Vassar College | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Chris

Class: Junior
Major: International Relations
Gender: M

High School: Ridge High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

If Vassar is anything, it's not your high school. Almost everyone is eccentric here, in some way, shape, or form; and while some might be more judgmental than others, by and large people just don't care if you're off or not "normal". We almost never go into Poughkeepsie, both because Vassar always has things going on, and also because actual minorities scare the crap out of us. Sports aren't big, student government isn't big...actually, there really isn't anything that's particularly popular, but most things have enough of a following to keep them going. Vassar is a fantastic place to go if you have a good sense of self definition - but if you don't, well, that's ok too.

Academic Life

Vassar has tiny, tiny classes. This is great for the most part, as the professors are very accessible, and if you want to have real class discussion it's a constant aspect of class life. It cuts both ways, though; if you're quiet and shy, it may be held against you, and if you have a professor you don't like you'll have to deal with them face to face every day you have class. People here are smart. That was my first impression and it's held true for 3 years. They'll challenge you, and expect to be challenged in return, though they'll still almost always want to be right. Academics aren't competitive in a who-made-the-dean's-list sort of way; I'm pretty sure we don't actually have a dean's list. Instead, it's often more the competition of who has more work to do and can complain the loudest about it.

Student Body

Vassar is incredibly geographically diverse; people come from all over, both in and out of the US. It's also socioeconomically varied, to the extent where the true minorities are people not on financial aid. That said, Vassar is incredibly non-diverse, racially, and perpetuates that to an extent with the different minority organizations on campus, and most efforts to integrate are regarded with skepticism on both sides. Almost everyone's a liberal, and the conservatives tend to have a persecution complex that is moderately earned; but once again, more people complain about the hippy types than actually fit the bill, so we're much less radical than we used to be.