Vassar College is a private liberal arts college located in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. It was founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar and was the second school in the United States that gave degrees to women. In 1969, the college allowed both men and women to attend. Vassar offers bachelor’s degrees in more than fifty subjects. The college’s sports teams, called the Brewers, compete in the NCAA Division III as part of the Liberty League. As of 2023, about 2,500 students attend the college.

Vassar is one of the historic Seven Sisters. The campus covers more than 1,000 acres and includes over 100 buildings. It has an arboretum with more than 200 types of trees, a preserve for native plants, and a 530-acre ecological preserve.

History

Vassar was founded as a women's school and was first called "Vassar Female College" in 1861. Its first president was Milo P. Jewett, who had previously been the president of another women's school, Judson College. He led a team of ten professors and twenty-one instructors. After one year, the school's founder, Matthew Vassar, removed the word "Female" from the name. Some people in Poughkeepsie, New York, joked that this change might mean the school would someday admit male students. The college allowed both men and women to attend in 1969.

Vassar was the second of the Seven Sisters colleges, which were schools for women that were historically linked to all-male Ivy League colleges. It was established by Matthew Vassar, a brewer, in 1861 in the Hudson Valley, about 70 miles (110 km) north of New York City. The first person hired to teach at Vassar was astronomer Maria Mitchell in 1865.

Vassar became coeducational in 1969. After World War II, the college admitted a few male students through the G.I. Bill. The official decision to allow both men and women came after the college's leaders refused to merge with Yale University, which was part of a trend where some all-male Ivy League colleges merged with their sister Seven Sisters schools.

In its early years, Vassar was connected to the wealthy Protestant social class. E. Digby Baltzell wrote that "upper-class WASP families sent their children to colleges such as Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Vassar." A small group of students was allowed to join the school's secret society, Delta Sigma Rho, which was created in 1922. Before becoming President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a member of Vassar's leadership.

About 2,450 students attend Vassar, and 98% live on campus. Around 60% of students come from public high schools, and 40% come from private high schools (both independent and religious). Vassar currently has 56% women and 44% men, which is close to the average for national liberal arts colleges. More than 336 faculty members teach students, and most have doctorate degrees or similar qualifications. The student-faculty ratio is 8:1, and the average class size is 17 students.

In recent years, students of color made up 32–38% of new students. International students from over 60 countries accounted for 8–10% of the student body. In May 2007, Vassar returned to a need-blind admissions policy, which means the college does not consider a student's financial situation when deciding admissions.

Vassar's president, Catharine Bond Hill, left in 2016. She was replaced by Elizabeth Howe Bradley in 2017.

In 2019, the college was listed as a census-designated place (Vassar College CDP).

The following persons have served as president of Vassar College:

Campus

The campus is located in Poughkeepsie Town, near Poughkeepsie City. The area around the campus was listed as a census-designated place (CDP) in the 2020 U.S. census, with a population of 2,472.

Vassar's campus, which is also an arboretum, covers 1,000 acres (400 hectares) and includes more than 100 buildings. These buildings have different architectural styles, such as Collegiate Gothic and International, and some are known for their unique designs. At the center of campus is the Main Building, a famous example of Second Empire architecture in the United States. When it opened, it was the largest building in the U.S. by floor space. It once held all parts of the college, including classrooms, dormitories, a museum, a library, and dining halls. The building was designed by architect James Renwick Jr., who also worked on the Smithsonian, and was completed in 1865. The original observatory on campus was built before the Main Building. Both the observatory and the Main Building are National Historic Landmarks. The Rombout House was bought by the college in 1915 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Eero Saarinen designed several dormitories at Vassar, but only one, the Emma Hartman Noyes House, was completed in 1958. This building was meant to be part of a circular design called "Noyes II," but construction stopped after problems with the building’s cost and window design. The dormitory’s common area is known for its futuristic look and is used for events like readings and concerts. The Noyes House was also home to an all-female football team, the Noyes Nymphs, who played against Ivy League teams in the 1960s and 1970s.

