Vassar College Overview

Vassar College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Poughkeepsie, New York. 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 at Vassar may have an easier time interacting with their teachers since the student to faculty ratio at the school is 8 to 1.
• Students at Vassar have an easier time paying back their loans. The school's student loan default rate is only 2%, compared to the national rate of 10.1%.
• The highest award offered at Vassar is the master's degree.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 84% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from Vassar with a bachelor's degree make about $54,600 a year. That's 34% more than those who graduate from other schools.
• 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 #158 out of 2,320 schools in the nation for overall quality on our 2021 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. Vassar also holds the #18 spot on the Best Colleges in New York ranking.

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
#105	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
#3	Best Film, Video & Photographic Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#12	Best Drama & Theater Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#13	Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#16	Best Neurobiology & Neurosciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#17	Best Fine & Studio Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#27	Best Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#34	Best English Language & Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#35	Best General English Literature Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#38	Best Biological & Biomedical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#43	Best General Biology 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
#8	Best Colleges for Film, Video & Photographic Arts	College Factual
#47	Best Colleges for General English Literature	College Factual
#58	Best Colleges for English Language & Literature	College Factual
#66	Best Colleges for General Biology	College Factual
#68	Best Colleges for Visual & Performing Arts	College Factual
#78	Best Colleges for Biological & Biomedical Sciences	College Factual

Where Is Vassar College?

Contact details for Vassar are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	124 Raymond Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
Phone:	845-437-7000
Website:	www.vassar.edu
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	required
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 24%, 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 42% of accepted students are men and 58% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 35%, and the acceptance rate for women is 19%.

Average Test Scores

About 60% 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 670 and 750. Math scores were between 660 and 750.

Vassar received ACT scores from 40% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 31 and 35. Math scores were between 27 and 32. Composite scores were between 30 and 33.

Can I Afford Vassar College?

The overall average net price of Vassar is $42,520. 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

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Vassar, approximately 43% of students took out student loans averaging $4,855 a year. That adds up to $19,420 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 2,439 undergraduate students at Vassar, with 2,424 being full-time and 15 being part-time.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,424 full-time undergraduates at Vassar, 41% are male and 59% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	287
Black or African American	90
Hispanic or Latino	268
White	1,332
International Students	224
Other Races/Ethnicities	223

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.

Vassar College Undergraduate Concentrations

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

Major	Bachelor’s	TOTAL
Child Development & Psychology	56	56
Economics	55	55
Political Science & Government	49	49
General Biology	48	48
Romance Languages	38	38
Mathematics	36	36
General English Literature	33	33
Neurobiology & Neurosciences	31	31
Computer Information Systems	30	30
Drama & Theater Arts	27	27
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	25	25
Science, Technology & Society	24	24
Communication & Media Studies	22	22
Fine & Studio Arts	22	22
Sociology	21	21
History	20	20
Urban Studies	19	19
Cognitive Science	18	18
Biochemistry, Biophysics & Molecular Biology	17	17
Area Studies	16	16
International Relations & National Security	16	16
Philosophy	14	14
Chemistry	14	14
Physics	14	14
East Asian Languages	13	13
Music	12	12
Natural Resources Conservation	11	11
General Education	7	7
Slavic, Baltic & Albanian Languages	7	7
Anthropology	7	7
Religious Studies	6	6
Astronomy & Astrophysics	6	6
Classical & Ancient Studies	5	5
Ethnic Studies	4	4
Germanic Languages	4	4
Liberal Arts General Studies	3	3
Geological & Earth Sciences	3	3
Geography & Cartography	3	3
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	2	2
Other Social Sciences	2	2
Medieval Studies	1	1
TOTAL	761	761

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.