Carleton vs Vassar

Colleges & Universities Carleton College
4

Hey everyone, wow, thanks so much for your posts, they were immensely helpful. Vassar and Carleton both seem like such great places (which is why I’m having so much trouble deciding between the two!)

  1. Campus. thanks for sharing that link, collegemom3717. Vassar wins this one haha I never knew the Hudson Valley area was so beautiful.
  2. Neighbourhood: Yeah, Northfield does sound awesome and I've always kinda got that feeling from all the comments and websites I've been reading, so no surprise there. I've changed my mind slightly about how bad Poughkeepsie is though. Carleton wins this one, but by a smaller margin than it used to.
  3. Weather. Okay, I agree, the whole point about going to America is to adapt. Thehangingtree: Fall and Spring term at Carleton sound great, but it's the winter term I'm worried about. Though like you said, there are fun activities to do in the snow that I've never gotten to do in Singapore so that'll help me cope! But I think Vassar still wins this one.
  4. Culture: What you guys said makes a lot of sense. Both schools will have wonderful people, though I definitely do get the "come! you'll love it here!" vs "you're welcome if you'd like it here" feel from Carleton and Vassar respectively haha. Is there any reason for this difference? I mean, does it reflect anything about the culture/type of students at each school? Or does it just reflect different attitudes to student recruitment?
  5. Reputation and academic strength: I feel I'll get a great education in both places (I won't lie though, my parents are pretty concerned about the prestige issue, since Singaporean employers in general are pretty 'brand-conscious'.) But from what the two of you said, Carleton and Vassar both have good reputations so I guess it can't be a deciding factor.

So, still, I can’t decide as no school really stands out to me a lot more than the other (I’m just really excited to come to both). What would you guys say are bigger factors/factors that I didn’t but should take into consideration? Or rather, how would you guys go about deciding between these two fabulous schools?

Thanks so much :smiley: