My somewhat quirky student who also happens to be an athlete looked at both schools and is quite happy at Davidson with many non-athlete friends. As for Greek life, I wouldn’t say it is huge there. Compared to most schools with a Greek presence, it is Greek life-lite with the frats and eating houses (for women) being relatively tame. None of the eating houses or frats are residential though most have one story buildings on Patterson Court which serve as mini dining halls and social centers. Some of them are dry as well. The majority of young men at Davidson do not join a frat, and almost all parties/social events are open to the entire Davidson community. I believe a larger percentage of women join one of the self-selecting eating houses.
Indeed, there is a strong athlete presence on campus with Davidson being one of the smallest Division 1 schools. My student says most athletes are pretty well integrated with the rest of the Davidson student body. Davidson does take its sports (especially basketball) as well as its academics seriously and maybe as a result there is a strong sense of student pride in the school and its teams. My student says there are all types and personalities on campus so your S will almost definitely find his crowd there. The one defining common trait of students on campus seems to be kindness. Davidson admissions seems to seek out kids of strong character (the honor code has a tangible presence on campus).
I’d encourage your S to attend the final admitted students day to get a better feel of the student body if he hasn’t already attended one of the earlier sessions. Not an easy choice he has ahead of him but he can’t go wrong with either school.
I have a daughter there now who is a double major with theater being one of them. Not sporty or fratty. Loves it, has had no issues. Sounds like a pretty even mix of boys and girls involved in theater there, so I would guess there would be no problem finding a niche there.
Thank you for sharing. It’s reassuring to hear that athletes and non athletes are all integrated into the college. He recently attended an admitted students day and was impressed with how friendly the students were as well as the faculty who taught the class he sat in on. He was just surprised that every student he met (both current and prospective students) was either a D1 or club athlete. Perhaps it was just coincidence? His high school didn’t offer any sports at all, so this whole culture is new to him. This is a kid who has literally never even been to a high school football game in his life! So we just want to make sure he doesn’t feel like an outsider since he doesn’t know anything at all about sports.
Thank you. This is good to know. I wish we could have visited last weekend- I heard they just performed “The Addams Family Musical” and I’m sure he would have met plenty of theater people there!
The percentage of athletes on the Davidson campus is far less than many of other top liberal arts colleges because Davidson fields fewer teams. For example, at Williams College where I attended almost 35% of the student body is a varsity student athlete. At Davidson it is roughly 25% and by comparison Vassar about 18.5% (Vassar recently had 455 varsity athletes on campus per College Factual).
Wow, did not realize that. This definitely provides some much needed perspective! Thanks for sharing. Methinks it’s time for the kid to broaden his horizons wherever he ends up, which is a good thing either way!
It might be the case that Vassar’s characteristics would make it a great match for your son in relation to nearly all other colleges. Consider whether his outcome in having been accepted to Vassar represents too good of an opportunity to decline.
Does your son want to be a fish in a big pond when it comes to performing arts (Vassar) or potentially a smaller pond (Davidson)? Davidson is no slouch – it has both a large traditional performing arts center and a decent black box, hosts a wide variety of faculty and student directed plays and musicals throughout the year and hosts multiple theater companies during the summer and has a robust theater major. But there will be more performing arts kids at Vassar. Some will prefer this – more peers, more pressure to raise the bar, etc. – and some will prefer to know they can potentially stand out a bit easier at Davidson in this regard. No right answer – depends on the kid.
Similarly, while Davidson – both as a college and community – is socially progressive for the region, in the grand scheme of things it would be a left end of moderate environment overall (though the theater program in particular is probably on the liberal vanguard of the campus). Vassar will be more far left of the political spectrum overall. Again, this totally comes down to preference.
Another personal preference is area – not just weather but vibe of the surroundings. I’ve not had a kid at Vassar but have toured several times and driven through Poughkeepsie on other occasions. I think Davidson and its area are a nicer vibe. You have the lake, the development seems more recent and nicely planned. Poughkeepsie is rougher around the edges. But someone else may like the Poughkeepsie vibe or even if they don’t they could rightly love that it’s an 1.5 hours (by car or train) from NYC. And there’s a vast difference between Charlotte and NYC. Again, no better answer, just preferences.
My D is finishing up at Davidson - not an athlete though she’s friends with a few. Agree it’s not hard to find non-athlete social scenes at all, esp. through theater. I honestly can’t imagine a better experience for my D in college. She’s had tremendous opportunities and resources throughout, and the student body and faculty are warm, kind, and a real community. The adjacent historic town is lovely and she walks there all the time for errands or outings. Likes that she can also easily get to Target or other places in nearby suburbia too. Finally, she’s appreciated the warmer weather compared to many LACs that were on her list!
Many good point have been raised. For my 2 cents, the 2 most significant differences between these schools are:
Curriculum requirements. Vassar touts it’s “open” curriculum with minimal distribution requirements. Davidson has considerable distribution requirements in their “core” curriculum.
Gender balance. Davidson is almost evenly balanced at 47.5:52.5 male:female ratio. Vassar is heavily female at 37.5:62.5 male:female ratio.