butterpiglet, my D is a second year. You would not live in Poughkeepsie- Vassar is not even really ‘in’ Poughkeepsie, it is in a suburb of Poughkeepsie (who knew it had suburbs?!) called Arlington- you live on campus. It is beautiful and very safe, and as stepay says there is a lot to do- so much so that my D (who loves going to NYC) struggles to find time to go in! My D did not take a car to college- they have zipcars on campus that students can rent, so when they want to go to the movies, do a Target run, etc., it is easy to do.