Vassar has one of the largest undergraduate library collections in the U.S. The library system includes eight libraries with about 1 million books, 7,500 serial and newspaper titles, and collections of materials from notable figures like Ellen Swallow Richards, Albert Einstein, Mary McCarthy, and Elizabeth Bishop. Since 1943, Vassar has been a Federal Depository library, receiving about 25% of the government documents available through the Federal Depository Program.

The Van Ingen Art Library was renovated from June 2008 to May 2009 to restore its original design and appearance. This was the library’s first major renovation since it was built in 1937.

In November 2016, the Hoene Hoy Photography Gallery opened on the second floor of a building, named after Anne Hoene Hoy, a member of the class of 1963.

In 2011, Vassar started a $120 million project to improve science facilities, focusing on building a new Bridge for Laboratory Sciences.

Most students in their first three years live on campus in nine residence halls. Main House is located on the upper floors of the Main Building, which was built when the college was founded. Strong House, built in 1893, became all-women’s housing after the college became coeducational in 1969 and now also accepts nonbinary and gender-nonconforming students. Other Elizabethan-style dormitories—Raymond, Lathrop, and Davison—were built between 1897 and 1902 to form a residential quadrangle. Jewett House, a nine-story Tudor-style dormitory, was built in 1907 on the north end of the quadrangle. Josselyn House, the second-largest dormitory, was built in 1912 to the east of Jewett House. Cushing House was constructed outside the quadrangle in 1927. Noyes House, built in 1958, stands apart from the other dormitories with its modernist, curved design around a large green space.

Most fourth-year students live in on-campus apartments in groups of four or five. Vassar has three apartment complexes: the Terrace Apartments, the Town Houses, and the South Commons. A cooperative house called Ferry House, which houses 20 students, opened in 1951. Vassar guarantees housing to all full-time students.

As part of a plan to renovate all dormitories, Jewett, Davison, and Josselyn were renovated from 2002 to 2011. The college made smaller improvements to other dormitories due to cost.

Vassar provides housing for faculty, with a new complex opening in 2023. The previous faculty housing, Williams House, was scheduled for demolition after 2020. School-age dependents living on the Vassar faculty complex or in other areas of the Vassar College CDP attend schools in the Arlington Central School District, which operates Arlington High School.

Academics

The most popular undergraduate majors, based on 2021 graduates, were:

• Biology (40)
• Economics (37)
• Political Science and Government (36)
• English Language and Literature (33)
• Biochemistry (25)
• Neuroscience (25)
• Computer and Information Sciences (23)

For the class of 2027 (enrolling fall 2023), Vassar received 12,145 applications and accepted 17.7%. The average SAT score of students who submitted testing data was 1489, and the average ACT score was 33. The middle 50% range for SAT scores was 1450–1530, and for ACT scores, it was 33–35. Of the students who enrolled, 79% were in the top 10% of their high school class. For the class of 2026 (enrolling fall 2022), Vassar received 11,412 applications and accepted 18.7%. For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), Vassar received 10,884 applications, which was a 25% increase from the previous year, and accepted 2,068 students (19%). For the class of 2023 (enrolling fall 2019), Vassar received 8,961 applications and accepted 2,127 students (23.7%), with 691 students enrolling. For the class of 2025 (enrolling fall 2021), the middle 50% range of SAT scores for enrolling freshmen was 710–760 for evidence-based reading and writing, 710–780 for math, and 1420–1540 for the composite. The middle 50% ACT score range was 28–33 for math, 32–34 for English, and 32–34 for the composite.

Students who are people of color (including non-citizens) made up 45.5% of the incoming class; international students were 8.8% of enrolling freshmen.

In the 2025 edition of U.S. News & World Report’s "Best Colleges," Vassar was tied for the 12th best liberal arts college in the U.S. out of 211 rated. In previous years, the college was ranked as high as tenth. In 2024, U.S. News & World Report ranked Vassar second for "Best Colleges for Veterans," 29th for "Best Value," 15th for "Top Performers on Social Mobility," and tied for 20th in "Best Undergraduate Teaching." It also ranked Vassar tied for fourth among top liberal arts colleges for economic diversity, as measured by low-income students receiving federal Pell Grants.

