After Vassar

The career goals of Vassar students are as varied and diverse as the students themselves. To support the full range of their post-Vassar aspirations, Vassar provides extensive resources, including career counseling, job placement, graduate school advising and test preparation, and assistance in applying for grants and fellowships.

The Career Development Office (CDO) offers a wide range of programs and services to help students and alumnae/i explore their fields of interest, examine their career options, and secure summer and post-graduate employment. Services include individual career counseling, interest and skill assessments, workshops and programming, an alumnae/i networking database, on-campus and off-campus recruiting programs, and job and internship listings.

The CDO emphasizes early planning and encourages students to visit their office often, starting freshman year and continuing even past graduation. Career counselors are available to work one-on-one with students to help them assess their skills, interests, and values, and how these issues relate to the world of work. The CDO also offers several assessment tools that can help students explore the roles their interests and personalities play in choosing a career.

Among Vassar’s most valuable resources are its graduates. The office, in conjunction with AAVC, offers the Vassar Career Advisory Network (V-NET), a database of over 3,000 alumnae/i who have volunteered to give career advice to current students and fellow alumnae/i. Students can search the database by one or more criteria, including location, occupation, college major, graduate degree, employer, and more. V-NET advisors can provide industry-specific job search advice, shadowing opportunities, and even internship and job leads. More

About 20% of Vassar graduates pursue advanced degrees right after college, 70% within five years of graduation. The Office for Fellowships and Pre-Professional Advising works with students and recent graduates interested in applying to professional schools, particularly in the fields of health and law, as well as those interested in applying for fellowships, scholarships, and prizes to fund graduate education, independent study, and research. Students receive individualized advising and guidance as well as support during the application process.

Vassar’s acceptance rates for medical school and law school are significantly higher than the national average. In fact, Vassar’s acceptance rate for medical school is almost twice the national average. Last year, 85% of the Vassar seniors who applied were accepted; the national average was 48%. Among the schools they’re attending: Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, U. Penn, U. Chicago, Einstein. The law school acceptance rates are also impressive. Last year, 88% of the seniors who applied were accepted; the national average was 59%. Among the schools they’re attending: Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, NYU, Stanford, UCLA, U. Michigan, and Villanova.

Vassar graduates are very successful in receiving various nationally competitive awards each year. Among those awarded are Fulbright grants, Watson fellowships, Compton fellowships, National Science Foundation grants, NYC Urban Fellows awards and Luce Scholars awards, to name a few. In addition, the college itself annually awards over $180,000 in fellowships for graduate study. More