Bennington College Top Questions

There are no required credits or 101-classes, but instead highly specific, highly engaging and challenging seminars that are designed solely by the students needs and requests and the teachers interests. Some of the classes that I have most enjoyed and that reflect this the best are Moving Image History of the 1970s, Traditional Music of North America, Understanding Children and their Worlds, A History of Rock'n'Roll, and so on. It is highly unlikely to find yourself in a classroom where neither the teacher nor any students is disengaged with the course. Perhaps it is simply because my own personal work ethic is not as good as it should be, but I am continually amazed at the dedication and passion with which students face their work. It is very, very rare that someone will turn up to class without having done the reading and despite their laid-back appearance Bennington students are amongst some of the most hard-working I have come across. There is an emphasis on learning through experience (hence the introduction of their required 7-week off-campus Field Work Term experience every year) and designing ones education through their own curiosity and exploration. During their four years at the college each student integrates different areas of the curriculum that are of interest to them around central ideas or questions – this ultimately results in their Plan, Bennington’s equivalent to a major. This requires students to be extremely self-directed and active in their work. The intensity and self-run nature of the work has been said to develop students that are at times a little too self-focused, however at the end of the day the 8:1 student-teacher ratio and the close-knit nature of the campus means that there is a huge support system and sense of community that is often hard to find. Despite strengths in many different academic fields, many students declare, either with great enthusiasm or resentment, that it is undeniably an art school. There is definitely a very creative, arts-oriented feel to the place (as well as being the birthplace of modern dance) however it is very possible to successfully pursue interests or all fields.

There are no required credits or 101-classes, but instead highly specific, highly engaging and challenging seminars that are designed solely by the students needs and requests and the teachers interests. Some of the classes that I have most enjoyed and that reflect this the best are Moving Image History of the 1970s, Traditional Music of North America, Understanding Children and their Worlds, A History of Rock'n'Roll, and so on. It is highly unlikely to find yourself in a classroom where neither the teacher nor any students is disengaged with the course. Perhaps it is simply because my own personal work ethic is not as good as it should be, but I am continually amazed at the dedication and passion with which students face their work. It is very, very rare that someone will turn up to class without having done the reading and despite their laid-back appearance Bennington students are amongst some of the most hard-working I have come across. There is an emphasis on learning through experience (hence the introduction of their required 7-week off-campus Field Work Term experience every year) and designing ones education through their own curiosity and exploration. During their four years at the college each student integrates different areas of the curriculum that are of interest to them around central ideas or questions – this ultimately results in their Plan, Bennington’s equivalent to a major. This requires students to be extremely self-directed and active in their work. The intensity and self-run nature of the work has been said to develop students that are at times a little too self-focused, however at the end of the day the 8:1 student-teacher ratio and the close-knit nature of the campus means that there is a huge support system and sense of community that is often hard to find. Despite strengths in many different academic fields, many students declare, either with great enthusiasm or resentment, that it is undeniably an art school. There is definitely a very creative, arts-oriented feel to the place (as well as being the birthplace of modern dance) however it is very possible to successfully pursue interests or all fields.

Student feedback on classes affects whether professors stay at the college or leave. Faculty members don't get tenure, which might discourage more renowned individuals from teaching at Bennington. Faculty members also seem to feel hesitant to speak their minds about the administration since they are frequently fired without explanation. Nonetheless, they are wonderfully available to students, incredibly knowledgeable, and willing to spend hours discussing students' ideas and plans outside of class. Classes are tiny, discussion based, and intense. We work incredibly hard because we're encouraged to study exactly what excites us most, without the constraints of arbitrary course distributions. The Plan makes us figure out what's most important to us through a series of essays and meetings with faculty members.

Bennington is geared towards learning for the sake of learning: grades are optional (instead narrative evaluations are commonly used to review students). I wouldn't say that going to Bennington isn't geared towards getting a job, though: with Field Work Term, experience-based labs and classes, and faculty who actively practice what they teach, if anything you are more ready for the working world than at a traditional grade-based school. There have been quite a few students who leave Bennington before graduation because of being hired by past FWT jobs and such.