In its 2021 edition, Washington Monthly ranked Vassar 11th among 215 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.

In its 2020 edition, The Princeton Review rated Vassar first for "Best Financial Aid" of all colleges and universities in the United States. In its 2018 edition, The Princeton Review rated Vassar second best for financial aid and 41st best for "best value." In 2025, Forbes ranked Vassar 26th among liberal arts colleges and 102nd overall in its America's Top Colleges ranking, which includes 500 military academies, national universities, and liberal arts colleges. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance placed Vassar 11th in its 2019 ranking of the 149 best value liberal arts colleges in the United States. Money magazine ranked Vassar 145th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 "Best Colleges for Your Money" edition.

In an article in The Christian Science Monitor, Vassar president emeritus Catharine Bond Hill argued that rankings "will always be limited in what they can tell consumers. Part of higher education's role about the rankings should be to remind students and their families that these are only one piece of information that they should take into account in deciding where to go to college. Intangibles will and should play a role in these decisions, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't also look at the tangibles."

Over half of Vassar graduates pursue advanced study within five years of graduation, including one-fifth immediately after graduation. Of the seniors who applied to medical school in 2017, 76% were accepted; to law school, 96% were accepted.

Student life

Founder's Day is a yearly celebration at Vassar College that usually happens in late April or early May. It began as a surprise birthday party for Matthew Vassar, the college's founder, on his seventy-fourth birthday and later became an annual event. At first, Founder's Day was an unplanned event with lectures, but it soon changed to include plays, pageants, and fun activities. Later, circus and fair activities were added, followed by modern music events over two days. Recently, themes such as Alice in Wonderland, Dinosaurs, Vintage 1800s Vassar, Nickelodeon, Nintendo, and Candyland have been included. Recent performers at Founder's Day have included The Walkmen, Edan, DJ/rupture, Odd Nosdam, Jel, Toro y Moi, and Odesza.

• The Night Owls, started in the 1940s, are one of the oldest a cappella groups in the United States and one of nine vocal music groups at Vassar. Other groups include the Vastards (focusing on 2000s music), Broadway and More (BAM; showtunes), the Accidentals (the only all-lower-voice a cappella group at Vassar), Beauty and the Beats (Disney music), Home Brewed (formerly Matthew's Minstrels, the college's first mixed-gender a cappella group), the Vassar Devils, Measure 4 Measure (both themeless groups), and AirCappella (an all-whistling ensemble). Some groups, like the Vassar Devils, tour and compete, such as when they participated in the 2015 International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.
• The Philaletheis Society, founded in 1865 as a literary group, is the oldest theater group on campus. It is now run entirely by students. Other groups include Unbound (experimental theater), Woodshed (a group focused on created theater), and Idlewild (for people of marginalized genders). Britomartis, Vassar's only group that creates devised theater, was started in 2011. Additional groups include the Future Waitstaff of America (for musical theater), Ebony Theatre Ensemble (focused on Black theater), and two Shakespeare-specific troupes, Shakespeare Troupe and Merely Players. The college also hosts the Powerhouse Summer Theater workshop series.
• Happily Ever Laughter ("HEL") is the college's oldest continuously active sketch comedy group, started in 1993. Another comedy group, Big K!dz (formerly No Offense), was created in 2000 by members of an earlier group called Laughingstock, which was criticized by the student assembly in 2000 for a controversial sketch. A sketch comedy group called The Limit was formed a few years later. Indecent Exposure, an all-women's group that performs both sketch and stand-up comedy, was founded in 2004. Comedy Normative, which began in 2009, performs only stand-up comedy. Vassar has a tradition of improv comedy groups that continue today.
• The Vassar Greens are the college's environmental group.
• Vassar College Television (VCTV) is the college's first student-run video production company.

