1) The best thing about Bard is the small class sizes. I have had classes with as few as three students in them. Professors are highly accessible.
2) The one thing I'd change would be the weather. The winters are dreadful. The administration cleverly arranges our semesters such that we are on break for the majority of January, but it still snows through March.
3) Academically speaking, Bard's size is ideal. By senior year, though, it can begin to feel a bit claustrophobic socially. There is no one to date because, inevitably, one of your closest friends has dated everyone else. I probably know the penis size of 40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the males, just by word of mouth.
4) When I tell people I go to Bard, they usually think I mean Barnard and ask how I like going to a single-sex school. In the rare event that they have actually heard of Bard, they make some comment about our left-leaning reputation. Within my field of photography, though, Bard is highly respected. We arguably have the best undergraduate fine art photography program in the nation.
5) I am in my final semester, live off-campus, and am only attending Bard part-time. I therefore do not spend very much time on campus.
6) This is a little tricky to explain. The entirety of Annandale-on-Hudson IS Bard College. However, Annadale-on-Hudson is technically a village subsumed within Red Hook. Other "villages" of Red Hook, some of which function as separate towns, are Barrytown, Village of Red Hook, Village of Tivoli, Upper Red Hook, and Kerleys Corners. This is all explained clearly on Wikipedia. The two closest villages are Tivoli and Red Hook. Bard offers a free shuttle to and from these areas on the hour, and the distance is bike-able (perhaps even walkable; I've certainly done it once or twice). Tivoli is certainly a college town. Its residents are almost exclusively students and professors. There are a few bars and restaurants, a book store, a park, and a killer bakery. Red Hook caters to students, in that it has bookstores, coffee shops, etc, though it is mostly a rural/suburban town for farmers. Generally students party in Tivoli, but buy their groceries in Red Hook.
7) I generally feel supported by the school's administration. The big cheeses genuinely care about and stand by the students. The security, dining, and janitorial staffs are much loved. The offices that focus on paperwork, though, could be more student-friendly and organized (post office, student accounts, financial aid, etc).
8) Four years ago, the administration closed The Old Gym, our chief entertainment venue. They claimed that the building had been condemned, though its closure did too coincidentally fall after a scandalous, alcohol-fueled party held there. After much dialog, the administration has reopened the Old Gym as an alcohol-free performance space, and is currently in the process of opening up another facility (some random storage barn).
9) Of course there is a lot of school pride. At a school this small, there has to be.
10) Everything is unusual about Bard.
11) The photography department brought in Judith Joy Ross one year as a speaker. She was phenomenal. It was absolutely unforgettable. The one-hour lecture for which she was scheduled stretch through two and a half.
12) The most frequent student complaint is about the dining facilities. However, I would much rather be at a school with stellar professors and crappy food than one with crappy professors and stellar food.