Attended Bard--Happy to Answer Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Bard College
41

<p>This is SO LONG, OMG</p>

<p>Why I went to Bard in the first place:</p>

<p>This is hard to answer without telling my entire life story, sorry. Ever since I was really little, I’ve wanted to move to the East Coast. When I was about 10, I started to dream of going to a fancy schmancy East Coast LAS. When it came time to apply to college, I was only 16. My list consisted of Amherst and a bunch of other similar schools. Then I had a few “back-up” schools that I had no real desire to attend. My parents, friends, etc. encouraged me to add some “match” schools. My dad recommended Bard to me because it was “artsy” and “liberal” (like me). He, along with literature + admission officers from Bard, convinced me that Bard was somehow really close to NYC and that I could go there all the time, which appealed to me. So I decided that Bard was good enough to add to my list, but I had no intention of actually going there. I had spent my whole life skipping grades, getting perfect grades and test scores, and always being the smartest in my class, so I never really doubted that I would get into Amherst, etc. I was such an overconfident, naive little 16-year-old. :frowning: Unfortunately, I decided to write an extremely risky Common App essay that showed me in the worst possible light. I got rejected or wait-listed nearly everywhere I applied. (Which might well have happened even if I had written a normal-person essay, I’m not saying it wouldn’t have!) Anyhow, Bard was basically the only semi-decent school I got into. I really felt that I had no choice but to go there.</p>

<p>So, obviously, I wasn’t the most enthusiastic Bardian-to-be. However, when I arrived at Bard, I fell head over heels in love with it. Which brings me to…</p>

<p>Things I liked about Bard:</p>

<ol>
<li>The same culture which I previously called “unfriendly and unhappy”</li>
</ol>

<p>My dad was on to something. Bard’s culture is also very “liberal” and “artsy.” There are some really smart, interesting and talented people at Bard. People are generally open-minded, attuned to social justice issues, and really value the arts. Bard is also an intellectual place, in that it is cool to be smart, and you can find plenty of people to stay up all night talking about philosophy with. This is the other side of the same coin I was talking about earlier. You can say that people at Bard are all artists, or that they are all crazy; that they are all intellectual, or that they are all pretentious. </p>

<ol>
<li>Really strong queer community</li>
</ol>

<p>I feel like Bard has got to have the highest concentration of queer people in one place short of those cruises they have for gay men. I personally found the core group of kids that attend the QSA meetings, etc. to be really cliquish and unwelcoming but there are tons of queer people outside that group, so it wasn’t a huge deal. Also, everyone at Bard is a feminist, and that, combined with some great sociology classes, raised my consciousness and changed my life foreva for the betta. </p>

<ol>
<li>The Written Arts Department</li>
</ol>

<p>This department is TOP NOTCH and helped me grow enormously as a writer. Other great programs at Bard: Human Rights, Economics, Film, Photography, Music, all of the visual arts. If you are into these things you have a much better reason to go to Bard than someone who is into physics or dance or something. </p>

<ol>
<li>It’s beautiful! There are trees! And other green things! Wow!</li>
</ol>

<p>Also: Spring! It’s so magical. I finally understand why there is so much poetry about it.</p>

<ol>
<li>Taste Budd’s</li>
</ol>

<p>This is the coffee shop in Red Hook that you will spend all of your time at if you go to Bard. It’s the best. I wish I could have taken it with me back to California.</p>

<ol>
<li>L&T and Citizen Science</li>
</ol>

<p>The best six weeks of my life!</p>

<ol>
<li>Small classes & personal attention</li>
</ol>

<p>A feature of any LAS, but still worth mentioning. I really have learned a lot at Bard.</p>

<ol>
<li>Diversity</li>
</ol>

<p>Lots of international students, lots of African-American students. I discovered that not everyone is a white person from SoCal, and it made me a better person. :slight_smile: Unfortunately, Bard is also really segregated. People tend to stick with their own cultural/racial groups. </p>

<p>Things I’ll miss about Bard:</p>

<p>I’ve been away for four months and so far the things I miss are (in order of importance):

  1. My friends
  2. Being surrounded 24/7 by people who share my political beliefs, interests, and values
  3. Taste Budd’s</p>
42

