Vassar College Top Questions

To some degree, each one is accurate, but none are really helpful for determining who any given person truly is. Sure, there are all sorts of people at Vassar and, like anywhere else, some you'll like and some you won't. But by and large, everyone does his/her own thing and we more or less seem to get along anyway. There's a good deal of diversity on campus, despite continual lamentation that there's not enough. Vassar's full of smart, engaged people who are mostly considerably friendly if you'll get past first impressions, which can certainly tend toward the stereotypes listed above.

Not really. People aren't that into flying their freak flag, shall we say, as you might be led to believe. Some students (and frequently professors) do take liberal POVs to be fact rather than opinion, however, and I find that a little annoying.

Yes and no. Vassar students are an eclectic group and while many are liberal, there is still a supportive space for alternative views. Students challenge one another to think critically, but without it being overly competitive.

Not really. They do exist, but most people on Vassar campus are left-leaning, hardworking, and not really the kind of people who do a lot of partying. Usually just slightly quirky but down-to-earth, intelligent human beings.

sometimes

The second is completely inaccurate; although there is a fair amount of pot smoking on campus, it rarely interferes with the students' responsibilities. The first is certainly true of a portion of the campus, but can't be applied to the majority of students, many of whom are on financial aid. However, there is a lack of ethnic and political diversity on campus.

Yes. The students I've met at Vassar think in such different ways. They are overall incredibly smart. They seem to know about so many different things. There was this crazy rumor that the school has a high gay population, but I've found that that's not accurate at all. The vast, vast majority of this campus is straight, and there are also tons of straight boys. Overall the social and academic life is superb.

While we definitely have pot-smoking hippies majoring in Anthropology at Vassar, the most visible group on campus are the hipsters. In case you haven't met one, hipsters wear leggings, giant sunglasses, cowboy boots, multiple belts, and artfully ripped tops from Urban Outfitters. They are usually Art History or Studio Art majors who are into photography and smoking Clove cigarettes. In terms of the male population, yes boys go to Vassar (the ratio for my class year was about 70:30 girls:boys but I've heard that overall it's more like 60:40). There are very few cute, available straight guys, which is fantastic for them but not very fun for the straight girls. It's true that almost everyone here is a Democrat or a radical Socialist, and after 6 months here you will probably start recycling everything.

There is certainly a large LGBT population at Vassar, but it is not as difficult to find a straight male as I was lead to believe. Also, the hipster population is tiny, but I guess it stands out on such a small campus. It is definitely true that most people are liberal and it is not uncommon for people to talk about gender and sexuality in relation to almost anything, in any class or social setting.