The Philosophy

A small (1,800) 4-year, private liberal arts college
1960 founded
1944 - broke ties with Columbia
Bard Network of early colleges and high school programs
Committed to the link between higher education and civic participation

The Classes

Classes cap at 30
9:1 student to faculty ratio
Most classes discussion based
Majority of classes are open to all students
Language and Thinking Program, First-Year Seminar, Citizen Science

The Path

Rolling admissions begin April 1
EA Nov 1, notified Jan 1
ED Nov 1, notified Jan 1
RD Jan 1
Financial Aid Feb 1, notified March 20

Language and thinking - 3 wk freshman program before first fall semester. Reading and writing at a college level essay. It's pass fail. End with 10 page essay
Meet with an advisor to choose first semester classes
First year seminar 10-12 students, 3 - 6 pg essays supported by a writing fellow tutor Emerson, Thero
Distribution requirements: Lang, math, foreign lang, science, art
Moderation to choose major,  3 professors and 2 of your choosing. Submit two essays why interested in this major and a piece of your work
40 majors, 12 interdisciplinary concentrations
Senior Thesis

The People

Close faculty/student relationship
50% of students study abroad
40% students of color
58% female students
22% faculty of color
54% female faculty

The Aid

Work study pay rated is minimum wage,  $11.20. Writing tutors get a stipend
Student running community engagement projects get stipend
Student based EMT. School will provide training

A dominant presence in the world of nontraditional liberal arts colleges, Bard offers what is arguably the most innovative range of academic programs anywhere. Like Reed on the West Coast, combines unabashed individuality with rigorous traditional academics. Long-standing president Leon Botstein, a polymath known simply as “Leon,” is an iconic educator who has championed the liberal arts in countries around the world.

Bard College has come a long way since its 1860 founding by 12 men studying to enter the seminaries of the Episcopal Church. Those pioneers would no doubt be surprised at the eclectic mix of students now running around Annandale-on-Hudson in an ethos once described by the New Yorker as one of “quixotic unworldliness.” But the idea that Bard is strictly a school for artists and social science majors has largely disappeared, and the result is a school with lots of intellectual depth. Having expanded its mission beyond undergraduate and graduate education to also encompass support for the arts, secondary education reform, and the development of partnerships that bring education to underserved areas around the globe, Bard has earned a well-deserved national, even international, profile. To succeed in such a dynamic environment, one student advises, “You don’t need perfect grades. You just need an adventurous spirit, an ambitious attitude toward self-improvement, and an ability to evaluate your experiences and capabilities.”

Bard’s campus occupies 1,000 well-landscaped acres in New York’s Washington Irving country, on the shores of the Hudson River. Consistent with everything else at Bard, there’s no prevailing architectural theme, so each ivy-covered brick building stands out-especially the dorms, which range from cottages in the woods to Russian Colonial in style. Renowned architect Frank Gehry designed the stunning, $62 million Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, which provides teaching and performance space for everything from opera to improvisation. The Center for Science and Computation, designed by Rafael Vinoly, promotes collaborative, hands-on science. Montgomery Place, a 380-acre estate and National Historic Landmark adjacent to the main campus, provides additional facilities for programs in the arts, humanities, and environmental sciences.

Despite Bard’s reputation for nonconformity, the list of requirements is extensive, including nine distribution requirements. Classes are small and seminar style, and freshmen show up three weeks before classes start for the Workshop in Language and Thinking, where they read extensively in several genres and meet in small groups to discuss reading and writing. (A literature major calls L&T “the best three weeks of my life.”) The First-Year Seminar introduces the intellectual, artistic, and cultural ideas at the core of a liberal arts education. Citizen Science, another three-week workshop in January, examines topics not normally covered in the traditional science curriculum, such as infectious disease; organized into teams, the entire first-year class then teaches science lessons in the local public schools. In the spring of the second year, students declare a major through Moderation, a midway review of performance and proposed study plans discussed with a board of professors in the relevant area. In junior year, preparation for the Senior Project begins. Students create original work as evidence of mastery in their field or fields, and their Senior Project is reviewed by a faculty board.

With authors such as Neil Gaiman, Francine Prose, and Dinaw Mengestu teaching at Bard, literature and written arts are among the school’s best programs. Bard was one of the first to grant a B.A. in visual and performing arts and boasts one of the finest studio programs in the country; photography is one of the toughest majors to get into, and the film and electronic arts program is well regarded. Bard established what administrators believe is the first collegiate program in human rights. Environmental and urban studies is also strong. There is a five-year, dual-degree conservatory program for music students, and although Bard is far from preprofessional, it does offer combined programs of its own and with other schools in finance, engineering, public health, and a number of other fields.

