Ok, so we visited Bates College in Maine, Hampshire in Amherst, and Bard in New York State. Thought I would post our impressions and thoughts about all three schools for those of you still trying to decide.
I’m putting each one in a different post. This one is about Bard.
Background on our situation: My son Sawyer is a senior but has always been homeschooled, so his admissions process is a little different than standard schools. He’s also graduating from high school with an AA degree from the local community college, so he has a lot of credits going in.
First up: Bard.
Bard was his first choice, and we excepted to love it. The downside with Bard is that because of his credits, they would only accept him as a transfer student. Out of 30 colleges, he thought about applying to, Bard was the only one that made him into a transfer applicant and switched application dates for him. So he applied in October but didn’t get accepted or hear from financial aid until April 1, even though other applicants got decisions in January. And the admissions office was pretty dismissive about it and just said, “that’s the way it is.” But part of Bard’s appeal is the great program they have for first-year students, with a two-week orientation, a mid-term class for science, and lots of hand-holding to help kids figure out what they’re doing. My son is still 17 and wanted to be a part of that, so coming in as a transfer is daunting. But the counselor said that Bard has a ton of programs for high schoolers to do college credits in high school, that’s sort of their thing, and it would be fine.
To put it mildly: Bard was WEIRD. The whole vibe was just off. It’s a beautiful campus, but the drive up there makes you realize how remote it is. There’s no town around, and while the campus looks like something out of a novel describing the perfect college campus, it also feels like the setting of a horror movie, like there’s something “out there” in the woods. The campus is spread out, and there’s no center to it. It’s hard to see where students gather. Everything is run down and beat up. The dining hall needs paint. Everything needs updating. There’s a place set up for students to use computers, but every computer has error messages flashing because they’re so old that the software isn’t running.
We went to talk to the financial aid office, but couldn’t find it, even with a map. It’s tucked in to the “facilities building,” which is where the janitorial/custodial/gardening staff are, in a run-down building, with no signs. We went through the door, a woman behind a desk looked super surprised to see anyone, and then had to buzz us in through a locked door. We went into this tiny room about the size of a dorm room that was so small we had to stand up the whole time because there wasn’t enough room for a chair, and the woman sort of laughed when we asked if her if there was any wiggle room in the financial aid package.
The students all looked bored and disinterested and the whole place just felt very off. It was not a place where anyone looked happy. No one asked us what we were doing there. No one said hi. We were ignored and when we asked questions we were shunted off. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. My son said it felt like seeing something beautiful dying, and there was an air of decay and rot about the whole place.
That sounds like a very odd experience! I can tell you that I have been to Bard 3 times now, and will have been there 4 times as of this Saturday. I honestly have not experienced anything like this, and I think that the difference between our experiences and takeaways really reflects how impressionistic moments during college visits can really shape one’s decision to apply to certain schools. When I visited, sure- there were parts of the campus that definitely seemed a little dated, But then there was Blithewood, the Frank Gehry concert hall, the science building, the art gallery- even the commons was very nice. It is certainly very remote, and I could totally see it striking someone the wrong way- it didn’t seem to me like the setting for a horror movie, but rather the Grounds for Sculpture or Stormking. Very spread out, and beautiful, but also maybe not an ideal college campus layout. There are certainly some pretentious and disaffected students there, but there are many that I have interacted with that seem to me to be smart, down-to-earth, and very cool.
I applied to Bates and Bard, and visited Hampshire while passing through, though did not apply. If your son likes Bates, I would recommend that he checks out some of the other NESCAC’s, specifically Bowdoin, Middlebury, and Wesleyan. If your son likes Hampshire, I would recommend that he check out Bennington also. Some other schools to give a look- Vassar, Reed, Oberlin, and my favorite, Kenyon.
Yeah, i really wonder if it was just a bad day, the effects of jet-lag and a red-eye flight, the rainy weather — I was very surprised at how different it was than what we had imagined. We wanted to love it and expected it to be his top choice. I also thought that by doing tons of online research I knew just what to expect at each campus and none of them were what I thought they’d be like. I’m sure Bard is a wonderful school and some students love it. Just not a good fit for my son.
Having visited this one 3 times, the weather really seems to matter. Our first visit was grim. (Ended up going again in spite of that - a different story!) In the end, this school was a contender. The campus is spectacular in the sunshine and there is a broader range of students there than we had originally thought (because they were all hidden inside in bad weather? )
DS went from “no way” on visit 1 to “I could be happy here.” This school illustrated for me how much serendipity there is in visits. He liked Bates more, btw.
“We couldn’t get out of there fast enough. My son said it felt like seeing something beautiful dying, and there was an air of decay and rot about the whole place.”
My D and I visited Bard last week. We had the exact same feeling. It just felt sad and vacant. During the student led tour, we saw an odd looking giant bird on one of the buildings. It was a vulture! We thought that was an omen.
It is amazing how one family’s perception can be so completely different from another - often depending on the small details which seem of import at the time. Whether it’s the weather, the outfit of a student walking by, the interests or lack thereof of a tour guide, the interactions with students, professors, administrators - many of which may be completely random.
As for whether or not it feels vacant - it is a very spread out campus so the students are not concentrated in one space. Add to that a long winter and cold spring and there are not going to be hordes of students hanging around outside. Once it warms up, however, that will change, and there will be students everywhere - although, again, there’s not the traditional central quad to concentrate them. My son is very into nature, landscapes, hiking - and he spent many a day, and night, roaming the trails around Bard - to the river, through the woods, by the waterfall. Or lying out in the meadow with friends stargazing.
I will say that over the years that I visited Bard (my son got a double degree and spent five years at Bard but graduated a few years ago now) I never had any issues with the state of the buildings. But it’s possible that’s because what was of deep value to my family was the quality of the education, and of his peers - so that I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the upkeep of the buildings. But I didn’t have any issue with them. In fact, his freshman year he lived in the dreaded ‘trailers’ which are no more - and it was the best dorm experience of his entire time. Because he had a terrific set of students living with him, a communal kitchen, and also a beautiful view of the Catskills and meadow :).
I’ve seen a number of posts on CC lately referring to the general unfriendliness of Bard students. Again, I don’t really get it. But maybe my expectations are different - even though, coming from the West Coast, I am used to lots of greetings and smiles! I will say that every single student I’ve met from Bard has been an interesting person - passionate, engaged, curious. Maybe their interests aren’t mine, or are arcane - but I tend to like that. I love to see people go deep into a subject and follow it all the way through - no matter where it may take them. The idea that Bard students are bored or disinterested couldn’t be further from the truth, in my experience. That’s just about the opposite of all the students I’ve met. The college line “a place to think” isn’t just marketing verbiage - Bard really is a place for those who are going to college to think - for pleasure and fulfillment.
And, lastly, although on a college visit it may be easiest to evaluate the school based on qualities one might use picking an all-inclusive vacation - the food, the weather, the dorm room, the attractiveness of the other people there, the activities - the deeper truth is that the best reason to go to a college like Bard is for the education. The professors there are some of the best, and most dedicated and interesting, and interested, of any in the world.
I absolutely agree with you. We just spent the weekend there and it was our third visit. We loved every single moment and every encounter we had with students, faculty, guides, admissions etc. The level of engagement in pursuit of learning was a breath of fresh air. The kids seemed in love with the school as did the faculty . My son accepted his offer there in the afternoon and has been radiating happiness ever since .
Your impressions are spot on. I had the same vibe years ago when I visited for a social reason.