<p>Every school has it’s good, bad and ugly aspects. What are the top reasons to attend Bennington? Why do students transfer? What do you really not like about the school? (both student and parent p.o.v. welcome) My D2 has Bennington near and dear. But I’ve heard that it’s very isolating, lot of drugs, and disorganized… Anyone care to comment? What about studying abroad? What about the field work term? How much help/guidence are students provided? What does the admissions office not tell you?</p>
<p>Momneeds2no - As you know, good/bad/ugly is highly dependent on what your D2 is looking for in her college education and what she plans/desires/hopes to do afterwards. My D was accepted to Bennington last year but decided to go elsewhere. (I described the experience in another thread in the College Search & Selection sub forum if you’d like more detail). In short, if your D is primarily looking to explore and ‘find herself’ this could be a decent (albeit expensive) fit. But if she is looking for a traditional education and/or has identified a path she would like to follow, there are likely better fits out there for her to look at.</p>
<p>My D1 graduated from Bennington a few years back and it was a great experience for her. The field work term is spectacular, in that it allowed her to gain experience and research credibility, which made applying to grad school easier. She had an academic focus developed in her sophomore years and went directly from her BA to a PhD program, and sailed through, feeling nicely prepared.</p>
<p>Socially, it is a smaller school with all of the typical pitfalls. Because of it’s location, they make sure to have a lot happening on campus. She is not a big party person and was happy about the friends she made.</p>
<p>I’m not super familier with Bennington, but a woman I know went there and loved it. I took a drive through the campus and it was quite pretty, but it is in the middle of nowhere, so jobs for students are limited due to high demand and low availability, and I would imagine that a car would be useful. </p>
<p>@hop could you please describe how your daughter found research positions, etc? thx.</p>
<p>Sorry for the delay. I hope this is not too late.
My daughter found her field work term internships/research projects through a combination of the Field Work Term offices and subsequent personal connections made during previous FWT’s. She was also able to work directly with the professors at Bennington, assisting with their project and being a named author’s on two papers.</p>
<p>Thanks to all who answered. In the fall of her senior year my D was set on attending a arty progressive LAC, her top choices were Hampshire, Bard, Bennington. She applied early action to 8 LACs and by christmas was rejected by 2 and waitlisted/deffered at 6. Rejected from Bennington. But wait here comes the good part…
Becasue of those rejections she expanded her second round of apps (yes 23 colleges in total) to include Art Schools and larger U’s. After our “accepted tour” she crossed off Bard and Hampshire, her once top choices, in favor of large urban U. Go figure… </p>