I’ve been accepted at Wesleyan and Vassar for Fall 2016 and I’m having a hard time choosing between the two. I’m a straight male planning to major in psychology or neuroscience and I may end up getting a Ph.D. I visited both schools last week and liked the Vassar campus and access to nature and NYC. I really liked the people I met at Wesleyan (didn’t get a chance to talk to many at Vassar) and I might be interested in the fifth year master’s program there. I liked Middletown a little better than Poughkeepsie (although not too excited about either town). I’m looking for a place where students are passionate about learning, collaborative rather than cutthroat and have interesting conversations about politics, culture, history, psychology, etc., outside the classroom. I’m also looking for great professors who really care about students and where there are opportunities to do research; I assume I’d find that either place. I’d love to hear from current Wesleyan and Vassar students about their experiences.
Choosing is harder than you expected, yes?! I’m sure lots of people will weigh in on why one or the other is better, but the fact is: there is no bad choice here.
Hoping for somebody to say something that will tip the balance for you is stepping away from owning your own decision. Is it possible that you feel more drawn to one than the other, but are anxious about committing, about making the ‘wrong’ choice? Remember that this is not the be-all and end-all choice that it feels like: both colleges will keep your info on file for a year, and if halfway through the year you realize that the one you are in isn’t what you want it to be, you can apply to transfer. I’m not advocating that, just trying to say there is no choice here that is so final that you will regret it forever!
@1Dreamer posted this to a student on a different thread who is struggling with being afraid of making the wrong choice:
Life is filled with forks in the road. All you can do is pick which path you feel is the best for you at a given time, and try not to look back over your shoulder at the one you didn’t take. It’ll drive you crazy, and you know what you want. Trust your gut, keep looking forward, and you’ll be fine.
It’s good advice. Step up and follow your heart.
^ Great post and it quotes a pearl of wisdom from another great post. Either way you will be fine. Two great choices! Congrats for getting this far, and please let us know your final decision.
Very difficult choice to say the least… Have you considered the social and living situations? Vassar is more self contained and has very nice architecture but does have a slightly more ‘restrictive’ housing policy, whereas Wes has more of an open campus feel and upperclassmen housing can be very good including almost everyone can live with friends in their own campus house. The 4/5 masters program is very good and if you are decided on making academia a lifelong goal then this program affords you a low cost alternative to getting to the Masters level. Socially Vassar has a slight tilt toward larger female population which can be an interesting factor. Overall, as others have said, go with your gut feeling. You can’t make a bad decision here… Perhaps one thing you could do is go on the Psych/Neuro department websites of each department and check out the research areas of interest, see if any grab your attention more than others. Both schools will allow you to do a senior thesis, likely in conjunction with a professor’s current area of research, so having an interest in a particular topic could be the deciding point.
I’m not sure about Wesleyan but Vassar is not at all cut throat. People care about doing well, but they tend to focus on improving their own performance rather than competing with someone else. Vassar does tend to offer research opportunities as a rule. Usually you just go and ask the professor if you can help in the lab, even as a freshman. Individual depts and profs may do things differently, but as a rule, the profs are open to the students at Vassar. This may be similar at Wesleyan but I just don’t know. Just glancing at the list of profs at Vassar, I see that there’s research into child development. Also, positive psychology, just to name two. I’d go look carefully at the list of profs in each dept and see if there’s someone (or three) who is doing research that interests you. If you google the name of the prof(s), and/or the subject matter, you may find some of their papers online. Start by reading the abstracts until you understand the jargon and the issues discussed in the papers. You may also find people discussing the professor’s personality and how active his/her program. Meeting with profs as an accepted student is even better. Request a meeting. It’s okay and the Admissions depts can help with this. Even if running the subjects is completed, a professor may have data you can crunch and maybe even get a publication as co-author. You’d need to be proactive as an undergrad or grad to do this. Fortunately Vassar does not have a grad school and so you wouldn’t be competing with grad students for these opportunities. Getting a publication as an undergrad is rare and really helps you move forward in the field. Most school departments are very open to admitted students calling and asking questions. Once you’ve done your online research, and formulated questions, then call. This may be a way to find potential mentors. The way forward in psychology–if you intend to get a ph.d., as it is very competitive the higher you go–is to get going early on research, understanding what the field of psychology is really about (what are the issues discussed in the field), and of course to otherwise do well in your program. Then you will need GREs that are stratospheric and / or clinical work, depending on the type of pscych that interests you. This is what gets you into a top grad program (ph.d.). Top grad programs are often paid for by the institution and/or a prof’s grants–which should be added incentive to do well early so that you don’t end up in debt later.
I observe Wesleyan to be stronger in the sciences and Vassar stronger in the arts/humanities (except film). Middletown is more integrated into the Wesleyan community but it is easier to get to NYC from Vassar. Vassar is a prettier school but Wesleyan has great housing and food options. Based on your interests I would give Wesleyan the nod but you really can’t go wrong with either choice.
Can you expand on the basis for your thinking here? In particular, I am wondering if you are going on old stereotypes for one or both of these schools?
It’s understood that Vassar has recently completed construction of a new science facility. However, the latest available figures indicate that Wesleyan outspends it on research by a factor of 8:1
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/rankings-2015/liberal-arts-colleges-research.php
Wesleyan does spend massive amounts more on research (something like $9m to $1m) than Vassar, but that doesn’t mean that Wes = Science & Vassar = arts. The 9x higher spend on research doesn’t correlate with the ranking for students going for PhD’s, which is very similar (#14 v #17) between the 2 schools, and is easily accounted for simply by the presence of Masters & PhD programs.
There are only 200 graduate students and 2900 undergraduates, so clearly the 9x greater money towards research is not “easily accounted for” by such few students. Try again.
@collegemom3717 , Wesleyan’s performance in the competition for the Apker Award is one indication. Two winners and two finalists in a physics competition that is almost always won by larger research universities like MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, Princeton, etc.
http://newsletter.blogs.wesleyan.edu/2014/09/09/hanakatafinalist/
“Wesleyan has an amazing string of having two winners and two finalists for this award in recent years,” Starr said. “The Apker Prize is based on a national competition, in which we compete in the category of Ph.D. granting institutions, and are thus competing directly with universities such as Harvard, Princeton and Yale. In these past six years, Wesleyan is leading the nation, outdoing all our larger brethren research universities.”
Seems they’re doing something right on the quant side of campus.
Also, Wesleyan’s graduate program is tiny and a lot of those kids are in straight math, which isn’t as capital intensive as areas like physics, chem and bio.
@MiddleburyDad2, I’m not at all disputing Wesleyan’s strengths on the quant side of the campus! Apker, research spending, Goldwaters, MA/PhD (relatively small but still there): there are lots of indicators that Wes is strong in science.
I only challenged that Wes=science and Vassar=arts. Wesleyan’s strength in science is one thing; whether Vassar is a valid choice for a science oriented student is another.
@collegemom3717 , yes, I agree. I think the generalization was offered in the spirit of coming up with some reason, however small, for picking a school where both are so close and the admitted student is really stuck.
There are a lot of reasons I’d like to attend Vassar. And if I were a math/science kid who didn’t get into Wes for some reason and did get into Vassar, I’d be just fine with it.
That said, if I were really into physics, at least, I’d give a long and hard look to Wes before choosing Vassar and make sure that the reasons for choosing Vassar were strong.
But, yes, Vassar is a valid choice for a kid wanting to study pretty much anything…