The
academics at Simon's Rock are excellent, but challenging. You will
have to work hard and you will be seriously challenged
to gain a deep understanding of the material and be
creative and hardworking. The teachers are very nice and the
student-teacher ratio is excellent. Most classes have 10-15 students. The
majority of the students transfer after sophomore year, and there
are only ~450 students total, so extracurriculars are largely based
on what the current student population is interested in and
can change radically from year to year. Sports are not
very competitive but still fun. Simon's Rock has a newspaper,
a literary magazine, and around 15 clubs.
There is pretty
much nothing to do in Great Barrington, especially since the
college itself is a 1.5 mile (half hour) walk from
the center of town, and the town is pretty sleepy
anyway (latest movie showings start at 9pm). Since the community
is so close-knit you will spend a lot of time
just hanging out with other people, which is a good
thing. Most of the people at Simon's Rock are bright,
and some are incredibly so. The community as a whole
is not very judgmental and the students have varied interests.
A lot of people play music, mostly acoustic guitar. The
people are very unique and you can have an intelligent
discussion with anyone on almost any topic. There is an
indie vibe, but there is no notion of being cool
by fighting the mainstream. As a whole the students are
a fun group to live and go to school with.
Simon's Rock does suffer from some drawbacks. It is expensive,
although the vast majority of the students are receiving a
scholarship or financial aid. Its budget is very limited and
its rural campus, though beautiful, can make things dull sometimes.
The college does not always have the resources to provide
the best facilities possible. However, the predominant attitude is to
make the best of what we have and the benefits
of the excellent learning environment outweigh the inconveniences.
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