Vassar College Visit Report by Keilexandra

Visit Activities:

Information Session: Yes - The info session was held in a small, cozy sitting room area. The presenter, a regional admissions officer, had a weird habit of closing her eyes as she talked.

Campus Tour: Yes - The two tour guides were entertaining, occasionally sarcastic, and reasonably candid.

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Campus:

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While we were hanging out on the porch after the info session, waiting for the tour to start, a group of tour guides sat in the corner chatting but ignored us.

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Vassar's campus is beautiful, an arboretum with several National Historic Landmarks. The architecture is a eclectic mix of Gothic and modern.

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All of the buildings we entered were neat and well-kept.

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We didn't see a dorm room, only an immaculate first-floor parlor. My mom went to the bathroom and said it was small to average, better than Brown's at least.

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Vassar the campus seems very safe, with blue-light phones (guaranteed 90-second security response) and student patrols at night. I can't speak for Poughkeepsie.

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I really liked Vassar; it has a quirky personality that appeals to me.

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Off-Campus:

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I'm sure it's not as safe as a rural setting, but Vassar is pretty off-the-edge from Poughkeepsie proper. A definite campus bubble feeling, which can be good or bad.

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Poughkeepsie is a rundown small city with poor town-gown relations.

Campus Visit Notes for Vassar College

Visit Description:

After visiting Vassar, it has jumped up several places on my college list. The campus is beautiful, large but still cohesive. Poughkeepsie isn't the best town, but it doesn't really affect Vassar much--"Vassar bubble"--and NYC is a reasonable train ride away. The library, an arbitrary but important factor for me, is beautiful with both open stacks and an open-food policy. Drama/theater is big on campus; there are four different theaters, I believe.

The dorms are aging but due to all be eventually renovated; for the time being, this means a housing crunch with many doubles and triples. Each house has a distinctive character and unique traditions. All are coed by room and have coed bathrooms as well, except for Strong (the all-women's dorm).

Vassar reminds me of my performing arts middle school; the students are quirky, artsy, and liberal. Both tour guides were involved with the drama department. The school is also strong in art history, with a gallery on-campus.

At other schools I visited, the emphasis was on selling points like curriculum; at Vassar, the selling point is personality. And the fact that they have the third-highest concentration of Steinway pianos, after the Steinway factory and the Oberlin Conservatory.