Input from poli-sci/international relations majors preferred, but I’d like to hear from everyone
My daughter will begin in the fall and will not acquire the major you prefer, but here’s how her decision came about. After picking the schools that had the major and path she wanted (Three Ivies met that criteria), here’s what sealed the deal:
Excellent academics (school she chose had to have that).
Liberal leaning - Vassar is more liberal than most colleges, and she didn’t necessarily require that, but she does lean liberal and so more conservative-leaning schools were not appealing to her.
Size - She decided early on in the process that she didn’t want to go to a huge school with very large classes. At the same time, she didn’t want the school to be too small. Haverford fell off her list because she felt that 1,100+ students was just too small.
All classes taught by professors - When you attend a college without a graduate program, you aren’t taught by TAs. Some people don’t care about that. She did.
Laid back feel - For an elite college with very smart students, Vassar has a more laid-back reputation. Students are said to be less cutthroat with each other than at some other top colleges. Brown University stayed on her list for a long time for this same reason.
Houses - She liked the idea of the houses and liked the idea that most students seemed to really like whatever house they were in and that typically they stayed in the same house either all 4 years or until they moved out to a campus apartment or townhouse. Connected to this is the fact that there are no fraternities or sororities on campus. Helps create an environment more prone to bonding with classmates.
Varied architecture - Low on her list of criteria, but she found it interesting that the buildings don’t all look the same. Adds to the unique quirky feel of the campus that she loved.
Beautiful campus - Again, not a requirement, but the fact that Vassar’s campus is gorgeous is a plus. With over 200 types of trees, the campus is an arboretum. Makes it interesting and beautiful.
Those are the main things. She had an overnight visit in the fall, and at that point she knew for sure. It was so strong of a feeling that she applied Early Decision and didn’t even apply anywhere else.
Our D looked at UPenn, Swarthmore, Haverford, Pomona College, UVA, USC, Cal and safeties in Conn, NYC, California, DC, and PA. Vassar had this undeniable relaxed chill atmosphere that our D loved. I felt it too. Haverford looked like an industrial park, to us. And Swarthmore seemed to take too much pride in how much their students studied. Our D has gone through enough stress getting into a school like Vassar. She wants to learn but not feel like if you aren’t studying all of the time that you are falling behind.
Vassar had a much prettier campus than Penn. If Penn weren’t an Ivy league school, I doubt it would hold as much appeal as it does. I’m not criticizing the education. I am noting that the location and proximity to their hospital makes it feel like it’s a small urban campus stuck in the middle of a large city. USC, conversely, is in the middle of the city but has so much land that you easily forget that you are just outside of Downtown LA. We visited Penn twice and always felt like we were visiting Philadelphia. It’s a subtle difference but we felt it.
Vassar’s chill environment, students, and beautiful campus are real advantages that you feel imeadiately. That’s why when it came time for ED, Vassar was our D’s choice over Penn and other LACs and it really wasn’t even a debate.
I want to speak just to the competitive issue. I don’t have info about all departments, but my understanding is that there is virtually NO competitiveness among the students at Vassar. It’s just not something I’m hearing about from my student or any of his friends. I don’t get the feeling that there’s really anything to compete FOR. If you write good papers and/or get good grades on your exams, you will get good grades in your courses. I don’t tend toward the Pollyanna-ish, but really these students are by and large very NICE to each other and that is one of the great things about Vassar.* I do not know how to compare this to other colleges, though, except I have one friend whose son went to Dartmouth and hated it because the atmosphere is much more frat-ish and preppy and he is not that type (nor is my son).
Here’s one difference I can conjecture about — you are not going to find recruits from e.g. Goldman Sachs hanging around Vassar (for better or worse). I’m just saying, most of the kids are just not going into these high-powered competitive fields (Unless you consider e.g. medicine and law high-powered). The kids are pretty earnest do-gooder types (as has been stated, pretty left-wing) and the atmosphere of the college reflects that. (not to say there aren’t plenty who are competitive with THEMSELVES – there are. They are very hard workers.
(* just don’t go to Israel for Spring Break**
**kidding (?))
oh and I can speak to another issue too — I had heard that students form close relationships to their professors, and I thought, “well my son isn’t that social, that’s not going to happen with him” but boy was I wrong! He goes to office hours frequently, all his teachers know him, and the vast majority of the teachers are just FANTASTIC – not just because they are smart and doing good things in their fields, but because, just as “advertised,” they are really interested in teaching and in their students. You really do see teachers and students having coffee together, etc. All my son’s teachers really respect their students (as they should, because the students are very smart and hard-working and actually interested in learning for learning’s sake). I was amazed and so delighted to hear that my son could go to a teacher and discuss things And Ask For Help without judgment. And I don’t think my son’s experience is unique – I’ve read posts on a number of forums like this and it seems to be pretty much a universal feeling about Vassar – that the teachers are “awesome.”
Again, I have nothing to compare this to, but I can tell you that there is a really good “vibe” among students and faculty (the administration, a.k.a. The Man (even though she’s a woman)?-- not so much).
If you want, there are also some statements online.
http://www.vassarathletics.com/roster.aspx?path=baseball&
If you look at some of the students on the rosters (for each sport), there’s a personal section where (some) students describe why they chose Vassar over particular schools–which include MIT, Harvard, Yale, Swarthmore, Pomona, Middlebury, Amherst, Rice etc. My friend showed me their statements just recently.
Some reasons include the academics, the campus, and the environment.