Bard College at Simon's Rock - Academics

Academics

Faculty at Bard College at Simon's Rock are primarily appointed to one of the following four academic divisions: the Division of the Arts, the Division of Languages and Literature, the Division of Science, Mathematics and Computing, and the Division of Social Studies. Students may also hold one of several concentrations available under Interdivisonal Studies.

Over 40 concentrations are available, including art history, Asian studies, chemistry, mathematics, physics, and theater. The school offers study abroad and independent study opportunities, as well as a 3/2 dual-degree program with Columbia University for those who wish to pursue engineering. Similar programs are available with Dartmouth College and Washington University in St. Louis. Students are encouraged to broaden their academic horizons by studying abroad such as spending one or more terms at Lincoln College in the University of Oxford, or at other institutions during their time as a Simon's Rock enrollee.

While most students receive associate's degree degrees after two years and transfer to other institutions, others moderate into the Simon's Rock B.A. program. Those who wish to remain eligible for a bachelor's degree must complete senior theses, which become professionally printed, archived, and remain available to the public in the Alumni Library.

Classes are discussion-oriented, with lecture based offerings largely limited to low level science courses. The system is predicated on the idea that the students bring as much value to the class as the professors. In fact, orientation for incoming students is a mandatory week-long writing and thinking workshop, designed to readjust students to pedagogical, cooperative bidirectional learning.

It is a school policy that teachers are referred to on a first-name basis. For example, students don't refer to the former dean as "Dr. Bernard Rodgers," but instead call him "Bernie." Professors never receive tenure as a matter of policy.

U.S. News and World Report ranks Simon's Rock eleventh among baccalaureate colleges in the Northern U.S.

Washington Monthly ranked Simon's Rock first among baccalaureate colleges in the nation in 2010.

In addition, The Princeton Review gives Simon's Rock an academic rating of 98 out of 100; on par with schools like Yale University, and only one point below Harvard University.

There are only about 400 students (though due to its small size, large fluctuations in class enrollment and admissions are common), resulting in a very low student-to-faculty ratio, around 8:1. Few classes have more than 15 students; none have more than 30. Some classes have as few as three students, and independent study or tutorial courses in which one student works closely with a professor are common.