I’ve read other forums here about choosing between Vassar College and Wesleyan University, but none from last two years, so would love to get updated thoughts from anyone in the know, now that schools have pretty much returned to normal functioning post-pandemic!
*Our son admitted to both
*Doesn’t know what he wants to study but thinking double major in a Science and a Humanities or Social Science
*In addition to academic excellence (a given for both is my understanding), he is looking for a vibrant and fun campus life, with a healthy dose of school spirit and social life (read: fun parties)
*Not an athlete
We just attended an admitted students day at Vassar, but he got in off the waitlist at Wesleyan just as we were leaving the East Coast so no time to go there. We did visit 2 years ago, but during Covid when the campus was empty. We live in Northern California!
Thanks for ANY feedback that can help him get insights (and any others in a similar boat!).
While we wound up not applying to Vassar and Wesleyan (my son got into his ED) Wesleyan was a close choice and in part because it seemed so vibrant with activities and community, and this is what my son was seeking. I think there is real school spirit there and the tour guide who was adorable conveyed that a lot when we toured.
Classy problem to have! You can’t go wrong with either academically. I would say Wes has a stronger performing arts program (at the margin) and has a more diverse student body (mainly because it’s bigger). I get in trouble for making these broad comparisons but since you’re from the west coast — Think of Wes as LA and Vassar as SF.
Not a bad choice. Both excellent schools! So a good case for letting your student “go with their gut,” and no regrets!
My kid at Vassar preferred that Vassar had a clearly defined campus - Wes is more intertwined with Middleton (including lots of houses in the community that are where upperclass-people live). Poughkeepsie is a bigger, grittier town, though the Arlington area right next to Vassar is your stereotypical college-serving set of businesses (good food, coffee, boba, etc.).
My kid enjoys it; volunteers off campus every week with high need folks (one day at a middle school, another day with spanish-speaking immigrants learning English), and there are funded internships every summer for students working with community groups in town.
Like the comparison of previous poster to SF vs. LA. But I would say the performing arts are more of a toss-up, with phenomenal strength for both .
From kid’s report, there are parties of all types every weekend … and the residential houses seem to do a good job of building a sense of belonging and place (I like that students typically live in them for first three years, before going to the school’s townhouses for their senior years). Let me know if any specific questions.
Wow, tough choice. I guess if I think of vibrant and fun, I’d give a slight edge to Wesleyan. But if he liked Vassar and thinks he would be happy there, I don’t see a reason he shouldn’t choose it.
Your son should have a look at social media for each school, and check out the website Niche. It uses student reviews to “grade” colleges.
I actually love the comparison above of Wes=LA and Vassar=SF. Good one, @cheer_2026 !
My son is at Wesleyan and my friend’s daughter is at Vassar. Both schools have great academics with mostly open curriculums, allow multiple majors, have liberal friendly students, and both kids say they are having a lot of fun.
Vassar has a more typical, pretty, closed-off campus with standard dorms; a gender ratio of (62:38); foreign language and writing requirements; and many clubs/activities. Wesleyan has a less well defined campus with a variety of housing options; a gender ratio of (56:44) similar to national average of 56% women; very few core requirements; graduate level STEM courses available to undergraduates w/ a free 5th year STEM Masters program; and many clubs/activities.
My friend’s daughter chose Vassar for the beautiful bubbled off campus feel while my son valued the availability of graduate courses more and chose Wesleyan. Both kids feel they made the right choice and both are getting a great education.
Our son is a first-year at Wesleyan and having a great time: loves his courses; engaged with clubs, intramural sports, music, etc.; has met a ton of interesting kids from all over. And lots to do on all fronts, it appears (including parties)–he’s never bored. We personally preferred the slight mixing of town and college at Wes to the “bubble” of Vassar. I wouldn’t say the college isn’t very defined–it is, with a huge central green/sports field–but rather that you don’t have to “leave” Wes to “enter” the real world. This seems to mean more options for what to do as well: good restaurants/coffee shops less than a 10-minute walk away, some non-campus performance spaces close by, and so on. As a parent, I’ve been very impressed with both Wes’s academic culture and student life–kids want to learn, be engaged with the world, and have fun, and all three seem to be happening in spades!
He really liked Vassar! But he also really liked the bustling super huge public state school / school of engineering we had just come from that couldn’t have been more different in every way! So trying to help him distill down what is most important to him. A vibrant, bustling community does seem to be one of those things, wherever he goes, thus this post! Thanks to everyone for your feedback - it’s very helpful!
I’m surprised there aren’t more responses on this thread, but I’ll chime in again to say our son has found Wes to be exactly “a vibrant, bustling community”: lots going on, interesting people all around, vibrant cultural offerings and student-led arts scene. He’s taken advantage of restaurants and cafes in town and already made it to New York and New Haven as well; off-campus opportunities, in other words, are also plentiful. It’s my impression he couldn’t be happier.
For sure, if your son thinks that athletics are the key to spirit, Vassar is probably not the place? Though there was a goodish crowd cheering on the no. 1 ranked Men’s volleyball team last weekend, Vassar’s sports teams often play before small groups of friends and family. The barefoot fireflies circus/fire troupe performance we saw, though, was wildly popular with a huge outdoor crowd, and the orchestra concert we saw was standing room only …
What was the big school? Mine chose between UCLA, Smith and Kenyon last year (we are also from the Bay Area). She chose UCLA and is so, so happy she did. She loves the big school energy (she’s not a sports person at all, just loves the big hustle and bustle of the place)
You bring up an important point: New Haven has a real buzz these days and is only 30 miles away from Middletown. Unfortunately, there’s nothing comparable between Poughkeepsie and New York City.
Wow. I’ve never put them in the same basket. I’ll confess, all I’m familiar with is what is within walking distance of the train stations and my impression of Poughkeepsie might be a little dated. But I’m in and out of New Haven all the time and the area around State Street is bustling, and attractively laid out with public spaces and transit buses everywhere. And I’m not counting the side streets leading to the Yale campus which are basically for sight-seeing. Poughkeepsie, I remember mostly wishing my cab would come sooner.
I just checked to see if I’m wrong … Poughkeepsie had a lower crime rate than New Haven in the recent past (neither great: 39 for New Haven vs. 24 for Poughkeepsie, both per 1,000). Of course Yale’s campus is gorgeous. But 15+ years ago at a hotel within an easy walk of campus, it was a distinctly run-down neighborhood. My take of New Haven was that it was a city that had seen better days, with pockets of incredible wealth for sure, but also some areas that had gone through some economic dislocation - not unlike Poughkeepsie, still recovering from IBM’s abandonment. And like New Haven, Poughkeepsie has some areas of real interest and beauty - the Walkway across the Hudson completed in 2009 has really helped to revitalize that area and the parks around the river are hopping on a warm day. Population of the two metro areas is comparable - 697,000 for P and 842,000 for NH. Anyway - I see them as very comparable, with the acknowledgement that I haven’t seen how NH might’ve been revitalizing in the past 15 years. Both cities served by the Metro North rail line to NYC.
These figures show a 62.5% greater crime rate in New Haven. This suggests that these are not especially comparable cities, at least with respect to crime. Nonetheless, per capita crime in Poughkeepsie has been above the national average.
