Anyone here familiar with Bards Academy?
If so, have you or someone you know of attended and enjoyed there time there?
I was wondering that too. Bard’s College at Simon’s Rock has been keeping sending me emails.
@sparkatzz Same! I want to apply if March 9th isn’t so sweet.
@YoungThriver I’m not sure that I want to go to college now, but it’s always nice to know there’s an option. (and I think there’s deadline should be before M9?)
Someone on CC started Bard@Simon’s Rock this year - they will graduate early with this program. We know another student from the Great Barrington area that went to the program which allowed her to pursue her dance career. It’s a great area and there are a couple of people on here that are familiar with the program, so hoping they hop into this conversation :bz
I went to Simon’s Rock a gazillion years ago. I really enjoyed it. It was like a small boarding school- except with college-level school work. Great Barrington is a quaint town, and when you want to get off of the campus it provides a nice respite. Most of the students and staff were progressive. (People used to call it a “granola” school. Kind of like saying it was full of hippies, but we’re talking the 1980’s.) The teachers were laid back and extraordinarily helpful, as you should expect from adults ushering young teens through college.
It is one of those places that seems to be either a great option -or not at all. It rarely evokes mere meh. I would strongly recommend visiting to see how it feels to you if their website intrigues you.
@gardenstategal @MariFeigh I’ll be ruminating it some more but thank you both.
Great! If you are close enough- definitely visit! 
My Daughter attended Bard Academy and is now in the college at Simon’s Rock. The education and academics are top notch. Small classes, engaged students and professors, and the caliber of work they do is amazing. There is a heavy workload, and students have to be disciplined to keep up. There are support systems in place to help, but a lot is still in the hands of the students.
Since it is a fairly new program, the administration has made several tweaks to the program each year. I can only speak to how it was when my D was there, but the dorms are great, the classroom facilities adequate to excellent depending on the building, and my D actually enjoys the food in the dining hall, though sometimes she does get sick of eating the same things — but that’s her choice, there are other options, she just doesn’t choose them.
The downside to the small size of the program is that it can feel claustrophobic, especially considering the campus is kind of isolated. There is a bus to town but there’s not a lot to do there and the shops and restaurants are expensive since it caters to a moneyed tourist crowd from NYC. Everybody on campus knows each other and that means everybody knows your business. I also worry about the number of mental health issues and whether the school has adequate resources to support the students (this is a problem at many campuses).
The other potential downside is that your options can be somewhat limited if you want to leave the program and/or don’t want to enter the college at the end of 10th grade.
Overall, it was a good program for my D. Not perfect by any means, but she got an amazing education. For the right student it is an amazing opportunity. But it does take hard work and a certain level of independence and drive to thrive there.
@Amkngk Thank you.
Can you paint a picture of the workload over there?
I’m not really sure I can give an accurate portrayal, but it’s a very writing and reading intensive program. The challenge my D found was that because the classes were taught by college professors, the workload resembled college, where you spend few hours in class a couple days a week but do a lot of work outside of class. The trouble is, the Academy kids have a pretty “high school” schedule, with classes filling the day 9-3 ish. I’d estimate are 3-4 hours homework nightly, but that’s a guess. The good thing is that it isn’t busywork. There were no worksheets or other useless assignments. Mostly reading and papers. And because the classes are small, and discussion based, there’s no hiding in the back if you don’t do the work. All that said, my D finished her time at the academy with a 3.8 gpa.
I definitely recommend a visit if you’re interested. It is certainly not for everybody.