• The Miscellany News has been the college's weekly newspaper since 1866, making it one of the oldest college newspapers in the United States. It is usually available for free every Thursday when classes are in session.
• Squirm is a magazine that accepts submissions about sex and sexuality. It aims to provide a positive space for creative exploration of sex. Published annually since 1999, it is about 60 pages long and is only shared with the campus community.
• Boilerplate Magazine is a student-run publication that describes itself as an "alternative news source… that publishes radical and creative works that address social issues." Because it is not funded by the college, it often criticizes the college more than other student-run outlets.
• Unscrewed (October 1, 1976 – April 1, 1989) was a student-run magazine that reported on campus safety, compared local prices for food and drugs, and conducted surveys, such as an annual pizza delivery survey and long-term topics like the college's endowment and staffing.

WVKR-FM, 91.3 FM, is the college's radio station, established in 1971.

In March 2016, the Vassar Student Association (VSA) passed a resolution in a 15–2 vote to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and the boycott of Israel. In April 2016, the resolution was rejected by a school-wide vote, with 573 voting against it and 503 voting for it.

Vassar teams, called the Brewers, compete in Division III of the NCAA as part of the Liberty League. The nickname comes from Matthew Vassar, the college's founder and namesake, whose family owned a brewery in Poughkeepsie and later earned a large fortune in the industry.

In 2008, the Vassar men's volleyball team reached the school's first national championship game, defeating UC Santa Cruz 3–0 in the semifinals before losing to Springfield in the final.

In 2007, the Vassar cycling team hosted the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Championship in Poughkeepsie and New Paltz, New York. The event included a 100-mile (160 km) road race over the Shawangunk Mountains in New Paltz and a criterium in Poughkeepsie near the college's campus.

In a controversial decision on November 5, 2009, the athletics department leaders chose to change the men's and women's rowing teams from varsity to club sports over two years to save money.

In 1940, 1941, and 1942, Vassar athletes won national intercollegiate women's tennis championships each year in both singles (Katharine Hubbell) and doubles (Hubbell and Carolyn "Lonny" Myers).

In 2018, the Vassar women's rugby team won the school's first team national championship, defeating Winona State 50–13 in the final of the USA Rugby Women's Division 2.

Notable people

Notable Vassar alumni include:
• Elizabeth Bishop, poet who won a Pulitzer Prize
• Anthony Bourdain, author and chef who won an Emmy Award
• Mary Calderone, public health advocate known as the "mother of sex education"
• Jane Fonda, actress who won an Academy Award
• Anne Hathaway, actress who won an Academy Award
• Grace Hopper, inventor of the first compiler for computer programming
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former First Lady of the United States (moved to George Washington University)
• Lisa Kudrow, actress who won an Emmy Award
• Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet who won a Pulitzer Prize
• Elisabeth Murdoch, leader in the media industry
• Mark Ronson, musician and producer who won a Grammy Award
• Meryl Streep, actress who won an Academy Award
• Anita Florence Hemmings, first person with African ancestry to graduate from Vassar

Notable attendees who did not graduate from Vassar include:
• Julia Tutwiler, advocate for education and prison reform
• Anthony Bourdain, chef and television personality
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, First Lady of the United States and book editor
• Brooke Hayward, actress, writer, and art collector
• Katharine Graham, publisher of The Washington Post
• Susan Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation
• Anne Hathaway, actress
• Jane Fonda, actress
• Justin Long, actor
• Mike D, member of the Beastie Boys
• Mark Ronson, musician who won an Academy Award
• Rachael Yamagata, musician
• Curtis Sittenfeld, writer

Notable Vassar faculty include:
• Frank Bergon, writer
• Grace Hopper, computer scientist
• Hua Hsu, writer
• Michael Joyce, writer and pioneer in hypertext fiction
• Grace Macurdy, expert in ancient Greek and Roman studies
• James Merrell, historian
• Mitchell Miller, philosopher
• Maria Mitchell, early female astronomer
• Uma Narayan, philosopher
• Mabel Newcomer, economist
• Paul Russell, writer
• Peter Stillman, political scientist
• Bryan W. Van Norden, philosopher
• Nancy Willard, writer
• Richard Edward Wilson, composer
• Monique Wittig, philosopher