<p>snipester:</p>

<p>It’s hard to suggest things to help you when I know nothing about you. I’m not even sure whether you are in high school or college! But you can start by arranging to meet with each of your instructors to discuss how you can improve in her class. You can also seek out tutoring. Most high schools and colleges offer free tutoring of some sort. You can cut back on, or quit, extracurriculars (for the time being) to make more time for studying. If you party, you can decide to cut back on, or quit, that (for the time being) in order to make more time for studying. You can study with friends, especially friends that are doing better in your classes than you are. Hope that helps; good luck!</p>

43

<p>Thanks bananapplecat. Good luck in your new school! I hope it has what you now need.</p>

44

<p>That was beautiful, banana. And nuanced… I hope you find happiness at your new school. You deserve it. :)</p>

<p>As goes the segregation and the cliquishness of the QSA and other subcultures-- sadly, I think that this happens at a lot of places. It’s something to struggle with in every college community. I know I see similar and the same issues in higher education all the time. :(</p>

45

<p>Thank you, spirit, glass–and everyone else who has wished me well. :)</p>

<p>To those who have PMd me: I will get back to you as soon as the website allows me to! (When I reach 15 posts.) Just wanted to let you know that I’m not ignoring you.</p>

46

<p>I feel compelled to add my 2 cents. My daughter is finishing her first year at Bard. She loves it and is not transferring. Nope, not rich east coasters. She’s the midwestern scholarship kid. Here are a few of HER observations.</p>

<ol>
<li>There is a ton of writing. Kids who are not strong writers or don’t like writing have a hard time adjusting.</li>
<li>Yup. Winter. The Californians seem to freak out the most. They don’t understand the hunker down mentality that Northern people have developed over the years of winters. It’s not that we’re unfriendly, it’s that we’re thinking, dreaming and trying to keep warm. Smiling exposes your teeth/lips to the cold.</li>
<li>She says her biggest adjustment was dealing with the sense of entitlement from some kids…and not about money. But the idea that everything in life was supposed to be easy and fun. (Again, stoic midwesterners here.) She grew frustrated with those (girls especially) who engaged in the constant complaining to complain. They didn’t have a real problem or concern…it was an idle dissatisfaction with everything. (I reminded her that one will find this everywhere; it is the latent American condition…to be constantly dissatisfied and wanting more…)</li>
<li>Mental Illness & Breakdowns. She said that one girl in her dorm is certifiably nuts. But that she was nuts before she came to Bard. She mostly observed that the kids she knew who were transferring were ones that either 1. Came to Bard as a second choice, 2. Were coddled so much that they were totally unprepared for the responsibility of school. And 3. In one case, the kid was so rich he/she could switch schools on a whim.</li>
</ol>

<p>She loves that professors know her. They help her. They give her advice. They ask for her input. Are there a couple clinkers? Yup, she’s got one now for Fysem…and is retaliating the best way she can. By working harder and submitting subversive papers. She plans to let this teacher have it in the after semester evaluations.</p>

<p>From the parent perspective: The right fit is a very personal choice. Every school has good and bad things going for it. What is right for my kid may not be right for yours. BUT though all our collective experiences can assist us in understanding. But ultimately, its a personal choice. And what I’ve tried to teach my kid is that you take responsibility for your choices, good and bad; then learn and grow from them.</p>

47

<p>Thanks for your perspective, MKEpunkmom! My niece, also from California, is from northern California… you know what Mark Twain said about the coldest winter he ever spent. :wink: She’s also a bit older-- will be 19 when she arrives, and has spent some time in boarding school, so I think some of the issues you describe will be less irritating to her than to others. </p>

<p>The positives about the school are what drew her. She’s also a scholarship kid, so like your daughter she will dealing with living as a demographic minority. But (as a scholarship kid in boarding school) she is used to that. </p>

<p>

This is one thing you wrote that bothers me-- maybe because I teach college kids-- but retaliation isn’t the purpose of student evaluations. Retaliating with hard work is a lovely concept (the best revenge is doing well!) but it sort of makes me cringe to think that students plan to “let their teacher have it.” I’m not sure how evaluations are at Bard. For me, they are a way of figuring out what’s working and what’s not, a tool for improvement. Evaluations can also affect job security for faculty who are not tenured.</p>

<p>Of course, your comment might have been tongue-in-cheek (can’t tell tone over the internet) or the professor could be so egregious that if I knew the details, I, too would be letting him have it. :)</p>

