Ranked among America’s best liberal arts institutions and “happiest” college by the Princeton Review, Vassar College, USA was an exclusive women’s college until 1969 when it went co-ed

Sited on a sprawling 1,000 acre campus in lower New York state, Vassar College, USA is among America’s most prestigious and high-profile liberal arts colleges. The US News and World Report(2007) ranked it 12th among America’s best liberal arts institutions and the 2002 Princeton Review described Vassar students as the “happiest” countrywide. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, a self-educated businessman and philanthropist, Vassar College, USA was an exclusive women’s college for more than a century. But in 1969 it became the first of the “Seven Sisters” colleges in the US to go co-ed after declining an offer to merge with Yale University. Today this private and highly selective college boasts an endowment corpus of $885 million (Rs. 3,717 crore).

Vassar College, USA confers its highly prized BA degree in over 50 majors. As a liberal arts college it does not offer any professional and/or business education programmes. With an aggregate enrollment of 2,400 students and 260 faculty, it boasts an enviable teacher-student ratio of 1:9. More than 70 percent of the faculty lives on or contiguous to its green and leafy campus.

“The world and its problems keep evolving, and addressing them requires continually new ideas, methods, approaches, and also a desire, a passion to search for them. This is what a Vassar liberal arts education does so extraordinarily well. From the very beginning, Vassar students have been encouraged to experiment, create, take risks, and realise that learning about what we already know simply is not enough,” says Dr. Catharine Bond Hill, president of Vassar College, USA.

Poughkeepsie, Hudson Valley. Vassar is sited in Poughkeepsie in the Hudson River Valley of lower New York state. The greater Poughkeepsie area houses about 100,000 people and is located 120 km north of New York city. The Metro north commuter train provides a reliable rail link to New York and this picturesque town is home to a large campus of the information technology behemoth IBM. Hosting several theatres, shopping malls, pubs and restaurants, Poughkeepsie is just over an hour’s train ride to New York’s Grand Central station.

The weather in Poughkeepsie is akin to New York’s. Average temperature in the winter months is about -1°C; while in the summer months it rises to a mean 24°C. During winter the town experiences modest snowfall.

Campus facilities. Vassar College sprawls across 1,000 picturesque acres ranging from the manicured lawns and formal gardens of the main campus to the meadows and woodlands of Vassar Farm. A designated arboretum, the campus hosts over 100 academic and residential buildings ranging from collegiate gothic to modernist and includes two national monuments —Main House and Vassar College Observatory.

The most recent addition to the Vassar campus is the Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, providing state-of-the-art screening rooms, studios, and production facilities. The college’s libraries include the main, art, music, and special collections, housing over a million print volumes, 3,500 serial titles and 607,000 units of microform; multiple electronic resources and databases.

Sports facilities at Vassar are excellent. Waker Field House, the main athletics building, offers facilities for volleyball, soccer, fencing, baseball, tennis and swimming. The Athletic and Fitness Center, next to Vassar’s nine-hole golf course, houses a state-of-the-art gym and an indoor all-purpose running track.

There are over 100 student-run organisations at Vassar. Moreover nearly a dozen student publications are published on campus. Approximately 1,650 events are held annually including guest lectures, performances by visiting artists, athletic events, and concerts.

Admission. Vassar College, USA is highly selective. The prime criterion for admission is academic ability as demonstrated by superior performance in secondary school; about 90 percent of admitted students ranked in the top 20 percent of their high school class. The minimum eligibility requirement for admission into Vassar’s undergrad degree programmes is successful completion of Plus Two. Additionally Vassar College requires all applicants to submit standardised test results — the SAT Reasoning Test together with two SAT subject tests and TOEFL. Moreover the committee weighs personal strengths, motivation, and potential as evidenced in essays, recommendations, and out-of-class involvements.

The deadline for submitting applications together with a fee of $60 (Rs.2,570) is January 1. For further information write to the Office of Admission, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Avenue, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604; e-mail admissions@vassar.edu; website: www.vassar.edu.

Accommodation. Almost 98 percent of Vassar students live on campus in one of the eight co-ed residence halls and/or the one women’s hall of residence. Accommodating between 169 and 352 students, each house has a separate and unique personality that drives community development. Student rooms are furnished with basic needs (bed, dresser, and desk). An ethernet connection is provided in each room, and computer clusters for general use are available in all houses. Halls of residence also offer kitchen facilities, multipurpose rooms, television lounges, and other amenities. Apartment style accommodation is also available.

Degree programmes. Vassar College, USA awards the bachelor of arts (BA) degree in over 50 majors. At the end of the sophomore (first) year, students have a choice of four divergent paths of study: concentration in a department; an interdepartmental programme such as biopsychology or geography/anthropology; a multidisciplinary programme such as urban studies, American culture, science, technology, and society; or an individually tailored course of study known as the independent program (see box).

Scholastic options at Vassar College, USA

Vassar College, USA offers its highly prized BA degree in over 50 majors. As a liberal arts college it does not offer any technology and/or business programmes. Students may major in a single discipline, an interdepartmental or multidisciplinary program, or they may design an independent program.

Departments. Anthropology, art, biology, chemistry, Chinese and Japanese, classics, computer science, dance, drama and film, economics, education, English, French, geology and geography, German studies, Hispanic studies, history, Italian, mathematics, music, philosophy, physical education, physics and astronomy, political science, psychology, religion, Russian, sociology

Interdepartmental Programs. Biochemistry; earth science and society; geography-anthropology; medieval and Renaissance studies; neuroscience and behavior; Victorian studies 

Multidisciplinary Programs. Africana studies; American culture; Asian studies; cognitive science; environmental studies; the independent program; international studies; Jewish studies; Latin American studies; media studies; science, technology and society; urban studies; women’s studies 

Bill of costs (per year). Tuition fees: $35,520; Room and board: $8,130

NB $=Rs.42

Summiya Yasmeen