Things get personal here. Professors know your name, your major, what you like & what you don't like (academically speaking). Classes are small enough to facilitate heated debates, & that's a beautiful thing. I have this photography professor who has an open workshop every Thursday night for his Photography Foundations class. He invites the class to show up in the darkroom for two hours & he provides the paper as well as support. He will also come in on weekends to help anyone who is having difficulties. I'm in Historical Processes with him & he is always fired up about the next process we're going to learn. I've also spent the past two years studying with a social psychologist. For every paper you write, in any of his classes, he will have about a page of typed feedback. I don't know of any other college that does that.

The classes are interesting for sure. The teachers are definitely accessible and they know your names. But I find that after taking a calculus course at Bennington I probably will have to retake the class at another college. If you want to study science or math, I highly recommend going to a different school.

Small classes. Teachers really get to know you & you them. Annabel Davis-Goff is an amazing though daunting professor. Oh, by the way, most teachers go by their first names, but not Professor Milford Graves. He is Professor Graves. Look him up. He is an incredibly interesting man. Take a class with him as soon as you get the chance. There aren't any required classes, or weren't before these Design labs, and grades are optional, but that doesn't mean the classes aren't challenging or time consuming. Work hard, it's worth it.

I love the classes at Bennington. The teachers definitely know your name and all students and teachers are on a first name basis. I think the largest class I have ever been in had 18 students. Of course, if you are the type of person who likes to sit in the back of the class and not talk this might be a problem. Due to the student/teacher ratio it is required to participate in class, but at Bennington you should only be taking classes you want to be in since we build our own curriculum, so it is assumed you want to participate in class. I recently took a class called From Process To Performance and it was the best class I've ever taken at Bennington. We studied Viewpoints and Meisner techniques and worked on a play for the whole term which we eventually performed and we had created such a world, it is indescribable. I love that we are allowed to take a broad range of classes, and we are encouraged to leave Bennington as a liberal artist, having gained knowledge in different categories of art. I find that most of the time our classes lead to intellectual and controversial conversations outside of class. I do think that students are competitive in their niches. For example, the theater department is very competitive and sometimes it seems like the same people are getting cast each year in the productions. This can just act as motivation to push you harder if you think about it that way.

The best thing about Bennington is the flexibility of the cirriculum. There are no required courses, so a first-year student can take only classes that interest him or her (considering the male-female ratio, it is more like to be "her"). While that is great for some students, I found that after my first year just taking random cool-sounding courses, I felt very unfocused and a little lost. Once a plan for your concentration is made and you're taking courses related to what you want to do, everything becomes more focused and more motivated. The professors here absolutely know your name if you take the time to do your work well and stand out a little. In that respect, Bennington is competitive. The only students the teachers don't know are the ones who sit at the back of the class and never speak up. Class participation is a really important part of each class and of evaluations, since almost all classes are discussion-based, and there are few to no lecture classes. Each academic department is very strong and unique. I'm in the literature department, which is one of the biggest, but is populated with the most well-read and creative people I've ever known. The professors are all active in their fields, publishing and writing (though all professors regardless of department are that way.) Some of the stand-out students in a department go to bars with their professors or have dinner at their houses. Professors are usually available one time or another inthe week to just visit in their office and have a conversation with. Bennington students don't necessarily have a lot of hours of classes, but it is expected that they are working on their own projects in their free time. Conversations among students at the dinner table can range from environmentalism to South American politics to French poetry to the latest movie up at Cinema 7 in town. A Bennington education is geared toward learning for the sake of learning.

Bennington's classes are amazing, and in my first two years I had but one bad class. The teachers are all professionals in what they do, so for instance, a music teacher may teach three days a week, and then go play the Broadway pit for "Chicago." In fact, one music faculty just received a Tony, and others have artwork in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA. Faculty are generally very engaged with the students and available outside of class. Bennington is also entirely unique in that each student designs his/her own academic plan from their freshman year. Students are responsible for outlining their academic plan with a committee of faculty, and having their plan proposal approved, and evaluated throughout their time at Bennington. In this way, you never have to take classes that don't interest you. The plan process is truly one of the most incredible aspects of Bennington.

The professors at Bennington all know your name. Classes are very intimate, and there are rarely exams. Most things are extremly self directed, as this is the philosophy of the college. Its great knowing that my own choices play such a direct role in my future.

