Now
that I have graduated I can appreciate Vassar more, but
I positively hated the four years that I spent there.
Here's a breakdown of my experience: Classes: Most professors are
great. Smart and easily accessible. Classes are small, about 25-30
students for intros and 8 or 10 for seminars. Attendance
is important and professors will notice if you are absent.
Class participation is a big component of your grade, but
I found that the occasional inane comment was sufficient. Caution:
students here like to talk a lot in class. About
nothing. Seriously, most just like the sound of their own
voice. This was my biggest peeve and made a lot
of classes downright miserable.
Grades: In a word, cake. If
you major in the social sciences, expect two or three
papers for each class. That's it. There's a lot of
reading, but truthfully I never did any of it and
I got all As and Bs. A few professors are
tough graders, but if you put some effort into your
papers you won't get lower than a B.
Academics: Expect
to learn more about race and gender than you ever
thought possible.
Campus: GORGEOUS. The dorms (with the exception of
Jewett) are old, but I found them charming. Main is
the best dorm (big, more anonymity, and has the Mug/P.O./cafe/bookstore
downstairs), Joss has great parties, Strong is all girls and
quiet, the quad dorms are all sort of the same,
Cushing is far away and pretty much forgotten, and Noyes
is for nerds and weirdos. The surrounding area is pretty
rundown, but there are decent restaurants. I brought a car
and it saved me from being confined to the “Vassar
bubble,” but Poughkeepsie is kind of a s****hole.
Campus Life:
This was my biggest problem with Vassar. If you're a
hippie/hipster/vegan/gay/bookworm or else socially awkward you will be right at
home here. If you play sports, expect to be made
fun of a lot and hang out primarily with other
athletes. If you an attractive, straight girl DO NOT COME HERE. Seriously, there are usually maybe 3 moderately attractive to
good-looking guys on campus and they will either be in
a relationship or huge players. Conversely, if you're a normal
looking guy you will have the opportunity to hook up
with girls you will never be able to get in
the real world. There are a lot of campus parties,
but I got tired of them after the first two
years of school. There are bars in Poughkeepsie and surrounding
towns but Vassar students rarely leave campus on the weekends
unless it's to go to NYC.
Post-graduation: Now that
I'm applying for jobs, employers are really impressed that I
went to Vassar. Interviews usually go like this: “Wow! Vassar
is a really great school! So, what are you qualified
to do?” The answer is nothing. I'm simultaneously over and
underqualified for most positions and am having a really hard
time finding a job that pays more than $8.00 an
hour. Consequently I'm applying to law school. If I could
do it all over again I would have gone to
a much bigger university and majored in something like business
or marketing.
Bottom line: Visit Vassar before you decide to
go there. Take advantage of the prospective student program and
get your host to take you to a typical party.
Sit in on some courses. Have a meal in ACDC
and observe the student body. There are people that love
Vassar, and then there are people like me who would
have fit in better at someplace bigger and more mainstream.