Vassar College Overview

Located in Poughkeepsie, New York, Vassar College is a private not-for-profit institution. The suburban atmosphere of Poughkeepsie makes it a great place for students who want the amenities of city life without actually living in the middle of a constant hustle and bustle.

What Is Vassar College Known For?

• Students who want to work more closely with their professors have an easier time at Vassar since the student to facuty ratio is 8 to 1.
• The 2% student loan default rate at Vassar is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
• The master's degree is the highest award offered at Vassar.
• In 2017-2018, 83% of the faculty were full-time.
• A student who earns a bachelor's degree from Vassar makes roughly $54,600 a year. This is 34% more than their peers from other colleges and universities.
• The average Vassar student graduates in 4.1 years. That's better than the national average of 4.4 years.

Vassar College Rankings

Vassar is ranked #129 out of 2,587 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2022 Best Colleges list. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country. Out of the 160 colleges in New York, it is ranked at #14.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Vassar has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#133	Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at Vassar.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#9	Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#22	Best Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#29	Best Fine & Studio Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#35	Best General English Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Best Mathematics & Statistics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#37	Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#40	Best English Language & Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#48	Best Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#84	Best Computer & Information Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#84	Best Social Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards Vassar has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#26	Best Mathematics & Statistics Schools	College Factual
#27	Best Psychology Schools	College Factual
#33	Best English Language & Literature Schools	College Factual
#37	Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools	College Factual
#64	Best Computer & Information Sciences Schools	College Factual
#91	Best Business Schools	Business Degree Central

Where Is Vassar College?

Contact details for Vassar are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Phone:	845-437-7000
Facebook:	http://www.facebook.com/vassarcollege
Twitter:	http://www.twitter.com/vassarnews

How Do I Get Into Vassar?

You can apply to Vassar online at: www.vassar.edu/admissions/apply/

Admission Requirements for Vassar

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	recommended
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into Vassar?

With an acceptance rate of 25%, Vassar is one of the most selective schools in the country. If the admissions department requests additional materials, be sure to submit them promptly. This could be a sign that you're on the border line of being accepted or denied.

Approximately 36% of accepted students are men and 64% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 28%, and the acceptance rate for women is 23%.

Average Test Scores

About 64% of students accepted to Vassar submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 680 and 750. Math scores were between 680 and 770.

Vassar received ACT scores from 41% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 34 and 35. Math scores were between 28 and 32. Composite scores were between 32 and 34.

Can I Afford Vassar College?

The overall average net price of Vassar is $47,440. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Vassar, approximately 40% of students took out student loans averaging $4,818 a year. That adds up to $19,272 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Vassar is 1.5%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Vassar College Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 2,435 undergraduate students at Vassar, with 2,409 being full-time and 26 being part-time.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,409 full-time undergraduates at Vassar, 38% are male and 62% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Vassar College students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	276
Black or African American	99
Hispanic or Latino	188
White	1,403
International Students	205
Other Races/Ethnicities	238

Geographic Diversity

New York students aren't the only ones who study at Vassar College. At this time, 44 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 46 countries are represented at Vassar. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and South Korea.

Online Learning at Vassar College

Vassar College Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	TOTAL
General Biology	52	52
Economics	49	49
Mathematics	47	47
Child Development & Psychology	44	44
Political Science & Government	44	44
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	40	40
Computer Information Systems	38	38
General English Literature	37	37
Drama & Theater Arts	32	32
History	28	28
International Relations & National Security	27	27
Communication & Media Studies	23	23
Romance Languages	23	23
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	22	22
Cognitive Science	20	20
Science, Technology & Society	20	20
Area Studies	19	19
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	19	19
Physics	18	18
Fine & Studio Arts	17	17
Sociology	16	16
General Education	13	13
Urban Studies	13	13
Anthropology	12	12
Philosophy	11	11
Music	11	11
East Asian Languages	9	9
Geography & Cartography	9	9
Natural Resources Conservation	8	8
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	7	7
Classical & Ancient Studies	5	5
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	5	5
Religious Studies	5	5
Chemistry	5	5
Geological & Earth Sciences	4	4
Astronomy & Astrophysics	3	3
Germanic Languages	2	2
Ethnic Studies	1	1
Liberal Arts General Studies	1	1
Medieval Studies	1	1
Other Social Sciences	0	0
TOTAL	760	760

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Noteremote under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.