One cool thing about Bennington is that professors actually know you by name and, with the exception of a few, prefer to be called by their names as opposed to Professor. Class participation has been a part of every class I've taken whether it's a lit discussion, a sculpture critique or just figuring out which note sounds good against the bass in a music class. The academic requirements are very different depending on the department that you are in. A few of the departments have junior and senior reviews that require you to share the work you have done with a panel of professors in order for them to make sure you are on track in terms of your progress in whatever field you are being reviewed in. Other departments do something a little closer to required core classes. Music, for instance, has the rule of 2's which means that in your time at Bennington you have to take 2 theory, 2 composition and 2 history classes to meet basic graduation requirements for music. This might sound like a lot, or if you've read anything about Bennington it might sound like a breaking from Bennington's 'no requirements' tradition but its really not. The classes in theory, composition and history at Bennington are interesting enough that I had already had half the requirements done before I found out that they existed.

Bennington is a place where you can delve into academics exactly how you want to without many restrictions. It is a place where you are immediately submerged into your work in hands-on and project sort of way as opposed to taking exams and intro courses before you can actually get your feet wet. You dive in. It takes a certain type of person to attend Bennington, discipline themselves in their education and be willing to motivate themselves--and be motivated to spend the time it takes to make masterpieces of our work.

Classes are small, and always engaging. Not a single course goes by without bringing in information from every other discipline. Classes are full of involved students who are not afraid to have their voice heard, and will tell the teacher if the class is not going in the desired direction.

Professors who I have never had know my name. I had a class this past semester called "Varied Vessels; Diverse Dishes", a ceramics course taught by Aysha Peltz, an amazing potter herself. My least favorite course: "Extreme Weather", I only say this because it was at 8 am and was one of the more lecture orientated courses I have taken, however, you could tell that Joe, my professor loved the topic and was excited to educate us every morning. Students are very competitive (more so the visual and performing arts) but I think everyone should be, you will learn more from someone who wants to be the best than from someone who is just settling.

I am in the Dance program which is amazing at Bennington. The class curriculum changes a lot every term and the faculty has a wide range of experience in the dance world which is really important. It is really this way with every department and because at Bennington the teachers are currently working in their field their perspective into their field is very up to date and interesting.

The faculty has small classes so that you get close with them, especially those within your discipline. Classes vary. Sometimes they are like apprenticeships, other times they can be discussions on material. The Music Department is great. All the teachers are active in their field professionally so they are all composers and do gigs and some are even rockstars. Finals are never typical finals. This time around I had to built a maraca out of aluminum to go on the end of a pencil, compose a four-part canonic piece, die as Juliet in her final death scene and learn a song on fiddle by ear. What I do always sounds like complete b.s. to everyone else but to you it means so much, it means a thousand moments of confidence building, aconventional, scary learning that you have to invest a lot into. There are slackers here but really to survive and moreoever, to actually get something to get out of it, YOU are your backbone, nobody else. You decide the direction of your work, how much you study, what you want out of your classes. There's no grades, but it makes it that much more intense. You have to learn for yourself and fight for yourself. A Bennington Education is foofy imaginary creature up in the air that hangs up there till you grab it down and make it your own. There is a mention in your plan essays about what you want to do with your life and what you want your life work to be but it's not big. It's what you want. You're paying the big bucks after all.

Academics at Bennington aren't about getting grades and getting a job. We spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week learning and working. Most students refer to their current project/homework as their "work", the way a professional artist, writer, designer, scientist, etc would. Everyone is excited about the work they are doing and want to discuss it with friends. Personally, I have amazing relationships with my professors. They are amazing. I've spent time with several teachers outside of the classroom. Many of them open up their homes to students and host dinners/bar-b-cues/parties for their students. It may sound gratuitous but I've loved every class I've taken during my time at Bennington.

All student and profs are on first name basis. You will often find students baby-sitting teachers kids or pet and having lunch together. My favorite classes are with Betsy Sherman, an amazing woman, even if you don't like science. My least favorite class? None really, I loved everything I took, for the most part and it was all my choice taking it. Students never study, but they are almost always working on class/their focus stuff. Class participation is HUGE. No competition. Chemistry of color. Arts department has some problems with plan stuff but science and music are just amazing. No academic requirement, you design your education, it's great but harder then it sounds. Learning for your own sake is always the most important, process over product.

I love every class I have taken. I have been inspired, pushed, challenged, intrigued, overworked, used, abused and transformed. I value the teachers so much. They keep me sane.