturally a good way to make friends.
And if you want more fun than Westwood allows, the whole city of Los Angeles is open for you to explore. But this is easier done with a car than without one.
Just to add (counter-add?), I never had any of this happen to me. Don’t worry about it that much.
Was there ever a time when you thought you would have preferred a smaller school? How did you find the housing? Would you recommend going to UCLA?
Also, as a big research university, would you say that UCLA’s humanities/arts departments (esp. anthropology, literature, languages) are less focused on/not as strong as the science departments?
I found professors to be generally accessible when their office hours weren’t directly after their class. I was often the only student at office hours and generally had the professors to myself for one to two hours. I also had no issues discussing what I wanted to in class. But larger class sizes (40 - 80 students) might intimidate certain students from speaking up. UCLA was fine for me, and I got what I wanted from it. But this obviously isn’t the case for everyone. You have to assess your own needs and see if UCLA satisfies them.
I would say that most of my classes had a very clear structure. You can have a class with a great structure that’s still really hard for you though. Many science students, especially internationals, struggle with the writing requirements at UCLA, which are quite rigorous and uncompromising. I struggled a lot with classes in my own major (philosophy.) But they were the most interesting to me, and I did the best in those classes academically. The departments are generally well ranked too (philosophy at UCLA is generally ranked top 10 and is arguably underrated.)
UCLA is very big, and in addition to having huge classes, there is a chance, especially with funding issues, an inceasingly larger chance, you’ll get shut out of classes you want to take. That never ever happeded to me at Vassar. You get to know your professors personally, get invited to their homes, and because there is really no grad school to speak of, your professors are soley focused on teaching you, the undergrad.
I dont understand the comment above that UCLA has more prestige, yet then say Vassar is more highly regarded. Thst is ionconsistent. I realize I am biased, but for a wonderfully personalized academic experience, choose Vassar.
Never happened to me at UCLA :). Your mileage may vary.
Careful, @jym626, it appears to be the consensus in this thread that there are no funding issues for the UC’s. 
Vassar is an extraordinary college, with an extraordinary history. But it is not, by any stretch of the imagination a “typical” U.S. university. If you want a big university, and everything that involves, then go to California and have a great time!
Being a research university has nothing whatsoever to do with how strong a university is in the humanities as opposed to the sciences. Most of the best universities are strong in both areas.
UCLA is exceptionally strong in the humanities and social sciences. Philosophy is good, as was already mentioned, but classics, English, history, geography, and linguistics are also all top 10 programs. UCLA also has very strong offerings in women’s/gender studies and LGBT studies, and most of its language offerings are quite strong. Several of its interdisciplinary programs, such as Indo-European studies and Iranian Studies, are arguably the best in the country, and some others (e.g. Chicano Studies, World Arts & Cultures, Scandinavian Studies) are relatively unique. In the arts, the ethnomusicology, dance, and film programs are all very good.
Want to take classes in Chicana Feminism, North American Indian Music, Islamic Archaeology, Nordic Cinema, or the Anthropology of Food? UCLA offers them (and many more). Want to take language classes in Old Norse, Polish, ancient Egyptian, Quechua, Indonesian, Yoruba, Armenian, Sanskrit, Dutch, or Sumerian? UCLA offers them (and many more). Almost all of these will have fewer than 30 students, and many will have 10-20 students.
GE classes at UCLA will be big, but most classes in the arts and humanities are (intentionally) small with a lot of emphasis on writing and do NOT reach their enrollment capacity.
http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/schedule/schedulehome.aspx
If you want to form close mentoring relationships at UCLA, you can. I know one UCLA student who did impressively well during her time at UCLA, did research that would’ve been very difficult to do at a LAC, and got several great PhD program offers (one of which only admits about 5 people out of 250+ applicants).
That’s definitely not to say UCLA is for everyone. A few thoughts:
[ul][]Setting – Huge city vs. small town. Though UCLA has a fairly pretty campus, Vassar is very beautiful and is located in a much quieter setting.
[]Community feel – As a smaller, more geographically diverse, and far more residential college (virtually all undergrads live on campus), Vassar offers a more tight-knit and cohesive community than UCLA, where students are dispersed across the west side. There is also a significant amount of self-segregation at UCLA, much more noticeably than at some smaller private colleges.
[]Undergraduate focus – Because Vassar lacks graduate programs, professors are necessarily more focused on undergraduates. While many professors at UCLA are excellent teachers, teaching and advising undergraduates (or even grad students) falls rather low on the list of priorities for many others – so one really has to be proactive to take advantage of the superb faculty at UCLA.
[]Athletic/school spirit – DI sports are big at UCLA and completely absent at Vassar. This matters to some people more than others.[/ul]
@beyphy and @jym626 thank you! @jym626 just a few questions about Vassar -
- What did you like and not like about it?
- Is the cold really that bad?
- What’s the social scene like?
- I’ve heard that Poughkeepsie is quite dead but is this true? Do people go into NYC often?
@warblersrule that was very helpful thank you!