A friend’s D went there years ago for one semester and transferred to a SUNY school. She claimed there was “rampant” drinking and drug use and sex, but even her mom admitted that a K -12 all girls’ Catholic school education might have impacted her perspective. Another friend’s S is there now and she says he really likes it. He is an athlete and plays his sport but his focus is academic so the sports is more for fun (and scholarship money). The school itself is cute and the cultural activities appeared diverse and interesting. D used to date a guy who lived up there and we visited a few times. WAY too rural for me, but I grew up in the Bronx!
As with any financial decision, you need to make certain that this is the right one for you.
My son attends and I love the campus. However, if you take your bicycle to Bard, make sure to put two locks on it. Even then, be prepared for theft and vandalism. We have experienced two vandalism events since September and now the bike is ruined. The college has shrugged this off as “Bard Borrowing”. Absolutely buy insurance. There are no Security cameras (at least not in front of my son’s dorm).
Bard reminds me a lot of Hampshire College. Hampshire also is frequently thought of as an “easy” college since it doesn’t have grades, but in fact it can be extremely challenging. Both are very unique (I’d add St John’s College to this mix) and are probably not right for most students. But for the select few who are “right” for them, they can be incredible.
Another vote for Bard as a wonderful school for the right person.
- Amazing music program.
- More arty than STEMy, but if you're stem that can be an advantage as you'd get more attention, I predict.
- Super intellectual to the point of being almost overly intellectual.
- Excellent writing is expected of its students
- Gorgeous modern and older architecture, mixed
- Spread-out campus along the Hudson river
- If someone thinks of Union as the ideal school and then denigrates Bard in comparison, it's because they are comparing apples to oranges and saying that the orange is the prime example of fruit. Union is an LAC that is very different in character from Bard. Union is one of the few LACs with a strong tech angle. Very strong. It also started as a boys' school and that shows in its overly muscular Bro culture, and reputation for fraternity partying -- frats I believe started at Union because there wasn't much to to up that way back when Union was founded and the boys got restless in the wintry woods. this is a huge turn off to many. Elsewhere on this forum theres a thread taht wonders why Union seems to offer so much and yet seems undervalued by applicants. I think the intense partying is part of that. Union offers excellent financial aid and has a wonderfully long history and there is at least one building that looks nice, which is in all of its brochures, front and center. / Bard has a long and storied history too. Please someone correct me, but a rep told me that it started as the seminary arm of Columbia University and then became independent. Bard has an arty flair and attracts studio artists, musicians, and world-class writers like Neil Gaiman, and philosophers. It has a leadership that holds a different philosophy from the leaders of other schools. This shows in Bard's groundbreaking outreach into underprivileged communities to create top-level educational opportunities -- often called Bard College high schools. Bard also runs Bard Simon's Rock an early college nearby. It also offers education to prison populations in the prisons, not on Bard campus, with the idea that education is a good way to rehabilitate people. Etc. Bard leadership also believes that it's less important to grow and grow an endowment (see Harvard's several billion dollar endowment sort of maybe, it can be argued, doing nothing more than propping up its reputation) when it could be used in the here and now. Leon Botstein raises money as he goes and his personality has been strong enough to ensure that his model works. What that means for the future is anyone's guess. Both are great schools that offer different things for different people. Both schools offer wonderful opportunities
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Regarding Bard’s location: I’m seeing terms here like “bucolic” yet also mentions of how Bard is (relatively) close to NYC. Realistically, do students actually get into NYC much or is that confined more to very occasional trips? Does Bard have its own shuttle buses to the nearest train station or even into the city? (We’ve toured three colleges in small towns that were all about 30 minutes from cities, and all three colleges had regular weekend shuttle buses to the city centers, making it far easier for students to get off campus.) What is the town of Annandale like? Is everything cultural based around what’s going on at the Bard campus?
My kid is interested in Bard and also possibly in Sarah Lawrence – how would the two compare in terms of locations? It sounds like Sarah Lawrence is far closer to the city and it’s far easier to get into NYC (which could be both a benefit and a drawback, speaking from a parent’s perspective). Thoughts?
DD likes the vibe of places like Bard, Sarah Lawrence and also Oberlin and Kenyon, but is concerned about being too isolated. (She said if she could pick up Kenyon and place it next to a larger city, it would be ideal, if that gives you any idea of what she’s looking for…)
Google map the difference using public transport as your method. You’ll see that Sarah Lawrence is a straight 1(ish)-hour shot via commuter rail, whereas Bard is a 3(ish)-hour trip with a train change. Just very very different relationships to NYC.
Google maps will also help you with the towns. Bronxville is an affluent suburb, Annandale on Hudson is a very small town in the middle of farmland.
Between Bard and Sarah Lawence:
At Sarah Lawrence, you are so close to NYC that on any given day could go into the city to see a play or museum or club and then come right back. No fuss. “Around the corner.” City venues are a viable alternative to events on campus for regular weekend entertainment, and students do leave campus with frequency to go to the city.
Bard is gorgeous and rural, with river views. NYC would be great for a weekend trip with an overnight in NYC or a long dawn-to-dusk day trip on a Saturday or Sunday. “Occasional weekend trip.” The college campus itself will provide a lot of the entertainment/ cultural events.
Both are wonderful schools, with more of a quirky, nontraditional vibe than at many other colleges.
Despite its social quirkiness and unique academic traditions like the “moderation” process for choosing a major, Bard provides a bit more of the ‘traditional’ well-rounded college experience, with strengths across the curriculum… whereas Sarah Lawrence is a bit less traditional, with written evaluations, no majors, and apparently less of a balance with some departments having more offerings than others.
^^ As someone who is a big believer in “intentionality”, I loved the moderation process at Bard. I liked that you needed to make a case for why you wanted to major in a certain discipline, partly on how you’d done in classes to date but also in terms of your interests. Especially because of capstone project requirements, that made so much sense to me!
I was worried that DH was going to try to enroll – he really loved the intellectual proposition that Bard offered. Huge sigh of relief when we got him back in the car!
If you search the threads, you’ll find that there was someone here whose son commuted to NYC with some regularity because he had a lot of jazz gigs there. Definitely not the norm, but it did show that it could be done. All the kids I know who have gone there have really thrived – all a little quirky, but all real “life of the mind” types. Very cool school.
It’s probably me whose son commuted into the city with some regularity for rehearsals and concerts - but for new classical music, not jazz. Some of the conservatory students even used to have their lessons in the city and Bard paid their train fare. It’s faster with a car - but there are shuttles to the two train stations - one in Rhinecliff (Amtrak) and the cheaper Metro North option further down the road in Poughkeepsie. Usually students end up having friends take them/pick them up from the train stations. There were crazy weeks when he’d go into the city 3 or more times in a week - but that was pretty wild. I’d say for most students - despite the weekend shuttle connections - they tended to go into NYC only once a month or so. For students for whom a place like Bard is a good fit there’s plenty of stimulation on campus, and in the surrounding area with all the hiking trails and natural beauty.
Personally I feel there are great advantages to colleges located in remote sites where all the focus stays on campus. Bard can feel a bit like a residency at an artists colony.
Annandale is not a town. It’s just the location of the college. There is a regular shuttle running most of the day and evening that connects the two local towns - Red Hook and Tivoli, where many of the students who live off campus reside. They’re sweet little towns, if not bustling hives of college activity and pizza/beer parlors.