@lookingforward they are right on the Bard website. Catskill and Hudson “residence halls”.
Have to pipe in with some positives about Bard here. My son spent five terrific years there. He’s a California kid, artsy and fiercely intelligent, more of a hippie than a hipster, if anything, but definitely sophisticated intellectually and artistically. A kid who excels in every subject and loves learning for its own sake. A non smoker, non drinker, non cigarette smoker, non weed smoker, non partier, non skinny jean or black wearing person. He had the grades, the scores, and the international resume to go pretty much anywhere he chose, but he only applied to a few schools - specifically for their faculty. For grad school he only applied to one school, a very elite program, and was happily admitted. He made terrific friends at Bard and had a wonderful time - stimulated and supported, and challenged. He did spend lots of time hanging out under the stars discussing Plato and cosmology, and creating music everywhere with his friends. He loved his time in his dorm - which, yes, was a portable the first year (and his favorite dorm of all,) talking about books, playing board games, listening to music, sharing passions with his friends. He did dislike the winter, and the general depression which comes from the dark and cold compared to what he was used to in California. He did say there were students who were not the bubbly happy go lucky types seen on California lawns but that once winter ended everyone perked up and was happy again. And I would agree that the students at Bard may not be Midwestern wholesome, but rather tend towards coastal sophisticated. But I would not write the school off because of tight jeans and cigarettes. It is an amazing school. And the professors are phenomenal - you won’t find better anywhere else.
p.s. anyone with questions about Bard is free to PM me. I promise to be completely honest in my replies.
Well, there’s a reason kids go there, no doubt about that. Just saying I don’t think it’s a match/draw for my kid at this point.
I had thought it was one kid but looked and saw the pix. Weird. It’s a throwback of sorts.
Yes, my son stayed in the portable dorm (trailer) Hudson his first year. And it was his favorite living arrangement of all five years (he pursued a double degree. The walls were thin, but there was a terrific common room and kitchen, a gorgeous view out his window across the meadow to the Hudson with the Catskills (with sunsets) beyond. And individual temperature controls per room. Not gorgeous to look at outside, but terrific inside. But best of all was the way Bard figured out roommates and dorm-mates. They are terrific overall at pairing up students. His best friends still are those students he lived with right from the start. In the ‘trailer.’ College is not about the buildings. It’s about the students and the professors.
Oh, btw. they’re removing those portable dorms, to my son’s dismay, to put up new residence halls.
I love how nuanced, thoughtful and frank the descriptions are here; they’re really helpful to read. @doschicos or anyone who might know, where would you place Hampshire kids on the Oberlin / Bard spectrum? (Thinking in terms of friendliness / edginess / coastal sophistication etc.)
@momonalaptop - I have no experience with Hampshire.
To add to the Bard discussion, I do want to point out a few things I really liked. The campus is very beautiful. The quality of art produced by the fine arts/studio arts students just blew me away. Some of the best I’ve ever seen at a collegiate level.
LOL, must be another poster with a cartoon avatar. Well if anyone has thoughts let me know, thanks! 
I appreciate you chiming in, SpiritManager, as someone who’s actually had a kid go to Bard and have a great experience. Inevitably, despite one’s best efforts, these sorts of thumbs up/thumbs down reactions to the colleges one visits often end up hinging on some pretty superficial stuff. We did try – got a great personal tour of the fabulous Gehry-designed performing arts center, talked with some nice kids over lunch in the cafeteria (one of whom was a double-degree con kid), and barged into the office of a CS professor who was very accommodating and informative. And Bard does have a reputation for superb teaching (I think they might have been #1 on the PrincetonReview “Professors get High Marks” list – not sure since PR seems to have taken down their lists in advance of their new edition release). But, in the end, it often just comes down to gut, and my kid’s gut said no.
As of this summer (in the wake of a couple of awesome summer musical experiences) my son is actually starting to think seriously about double degree programs, so I’ve actually been making an effort to move Bard back into the conversation, but it’s a heavy lift.
@rayrick - perhaps we’ve talked before on CC (at this point I can’t remember what I’ve said when to whom!) - but my son did get the double degree in the conservatory - although as a composer not a performer, so I may be able to answer questions about what it’s like to pursue a double degree, one being in music. No reason to push Bard on your son, however, if he doesn’t feel it’s a fit. Although there aren’t many options out there that work as seamlessly and with as much full support. And, yes, I think you’re right about Princeton Review’s ranking of the professors. It was certainly up there, if not #1. My older son would not have been as happy at Bard as my younger one - he didn’t, at that age, like to read books for fun, or study just for pleasure. He was more goal oriented, and attended a more pre-professional school. Now that he’s older, I think he would do just fine - but he’s already got his Master’s!
As for Hampshire, @MomOnALaptop, my feeling is that it might be a slightly less intense experience than Bard although attracting many of the same students. Less of the NYC intellectual influence, and more relaxed? For one thing, Bard requires a lot of distribution requirements, and has a serious, and somewhat stressful, moderation requirement, plus the senior project. I think Hampshire’s curriculum and graduation requirements are more open. The students I’ve known at Hampshire have loved it.
Re: Grinnell, Kalamazoo, and distribution requirements
Grinnell has distribution requirements, although specified in a very general divisional sense. The limitation on 48 credits (out of 124 to graduate) in one department means that the student must take courses in other departments. Further, no more than 92 may be in one division (humanities, social studies, or science), which is an additional means to requiring breadth.
http://catalog.grinnell.edu/content.php?catoid=7&navoid=1220
Kalamazoo does not have traditional distribution requirements, but does have a foreign language requirement (third quarter level).
http://www.kzoo.edu/catalog/?id=1000
Another piece that often gets overlooked is the socio-economic mix of the enrolled students. If the schools are similar in that regard, it may not have much of an affect on the “average” board scores of two colleges. But, consider that all the small New England colleges have to work a little harder to get students of color to apply and enroll. This is especially true the further north you go into ski country. There’s a significant difference in the number of first generation college attendees at Bates (10%) and Wesleyan (16%) for the Class of 2018 as well as students of color (21% Bates; 35% at Wesleyan.)
“Also, those may be the stats of the average admitted student”. This is actually one of my pet peeves. It’s a game that practically every school plays in their info sessions and promo materials it seems, but I find it distinctly misleading. Why not tell the visiting kids and parents the stats of the people that are actually attending, so they can get a realistic view of where they fit in to the distribution? Are you just trying to impress us? Because you do realize, I presume, that you’re also intimidating us at the same time! I’ve actually taken to occasionally being obnoxious and asking for clarification (that I don’t actually need) on whether the stats their parading in front of us are for admitted students or for those that actually chose to attend. Am I just a crank? Is anybody with me on this?
*they’re. And my apologies, @porcupine98 for semi-hijacking your thread. I have an unfortunate tendency to do that.
Not a problem @rayrick . Conversation still interesting and relevant.
“Is anybody with me on this?”
Of course. Precision in communication of essential information should always matter, and this should be especially relevant within an academic environment. This is common on CC as well in terms of how posters often report scores without clarification as to which group they are for. And, as stated, inflating scores can serve to deter some applicants.