Setting Small City-Suburban Student Body % In-State: % Out-of-State: % Women: % Men: Total Undergrads % Living Off-Campus: % African American % Native American % Asian American % Latino % Caucasian % International 25% 75% 60% 40% 2,389 NR* 5% 0% 10% 7% 72% 6 % Cost Tuition—In-State Tuition—Out-of-State Room and Board $41,335 $41,335 $9,730

Admissions Test Scores (Middle 50%—first year student) SAT Critical Reading SAT Math SAT Writing ACT Composite Average High School GPA % Freshmen in Top 10% of Class % Applicants Admitted # of Students Applied # of Students Admitted # of Students Enrolled Regular Application Deadline Early Decision Deadline 670-750 650-720 660-770 29-33 3.75 70% 25% 7,361 1,839 640 1 January 15 November Office of Admissions 124 Raymond Avenue Poughkeepsie, NY 12604 vassar.edu

Are you the quiet, reserved type who surprises everyone with your openness to try just about anything? Then you might feel right at home at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Students come from all over the world to this town with the funny name (pronounced po-kip-see), where Vassar's website says, "they form an extraordinary community of scholars, artists, athletes, thinkers, doers, musicians, innovators, dancers, scientists, and risk takers."

A Breathtaking Paradise

The Vassar College campus is a breathtaking paradise tucked away in one of the most picturesque areas of the northeast, and many say, in the whole country. 75 miles north of New York City, in the gorgeous Hudson Valley, Vassar is consistently rated among the best liberal arts colleges in the U.S. Founded in 1861, Vassar is known for its innovative education and unique curriculum and for its cozy, but incredibly rich and diverse, campus life.

According to its website, the Vassar curriculum has "always been characterized by boldness, breadth, and flexibility." They continue by saying that Vassar was "among the first colleges to offer courses in drama, psychology, and Russian; the first to offer an undergraduate degree in cognitive science; and among the first to experiment with interdepartmental courses in the early 20th century."

Today, Vassar's program of study is more varied than ever, with special emphasis on a "multidisciplinary approach to intellectual inquiry." Students, who are not required to select a core curriculum, choose among 28 departments, six interdisciplinary programs, 12 multidisciplinary programs, 51 majors, and 1,000 courses.

Real World Experience in the U.S. and Abroad

Many Vassar students learn experientially, applying classroom learning with the real world. Every year, about 500 students earn academic credit by doing fieldwork in the local community and surrounding areas, including the state capital, Albany, and New York City. Additionally, Vassar sponsors academic-year programs in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Russia.

For students interested in engineering, Vassar has a cooperative program with Dartmouth, where students (usually with majors in physics, mathematics, or chemistry) spend their junior year at Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering. They then return to Vassar for their senior year with the option of returning to Dartmouth to earn a general engineering degree.

*NR—Not Reported

1.  Emory University	14.  Smith College
2.  Vassar College	15.  Univ. of Notre Dame
3.  Univ. of Pittsburgh	16.  The Ohio State University
4.  Goucher College	17.  Earlham College
5.  Reed College	18.  Chapman University
6.  Hunter College	19.  Warren Wilson College
7.  Univ. of Michigan	20.  Univ. of California—Santa Cruz
8.  Hampshire College	21.  Stanford University
9.  Berklee School of Music	22.  Univ. of Texas—Austin
10.  Pepperdine University	23.  Middlebury College
11.  Brown University	24.  New York University
12.  Univ. of the South—Sewanee	25.  Univ. of Chicago
13.  Elon University