A remote place, even though it's only a couple of hours' drive from NYC. The students are for the most part personable and well prepared, and the faculty has many stars on it. They just lost President Botstein, though, so the college's future seems uncertain. read more

My main objective is to comment on college's housing crisis. There is severe shortage of on-campus housing. Students after freshman year are not guaranteed on-campus housing and therefore many students are faced with problems finding a place to live. The area surrounding campus is rural where housing supply is scarce, unaffordable and inconvenient. Bard is a residential college, however the percentage of its students living on-campus is much lower than other residential colleges. This issue has persisted for years! The administration has failed to address this crisis. I would not recommend enrolling there. The academics might be ok, but there will be no campus life whatsoever. Do not just take my word for it. Google it. Do your research. read more

Pros and cons. Our son was there for Freshman and Sophomore year and then transferred out to another highly ranked LAC. The campus is beautiful if you're ok with winter weather. The main complaint we had is there is a pervasive opinion among professors that students shouldn't focus their attention on grades and just focus on learning. To that end, most professors didn't return completed work and in many cases didn't even grade work until the very end of the semester - so students had no feel for where they stood in terms of grades in the classes. The problem is that grades do matter - particularly for those students who are planning on attending a competitive graduate school, such as medical school or law school. This almost disdain for grades that most of the professors showed did not sit well with us at all. The reality is grades are a college student's currency. It would be like the school telling professors not to worry about what their salary is, and just to focus on teaching. It's not realistic. Also, the student body does skew toward alternative, so if your kid is a mainstream kid, they could have an issue with that. read more

If i could rate it a 0 trust me i would. I wish i never came to this godforsaken hell hole. there is not a word to describe this sad, sad place. You meet everyone in the whole school by the first month, there is no party scene, everyone is a complete moron, they make you do stupid extra classes that don't count towards credits, the campus looks like a prison, the weather is disgusting, there is 0 organization within the faculty. shall i go on? don't come here, don't attend this school, just find somewhere else it's not worth it trust me.I guarantee you the Bard retention rate after 2022 will be so low because I am transferring and so is the majority of the class of 2025 and '24. Im never going back to my old school. read more

I applied to Bard, got in, and it was in my top ten, but ultimately, I didn't feel a deep connection to the college when I spent a weekend there. It was the EXACT opposite experience when I visited Hampshire College (which is why Hampshire was my top choice and is now my Alma Mater) comparatively. I also found Western Massachusetts FAR more beautiful than the Hudson Valley. Bard's campus is indeed beautiful, BUT, isolated in my opinion. It's a single institution, surrounded by small hamlets of towns. It's fairly close to some good skiing at Hunter Mountain (skiing in New England is better) than a lot of the Catskill Mountains though, if you ask me. I prefer the Adirondacks. All that aside, Bard just didn't "connect" with me entirely. I don't think it was the right college for me, but it does have a GORGEOUS campus. read more

Beautiful campus. Went to the Hessel Museum of Art. This campus has a lot of events including in the summer time. Sometimes you might see artist and actors on campus. Parking available on campus. read more

Bard College - Mark Handforth, Wishbone. Outside of Hessel Museum of Art - Colleges & Universities Near Me - Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

This rating is simply on the beauty of this campus. If you are upstate and have a chance to go check this school out. Take a stroll through their campus as it has breathtaking views all around it. It also has very cool architectural structures. Cheers & Enjoy! read more

