Vassar vs. UChicago - help?

tashlae
Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:15:20 +0000

Hi!

So I’ve been accepted at some great schools, and I’ve narrowed it down to these two (knocked Wellesley off the list after some agonizing and at least one friend going, “but don’t you want to be Hillary when you grow up?” but y’know, not a convincing factor), now I am mostly confused.

Luckily, financial aid isn’t an issue-- I’ve received enough need-based aid that my parents say I can go to whichever school I pick-- though UChicago did give me a 5000k/yr merit scholarship. However, it seems to just be subtracted from the grant money.

I have no idea what I want to major in, but right now I’m leaning towards physics or computer science, maaaaybe doing something with political science. I attended a comp sci class at UChicago when I did the STEM overnight, and while it really wasn’t great, I was assured that it didn’t represent the classroom experience there overall. I’ve only been to a dance class at Vassar (which was AMAZING, the head of the dance department is fabulous) but I spoke to the head of the physics department on Tuesday at the open campus and really liked what I heard. I also liked that I would have opportunities for research at Vassar that I might not get at UChi.

I know Poughkeepsie isn’t a great college town, so UChicago wins for location, however I’m from NYC so it wouldn’t be too expensive to go to the city for the weekend if I wanted. I loved both campuses, and liked that Vassar has great stuff going on, specifically in regards to theater. Of course, the city of Chicago has plenty of that too!

I know that they’re both very different schools down to the curriculum, so any advice or factors I haven’t considered (especially about social life) would be really appreciated.

By the way, tried the coin-flip thing. Results have been inconclusive. :/