I am not a student but am a parent of a current Vassar student. As other have said this is like comparing apples to oranges, which is perfectly fine I prefer oranges but two more extremes of education you could not imagine (except possible the university of Alabama and Vassar). Lets begin with Poughkeepsie, Vassar is not in but just outside of it in a place called Arlington, it has streets with some restaurants and shops, it feels like a small town USA. Poughkeepsie is a hole in the wall mostly except for one thing, because Vassar, Poughkeepsie are both on this place called the hudson river valley. Have you heard if the Hudson river school of art? The Hudson river valley is possible the greatest display of natural beauty on earth. Going on the train to union station is not just a commute And then the train goes on to Boston,Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Montreal.
The climate of the valley is NY ’ city’s climate It is not Minnesota or Michigan or even buffalo. It seldom gets below 0 Fahrenheit.
Vassar is very artsy. There are three theatrical troops, singing groups ect. For every student. I remember waiting for my son’s play to begin in one of the 1/2 dozen performance spaces and walking by a studio and seeing some woman crazy at work on a Friday night on some sculpture was creating . It is very laid back, unassuming, no one is trying to impress anyone except maybe at how hipster they are. It is very open and kind of still counter /culture and kind of hippyish. If you have any hang ups about anything it is going to be out of place there. It is an old storied east coast liberal arts college so there is some money there but you would never know it. The dorms are awesome. The first two floods of my sons dorm is wood clad open common area and each dorm has a couple of grand pianos that someone is usually playing. But it will be a much more laid back experience then UCLA which is going to be college as a bustling city.,high energy and high octane, maybe stressful maybe exciting. There are no fraternities at Vassar though there is drinking and true to the nature of the place, no enforcement of any rules. You know Vassar has coed bathrooms right? Social life seems to entail gathering s in peoples rooms seeing who can be the wittiest and most theatrical. There is a Vassar bubble and people seldom leave the campus because they already can’t figure out how to see that play their friend is doing and the art exhibit and that performance their other friend is doing and catch that guest lecturer you professor stopped you to tell you about while working on the papers due for the five classes your taking.
And why come to America if you do not experience autumn on the east coast 6 weeks of unbelievable natural beauty.
Anyway this I not an insiders look just my impression from feed back and numerous visits.