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If you survive it, that's better than a degree. Bard College is a great place to be when you don't know what you want to be. You can make it up as you go along... or not. Professors rarely have deadlines, syllabi or parameters of any kind. If you are independent and want to experiment with your education, boundaries, sex, drugs, etc, Bard is a great place to try things without committing 100%. On the other hand, if you will spiral out of control because your teacher doesn't tell you when something is due (i.e. if you don't work well "in the gray") then you are not meant for this school. I wish I'd had a better sense of self while I attended. I was kind of anxious all the time, and forgot to have fun even when I was having fun. There is a lot of fun to be had at Bard and you can learn a lot about yourself, and really think about what your place in the world is, at the same time. It was hard to get used to the real world after leaving Bard. You can't just park anywhere, commit "victimless" crimes, or bullshit your way through everything. Bard did teach me to not get so caught up in the small stuff, though. Think big, even though the campus isn't. If you're going, get the most out of it. Commit to attending classes. They are small classes with lots of 1-on-1 mentoring, you will never get another opportunity to engage in conversation with amazing minds in this way. The campus is beautiful. Take it all in and relax between classes. Find your group of friendlies, but don't shy away from different groups. But definitely nevermind the haters. When new experiences cross your path, definitely take part. These are the memories you will treasure, not how far you got in World of Warcraft. The campus is updating all its buildings and building more dorms. The technology is state of the art, even though some buildings are definitely dated (like 70s dated). If you're lucky, you will either live in the uber-modern green buildings, or in the old-timey seminary-era buildings. The campus is definitely isolated (from the surrounding communities and from reality) but there is a lot to do on campus (lots of different groups, from home brewing, to gardening, to underwater basketweaving). The food could be better, but they also offer a market. You buy fresh vegetables and other groceries with your meal card instead of taking meals in the cafe. Tuition is expensive, so prepare to pay for loans, or beg mommy/daddy to cut a check or donate a building (you rich dick). The bureocracy is as lax as the students, so registrar, dept of residence life, etc may not be as quick on the draw as some other institutions. They do, however, leave you alone, and sometimes that's better. If you can afford it, have some time to kill before getting a real job, go to Bard. It's so much fun and you'll have stories to tell for the rest of your life. read more

My son goes here and I'm kind of an alumn (I went to a college owned by Bard, Simon's Rock, in Great Barrington, MA). I visited the campus for the first time in November 2015. It's a very impressive campus for only having ~2,000 students. I get the impression that there's at least one building for every 50 students. Highlights of the picteresque campus include the view of the Hudson from the Blithewood Mansion on the West side of campus, the English Garden (also by the mansion), the waterfall (hidden: ask a student to take you), and the myriad of older buildings around the property. The gatehouse, for instance, looks like an old castle. Lowlights include campus sprawl (I got lost a lot), the Hessel Museum of Art (which seems to be always closed), and contact highs (reminds me of Colorado). Oh, academics: the college is excellent in just about every way, but I'm really telling you about the campus because I hope you're not picking a college to attend based on a Yelp review. My advice: get a competent guide to walk you around campus and show you all the cool parts. And go on a day with decent weather (it was way too cold in November and I really can't imagine how fraking cold it'd be in January). read more

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I LOVE this college. The campus and grounds are stunning. This college cranks out amazing students and the staff is off the hook. The president, Leon Botstein, is truly an amazing leader and great man in general. read more

Hello Ephebe, So you're considering Bard? Good for you. I highly recommend it. At first, I wanted to write a Proustian narrative about my experiences here. But you don't want to read that shit. Your time is valuable, and I'm sure you have a number of options. So I created the following list, just for you. THE TOP TWENTY-FIVE REASONS WHY BARD KICKS ASS, AS PARTIALLY ABSTRACTED FROM THE EXPERIENCES OF A JAP HOMO 1. Some of your classmates are so motherfucking ugly, you will want to sleep with them IMMEDIATELY. 2. Smoking two packs of cigarettes in the Paranoids...for dinner. 3. Throwing back beers and chatting en francais with Laetitia Sadier after the performance. 4. Your freshman year roommate scored a 1600 on the SAT, was a National Merit Scholar, and has one discernible talent: making bongs out of Honey Bear bottles. 5. You, on the other hand, scored a 1600 on the SAT, were a finalist for Presidential Scholar in the Arts, and have two discernible talents: procrastination and serial masturbation. 6. Stalking Natalie Merchant in Tivoli. 7. Poetry workshops with John Ashbery, translation workshops with William Weaver, photography with Stephen Shore, sculpture with Judy Pfaff. 8. Tutorials on any subject, provided you can draw up a course syllabus and sweet talk a professor to buy into your quixotic and overly ambitious plan. 9. Developing an unhealthy crush on Nick Zinner (presently of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs). 10. Your neighbor during Freshman year is a hard-core Pet Shop Boys fan. And he's straight. 11. Unlike 99.9% of other colleges and universities, the greatest insult isn't "fag" or "dyke" - those are actually compliments - it's "preppie." 12. Your classmates refer to you as "Julia Kristeva" when they're not referring to you as "Kate Moss' Chain-Smoking Asian Brother." 13. The Drag Race in the Old Gym, sponsored by the campus S&M club SMACES. 14. Getting your stomach pumped at Duchess County Memorial Hospital. 15. Christopher Guest is an alumnus. 'Nuff said. 16. Your OWN DORM ROOM in Seymour (an ivy covered building) for THREE YEARS. 17. Seeing Adrian Grenier on Entourage and remarking: "wow, he's come a long way from being that smelly fucker in a lame-ass drum circle." 18. The isolation of the campus, small student body (1,100 students), and adolescent hormones conspire to create sexual tension so UNBEARABLE you will want to CASTRATE YOURSELF. Or go to NYC so you can slut out. 19. (Liberal arts degree) - ($140,000 in tuition, room, board, and expenses) = "yes sir, I'd be happy to prepare your double soy vanilla latte, it's what I LIVE FOR." 20. Mark my words: you will come to hate trust fund hippies who drive Saabs. 21. Do you really know what you want to study? Perfect. No core curriculum here. So it's like Brown, minus that bitch Amy Carter. 22. Average class size? 8. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. 23. You'll sleep with a classmate one night and the entire campus will know about it the next morning. 24. It's not Vassar. 25. Bard College. We put the "liberal" in "liberal arts." ... God, I miss this accursed place. read more

