Bard College Top Questions

Classes are pretty small, but not as small as was advertised.

Academics are Bard are not to be taken lightly--students here are serious and they are serious for the right reasons. Bard students by and large could care less about their grades or their GPA--what they care about is that they got something out of the class and that they honestly feel they did their best. Students, professors, and requirements alike are geared towards the ideal of learning for learnings sake. Professors encourage this non-competitive, individualizes approach and attitude with relaxed, discussion style classes where grades are based on papers and class participation rather than tests, exams, or lectures. Not do our professors know our names, we call them by their first names and they know who we are as individuals, not just as i.d. numbers. Students can be found discussing texts outside of class, while still drunk at dance parties, on the weekends as well as the weeknights--Bardians are interested in the things they are taking and express that by bringing their academic life into their social life on a regular basis.

The majority of professors here are awesome. Bard's student body is growing, so some classes are a little bigger than when I was a freshman, but for the most part, they're small, intimate, and stimulating. Professors encourage their students to meet with them, some classes even make meetings mandatory, and these are normally fun. My advisor, who I've had since my freshman year, is now a good friend of mine. I actually look forward to our meetings, both for the help she offers me as well as the chance to swap stories, figure out what each other are reading, have a nice cup of tea... seriously, it's quite nice. I'm a literature student, and I encourage anyone interested in a quality education in any kind of literature to check out Bard. We've got an amazing faculty, but more importantly, a faculty with amazing connections. I've met a number of famous authors, all of whom come to our classes (Orhan Pamuk, recent Nobel prize winner, sat in on three of my classes). In terms of jobs, we've got a super nice group of ladies who will help you build a resume, get interviews, build connections and all of that. The only criticism I have is that a lot of the majors that Bard offers (studio art and photography being the notable ones) have very little to do with "real" jobs, and most people with these majors realize, upon graduating, that they have very few options.

Many professors are great. Class participation is generally a big deal, but the more classes you take, the easier it becomes. Lots of students are too eager to speak up and bore you with their tangents, but if the teacher is good, they can try and stop that. Most professors know your name right away, and many make themselves accessible to you outside of class. The workload is certainly not light, but is usually manageable, and teachers almost always will grant an extension if you need one. Students are NOT competitive here, which is a relief. It seems like most students are actually interested in learning, not just in the grade or in taking easy classes to get through it. The education here is definitely not geared toward getting a job. Moderation is really annoying but seems like it is an ok experience.

The professors are great.

Professors are really awesome, and classes are really intensive. The workload is absolutely insane, as well; but that might just be because I am taking multiple written arts classes which require a great deal of writing. You learn interesting things in every class you take, which is why it's hard to stick to one major, since everything is intriguing. The classes are competitive, and professors encourage this. It's just part of the lifestyle. Also, First-Year Seminar and the Language and Thinking program are by far the most unique programs I have seen at a college. If you are in to the sort of things L&T/FYSem have to offer (analytical skills, along with creative writing/thinking skills), then I might even endorse going to Bard simply for the freshman learning program.

Classes are tiny. If you're a freshman, you'll have a hard time getting into any. Bard does offer a lot of courses, as you may see in their course book, but the catch is that they're not all offered every semester. So one semester there may be a class you want to take but can't get into, but there's no guarantee that class will be there next semester. Plus, Bard has this thing called moderation. You can't just major in whatever you want, you have to take classes in it, and usually in your sophomore or junior year you are evaluated by a moderation panel and they decide whether or not you are "worthy" of that major. And no, I know they tell you you can make your own major but that's just not true. It's very difficult to make your own major and extremely rare. Even double majoring is difficult because there's not much time to moderate into both fields, and doing two different senior projects is hell. What most people end up doing is majoring in interdisciplinary studies so they can combine two different fields that they're interested in. Bard makes all first year students take a First Year Seminar class which is pretty much just an Intro to Philosophy class. You have to read works of Plato, Nietzsche, Mary Shelley, Blake, Rousseau, Locke, and pretty much any other philosopher you've ever heard of. The readings can be interesting but you're not given much time to read them since it's such a broad overview. And there are a few papers required for the course as well. There are two different sets of academic requirements: Those classes you need to graduate and those classes you need to moderate. For more information on distribution requirements go to http://www.bard.edu/academics/curriculum/

The professors are WONDERFUL. I have LOVED almost all of my classes here. I guess my least favorite class was a language class, but that's just because it was no different from the language classes I took in high school. My favorite class? So much more difficult to decide. Students study in bursts--some people study intensely, other people are weeks behind. Class participation is definitely common. Professors are great about meeting with students. And education is definitely geared toward learning for its own sake.

to make a class good, you should participate. the education is definitely not geared toward getting a job.

Professors know your name, there are a lot of really fruity professors at bard that will make you stand on chairs and recite poetry. It's bullshit and I'm not paying 50K a year to stand on chairs.