Anyone go to Vassar?

Depends on the college you chose!

Miss Jane went to Vassar? Why would you want to go to a female school? And don't say it's not, it still is, once a female school always one.

Didn't you go to community college, Glennie? I guess that would explain your natural transition to community theater.

[quote] Why would you want to go to a female school? And don't say it's not, it still is, once a female school always one.

That's why I didn't go.

Hopefully you'll find a poster here who can tell you if you would've had a better time at Vassar

Lakey touched me down here and I killed myself.

I went. It was a pretty great experience, and I think that opinion is shared by most people who go.

However, as a male, yep, that explanation and weirdness at r2 is a constant. Oy, vey.

Funnily enough, I've sometimes wondered how things would have turned out if I'd gone some place else: But meh, OP. Let it go. No matter WHAT you choose in life, there are good points and bad points, would have's and should have's.

btw: What college did you choose, OP and didn't you have a good time? And why are you so worried about a 'good time' at college? It's really about getting an education. Especially in hindsight, as an adult, that's what I appreciate. Regrets about not enough keggers and streaking on the quad or whatever seem silly.

NYU, r7

I've heard of Vasser but you never hear about it any more.

True r7, I shouldn't look back with regret. (I was watching that Bridegroom documentary and the guy on that went to Vassar and seemed so happy)

NYU was really hard at the beginning because even though I wanted to be in NY I was a little overwhelmed by the city at such a young age. (and coming from a rural area)

Vassar is 40% lesbian.

[quote]I've heard of Vasser but you never hear about it any more.

Yes, it's kind of like Napster.

My sister went and basically built her career from Vassar connections. She made lifelong friends but was so ready to move on. It is very insular. Everyone lives on campus all four years because it is in a horribe area. A lot of partying and a lot of overprivleged white kids.

[quote]Everyone lives on campus all four years

To each their own. This was one of the things I loved about it. I can't imagine what would be so special about everyone dispersing the moment classes end, but having a campus that felt close knit was great for me. To each their own.

Careful. A reference to Vassar is apt to trigger a lunatic rant from the Misogyny Queen, who is running around here again like a yipping pug.

Didn't Jackie O go there? And Jane Fonda - weren't there stories about her antics there, coming to dinner completely naked to piss off her house matron or something.

The beautiful and talented AnnE Hathaway went there.

Ah, memories of tea in the Rose Room!

Yes but you didn't actually graduate now did you AnnE?

I don't know. Did I? Someone call my publicist.

How many of you ladies majored in Scissoring?

[quote]Everyone lives on campus all four years because it is in a horribe area.

Poughkeepsie is not "horrible" and that part of Poughkeepsie is nice but pretty boring. Vassar is very insular, though. The kids go off campus only to get to the train station to go to the City.

Someone once told me that girls that go to all-girls school are actually far more likely to be boy-crazy/nympho than ones that go to co-ed public schools. Not sure how true that is..

Poughkeepsie is not great. Raymond Ave is sort of picking up a bit. And Collegeview too. But let's face it, go 4 blocks in any direction and it's downhill.

Sure, Poughkeepsie's not great but it's not horrible either. Newburgh is horrible.

I've heard only good things about it by people who have gone there. I assume the r2s of the world must miss out on a great many things.

R15 Actually "running around like a yipping pig" would be a fairly accurate description of your own actions; being that you felt the need to come to this thread and announce that nonsense. Is your plan to announce this news in every thread that you assume will attract women?

I'm so effing stupid that despite going to Spence - where Vassar is basically a safety school - and my rich, über connected parents, I got rejected, REJECTED, from Vassar. I was so fucking stupid, in fact, that I had no college to go to, until daddy phone BFF Michael Douglas, who at the eleventh hour got me into that fine institution of learning, the University of California, Santa Barbara. But the pottery and ceramics classics were simply too much for me and I had to drop out after one semester. Thank GOD Uncle Steven came to my rescue!

But seriously, how badly do you have to fuck up to graduate from Spence/Brearley/Chapin and NOT get into Vassar? Especially with those parents?

Or couldnt her mother have even gotten her into Bard?

Even if she's a little dim, she can't really be THAT dumb...can she?

I mean, when I think of all the celebuspawn that went to Brown...I sincerely don't think she's dumber than anyone in that group.

I went to Vassar ('07). I wasn't happy there. I vividly remember driving away, crossing the Mid-Hudson bridge for the last time, on a sunny day after graduation, and feeling like I'd just been set free from something.

My unhappiness was pretty much of my own making, though, and probably atypical.

People are right to say that the campus and its culture are extremely insular, and I never felt comfortable in the social scene or found my niche. The mainstream culture was much too indie/hipster cool for me, and other groups struck me as sort of ghettoized and nerdy in a narrow and overly parochial kind of way.

It didn't help that I made shitty friends in my first year, and was a hopeless mess the following year when my father and grandmother died unexpectedly a month or two after school started.

I do have fond memories of the place itself, though. Poughkeepsie isn't my favorite city on earth, but the Hudson River Valley is beautiful, and the Vassar campus itself is amazing. There's a hill covered in cherry trees out by the lake, and a nighttime production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, all white linen and lanterns and blossoms falling when the wind blew, stands out as one of the more aesthetically surreal moments of my life.

