A member of the prestigious Seven Sisters, Vassar College was the first of the elite women's colleges to go co-ed, when it started admitting men in 1969. The college's roughly 2,400 undergrads seem to have an affinity for further formal education: After graduation, more than 20% of Brewers (Vassar's founder was a wealthy brewer) go straight to graduate school, and within 15 years, over 70% have earned advanced degrees. Vassar's acceptance rates to law and medical schools are well above the national averages, and the college consistently ranks near the top in terms of Fulbright scholarships awarded to students who study or teach abroad.
The college has a strong arts program, boasting several Tony and Academy Award winners. Meanwhile, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, one of the largest and oldest on-campus art museums in the country, has more than 22,000 works of art, among them paintings from iconic artists who belonged to the mid-19th century Hudson River School.
Along with two National Historic Landmarks and an abundance of lawns, nature trails and gardens, Vassar's campus includes a more than 500-acre farm and ecological preserve that's used as a field station for science courses. There's also plenty to do off campus (check out the Crafted Kup for all your coffee and pastry needs). But if caffeine alone isn't enough to get you through finals, don’t worry: At midnight before exam week starts, Vassar students gather on the quad for a tradition called Primal Scream, where — as the name suggests — the main attraction is a loud, long communal scream to relieve stress.