Bard’s academic climate is “intellectual and consistently challenging,” says a senior, but students agree that the atmosphere is collaborative. “Students are more eager to engage in discussions about what they just learned in class than they are likely to discuss what grades they received on the most recent exam,” says a sociology and human rights major. Eighty percent of classes have fewer than 20 students, and if students want more individual attention, they can devise a syllabus for their own tutorial and find a professor to sponsor it. There are no teaching assistants here, and professors receive outstanding reviews, for both their expertise and their personal approach. “Professors value the students as individuals first,” says a senior.

A semester-long program in New York City lets students study biology and medicine at Rockefeller University, and spots are reserved for Bard students as Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows. Also located in New York City, Bard’s Globalization and International Affairs program merges advanced coursework in global affairs with internships at leading public, private, and nonprofit agencies. Study abroad is available in far-flung locales around the globe; more than half of the students take part. The Trustee Leader Scholar program provides grants and support for student-run community service projects. In an effort to expand liberal arts instruction overseas and to help nurture emerging democratic societies, Bard has developed partnerships with educational institutions in locations as diverse as Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan, South Africa, and the West Bank, as well as among prison inmates in the U.S.

Bard students tended to march to their own drummer in high school. “Many struggle their first year, when they realize everyone is just as unique as they are,” says one senior. While the school has its share of extremely wealthy children of media moguls and Hollywood actors, Bardians take pride in diversity, whether socioeconomic, racial, geographical (66 percent are from out of state, with 12 percent from foreign countries), or ideological, though they admit the latter can be lacking. “If you’re a Republican or conservative, please come and add some dimension to our conversation,” implores one student. “I’m sick of agreeing with everyone.” African Americans make up 6 percent of the student body, Asian Americans 4 percent, Hispanics 12 percent, and multiracial students 5 percent. Bard offers academic scholarships based on need but no athletic awards. Under the Excellence and Equal Cost program, qualified high school students may apply to attend Bard for the price of a public school education in their home state. Bard offers a unique early-decision application option in which students can take the Bard Entrance Examination, demonstrating their academic ability by submitting four 2,500-word essays on a range of scholarly topics that are graded by professors.

Three-quarters of Bard students live on campus; freshmen and sophomores are required to do so. Residence halls vary in style, explains one student: “Some are old Victorian mansions, some are new modern buildings that are eco-friendly, one looks like a castle, and others are big cement monsters from the 1950s.” Many upperclassmen move off campus; to help ease their commute, Bard runs a shuttle to the nearby towns of Red Hook and Tivoli, which are home to a variety of restaurants, bars, and other conveniences. Campus dining is described as “decent, but not amazing,” but students appreciate that much of the fresh produce comes from Bard’s own student-operated farm. Students say they feel safe on their rural campus, but administrative handling of sexual assault has been a point of student activism.

All Bard students are automatically made members of the student government, and cocurricular life is run by students; there are more than 140 different clubs. The school offers cultural shows and performances, concerts, and movies, with indie films and alternative rock and hip-hop particularly popular. The Student Activities Board plans Urban Cowboy Night, Welcome Back Weekend, Midnight Breakfast complete with karaoke, the ever-popular Thursday Night Live, and Spring Fling. There are no fraternities or sororities, and when it comes to alcohol, policies are focused on safety and respect, although underage drinking in the dorms is taken seriously. Bard’s hometown of Annandale-on-Hudson is 20 miles from the crafts and antiques meccas of Woodstock and Rhinebeck, and not much farther from the ski slopes of the Catskills and the Berkshires. Having a car helps to prevent occasional attacks of claustrophobia, and New York City is just 100 minutes away by train.

The Raptors compete in 18 Division III sports and are members of a number of conferences, including the Eastern College Athletic Conference, the Liberty League, and the College Squash Association. Bard is virtually devoid of dedicated athletes, but one student notes, “There are plenty of pseudo jocks and intellectuals in good shape.” Thirty-five percent of the students get involved in intramurals, such as basketball, floor hockey, and bowling, which emphasize participation and fun. Across campus, miles of trails stretch through the woods along the Hudson, perfect for everything from raspberry picking to jogging and hiking. “If you like the woods, it’s amazing,” muses an anthropology major. “If you like the city, you’ll go stir-crazy.”

Thanks to the iconoclastic vision of President Leon Botstein, who also conducts the American Symphony Orchestra, Bard offers strong programs that reach far beyond the arts. Come prepared to work hard and have your mind opened. “The Bard culture is a weird mixture of apathy and activism, arts and sciences, quirkiness and coolness,” says a senior. “However, the one real thing that unites Bard is an ability to be self-driven and independent. Bard students are not followers, but establish their own paths.”

-Fiske Guide