The Longy School of Music of Bard College

The teachers here take everything too personally and try to meddle in your life too much. If you are not understanding something they take it personally and treat you like crap rather than try to help you. Longy is so small it is no different from being in high school, with all of the cliques, drama, and everyone knowing everyone's business. I hated high school and had hopes that college would be different; Longy sure let me down.

The only social activities at school include parties and dances that are basically junior high-ish dances with alcohol. So boring and it feels like a step backward rather than a step into a new life chapter.

The school is not large enough to provide resources for students either. The administration could care less about that. I went to the student services people for help with finding a doctor and advice for an apartment in the area and they were pretty unhelpful. They are supposed to be able to support students but just said they didn't know when I asked about a doctor. Not good.

The location is great, however; Cambridge and Boston have so much going on, all the time. Easier said than done, but it is great to get out, meet other people, and go to concerts not at Longy. If you decide to go to Longy, please make the effort to do that. You must be self-motivated to create a life away from Longy drama or you'll go crazy.I love my main (piano) teacher and he is the only reason keeping me here. I'm thrilled with the musical progress I've made but think I may be better off somewhere else. I'm looking into several schools for a possible transfer.

4th Year Male -- Class 2014

Surrounding City: A+, Innovation: F

Longy School of Music is a community music school that woke up one day and decided to start giving masters degrees. I went there for my graduate degree to study with a specific teacher, who was wonderful. The program and the curriculum, however, are a total mess. The school does not have any real coursework to speak of, some of the most blatant anti-intellectualism I have ever seen in an academic institution, very few resources to offer its students, and almost no full-time faculty (hardly any with a doctorate in field). Longy needs a complete overhaul, and from what I understand, this is the consensus among the students and alumni. My hopes that Longy's new affiliation with Bard College will give it what it needs to survive are high- but my expectations unfortunately are not.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

My violin teacher rocked but the rest of the school sucked. The chamber program sucked as something horrible happened each semester, such as a bad coach, rude colleagues, lazy colleagues, etc. Nothing was ever done to remedy these programs even though I spoke numerous times with the head of chamber music about it.

Unfortuately too many Longy teachers act as if students are there to serve their egos. The professors take everything so personally such as students dropping classes or missing a class once. Students, as we all know, do these things all the time and it does not always about the professor teaching the class. Yet Longy professors often scream at students and throw tantrums over these trivial matters. Maybe instead of worrying about themselves and their egos, they should focus on making material interesting so that students will want to come to class. Or perhaps treat students like adults and realize that if certain students don't care enough to come, then why should they care if the student does well. This behavior got old really fast. It's too bad that Longy hires so many such professors because the school has potential to be great. Administrators! Wake up and face reality! Your school needs a complete overhaul!

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000