      | Link me!Link to page from your webpage or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com/MA/SRC_comments.html?type=negative'>
The Simon's Rock College of Bard
</a> | Forward me! |  |
| Snapshot - Student Ratings |
Sort By:
[Date]
[Major]
[Rating]
| Super Brilliant |
Simon's Rock is good at one thing - getting you out of a tough situation at age 15-17. If life at home is just too much, and for whatever reason your high school isn't working...or if you've been on leave...Simon's Rock is a great way to show some future employer or college that you were, in fact, doing something. Simon's Rock sounds a lot better than "sat on my couch".
But don't get your hopes up...Simon's Rock is adequate. Each department has minimal funding and 1 or 2 professors. Sabbatical is debilitating. Food and housing are subpar and optionless.
I suggest you get out of here once you get back on your feet...and your AA. | Faculty Accessibility: A, Surrounding City: D- |  | | |
| | Apr 26 2009 | 1st Year Female --
Class 2011 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=59729&uid=598'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
| Quite Bright |
The arrogance and insecurity of several large state schools concentrated into a student body of about 400. No other college is like Simon's Rock. Other colleges do not contain children who dropped out of high school and want to believe the college that excepted them is a prestigious school, that just happens to be "self-selecting"(in reality the minimum requirements to attend src are rich parents, half a brain, and completing the application process).
The school compensates for having admissions standards lower than community colleges with a required series of classes which consist entirely of stereotypical intellectual classics. The credit won't transfer anywhere, but it makes the kids look smart. The academics aren't particularly challenging, so long as you can handle writing and discussing in place of multiple choice and memorizing. If you excel academically at Simon's Rock you can transfer wherever your want. If you get bad grades, your screwed. Give a school more than what most Americans make in a year and they give you a clean slate.
Some staff members are genuinely concerned with teaching. Some are unbelievably supportive and caring. Others give grades largely based on how much they like your political beliefs and overall personality. Most of the faculty are a mix. Professionalism is pretty optional. Especially for the control-freaks who have somehow secured some of the most powerful positions on campus. These people(whose names don't even need to be mentioned for anyone at src to know precisely who I am talking about) seem to be entirely unconcerned with the well-being of students up until pissed off parents call or an emergency possibly requiring an ambulance or police car.
Maturity is lacking. Some of the most stubborn, close-minded people I have ever encountered are Simon's Rock students. Gossip and attempts at getting people in trouble with authority are absurdly common. People don't necessarily end up here, cause they are ready for college and specifically liked Simon's Rock. They mainly just hate high school. | Faculty Accessibility: A, Social Life: D- | | | |
| | Nov 30 2008 | 1st Year Female --
Class 2012 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=55913&uid=598'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
| Quite Bright |
Simon's Rock College is a diminutive liberal arts college surrounded by secondary forest and fields. The campus is tiny, and likewise it is easy to become acquainted with its faculty, student body, and, of course, its pros and cons.
PROS
- Some of the funniest, most insightful and helpful teachers in the world work here
- The student body is easily approachable and most students know one another by the end of your first Freshman semester
- Students consider themselves to be young intellectuals, resulting in endless debates
- By the end of sophomore year you will love 5% of the kids with a passion
PROS/CONS depending on your particular view:
- The campus is dogmatically liberal. Moderate liberals and conservatives will note far-left fundamentalists from the get go
- Drugs are fairly widespread, but not rampant, and hard to get caught for
- Drinking is HEAVILY discouraged. If you drink, gear up for trouble.
- Students can be interesting, and sometimes straight up batty
-The sports program is endearingly bad
CONS
- Cliques that develop throughout the years are vicious as well as inappropriate (Kids who invest in looking good will be called frat kids, for instance)
- Psychological harms of independence are brutal for some
- Classes can be surprisingly limited
- Unpleasantly liberal attitudes abound (radical second-wave feminism for instance) and may put off moderates
- The cold is brutal
- The rooms ARE TERRIBLE, smelly and cold
- 2 years at SRC costs more than some small African nations
- Diversity is a hoax and the "ethnic gems" embracing their diversity bring surprisingly little actual diversity
- You will hate 95% of the student body at the end of sophomore year
That's the run-down. Academics are HARD but faculty is helpful with transferring.
Make your choice. If you loved most of your high school experience but still want a community of intellectuals, I discourage SRC. | Faculty Accessibility: A, Surrounding City: F | | | |
| | Jul 01 2007 | 2nd Year Female --
Class 2007 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=40027&uid=598'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
| Super Brilliant |
I actually had a really good time at this school. I did very well academically, then did an enourmous amount of drugs and went someplace else. If you're not at all (AT ALL) susceptable to peer pressure and temptation, this may not apply to you as much as it does to most.
First problem with Simon's Rock: It's a drug mecca for western mass. Unless things are vastly different in the entire berkshire area, don't be fooled. This handy gray area Simon's Rock defines in higher education is also a handy gray area for trading between local highschools and colleges. This can be good or bad, depending on your lifestyle.
Don't be fooled into Simon's Rock is any more difficult than a real college. Any dedicated student will learn whatever they're going to learn, whether they're in Haravrd or Somalia. You teach yourself the things you actually want to know. Simon's Rock coddles its students in an incredibly merciful and forgiving environment, and it is actually something of a challenge to fail. Some of the teachers are wonderful, others are flakes, you get roughly the same mix as anywhere else, just fewer choices, and fewer consequences.
Everybody knows everything all the time. If you get in a torrid three week affair in the first semester, too bad, you have to deal with that person and everyone else's gossip for another year or two. It's a small college in a small town. There is no escape.
If you crave an escape from the snobbish and ignorant judgementalism of highschool, just give it up. There is no escape, because it's not a highschool thing, it's a age group thing. Simon's Rock scores a point here for not actively encouraging divisive and xenophobic behavior in its students, but don't be completely shocked when you find that all the highschool dropouts still act like highschool kids, except that they feel somewhat smarter than their peers, which is absurd. The classic equation for getting into Simon's Rock requires only one of the following: a good GPA, a good introductory essay, or a good sob story.
Simon's Rock, though it encourages more active learning than highschool, is about as far from reality as you can get and still be shy of A Seperate Peace. It does not prepare you for a real college, because the most bitter thing you learn in a real college is organizing your life around a whole bunch of people who don't particularly care about you or even know your name.
Finally, know that a lot of people snap very quickly. Usually, this is because of age, prior emotional instability, heavy drug use, and ego collapse. Sometimes, it's just because of the bizarre internal cults that develop just because there are no responsible adults. There's a joke amoung my generation of rockers that we should get together for a class action suit to pay for all our various therapy and institutional bills.
Would I do it all again? Probably, but if I went around again, it would just be to dispense with the illusion of self-improvement, since I could have just been a huge slut and gotten about the same academic fulfillment. | Starting Job: Media Professional, Preparedness: B, Reputation: F | | |
| | Nov 14 2004 | Alumnus Male --
Class 2000 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
Just copy and paste!
<script src='http://www.studentsreview.com/active/shared/sr_comment.js?sckey=13342&uid=598'></script>
<a href='http://www.studentsreview.com' style='font-size:8pt;'>Data Source: StudentsReview!</a>
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Articles
