Hi and welcome to Bard College. I'm Pranjal. I'm an international student from India. I major in economics and this is my third year here at Bard. Our campus is about 1,000 acres in the beautiful Hudson Valley in New York.

Here we are at the Admissions Office to start our tour. Along the way, we're going to look at some beautiful buildings and learn about the unique academic traditions that we have here. So why wait then? Let's get rolling!

Hi, my name is Alex. I'm from Queens, New York and I'm a junior here at Bard majoring in literature. I'm also one of the captains in the men's rugby team. Bard students are required to go through five academic traditions before they graduate, the first of which is the workshop on Language and Thinking, which takes place three weeks before their first year officially starts. We're here at Blithewood home to the Levy Economics Institute. It's our Graduate Economics Institute and also where students can come take classes attend seminars and discussions.

Hi, my name is Abiba and I'm a senior studying biology here at Bard. All first-year students are required to take part in our Citizen Science workshop. Citizen Science is basically just the science version of the language and thinking workshop where students get both a unique hands-on laboratory experience and classroom experience.

So this building that we're walking in is our Reem Kayden Center for Science and Computation. This is our main science building at Bard where we have a number of different classes such as biology, chemistry, physics, and computer science.

What I really like about the classes at Bard is the fact that we have very small classroom sizes. So this means that you're able to build one-on-one relationships with your professors.

Hi, my name is Sage Warner. I am a senior psychology major here at Bard I'm also in The Orcapelicans which is our co-ed acapella group. So here at Bard, we have 10 "distribution requirements," which are different areas of study which we are required to take one course in each and that can range from analysis of art to mathematics and computing. And the purpose of that is to get you to step outside of your major.

So, as I said, I'm a psychology major, but I took a lot of political studies courses, and I loved them so much that I'm headed towards a career in Washington, DC that combines those with my psychology knowledge.

So here we are headed towards the Fisher Center, which is a world-class facility designed by Frank Gehry, and it houses spaces that faculty, professionals, and students can actually use for art, music, theater and dance.

Hi, my name is Chase and I'm a sophomore majoring in philosophy. I'm also part of Bard Emergency Medical Services, a student-volunteer service where students are trained as EMTs. Now each student is required to take first-year seminar course or as we call it "Bi-Sem" a two-semester course of your first year where students engage in a series of texts followed by a central theme.

As of now, we're in the Olin Humanities Building where students take a variety of courses from the social sciences, languages, and literature. As you can see from the setup of this classroom, our classes are generally discussion-based where students sit around a large rectangular table.

Hi, my name is Madi and I am a senior here at Bard studying history and experimental humanities. And one thing that all Bard students have to do is moderate. And basically, that's our version of declaring a major. And so it's a multifaceted process. It involves doing some reflective writing on your past coursework and your future ambitions.

You also do something that's determined by your program of study. So you could be doing lab work, or putting on a performance or writing a longer essay. And then basically, the moderation process culminates in a meeting with three of your professors and they evaluate your performance and basically help you set academic goals for yourself.

Hi, my name is Claire. I'm a senior in the conservatory dual degree program, I play french horn in the conservatory, and my academic degree in the college is French studies. We also have music majors in the college and music classes that are open for anyone in the college regardless of their field of study.

The fifth and final academic tradition of Bard is the senior project. Every student does one and it can take one of three forms, either a long academic paper, a research project for those in math and science, or some sort of art installation project for those in film, theater music, fine arts.

Every student is given a Senior Project Advisor who helps and advises the student over the course of the year. We're currently in the library, which addition to the other facilities on campus has over 500,000 volumes and 4,000 academic journals. We also have a number of special collections, including the personal library of Hamid Arendt, who's a political theorist and philosopher.

Hi, my name is Casey. I'm a sophomore here at Bard, majoring in Global International Studies. I'm also a member of the women's soccer and lacrosse teams here. We are currently walking within the Stevenson Athletic Facility, which houses a 25-yard swimming pool. A row big studios, squash courts, a fitness center, a full athletic training facility, and our main gymnasium where both our basketball and volleyball teams compete.

Outside of this facility, we have six hard surface tennis courts, our Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer and Lacrosse Complex, we have a rugby field, a baseball field, and we also have miles of grim cross country running trails. We are a member of the NCAA Division Three Liberty League, where we have 18 varsity programs.

Thanks for joining us today on a tour of Bard College. As you have seen, Bard has a beautiful campus situated 90 miles north of New York City. Academics at Bard are both challenging and enriching. Our campus here is also incredibly diverse. We have students from all 50 states in the US and 67 countries abroad. As an international student from India, I've really found my place here. This past fall, I even got to host the international students cultural show, which was a true celebration of the diversity that we have here at Bard. If you have enjoyed this tour, we would love to give you one in person. Come drop by at the Admissions Office, where we are right now, or schedule a tour online. If you want to know more about Bard, visit us at www.bard.edu. On behalf of all tour guides, we hope to see you on campus soon!

Bard Conservatory Orchestra

Chamber Music

Performing for Non-Orchestral Musicians

Performing in the Graduate Vocal Arts Program

Performing in the Graduate Conducting Program

Additional Performance Opportunities

Performance Gallery