<p>Hi, recently visited Bard with my daughter and saw no signs of life. Our guide said everyone was in class but it really was kind of dreary. I don’t think I could stand the isolation but my daughter is excited about Bard.</p>
<p>Do the kids stay up all night and sleep all day?</p>
<p>momsrching - Bard is very spread out - so there is not the mass of students there would be on a more enclosed campus. Believe me - there is a ton going on and the students are all there on campus (it is not a commuter campus and doesn’t empty out on weekends.) But there is also a peacefulness and expansiveness about the physical environment which may, or may not, appeal to a student.</p>
<p>Speaking for my daughter who’s a freshman at Bard, yes at least one student that I know of is a nightowl and enjoys sleeping in late when she doesn’t have a early morning class. :-)</p>
<p>She did mention that many students seem to not have a Friday class, tho’ she has one that meets on Fridays at 8am. :-(</p>
<p>Irvine mom…now that you mention it we were there on a Friday so it makes sense that things were quiet. </p>
<p>SpiritManager …we took the standard tour but didn’t have time to tour the rest of the campus. We’ll probably be returning to Bard for another visit as we narrow things down. There’s quite a difference in campus atmosphere between schools. The second school we visited was quite the circus and polar opposite of Bard. Of course that’s no reflection on academics.</p>
<p>Thanks I was a bit worried :)</p>
<p>^^momsrching, another thing to keep in mind: There are roughly 2,000 students, and the campus is roughly 600 acres. That’s around 3-4 people per acre. We have been to the campus when those numbers are very evident, and we have also been to the campus when it has been hopping.</p>
<p>Depends on time of day, day of week, and season of year. Regardless, there is tons of stuff going on at Bard, always.</p>
<p>Also, it has been reported to be one of the safest campuses in the country. :)</p>
<p>Finally, with the lion’s share of classes being small and discussion-based, anyone who parties all night and sleeps all day will be quickly “uncovered”.</p>
<p>Fridays and weekends tend to be more dead during the day. Professors try not to hold Friday classes a lot of the time. Most of them are labs, tutorials, or workshops (art, film, photo, writing).</p>
<p>The campus is also pretty dead when during the times that classes meet. The Campus Center and Kline (usually) have a steady flow of kids, though.</p>
<p>The campus does have a sense of isolation at times, but you almost always run into at least 3 people you know where ever you go whether it’s on the way or at your destination.</p>
<p>Also, keep in mind the campus is very spread out. The main campus is roughly 1.5-2 miles (about the distance from Manor [a dorm on North Campus] to Blythewood [the economic institute]). The rest of the campus is woods, water falls, fields, etc.</p>
<p>I agree I love the idea of small classes and that’s why my daughter has Bard as her number one pick so far (if she’s lucky enough to get in!) We loved our student guide, he was the sweetest kid and the vibe of rigorous study permeated the place. Maybe it was the ivy. Glad to hear so many happy responses. Any English majors out there??</p>
<p>I’m a Written Arts and Lit major (very similar to just a Lit major at Bard. Almost all of the same requirements).</p>
<p>thanks lilygraces, do you love it? do you love the classes and professors? What kind of books are you reading? How was the freshman writing and thinking workshop?</p>
<p>I love Bard and the Written Arts program. The workshops are intense (mostly just to get in. To get in, you must submit a cover page and a manuscript and they post a sheet of who made the cut [and what workshop] on the head of the department’s door), but the professors are extremely accessible and willing to help you out in any way and will often email you or contact you if they find something that you think is interesting or would be interested in.</p>
<p>I’m in an American Lit concentration (specifically, 20th century because that’s my favorite, though i’m definitely going to be taking courses of early American literature). Right now I’m in a lit class that is focusing on the Last Generation, so I’m reading a lot of Hemingway, Fitzgerald (F. Scott and Zelda), McKay, Cowley, et al. Last year I read authors from John Hersey to Vladimir Nabokov to Robert Stone to ZZ Packer in a lit course designed around American lit from 1945-2000.</p>
<p>Do you mean the Language and Thinking (aka: L&T)? or the First Year writing workshop?
Regardless, I’ll talk about both.</p>
<p>L&T was a fantastic experience, though at first I resented it because I had to leave so early. It’s essentially a transition from high school to college. Professors from all over the country come to teach L&T to classes that are NEVER more than 15 students. This is also true for First-Year Seminar courses (also known as FYSEM). The professors teach the students how to read texts closely, what to look for in translations, and how to write a college essay. Beyond that, they hold your hand through the process so you’re less like a fish out of water. L&T is a 3 week (humanities based, though now there’s the science L&T) taste of what going to a liberal arts college means. Texts vary from Hannah Arendt (a favorite on campus as she both taught here and is buried here. She is read in many, MANY classes) to Pablo Neruda to Einstein to reading Icarus and Antigone and so much more.</p>
<p>The writing workshops I’ve already kind of described. Getting in is a bit tough, but it’s almost the same in any art at Bard and very few people don’t make it in and if they don’t, they’re encouraged to try again the following semester. Priority also goes to those who have already declared it as their potential major because they need the requirement to be fulfilled as opposed to those who just want to take the class. First years are encouraged to take the First Year workshops, but some don’t and take intermediate and advanced classes. The classes are about 12 students. I was in a poetry workshop with Celia Bland (who is also my advisor and a fantastic person and is truly invested in her advisees academics). We wrote at least one poem per class, read them aloud and once a week had a “workshop” in which 2 or 3 people would have their work critiqued by classmates to help them fine-tune their art and help them improve. Most workshop finals are portfolios of a few pieces of work (my portfolio was 15 poems).</p>
<p>Sorry this post was so long.</p>
<p>D is a double Literature and Photography major. Her experiences in the English Department parallel those of lilygraces, with the difference that her concentration appears to be more British literature. She’s away on a semester abroad and has left an impressive library here for me to babysit - if your D studies English at Bard, trust me, she’ll amass an impressive repertoire of literature.</p>
<p>And L&T was wonderful … one of those amazing experiences that end up shaping the way you approach learning … even if it does eat up the last weeks of summer!</p>
<p>Lily, Thank you so much for such a thoughtful response (and thanks for making it longt)! My daughter loves the authors you’ve mentioned and would probably be taking a similar concentration with some type of Lit major maybe minoring in French. Was unaware of the workshop process so we’ll have to get out the course book for a more thorough look. The L&T sounds like a wonderful program to prepare students for what’s ahead. So happy to hear you love the program. and…</p>
<p>Stradmom, great to hear the same. Where is your daughter studying abroad? and was it difficult to arrange through Bard?</p>
<p>momsrching, my D is in London this semester, and her roommate (a lit/writing major) is in Paris. Neither are going through Bard’s “official” study abroad program, but both were easily able to make arrangements through alternative channels. Classes start this week for her, so I’ll be interested to see how she thinks they compare.</p>
<p>Thanks, glad to hear study abroad was easy to arrange. Seems to be a selling point for some schools.</p>