Vassar vs. Occidental vs. Pomona vs. George Washington U.

rohwyxo
Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:03:29 +0000

Hey, I recently visited Vassar for an overnight (I am attending next year!), so I will give you my two cents on first impressions:

1.)Atmosphere and student body (preppy, hipster, laid-back, intellectual)
SO MANY HIPSTERS, haha. Preppy not so much, but there’s definitely still a New England LAC old-school prep feel / traditional feel that I absolutely loved. Everyone I met were pretty current with news as well as culture. My host’s floormates were obsessed with Doctor Who haha and they introduced me to a lot of new music I haven’t heard before, which I am excited for.

2.)International Relations Department
I am looking into this as well, but generally I feel like it’s what you make of it since they don’t technically have an international relations department- they have an international studies department, which is composed of an inter-department faculty. Depending on what aspect of international relations you want to study (I am assuming international politics? If so, you’ll probably take loads of classes in Poli Sci, which I heard was phenomenal) you have to sort of build your major.

3.)Theatre Program
I watched Doctor Horrible during my overnight and it was awesome! It was a small production, but it was a full house and the student performers were wonderful! My host told me there is a lot of support and talent for all the theatre/acapella/performance in general at Vassar, which is awesome.

4.)Campus Style
Again, hipsters. Imagine a place where Urban Outfitters is mainstream, not Abercrombie & Fitch…

5.)LGBTQ Community
Really inclusive, considering Vassar is super liberal. During my stay there, (my ONE night!) I met people of differing sexualities and it just has a really open atmosphere. A lot of people come out when they go here, apparently, since it is so open.

6.)Anything else you might consider helpful
Go to Vassar with me! And about financial aid, I thought I would receive nothing (From the other school I heard back, since I applied EDII, I got nothing…) but I ended up with a very generous financial aid. If Oxy offered you financial aid, I am pretty sure Vassar will too.