I went to Vassar!

If you laid every Vassar girl from end to end, I wouldn't be the least surprised.

a very old expression that is suitable to any of the five sisters.

R32 is Barbara Thorndyke.

I remember when Jay Leno made such an idiot of himself interviewing Lisa Kudrow about Vassar. He thought it was still a seven sisters type school, and asked Kudrow if it was annoying being around all of those preppy people. And bless her, trying to control a massive eye roll, was like, "um, no, just the opposite" (meaning that since it went co-ed it's super artsy and a good number of the men are gay). Of course, all of this went over Leno's head.

I have had just about enough of your Vassar-bashing, young lady!

Pretty much what R07 said. The Mid-Hudson Bridge had the same effect on me and his/her description of the social landscape is spot-on. In fact, I suddenly lost my mother after I graduated and I'm tremendously thankful that she didn't pass away while I was still enrolled. It's the only thing that could have made a bad situation worse.

I have some fond memories here and there, but I practically gave up on a fulfilling, vibrant social life by the end of freshman orientation. My student fellow group sucked and my first roommate was a latent schizophrenic (seriously, she took a leave of absence sophomore year after being formally diagnosed). Plus, many of my hall mates already knew each other because they graduated from the same school in Massachusetts. Res Life often made weird decisions like that.

Granted, I don't think most people would be fazed by these setbacks (or even perceive them as "setbacks"), but it is really difficult to find alternatives when the campus is so small and insular. I never felt forced to transfer, but I was so anxious to leave -- I regretted not piling on more courses so I could graduate early. I did, however, take a work study program my last semester of senior year. While I used it to cultivate my career, I mainly did it because it allowed me to live off-campus and intern in the city for half the week.

Anyway, my older sister also graduated from Vassar and her experience was the complete opposite. Her main circle of friends is comprised of college classmates and she's an enthusiastic donor. Like many things, it works out for some people and not for others.

At the very least, I am grateful it gave me a somewhat enviable academic pedigree. It's not exactly a diploma mill, but I am surprised how many people are impressed by a Vassar education.

Beautiful campus but not a great area. Absolutely NOTHING to do outside of the campus and good luck finding a decent place to eat or buy good food.

There's a cute Italian professor who's out.

I went to Vassar. And I loved it.

Who ISN'T out at Vassar, R38?

A straight friend was in the first graduating class that included men. He loved the ratio of guys to girls.

Is there a shrine to Jackie anywhere on campus?

[quote]Beautiful campus but not a great area. Absolutely NOTHING to do outside of the campus and good luck finding a decent place to eat or buy good food.

When were you ever in that part of town? There a few decent restaurants in Arlington within walking distance of the Vassar campus. And there are plenty of great restaurants within driving distance. Vassar boys need a boyfriend from the CIA to take them out for good eats.

I'm a Vassar girl!

Yes, Class of '56, I Ate A Pi. Tremendous!

Thank God for R6. In a perfect world, this thread would be full of references to "The Group."

I have fond memories of the place, never met such a diverse and eclectic group of individuals, gathered in one space. My circle of friends included royalty, several actors and oodles of socialites. I remember a conversation over dinner with an acquaintance about a concept design for a social media platform that would eventually become Flickr.

Hooked up with several West Point cadets all three years I was on campus, and continued the party during my Junior Year abroad. The England, France & Spain JYA programs are essentially gaycations and at the end you receive credit. If you fall into the right crowd, you will have nothing to worry about. Even if you don't, you will be surrounded by amazing talent.

Vassar joke:

“How many vassar girls does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”

“It’s women and that’s not funny”

Both Poughkeepsie and Newburgh are equally awful.

Why would any woman choose to go to an all-girls college? We know women are catty towards each other as it is.

I went to Fordham, but I remember once giving a cigarette to some guy outside the library during a rainstorm; were were chatting and he made a comment about the rain. I laughed and told him it was small potatoes for me, coming from Portland, OR, upon which he told me he had gone to Reed College for a semester, but hated it and transferred to Vassar (I believe he was from New York originally). I got the impression that he liked Vassar more than Reed (no surprise there), but he didn't seem enthusiastic about it really. He said he was excited to graduate and leave, but didn't really elaborate, and I didn't press him on it. I think he was looking into enrolling in Fordham's graduate program for theology, which struck me as slightly odd.

R50 Vassar has been coed for quite some time.

R51: Odd is probably a typical major at Reed or Vassar

Oh, yes! Here I am with a couple of my chums. That's moi in the middle.

We were mad for plaid!

Didn't go to Vassar, but I know several women and men who did. Most seem to have liked the experience reasonably well; none of the men seem scarred by Vassar's history as a women's college.

That sounds like the beginning of a love story, R51. Did you go home together?

Don't forget the highly respected Powerhouse theater that has an intensive summer program for actors, writers and directors. I've met Cher, Meryl Streep, Joe Morton, Carrie Fisher and many others over the years.

A straight, female friend of mine graduated in 2005. Her parents would only let her apply to women's colleges but were behind the times and didn't know Vassar had gone co-ed. She complained that all the guys were gay, and parties would consist of a huge group of women trying to hit on the few straight men there. She ended up having to graduate a year early because her parents ran out of money to pay tuition. At least she got the diploma from it.