48

<p>GlassHarmonica…yes, tongue in cheek. The kiddo plans on giving the prof an honest assessment pointing out the flaws in her; logic, presentation, and strange preconceived notions of class and how it affects perceptions of race. But mostly rail against the prof’s tenuous relationship with time.</p>

49

<p>MKEPunkmom, gotcha! And it sounds richly deserved. Good for your daughter!</p>

50

<p>I feel I need to respond about the faculty panel on admitted students day. Yes, people left the discussion but only after the parents started asking questions. I didn’t think it had anything to do with the panel or their teaching philosophy. Frankly, I thought it was the parents who were rude to leave… then again I live in NYC so nothing surprises me. </p>

<p>Also, all the students we met were friendly and engaging. Bard happens to be my son’s final choice despite a generous scholarship from another college. The school offers him the kind of music program he wants to be part of and he’s been communicating with potential professors. For example, while searching for college, S. wrote to a specific music teacher at Connecticut College and never heard back; he did hear back from the Bard professor he wrote to. </p>

<p>I do find the title of the thread misleading, not sure why you started it. I don’t object to anyone transferring, it’s one of the best things about American colleges. Try studying in Europe where you have to choose your profession at 16. I’m sorry the college wasn’t for you particularly after I read what you liked about it. But your title should’ve read ‘transferring student - ask any questions’.</p>

<p>I don’t mind seeing Bard’s ‘warts’, every college has them. As far as ‘depressed’ and mentally ill’ students goes, what should we do about Cornell which has the highest student suicide rate? Yet, people are clamoring to get in. </p>

<p>I wish you the best at your new college. I hope that my S. made the right decision; he’s super excited about going to Bard. Time will tell…</p>

51

<p>i was at the panel discussion. so what if folks left…no one left until questions started AND the day was so packed with things to do that i don’t blame anyone for trying to do some of this and some of that. the panel was extremely well-spoken and obviously cared. i asked a question and it was thoughtfully answered by 2 different professors. we loved the profs we met at the meet the departments hour and botstein’s talk was riveting. can’t wait.</p>

52

<p>kalina:</p>

<p>Nah, it’s not misleading. I did attend Bard, and the fact that I’m transferring doesn’t render my attendance invalid in any way. If you assumed that “attended Bard” meant “graduated from Bard,” that’s on you.</p>

<p>Why I started the thread:</p>

<p>I was browsing the forums of the colleges I am considering attending in the fall. Each of those schools has been sending me tons of promotional material. For each school, I have a million people trying to convince me to enroll there. I’m trying to avoid picking a school that’s wrong for me (again), so I really wish I could also hear the perspectives of students who dislike the schools I’m considering or are transferring out. Even just the perspective of a student who hasn’t been commissioned by the admissions office to write to me would be nice. When I go on a campus visit and students ask me if I have any questions, the first thing I will always ask is “What DON’T you like about your school?”–not because I’m a tirelessly negative person, but because they’ve usually already told me 25 things they love about their school, and that’s the one piece of the picture that I don’t have easy access to.</p>

<p>Anyhow, I started this thread to offer that missing piece of the picture to prospective Bardians in the way I wish it were offered to me, as a prospective student at several other schools. </p>

<p>Seems like it hasn’t been that helpful, since it’s the time of year when kids have made their decision already. Hopefully it helps someone who reads it sometime in the future. </p>

<p>Re: Cornell. It has some things in common with Bard: terrible weather and isolation. Those things tend to worsen people’s moods. And I wouldn’t apply to Cornell if you paid me. </p>

<p>GL to your kid and all kids in the Class of 2017; hope Bard works out better for them than it did for me.</p>

53

<p>bananapplecat - I HAVE found this thread very helpful and I thank you for offering your perspective (which included both good and bad points). I also thought it was posted in a timely manner in that many of the thoughts shared (by all) may have helped with final decision making.</p>

<p>When my son came down to making his final choice, we indeed needed to start focusing on the negatives (as we saw them) of the schools because we had already spent months getting excited about the positives. Somehow, we needed to whittle the list down to one.</p>

<p>Best of luck to the students who did choose Bard and think it’s a great fit and to those who realized that Bard wasn’t necessarily such a great fit. Good thing we have so options in this country!</p>

