Bard College Top Questions

No. 1. Social life at Bard is hardly centered around drugs or alcohol. Both exist, but are easily avoided by those who choose not to partake. 2. Bard is the opposite of clique-y. Everyone gets to know a wide variety of people, and most us float freely between different groups of friends. 3. The hipster scene exists, because it's trendy, but not all of us wear skinny jeans and bandanas. 4. The school itself actually has a very small endowment (comparatively), and over 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of students receive financial aid of some sort. It's an expensive school. Not the same thing.

somewhat

Only in the most superficial sense. Bard students are certainly hyper-intellectual, but only because they seek to understand the world and because they are encouraged from their first day of college to push the envelope and expand their perspectives and ways of thinking and approaching problems. They are all artists in the sense that it is rare to meet a Bard student who doesn't appreciate art, but it is equally rare to meet a Bard student who doesn't appreciate political discourse, history, the sciences, math, foreign languages, or literature...all at the same time. Certainly Bard students have a tendency to epitomize the hipster aesthetic, yet dressing differently never meets an odd glare in the stacks of the library.

We are very liberal. Political debates are a joke around here, what with the complete lack of conservatives. There is a lot of pot smoking and drinking, but plenty of people choose to avoid it and still manage to have a good time. Partying is a good way to socialize but by no means the only way. The Princeton Review labeled us as "dodgeball targets", and this may be true. We certainly are not a "Football rules!" kind of school, but the athletics here are actually quite fun. Just a little less competitive than your average state school.

To an extent. The people here are often shy and socially awkward, but in a comfortable way. I have found most people to be very friendly, especially if you show you are interested in getting to know them. A lot of kids do smoke cigarettes. A lot of kids are not extremely hip, snobby rich kids. A lot of kids are. There are a good deal of extremely intelligent kids, and mostly it is a bunch of students who are uncertain if they even really want to be in college at all.

I've never smoked pot in my life. A lot of people do smoke pot - but I'm not sure that is entirely different from everywhere else.

Pretty much, yeah. The amount of cigarette smokers at Bard is insane, and while I am not a prominent part of the drug culture, I know that it exists. The school is also incredibly liberal-minded, and it takes a certain type of person to fit in here. Not that it's a bad thing.

Yes, most of the students are those kids you knew in high school who never really fit in. Chances are, if you're at all "mainstream" you'll have a hard time finding your place here. There really are all types of people here though, it's just difficult to find them. You pretty much are only friends with the people you live with. It's hard to socialize outside your dorm, especially when the weather gets bad. For such a small school, it seems even smaller since there are so many little cliques. And no, not everyone is a pothead. But at times it can really seem like it. A LOT of kids at Bard smoke pot. There's not a lot of pressure to do it, but chances are you won't go the whole four years here without at least trying it.

In fact, Bard is fully of hipster scum and fashionistas.

Though there are a lot of pretentious artsy students at Bard, there are also a lot of really studious people on campus. Bard has been cracked down on recently and its really not a party school, at all.