They sure didn’t vet their tour guides very well
2 Likes
The Vassar library took the top spot on our most beautiful college libraries list. The Frances Lehman Loeb art museum is impressive. If you’re an architecture buff like me, don’t miss Eero Saarinen’s Noyes House https://offices.vassar.edu/residential-life/residence-halls/noyes/ and the small Marcel Breuer building https://offices.vassar.edu/residential-life/residence-halls/ferry/
3 Likes
The plot thickens.
NiceUnparticularMom was telling S24 she was sold on Vassar once I told her about the train/land cruise option. And then S24 spilled that the VPG has family somewhere near Poughkeepsie!
16 Likes
My Dad worked his whole professional career at the GM Tech Center, designed by Saarinen. We used to go there on family day visits, HS class visits, and so on. So I always have a strange emotional connection to his work.
4 Likes
Also at Vassar, our tour didn’t take us to see the lake, the Shakespeare Garden, or the Bridge for Laboratory Sciences - worth checking out that end of campus (all three are in the same general area) even if it’s not on the official schedule for the day.
4 Likes
My D21 and I toured Vassar in February 2020. Not only did we not see any of the things you mentioned, I don’t even recall seeing the library. The tour was overcrowded (maybe 40 people with one tour guide, who we couldn’t hear) and everyone touring seemed to be from NY/NJ (we are from the west coast and tbh this was a big turnoff for my kid, even though I grew up in NY). She didn’t apply. As stated before, the tour/guide can really make or break a college in a family’s eyes.
4 Likes
Then a stay or a drink at the TWA Hotel at JFK is a must—change that itinerary 
3 Likes
I was there once long ago, but you are right, it is time for a revisit!
1 Like
For me, Williams’s take the cake.
2 Likes
It is lovely and the views are amazing in the fall. My Williams daughter doesn’t like to study in the library because sound travels up the big open spaces, so if you talk you get a lot of stink eyes!
1 Like
We are so excited to see it next week. The first time we toured it was closed and my son thought it looked like an apple store, ha!
2 Likes
It’s a different animal than the old gothic ones, but the view and natural light is impossible to beat IMO. They did an excellent job of adding the modern to the old.
1 Like
For those touring Vassar, I highly recommend:
The Preserve/Farm at Vassar
FDR Library/Museum
Walkway Over the Hudson
5 Likes
I’m eager to see Smith’s new library by Maya Lin. It looks stunning.
3 Likes
Got it. I misread the reply and assumed it was for CMU.
Some take aways - 1. I like that kids are allowed to be interdisciplinary and take on 2nd majors or minors as they want. 2. kids seems to be more corporative than competitive among themselves. 3. Food was ok. S24 was little disappointed but Cornell comparison is not fair. 4. Very diverse student body with a lot of Asian population than I expected. 5. Weather wasn’t good. Seasonal depression could be real for all those kids from CA. 6. So many kids from CA.
1 Like
It is incredible. Completely different feel than Vassar’s library, but we loved them both.
3 Likes
I would add … if available, take the CIA Experience Tour. Fun little tasting to explore sweet, sour, etc.
1 Like
D20 and I had a bad tour guide at Bucknell back in 2018 or 2019, so maybe they aren’t too choosy about their hires? Our guide couldn’t answer some questions and looked like he’d rather be any place other than giving a tour.
2 Likes
That’s wild! I went to Vassar and my closest friends were from Portland (Oregon), San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Albuquerque! I think CA is second most represented state after NY.
1 Like
Maybe we were there on unlucky day? 