My daughters are both at Bard college and are about to graduate. I couldn't be more proud. In my experience going from high school to college is a huge transition for both parents and students. They are now adults and the parents need to step back, but not all the way. They are learning to take care of themselves and seek the help they need. At Bard that world is smaller and more manageable than at most colleges; 2300 students on campus. My daughters and I love that the average class size is between 8 and 15 students with many tutorials as small as one on one in the upper years. After going to public school from kindergarten to 12th grade (3000 students), they finally got the professor attention, class discourse, learning how to think growing in confidence in their intellectual abilities. When first arriving the college assigns an advisor to the student, that advisor can change as the student's interests and connections to professors change, they can ask their professors to be their advisor as their major becomes clear. Both of my daughters changed their majors by 2nd semester freshman year and have stayed with those majors- expanding and growing since that initial decision. The next few months will be demanding, and exciting as graduation is coming up- and senior thesis projects are due. It is a caring campus, but it does help for the parents to have a connection on campus with admissions, a dean, the person in charge of the dorm, or other connection. If your student has any issues it is a college that works with your student, but I encourage you to communicate ahead of time so the college is prepared to help. Communication is important. I had a radically different experience at a huge college campus and absolutely love the fact that the college sets the first three weeks aside for the freshman to own the campus. read more

I paid HOW MUCH to get high and hang out with my friends? I would do it all again. Great environment to thrive during that tender time when a boy turns into a man. You can sort of coast by since the classes (at least the non-science ones, which are all I took) are as hard as you want them to be. It's up to you to be a self-starter, but who is at 20? Unless you are a self-starting prodigy. Or want to make something of yourself. P.S. Do you know where I can get a bag around here, man? read more

Could not be happier with the education and opportunities that my daughter has had at Bard college. She had traveled the world, learned from some of the best educators in the world and had small classes. If you want to go somewhere to "just get by" this is not then school for you. The kids at Bard work hard and the school doesn't not baby them. They are adults and are treated as such. read more

DON'T GO TO BARD COLLEGE! My daughter was a very excited freshman in September 2015. Two weeks into the Language and Thinking Program, which is an introduction to the liberal arts and sciences with a particular focus on writing, she started feeling sick. Her fever shot up high, and she felt like she couldn't go to classes. We recommended her to go to student health services to feel better. She had gone five times and was misdiagnosed five times as having the flu, a cold, strep throat, tired and homesick! A week and a half had gone by, with numerous phone calls from her complaining of not feeling well. We live on the other side of the country in California, so we tried to get her to a real doctor in town near Bard. That was seeming impossible to figure out, because Bard is VERY SECLUDED. We couldn't find a doctor to treat her. I flew out to New York and traveled to the Hudson River Valley of upstate New York to figure out how to help my daughter. When I saw her, she looked like she had lost 20 lbs. and was definitely dehydrated. No one was helping her get food or water. I demanded she get a blood test and the results said she had mononucleosis. BARD COLLEGE did not care for my daughter, the student health services did not care for my daughter. I took my daughter out of school as the finance department demanded that we pay 70% of the remaining semester! My daughter had only been there a couple of weeks, and most of the time there, she was in bed - sick! The president of the school, Leon Botstein, started emailing us demanding to be paid, even though she is happily going to another college in NYC. Leon Botstein is THE WORST! read more

