Bennington College Top Questions

If you are free-spirited, liberal-minded, do not have an aversion to body hair or clogs then Bennington could very well be the place for you. Most students tend to hail from the East Coast or California. Exotic hair colors, face paint, dreadlocks, piercings, homemade clothes, or no clothes at all are fairly common sights – however there is also a fair share of hipsters and Vermont farmer types to be seen too. It is often said that Bennington is the place where those that were outcasts or freaks in high school go to become part of the majority...this is fairly accurate. Though for the most part all types of people are able to find their place on this campus you probably wont find many republicans, churchgoers, math-enthusiasts, or fraternity bros. In fact the total lack of Greek life or competitive sports means that most students become involved in more alternative methods of fun, such as tea parties, didgeridoo building, poetry readings, tree-climbing, and interpretive dance. Those on financial aid make up a big part of the student body but it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between those paying full-tuition and those paying nothing – wealth is not something that is obvious at all here. Walking through the dining hall you can sense there are distinct social groups, something that is hard to avoid in such a small community, however it does not feel cliquey and because of the small class sizes and housing environments it’s easy to weave your way through several different circles. There are far less men than women on this campus, which certainly puts an interesting spin on things, and is the source of great frustration and lots of dysfunctional, incestuous dating situations.

If you are free-spirited, liberal-minded do not have an aversion to bodily hair or clogs then Bennington could very well be the place for you. Though most students tend to hail from the East Coast and California, the individuals you see roaming the campus are often from a world of their own. Exotic hair colors, face paint, dreadlocks, piercings, homemade clothes, or no clothes at all are fairly common sights – however there is also a fair share of hipsters and Vermont farmer types to be seen too. It is often said that Bennington is the place where those that were outcasts or freaks in high school go to become part of the majority. Though for the most part all types of people are able to find their place in this campus on thing you wont find many republicans, churchgoers, math-enthusiasts, fraternity bros, or preppy athletes. In fact the total lack of Greek life or competitive sports means that most students become involved in more alternative methods of fun, such as tea parties, didgeridoo building, poetry readings, tree-climbing, and interpretive dance. Those on financial aid make up a big majority of the student body but it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between those paying full-tuition and those paying nothing – wealth is not something that is obvious or even discussed here. Walking through the dining hall you can sense there are distinct social groups, something that is hard to avoid in such a small community, however it does not feel cliquey and because of the small class sizes and housing environments it’s easy to weave your way through several different circles. There are far less men than women on this campus, which certainly puts an interesting spin on things, and is the source of great frustration and lots of dysfunction, incestuous dating situations.

My classmates are talented beyond measure; they are quiet yet outspoken, driven and genuine, and some of the most innovative and creative individuals I've ever met in my life.

Students are very receptive and open minded, though they have high standards and do not suffer fools gladly. Interestingly, the definition of a fool varies considerably. The typical Bennington student is interested in many different areas of culture, and loves to argue about topics about which they are not especially informed. They are very enthusiastic and scorn the notion of following the rules and seeing academia as a series of boxes to be checked. Students here typically hold most social mores at ironic arm's length, including traditional dating practices. They tend to either have enlightened flings or idiosyncratic longterm relationships. There is a sense of humor to any social pattern that can be categorized. Bennington students come from drastically different backgrounds, and come together to live very closely and intimately. Naturally there is the occasional conflict, but for the most part Bennington students are incredibly considerate and respectful. They rarely lock their doors and their mailboxes don't have locks. It is a safe and trusting campus full of honest people.

Bennington students are firecly independant and individualistic; we twist boundaries, put our heart and soul into our work, and then recover by partying until we fall over.

Students all study something different and work ridiculously hard. Class doesn't end when you leave the classroom: discussions and work are always ongoing and pervasive. One thing I love about Bennington is that I'm around people who don't want to sit around and talk about TV shows (though there are some people like that here, too); rather, I'm around people who sit down for a meal and debate about the meaning of democracy.

Artful, friendly, unique, inspiring.

It's not a very culturally diverse campus. Frankly, I'm used to that. I've never been part of the majority in any of my schools. It's probably problematic statistically, but it doesn't bother me. The people here are incredibly diverse in terms of personalities, passions, hobbies, & academic interests. I don't care about their ethnic backgrounds. In my house in particular, people work hard & party harder. We've got musicians, painters, sculptors, photographers, politicians, singers, architects, animators, programmers, etc. We give each other feedback on whatever projects we happen to be working on. During the weekends, we unwind together.

Intense work-aholic artists.

Energetic liberal hippies eager to learn and perform.

Pretty much everyone is liberal and as least 3/4 of the students are blatant hipsters. In a way, there is no diversity; everyone listens to indie music, everyone loves dressing up... Though you would expect most students are all rich kids, students actually do come from various socio-economic backgrounds. Many students receive financial aid.

My classmates at Bennington are artistic, original, passionate, intense, a little crazy, but overall brilliant academics and artists who strave for innovation in their projects and studies.

Most are artistic and talented, but they all smoke too much and drink too much coffee.

Rich hipsters and wannabe hipsters.

Everyone is really intense; there is a sense that everyone has a lot of problems they work through while here, but at the same time there is this feeling of real camaraderie because we're all going through the same deep issues in this changing time in our lives.

Bennington College students are self-absorbed, intelligent, creative, out-of-the-box thinkers; they work as hard as they play... and that's very hard.

creative, uniquem self driven, slightly awkward, individuals that all have something special about them.

There are a lot of students from California and New York. A lot. Generally pretty leftist and open minded when it comes to politics.

I was disappointed that Bennington wasn't more cultural. I grew up on a small island in Washington that was predominantly Caucasian and I was looking forward to going to the East coast where I would find more culture. But even though there are not many different races at Bennington, there are loads of different type of people. I think that most everybody can find a place at Bennington and can feel like they are doing something that they like to do with friends. Lots of different types of people interact all the time since we are in such close quarters. The different houses on our campus tend to have personalities and attitudes that some people get really involved in and others don't. I didn't feel like I wanted to be a part of some of the cult-ish attitudes that the houses had, so I moved to a less conspicuous more neutral house but it didn't change my friends or how people felt about me, so I was happy with my choice. I feel like a lot of the students are from New England, mainly New York, New Jersey, Maine and Connecticut. Bennington is a very expensive school. There are people from all different financial backgrounds at our school, but I feel like the incredibly wealthy kids don't mind if you know it. Our school is so expensive, though, we know that either everybody can get by paying tuition, or they were granted a huge scholarship, or somebody else pays it for them. I think that lots of our student body is politically active, and since Bennington is so liberal I don't think there is one conservative person at our school.

The student body at Bennington is fairly homogenous: white, upper- middle class or higher, and artsy. It is one of the most accepting student bodies I've ever known, and a recently formed LGBT group only received any criticism because everyone felt that it was redundant on our campus. You're more likely to be prejudiced against if you're an evangelical conservative than an extremely liberal gay Jew. Students think that they are politically active, but for the most part, they are unaware liberals who spew rhetoric over dinner, and have no clue what's really going on. It's the Bennington Bubble: we're only aware of what is going on inside the bubble, which is a strange place to begin with. Most students are from the New England and Northeast regions, primarily New York and Massachusettes. There are a reasonable number of students from California and less from anywhere in the Midwest or the south.