D1 is applying RD to Barnard while D2 was accepted to Marist, EA. If D1 went to Vassar it would sure simplify some logistics! Any thoughts or opinions regarding qualitative differences between Vassar and Barnard? Naturally I understand the difference between The Hudson Valley and Manhattan! I grew up in the former and spent my young adulthood in the latter.
I would let D1 and D2 make independent decisions. If you push Vassar on D1 she might be resentful that her hand is forced based on D2’s college choice.
In addition the logistics may not be as helpful as you imagine if the academic calendars for Vassar and Marist are at all different (which is likely).
Barnard is all female, although one can take courses at Columbia right across the street. Vassar is co-educational. That is a huge difference right there.
Barnard is very urban. Vassar has a campus of breathtaking beauty with a lake and all.
New York City is a big part of Barnard’s entertainment. Vassar is a self-sufficient community where the big events are on campus, not off.
Husband went to Vassar, and I have visited it five times. I went to Teachers College, Columbia U for graduate school, and I still pass Barnard once a month visiting Teachers College.
The two colleges are so different! Personally, I would love Vassar and would never have wanted to go to Barnard. Others might feel the exact opposite way. I suppose that some people might like both, as small liberal arts colleges with a history of strong women… but many people probably will develop a strong preference for one or the other. Your daughter should be sure to visit both before deciding, as well as weighing how she feels about coeducation versus a women’s college.
Has your D1 applied to Vassar? If so the decision might make itself – she can only attend a college that accepts her., and Vassar accepts a larger percentage of applicants than Barnard – so while you never really can tell, her odds of acceptance at Vassar are slightly higher. But anything is possible, including the very real possibility at this point that she doesn’t get admitted to either.
And is D2 certain to attend Marist? Or does she have a list of other schools she is applying to RD and waiting on as well?
I also noticed that you started a another thread on financial aid with a question about the business/farm supplement and difficulty of predicting income for future years — colleges can have widely different practices about how they treat self-employment income, so you may find that even if your daughter is accepted at both Barnard & Vassar, there may be a marked difference in affordability.
Aside from that – because of the urban location, there’s not really a logistical problem for a Barnard student – it’s quite possible for an 18 year old freshman to fly in to one of the NYC airports on her own and get a cab into the city. When my daughter started college and I said something about flying out with her to help her move in, she looked at me like I was nuts. So she did the whole move in thing on her own, and we shipped out things that she wanted from home but couldn’t fit in her luggage later on. I traveled to NY to visit her three times in 4 years, including attending her graduation – but I never helped with a move-in or move-out and she never needed my help. So really no particular need for the two daughters to be in the same town for college from a logistical standpoint.
Though I checked the calendars and this year freshman at Marist moved in on the last Saturday in August, and first years at Barnard moved in the following day on Sunday – Vassar students moved in almost a week earlier, on a Monday. So if the pattern continues, “logistics” with a Vassar choice would mean that you’d have to hang around Poughkeepsie for 5 days waiting for D2’s school to start – vs. driving with both daughters to drop D2 off at Marist on Saturday, and then driving to NYC that evening or early the next morning.
But the urban / suburban settings can be a major factor for some kids. My daughter applied only to urban colleges – she simply hated any suburban colleges she visited – so she applied to schools in Chicago, NY, and Boston-- with NYC the clear favorite. If money had made it possible she might very well have opted for NYU over Barnard (though in hindsight she knows that would have been a terrible mistake) – but she would have hated every minute of any school away from a large city.
So post again at the end of March if you have that choice to make – otherwise it’s not worth stressing over.
Thank you everyone but it’s a moot point: D1 is sticking with her strategy of Manhattan or in-state NC tuition.
My child visited Vassar and Barnard and found Vassar simply too remote. It was beautiful but she felt it was too isolated and inward focused. Having subsequently attended Barnard and had cousins at Vassar, she’s definitely of the opinion that she made the right decision and loved her entire time at Barnard and the benefits associated with being part of a major research university in New York City.
@TheGreyKing Barnard is indeed a women’s college but being part of Columbia University, my child said she felt it offered the best of both worlds. It isn’t your typical women’s college, i.e. Smith, Wellesley or MHC. Indeed, it reminded me of what Radcliffe was like when I was a Harvard undergrad many years ago.
For female applicants in 2017, Vassar’s admission rate was 15%, which was the same acceptance rate at Barnard.