54

<p>I second CottageSpirit’s sense of gratitude to you, bananapplecat. Your posts appeared at the exact time when my son was choosing between Bard and Skidmore. I was very much attracted by President Botstein’s educational philosophy and the profoundly intellectual character of so many of the students. What I was reading online about Bard reminded me so much of my own undergraduate experience at Wesleyan in the 70’s. But just at the same moment, my son was visiting Skidmore, and his schedule did not allow him to also visit Bard. He fell in love with Skidmore, and that was his decision. Bananapplecat’s discussion about what she did not like about Bard mirrored what my son did like about Skidmore–a welcoming and warm campus atmosphere, an open curriculum where he would be free to choose what he really wanted to study without having faculty potentially deny him his choice of major, and a very attractive off-campus downtown that could offer him an easy change of pace when he wanted to escape from the college bubble. I was a bit disapointed that he never had the chance to spend a day or two at Bard, but since he felt that Skidmore was perfect for him, there was nothing for me to say but congratulate him on his choice. It’s his college experience, not mine, and thanks, bananapplecat, for providing a very detailed student perspective on Bard, and also for referring me to the Bard student newspaper, [The</a> Bard Free Press](<a href=“http://www.bardfreepress.com%5DThe”>http://www.bardfreepress.com), which validated many of your comments. Best of luck to you in your new college, and props to you for having the courage of your convictions and the moxie to push back on those who were jeering you instead of cheering you.</p>

55

<p>I feel I need to add some balance of opinion here to mitigate the concern of some parents.</p>

<p>As a transfer into Bard this past fall, I am in quite the opposite position of the OP. I transferred to Bard because of a lack of intellectual and academic spirit at my previous college - a spirit that I have certainly found at Bard. Weekend and evening conversations are always stimulating, ranging from discussions of particle physics to critical theory. Everyone here is very passionate about what they are studying and are eager to share their ideas with each other. There is a constant synthesis of ideas across disciplines to be found at Bard, which is probably my favorite part about the school.</p>

<p>I read somewhere in here that the OP felt that Bard’s campus was diverse, but segregated. While Bard is relatively diverse for a LAC in the northeast, this is not saying much. Our campus is still very white. It makes some sense, then, that many of the students from underrepresented cultures, nationalities or ethnicities on campus are friends with other students around whom they can feel a sense of familiarity. That being said, I have found that these friend groups are extremely fluid. People bounce around from one friend group to another (for example I have a group of friends from within my major, a group from sports, a group from a club etc.) so I feel like saying that the student body is segregated is not quite accurate.</p>

<p>As far as friendliness goes, I have found everyone here to be genuinely friendly. It is not common practice to say hello to strangers as you walk by them on campus (this would get very tiring imo) but saying hello to friends and acquaintances is definitely not uncommon.</p>

<p>I’ll be lurking around on here if anyone else wants some positive spin on the Bard experience; I have nothing but good things to say about this school.</p>

56

<p>Hi! I am a recent Bard graduate, currently pursuing a PhD in Boston. I’m sure you’ve already heard all about the good things Bard has to offer (awesome faculty, great classes, breathtaking scenery etc…), so I’ll talk about something people don’t usually discuss- life after Bard. In all honesty, I don’t think any college actually prepares students to face the harsh reality of the “real world” (I would really want to take a class on how to do taxes!!). However, my friends and I are doing fairly well adjusting to the real world. Bard’s teaching philosophy is awesome for people who are interested in graduate schools. Most of my friends have gone onto top PhD and Master programs (science, engineering, psychology, philosophy, economics etc) at prestigious universities such as Harvard, MIT, Michigan, and Oxford. Contrary to the stereotypes of liberal arts graduates, Bard students have also found high-paying jobs at great companies such as Prudential, Morning Star, PwC, and Unilever. Each year, Bard also consistently produces great teachers for Teach for America. Evidently not all graduates have found jobs, and this is a fact for all universities, big or small. But Bard College is a small liberal arts college, and graduates of this amazing school have found great career paths. This is a remarkable achievement.</p>

57

<p>Thank you, cottage and morgan! :)</p>

<p>Everyone: Check out this tumblr. It’s a parody Bard newspaper (like The Onion).</p>

<p>Especially check out the third article down, “Campus Security Investigates Alleged Eye Contact Between Students”. </p>

<p>[The</a> Bard Star](<a href=“http://bardstar.■■■■■■■■■■/]The”>http://bardstar.■■■■■■■■■■/)</p>

