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| Quite Bright |
Bard College: No job? No money? Then fuck off.
It is an extremely expensive school that does not give you ANY indication of what it is like to find a job in the real world.
The education is completely hands off. No one is there for you. It's an isolated campus with no personality, no joy in learning, and no support after college. There are not seminars on what to do after college, or much in the way of advising in that area, either.
If you finish your senior project on time, you're almost guaranteed to get an A. Thanks, that piece of paper cost $120,000! Was it worth it? No!
Furthermore, it is extremely white, and people who are ethnic minorities there do not have good experiences. The administration doesn't see the need to change this.
I should not have gone to this school. If I were in high school again, I would go to a large state school with more job training resources, get my degree for $4,000 per year instead of $50,000 per year, and find great academic advisors to help me get real world experience before graduation. What is the value of a liberal arts education?
Exactly nada. | Starting Job: Development Officer, Preparedness: F, Reputation: D+ |  | |
| | Nov 20 2009 | Alumna Female --
Class 2000 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Quite Bright |
I went to a highschool in a smaller conservative town, and needed to get out. Bard was the perfect choice for me. Everyone is pretty left and openminded, and creativity and individual expression is very encouraged. At first I was afriad of the overwhelming privledged condescending hipster vibe that you can get from time to time, but for the most part, the college provides a student body that's a little bit of everything, and you can stay away from the hipster glare of contempt if need be.
The campus is absolutely beautiful. When it's sunny, everyone goes outside. There are great spots to walk around and discover. People complain about there not being much to do in the surrounding town, but i feel that the point of having Bard in such an isolated area helps to cultivate the intellectual environment without too many distractions. If you ever need a break, the train station to NYC is only 10 minutes away.
The social life consists of various dance parties and bands, that can be so-so to awesome at times. Always an abundance of alcohol and weed. Not very strict about it, but you can't be blatantly stupid about substances either.
The classes here are so intimate and personal. Great professors with interesting personalities and stories. You're on a first name basis with them, they ask you to have lunch with them, and they are always available if you have any concerns. Within my first year here, i've taken classes that have just blown my mind. They can range from very challenging to barely doing the reading. It's all manageable.
I feel that if you're looking for a liberal arts college, that's very open but still structured at the same time, Bard is for you. | Innovation: A+, Surrounding City: C | | | |
| | May 10 2009 | 1st Year Female --
Class 2012 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Bright |
Bard is a very good college.
ACADEMICALLY
Bard teachers are always interesting characters, very left-leaning but generally not Woodstock wackos. They are generally friendly, some of them almost like parents to me. The odd teacher is self-absorbed, but in general these teachers would love nothing more than to have one-on-one talks with their students. They know who you are and they are very sensitive to individual approaches to problems.
SOCIALLY:
I was concerned when I was accepted to Bard that the environment was going to be a bunch of stuck-up, snobby hipsters with high depression rates. There ARE many of them here. However, there are many happy, hard-working and always interesting international students that are neither stuck up nor psychologically distressed. I found that the healthiest community at Bard is the international one, and the fact that there are something like 200 or more of them -and they really are from all over the world - means you never need to deal with hipster types.
Parties are laid back, less beer-pong oriented and more geared towards conversation. Fine by me. There are weekly concerts by local bands, which range from so-so to "why am I here."
Alcohol abuse seems to not be a huge problem. Drugs are everywhere, but avoidable. Weed is abundant, and 4-20 is a Bardwide holiday.
Politically, Bard is very liberal, but it has a good deal of very intelligent liberals that do not agree on a wide range of topics. But expect the usual "Republicanz r dumb" conversation here and there.
THE CAMPUS
Actually, the Bard campus is a hodgepodge of ugly and beautiful, old and modern. The rooms are standard college fare, but they are in general nice, if not spartan. The library is very good, there are plenty of communal computers available 24-7, and good study areas. The food ranges from great to awful, but I'd say it's generally pretty bad.
THE TOWN
Don't bother. A few restaurants, and very little else. A single bar worth mentioning. Non-plussed here.
OVERALL
Socially, great. Academically very strong. The campus gets the job done, and even has some nicer spots. The food is blah. The town is blah. But overall, it's a great college, and I wouldn't imagine any college being more tailored to my taste. | Useful Schoolwork: A, Surrounding City: C- | | | |
| | Nov 09 2008 | 1st Year Male --
Class 2010 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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| Not so bright |
I am not a Bard student. I had an interview scheduled, and after my tour and info session I decided not to follow through on the interview. By all means go and experience the place for yourself.
Bard is one of those places that projects a great big fat image that says: we are special, we are smart, we are creative and artistic and deep. We are so special, as are our teachers, there are probably no others in the world like us.
Okay, so here's the thing: Lots of colleges and universities have impressive faculty who publish highly regarded books. Bard "people" seem to think that their faculty alone is gifted enough to do this. Bard exudes this feeling of such "specialness" that it is very tempting to try to get in and go there and join the brigade of special people. (Does that mean I can be special, too?)
There is just something about the philosophy of the place that seems too precious, too full of itself. We were told that at Bard, studying abroad is assessed very seriously. For example, why does the student want to study abroad? To see Paris? Or because an educational opportunity exists there that doesn't exist anywhere else. Give me a break. I can just imagine all these students and professors thinking up brilliant rationales for studying abroad. What's wrong with going abroad to see Paris? Studying abroad is an enriching experience that seems to provide students with a new outlook, even new skills, and a new feeling of independence. But at Bard, there is this quirky little philosophy that you have to go abroad because you need to study something there that can only be studied there. What about making more people into global citizens?
Bard has this weird thing called "moderation" that involves the "process" whereby (don't you just hate it when everything has to be a "process?") the student "decides" on what they want to major in. The student writes a couple of papers, including an evaluation of one's goals, one's experience, yada, yada, yada. Then a panel of THREE FACULTY review what you've written, review your work, review what you'd like to major in, and then TELL YOU what they think. They give you "constructive criticism" and talk about your strengths and weaknesses. I can just imagine how "objective" every single one of these meetings is, and how these genius faculty can brilliantly decide what future is good for a student. (Imagine your high school teachers sitting down and evaluating you in such a personal, probing manner. And they'd all be helpful and objective and caring and accurate? They won't have any preconceived notions about you? Or incorrect impressions of you? Some of the most popular kids in my school are loved by teachers for.......who knows what reason. The teachers treat them as if they can do wrong. The faculty at Bard are the same imperfect humans that the teachers in your own school are. Teachers can be mean to kids! And this NEVER happens at Bard?
Also a weird thing: for such an artistic, creative, alternative, independent school, why did I see people there wearing uniforms? Okay, so they were uniforms of tight jeans and moccasins. (And what's with the high heels? I think this was the first campus visit I've been on where the students were all decked out in high heels. It was a little weird, surrounded by all this beautiful nature to hear the clicking of high heels on the pavement).
The campus is gorgeous. No doubt about that. I guess this is where rich and or special people go to feel more special. Do they accept ugly people into Bard. Or fat people? Or people with acne?
Maybe I should just do like my parents did and go to a trusty old state school.
And if these people are so independent and such deep thinkers, what's all the emphasis on AP classes about?
I'd love to hear from people----in a balanced way----who had bad experiences at Bard. | Starting Job: Development Officer, Preparedness: F, Reputation: D+ | | | |
| | Oct 01 2008 | 1st Year Female --
Class 2012 | | Blog it!Blog about this comment from your webpage or Blog, or MySpace account:
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