Nationwide, isn’t the average female:male ratio at colleges about 58:42?
OP, my kid didn’t go to Vassar, but his school also didn’t isolate freshmen in their own dorms. It worked out well – in fact his sophomore year, he entered the housing lottery with a senior. The older students gave a lot of helpful guidance. Also, post- grad, many of those older students have been helpful resources in working through career choices and exploring grad schools. He also has friends who graduated a year or two afterhim.
In a smaller school, it helps expand the friend choices from the 500 in your year to any of the 2000 on campus.
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I worked with a guy who was in one of the first classes at Vassar to admit men (so I’m sure a much lower percentage than the 37% now). He loved it.
My nephew’s long term girlfriend went to Vassar. She’s about 32 now and her brother who is also a few years younger than her did too. They both loved it.
My daughter went to a a school with the opposite ratio, about 27% female when she was there. It didn’t bother her at all but she was on a sports team and in a sorority (small) so had built in groups of female friends. When I saw the photo of the RAs I commented "Wow, that’s weird there are so many male RAs.’ DUH, there were 3x as many male students! They lived in suite style apartments so most had 3 apts of guys and one of girls on each ‘landing.’
This is really helpful. Thank you!
Oh wow. What a great description of the residence hall life! This is the information I was hoping to get. The dorm situation just had a big question mark for us, so I’m glad to hear the intentionality of it. Sounds like a neat way to spend three years! Thanks for the response.
This was my D22’s experience as well. There were definitely upperclassman in the dorms, but a strong freshman community on her hall.
And despite what everyone says, it is very easy to move to a different dorm sophomore or junior year. My D actually lived in different dorms for each of her first three years, and is in a TA for her senior year. While many people do have house pride and stay with their dorm for three years, it is totally fine to move. Junior year, if you study abroad, they often put you in a single for the semester you are on campus. My D and her best friend requested singles near one another upon return from study abroad. (I think they could rank either being in a specific dorm, or being near a specific person.) They were issued singles next-door to each other in a dorm neither had previously lived before. They were very happy.
Housing at Vassar is part of what makes it such an interesting place. I don’t think there are two dorm rooms alike in that entire school. The rooms my daughter has had over the years were all so very different in size, shape, windows, wall/floor type, and view. In fact, when my D moved in after study abroad, we were surprised to find out that her best friend‘s single room next-door, with an identical layout, was almost twice as large as D’s room. Keeps it exciting!
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My son is currently a sophomore at Vassar and loving it! He’s not a recruited athlete and not LGQBT+ and has a fantastic friend group - a mix of males and females. His roommate last year was an athlete so met a number of his teammates, and this year he’s in a single. The house system there is really like Hogwarts - you get sorted and put into a house. Lots of house spirit, house Olympics, mix of class years is great to get advice/meet some people from other classes. A faculty family lives in each dorm (often with kids/pets!) and hosts events so it feels very warm and welcoming. There is a real sense of community and most first years are on halls with lots of other first years. I wouldn’t worry about the dorm system - I think it’s a real plus! My son is a math/stats major and also taking a lot of economics, and I feel like both might lean a bit male, as he mentions most of the people he studies with are male friends. Overall the ratio has been a non-issue. He has lots of male friends, but most of his friend groups are a mix of male/female. These are groups outside his core group of friends, and he’s found them through a music ensemble, club and intramural soccer, the house team in his dorm, etc. His core group of friends are kids he met the first month on campus, and I think it helps that they have a great week-long orientation. I went to Vassar (as did my husband) and it was the same ratio back then, roughly. Happy to answer any other questions!
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This is very helpful! Thank you. We are headed there for a re-visit based on all this great feedback.
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Are you going back for a second visit?
Yup! Did not get any of the info on the tour that we got here on this site. Sort of pushed it aside as an ED option and put it in the RD category. After sharing this feedback, my Jr. wants to go back, because, gosh, it sure is pretty there and it ticked many other boxes. I’m hearing alot about community from everyone’s comments, which was the one thing we thought this school was lacking from our visit. So, back it goes into the pool of ED contenders.
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It sure is pretty. Along with Mt. Holyoke, I think it’s the prettiest campus in the country.
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Have you gone back to visit? I know the deadline is just a few days away so just curious!