Leon Botstien is king and Bard is his kingdom. Bard is an eclectic mix of the classics and the innovative studies, and it's facilities, teachers and stake in the US Collegiate status keeps on getting better and better. I went to Bard in the 90's. One thing that you must know about Bard is that people very rarely graduate from there. It's dubbed as "A Place to Think," and you couldn't get a more accurate tag line. You go there, for Summer Seminar, with other freshman, you take a workshop of your choosing, and then suddenly the upperclassmen come. There are a lot of cool people (mostly musicians) that came from Bard, The Beastie Boys, The Psychedelic Furs, Chevy Chase, but the student body can go both ways. When I was there there were tons of kids from NY, and the campus went from 1200 to 116 on the weekend, because there wasn't so much going on in town. But Bard is a wacky, wonderful place to go to school, and if you have a couple of years to kill before you get "serious" about your studies, it's a sleepy, creative and very intelligent place to do your time. read more

What can you say about the place where you spent 4 tortured years of your adolescence? Bard is a real mixed bag. I got a great education (whether I always live up to it or not), being spoiled by small classes, accessible professors, and the chance to study whatever I desired. However Bard was way more isolated (geographically, culturally, and in every way) than I could have guessed. Maybe its changing but not only is Bard difficult to get to and away from (especially without a car), but I was dismayed by how detached Bard is from the surrounding community and, sometimes, from the world in general. Lots more to say, but that's it for now. read more

This school has Ivy League dreams but those are acid flashbacks when you come out of the Bard Cult. I got out in the early 2000s and vowed never to go back. Steely Dan went there, and they said, "Never going back to my old school!" And there's a good reason why. Bard Sucks. Let me elaborate. They charge $50,000+ per year, which means you will be $200,000 in debt when you get out of this school. Imagine that. Nearly a quarter of a million dollars just to go to a college. Even if you get loans, you will pay off even more in the end. They charge "WHAT THE MARKET WILL BEAR" which means "WHAT I CAN GET AWAY WITH." This school is worth MAYBE $5,000 a year. There is no job preparation or networking to speak of. Their career office is a joke and it's in a basement. The "advisors" don't care about you and don't offer any career advice and try to get out of meeting with you whenever they can. You have to make your own education and if you're going to do that, why not just go to a state school which has a bigger, better library, like UMass Amherst or a CUNY school? If you have literary ambitions, there were TWO good professors that I had in the 4 years there and both of them are no longer teaching there. The famous professors they tell you about, like Chinua Achebe or John Ashbery, are completely walled off in their ivory towers. You have to KNOW someone to get into their classes. If you're a person of color, prepare to be treated like a freak. There is no diversity. There are one or two students from out of the country and a few African American students but overall it's as white as can be. Don't believe the beautifully produced brochures. The area around the campus is called Red Hook and there's nothing to do there. You are 3 hours out of NYC on a train. No nightlife. Wish I had never gone to this school. Burn their brochures. Pick a state school in your state. Be responsible for your own education, and you might have enough money left to get another degree! read more

bard offers an opportunity to experience some great concerts and dramatic events. the modern metal building is great, and the festspielflugelhausen tent thing is an amazing psycadelic experience. but i sometimes get nostalgic for the opportunity to sit in olin hawl. every summer they do a concert series that focuses on one composer, preferably obscure or unlsitenable a-tonal stuff. at the begining, you might think who wants to listen to that crap, but at the end, you've learned so much you cann't come away unchanged. even when they do someone as overplayed as beethoven, they made siiri schutz perfom one of his deliberately difficult "show my off big hands" early pieces, and they also play a piece that beethoven wrote for 4 trombones. where else can you see the whole orestia trilogy in one day? gorgeous campus. nice swimming pool. its fun to check out the sartorial styles of the undergraduates. i didn't eat at the dining hawl, so don't ask me. i'm not going to review the academics, because quite frankly i'm not an alumnus, or us news or princeton review or whatever. read more