<p>I lold hard at that. I have access to a lot of other Bard tumblrs and Facebook groups that prospective students/parents would have no way of knowing about. Just let me know if you’d like links to any of them.</p>

58

<p>I know that this thread is over 1 month old, but I’d be interested to know why folks are transferring out of the CS department.</p>

59

<p>Since my son had been considering an admissions offer from Bard this spring, I did some inquiry and a former Bard student indicated that the offerings were very limited. I also did some research into Bard’s January program that highlights use of computing for “Citizen Science” and it seemed, from reports of Bard students who were interviewed about that program, that it has lost a lot of its energy and focus. Students complained that it was poorly organized and very inconsistent from class section to section and some of the faculty involved did not seem very enthusiastic. I’d love to hear contrary views as I still do regard Bard overall as a great and very unique liberal arts college.</p>

<p>Sent from my ADR6410LVW using CC</p>

60

<p>Morganhil, I was in the last class on Bard to have not taken Citizen Science, but from my understanding, it has gotten better and better over the past three years and I would expect the trend to continue. It is still a very new program so I would think that any rockiness that occurs is because of a lack of familiarity with the program itself (Language & Thinking works like a well-oiled machine, but it’s been around since the 80s). It is increasingly becoming more apart of the Bard culture. My brother transfered from SUNY Binghamton to Bard and occasionally felt a slight divide because professors would consistently refer to texts we read during L&T. I had a similar experience this year while taking my lab science. My professor would refer to things that were taught during CitSci, and the 3 other seniors and I would look at each other thinking “nope, never learned that.” Citizen Science is quickly becoming integrated into the classroom, which I think is a testament to the program itself. </p>

<p>To the rest of the thread: I’ve been pretty absent from this forum for awhile (due to lack of activity and working on my senior project), but if you find my other posts, you can see that I had a very different experience than bananapplecat. I will say that (thus far in my life) I’ve had my absolute best moments at Bard and my absolute worst moments at Bard (including mental health). Clearly the good outweighed the bad because I didn’t transfer, but I also knew that Bard was THE school for me. I remember being really homesick during L&T and feeling sad and miserable but I kept thinking “At least I’m miserable HERE.”</p>

<p>In terms of the unfriendliness, I’ve discussed this “problem” with many of my friends from Bard and I think it comes down to a bunch of things, some of which are that many people come from cities where anonymity is important. It’s not within a city culture to be particularly friendly to people you don’t know or barely know. I also think that many people who come to Bard were in someway an “outcast” in their high school. This can lead to social anxiety. Almost all of my friends (myself included) agreed that more often than not, we wouldn’t say hi to people we passed out of fear of rejection. Who’s to say that’s not why the other person also didn’t say hi? I also think that because walks around campus can be long, people are rushing around trying to get to class or Kline (or DTR) before it closes. I also fall deep into thought while I walked around campus. I wasn’t paying attention to the other people I was walking passed. But overall, I never really perceived Bard to be unfriendly. Brief smalltalk while walking around campus just doesn’t seem to be Bardian thing to do.</p>

<p>Access to the city is what you make of it. I know many kids who regularly went into the city (Amtrak is close, but expensive, Metro-North is farther [still close] but less expensive, many students drive into the city). It’s not the easiest, but it’s far from difficult. A simple look at the website tells you just how far campus is from NYC (90 miles). </p>

<p>In terms of the mental health issues at Bard, I don’t think it’s out of the norm at all. Statistically speaking, 50% of people will at some point in their lives deal with mental health issues, and the period between 16-24 seems to have one of the highest concentrations of these issues coming to surface (the other period being 65+). Mental health problems also occur in high frequency among more creative, artsy types. Exactly the type of people Bard tends to attract. Beyond this though, these things occur often at any school. Bard being as small as it is, skews our perception because on some level we all know each other (whether it’s by face or class or friendship). News travels fast around Bard and it’s pretty hard to stay off the radar. </p>

<p>I don’t know if this helps any or if this contributed to the conversation, but I felt like I had to put in my own 2 cents. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. It’s important to note that every Bard experience is different. My brother had a very different experience at Bard than I did, as a transfer student, as an older student, as a student who wasn’t totally cut out for Bard. Bard really is not a place for everyone, as wonderful as it is.</p>