<p>Brandeis and Vassar are two schools that my daughter looked at and which made her “list” - she is going to brandeis.</p>
<p>There were some clear similarities: relatively small, excellent academic reputations, liberal atmosphere, emphasis on diversity, both offered good programs in what my daughter wanted. Vassar may have a slight edge in terms of name recognition and “presitige” but Brandeis probably offers more of a research university in a small school, whereas Vassar is more a liberal arts college.</p>
<p>What it boiled down to for my daughter was more a matter of social atmosphere. Brandeis probably has more of a non-party reputation. Housing at Vassar is all coed by room (ie girls rooms and boys rooms on the same floor) with co-ed bathrooms, unless you live in the women’s only dorm. Though many people say coed bathrooms aren’t a big deal (and sometimes single sex bathrooms end up coed as a practical matter), it was a concern for my daughter (more so actually than for me). At Brandeis, there is a choice for freshmen between co-ed by room or coed by floor (I don’t think the single sex dorm option existst there anymore). At Vassar we were told that students tend to stay in the same dorm all their years on campus - so each dorm has kids of all years - I can see some real advantages to this in terms of developing community. At Brandeis, freshmen are housed together (maybe some sophmors in the same dorms) and students seem to move each year based on the type of housing available to their year - I can see some real advantages to being with all freshmen.</p>
<p>Some of these things I talk about may seem trivial. Academics is important - make sure you do check to see what they each offer in terms of what you want to study - but I do think that when you are comparing two excellent schools, a lot boils down to fit - where do you think you will better fit in. At both schools you will probably find tons of kids who are happy and couldn’t imagine having gone elsewhere - what you need to figure out is whether there is a difference in the “fit” that matters to you - what makes students like each school and is that what appeals to you. See if the schools have their own message boards where you can see what students are saying about the place - are the things they gripe about things that would be important to you? Are the things they describe as going on at the school appeal to you?</p>
<p>Remember that whichever you choose, its a great school and enjoy every minute there.</p>