walshkc416

can anyone tell me anything about this school? I found it because I was looking at Hampshire and someone told me they were somewhat similar. How's financial aid??

allthosethings

Bennington is similar to Hampshire in that you are in charge of your own education, you pick the classes you take based on your interests. You create your own path throughout the four years. There are no required classes. There are, of course, requirements for graduating, but you have enormous input as to how you go about fulfilling them. At Bennington you can ask for grades, evaluations, or both. Bennington is smaller than Hampshire and does not have the advantage of the Five College system. However, if you are enrolled at Bennington you can take classes at Williams, which is about 20 minutes away. I applied to Hampshire, Sarah Lawrence, Bard and, of course, Bennington (I am just finishing my 1st year). I ultimately chose Bennington because I fell in love with the beautiful campus, liked the passion of the students, and I really liked the Field Work Term requirement each year. It felt to me that in the whole college search process there is the information you learn about a particular school and then there is the feeling you get when you are on the campus. Bennington, in some ways, was not the most logical choice for me, it was the farthest from home, it was not the most highly rated of the schools, and I was concerned about the small size, but when I got on to the campus I didn't want to leave. It was an intangible, gut feeling that this was the place for me. I have been very happy here, and have never regretted the choice. Financial aid has been good to me, I know of others who are happy with it, but I have also heard some complaints about it, so it seems to be a mixed bag. If there is anything else you might want to know, I'd be happy to try to answer it.

Jolena

How is the Democracy Project? Are you in it or do you have friends in it? Because that's really the main reason I want to consider Bennington. Also, you mentioned the asthetic aspect of the campus; what is it like exactly, because I'd like a very green campus with easy access to good skiing, hiking, etc.

allthosethings

I'm sorry I don't have much information about the Democracy project. I know that there are a lot of people who are very excited about it, including the president, Elizabeth Coleman, and there are some people on campus that feel that the project is her pet and therefore gets more funding than it should. It has brought a lot of outside interest to the school, so that is a good thing. Sorry I can't be more specific or helpful. I think that on the website you can talk to current students (if they still have that feature, they recently changed the website dramatically) and maybe one of them will know more. The campus is very green. It is quite rustic, with several classes held in an old barn, also a beautiful old carriage house, though we are starting to have the best of both worlds as there is a big new student center being built as we speak and many additional plans for the physical plant. Admissions is a big, old, white house with a wrap around porch and many of the dorms are old houses. I belong to the outdoors club and have been skiing (and snowshoeing, ice skating, hiking, etc.) All of that stuff is within an hour away, usually closer. Pretty much every weekend there is some sort of trip planned.