Hi everyone.
I am considering applying to Bard in the fall, as I really like some of the programs that the the college provides, such as L&T, etc. However, as I research the college I seem to be finding signs pointing toward an underlying drug/alcohol culture at the school. Being able to easily avoid this type of culture is one of my dealbreakers for a college. I have considered asking a school rep, but I doubt I would get a straight answer about this type of thing. So, I was wondering if any current/recent students could advise me. Thank you!
P.S. I am planning to visit the school, but I fear this will also not tell the whole story.
My son spent five years at Bard doing the double degree program. He never had any issues with drugs or alcohol - and never used either. He had plenty of friends who, like himself, abstained. On the other hand, I doubt you’ll find any school, except maybe a very strict religious one, where there’s no alcohol nor drugs at all. Students at Bard tend to have a lot of passionate interests, and most don’t need extra enhancements beyond the excitement they create themselves. On the other hand, it’s a tolerant community - both for those who do seek enhancements, and those who don’t.
So I am the parent of a current freshman girl and I had these worries myself. What my daughter has found is that while drugs and alcohol are present, she thinks they are not especially more prevalent than at her boarding school or at her friends’ suburban and urban pubic and private high schools. There is also no pressure to do drugs/drink so some do, some don’t. Of course there are some YOLO freshman for whom this is their first time away from home… she is already seeing some of that behaviour (during the August L&T) taper off, except for a very few kids who probably won’t finish the year (she thinks). Security and peer counselors do pay attention and do warn students as needed.
She WISHES that it were a NON-(cigarette) SMOKING campus, but there seems to be even less of that than last year. We are from CA and from an area where almost no one smokes so to us the prevalance of smoking here on the East in general is kind of shocking/disgusting.