Bennington College Unigo Summary
An impressive number of students use the word "magical" to describe their experiences on this isolated, beautiful Vermont campus -- and still more use the word "naked."
Some dorms at state schools are larger than Bennington, which has an undergraduate population of just over six hundred. Most students who come to the school know exactly what to expect: a rural, very intimate college experience, where grades are optional but academic experiences can still be intense. Guided by faculty members and advisers, undergrads design their own plans of study, which they combine with annual jobs, internships, or volunteer gigs called Field Work Terms (FWTs). With no fraternities, sororities, or varsity sports teams, and no easy access to a city, Bennington's social life tends to revolve around its 20 houses and the creativity of the students living in them.
Bennington College Unigo Review
The 618 undergrads at this intense, unstructured school say that Bennington puts the Liberal in Liberal Arts College—and that only certain people will feel at home here. “The Bennington Student won't just dye their hair blue they will walk around in muumuus, wife-beaters, various Salvation Army clothing, pirate hats, mismatched earrings, mismatched socks, arrays of flannels, blue triangles drawn on their faces. Whoever is stranger, more passionate is cooler here. Yes, a Bennington kid would pee out of a window to save water. Yes, a Bennington kid would have an interpretative dance instead of their plan of education,” says one junior music major. A sophomore music major agrees: “Out of the mold, completely. Collectively, we bend, torn, cement, burn, reshape, unassemble, drop, kick, rebuild and improve the mold every day. No matter who you are at Bennington, no matter if you party or look like this, or talk like that...everyone is completely into their work, others' work, and making a difference."
Since Bennington students pursue a self-designed Plan of Study with the guidance of teachers and advisors, they tend to be very excited about their classes and projects. That the faculty-student ratio is only 8:1 helps, as does the fact that, according to a senior French major, “we don’t have grades, unless you ask for them.” “Whenever I think of my friends who are just in school to get a degree and get it over with, Bennington seems so refreshing, as everyone is interested in learning. However, this can also mean that students tend to be self-focused because they are so caught up in their work. (I was hoping for classmates who were a lot more interested in community service, politics, the environment, etc.)” says a junior film major. “Not only do we not have sports at Bennington... we only have one or two television sets. For the entire campus. I view this as a good thing.” A senior theater major adds that there’s very little competition. Instead, “everyone is so supportive of each other. We all work really hard and it's exciting to see what your friends have been working on while you were holed up in your room or studio. That sense of support and community extends beyond the student body and into the faculty and staff. It is common to see professors from every department at plays, concerts, art openings, and readings.”
Academics are definitely at the heart of a Bennington education. One sophomore Spanish major declares, “I love every class I have taken. I have been inspired, pushed, challenged, intrigued, overworked, used, abused and transformed. I value the teachers so much. They keep me sane.” An art and art history major adds, “All student and profs are on first name basis. You will often find students baby-sitting teachers kids or pet and having lunch together … My least favorite class? None really, I loved everything I took, for the most part and it was all my choice taking it. Students never study, but they are almost always working on class/their focus stuff. Class participation is HUGE.” And a sophomore marvels, “I have so many freedoms. With those freedoms come responsibility. In one year of college I have grown independent, and responsible.”
The amount of freedom Bennington students enjoy on a daily basis can take some getting used to, but students say their reputation for being dirty hippies is definitely overstated. Though they’re encouraged to be unconventional and artistic, they can’t even go around naked anymore: “You will very rarely see someone topless, and it is an extremely rare occasion when someone is fully nude. The college used to allow students to be nude on campus if it was not disrupting anyone else, however they have recently changed the rule, and nudity is no longer allowed on campus (after a conflict with an orientation leader who wanted to be nude while introducing freshman to the school in the Fall)” says one sophomore studio art major. The fact that going without clothes was permitted for several decades is less surprising when you consider the context. As an alum puts it, the school is “situated miles from town on acres of idyllic Vermont hills, the campus is self contained and self maintaining (kind of like a well designed fishtank).”
The isolation, the school’s small size, and the fact that women outnumber men on campus more than 2:1 all affect the campus’s social life. A sophomore theater major points out, “there is no college town. The closest city is Albany, NY which is about 45 minutes away. The town of Bennington consists of a Wal-Mart, a Hannaford, Price Chopper, multiple car dealerships, a bowling alley, and a Taco Bell/KFC joint restaurant. I do have to give "Four Corners" (where main street has an intersection with 3 other streets in the heart of Bennington) more credit than we do because it's very cute and has a coffee shop and a pet store and other places where Bennington college students could hang out but we don't.” Virtually everyone lives in one of 20 co-ed houses in close proximity to each other. So, says a junior music major, “the dating scene is a little tricky. Because the school is very small people often refer to it as incestuous. For instance, your next door neighbor might be hooking up with the guy/girl you were hooking up with three weeks ago, and it can get a little weird. However, plenty of people have great lasting relationships as well (myself included for a year and a half.)” And students this creative don’t have too much trouble coming up with their own fun.
For the most part, people who decide to come to this remote campus—where the main quad is called “the End of the World”—know what they’re getting into. Though the limitations of Bennington can feel like “a gift and a curse,” according to one sophomore literature major, “every person should be able to have a Bennington free-form, do-it-yourself, do-what-you-love education.”
If you are interested in Bennington College, you already know that you are interested in "designing your own education." Or do you? If you are interested in designing a math-free education, a music-only education, a never-write-another-essay education, FORGET ABOUT IT. BENNINGTON COLLEGE HAS A CURRICULUM AND AN AGENDA, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER SCHOOL. Perhaps more valuable than figuring out whether a school is an academic fit, figure out if it is a philisophical fit. Bennington College believes that its students should be richly, liberally educated.
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Sarah
Alum, Other Interdisciplinary Major
No real clubs, groups, or teams. People just hang out and do things that way. No one ever locks their door, you can enter any building at any time of the night/day. All campus events like concerts and theater performed by other students are VERY well attended. Everyone knows about your life: who you date, who you hang out with, everything.
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Jessa
Alum, Art/Art History Major
The different houses on our campus tend to have personalities and attitudes that some people get really involved in and others don't. I didn't feel like I wanted to be a part of some of the cult-ish attitudes that the houses had, so I moved to a less conspicuous more neutral house but it didn't change my friends or how people felt about me, so I was happy.
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