Bennington College Top Questions

There are no required credits or 101-classes, but instead highly specific, highly engaging and challenging seminars that are designed solely by the students needs and requests and the teachers interests. Some of the classes that I have most enjoyed and that reflect this the best are Moving Image History of the 1970s, Traditional Music of North America, Understanding Children and their Worlds, A History of Rock'n'Roll, and so on. It is highly unlikely to find yourself in a classroom where neither the teacher nor any students is disengaged with the course. Perhaps it is simply because my own personal work ethic is not as good as it should be, but I am continually amazed at the dedication and passion with which students face their work. It is very, very rare that someone will turn up to class without having done the reading and despite their laid-back appearance Bennington students are amongst some of the most hard-working I have come across. There is an emphasis on learning through experience (hence the introduction of their required 7-week off-campus Field Work Term experience every year) and designing ones education through their own curiosity and exploration. During their four years at the college each student integrates different areas of the curriculum that are of interest to them around central ideas or questions – this ultimately results in their Plan, Bennington’s equivalent to a major. This requires students to be extremely self-directed and active in their work. The intensity and self-run nature of the work has been said to develop students that are at times a little too self-focused, however at the end of the day the 8:1 student-teacher ratio and the close-knit nature of the campus means that there is a huge support system and sense of community that is often hard to find. Despite strengths in many different academic fields, many students declare, either with great enthusiasm or resentment, that it is undeniably an art school. There is definitely a very creative, arts-oriented feel to the place (as well as being the birthplace of modern dance) however it is very possible to successfully pursue interests or all fields.

There are no required credits or 101-classes, but instead highly specific, highly engaging and challenging seminars that are designed solely by the students needs and requests and the teachers interests. Some of the classes that I have most enjoyed and that reflect this the best are Moving Image History of the 1970s, Traditional Music of North America, Understanding Children and their Worlds, A History of Rock'n'Roll, and so on. It is highly unlikely to find yourself in a classroom where neither the teacher nor any students is disengaged with the course. Perhaps it is simply because my own personal work ethic is not as good as it should be, but I am continually amazed at the dedication and passion with which students face their work. It is very, very rare that someone will turn up to class without having done the reading and despite their laid-back appearance Bennington students are amongst some of the most hard-working I have come across. There is an emphasis on learning through experience (hence the introduction of their required 7-week off-campus Field Work Term experience every year) and designing ones education through their own curiosity and exploration. During their four years at the college each student integrates different areas of the curriculum that are of interest to them around central ideas or questions – this ultimately results in their Plan, Bennington’s equivalent to a major. This requires students to be extremely self-directed and active in their work. The intensity and self-run nature of the work has been said to develop students that are at times a little too self-focused, however at the end of the day the 8:1 student-teacher ratio and the close-knit nature of the campus means that there is a huge support system and sense of community that is often hard to find. Despite strengths in many different academic fields, many students declare, either with great enthusiasm or resentment, that it is undeniably an art school. There is definitely a very creative, arts-oriented feel to the place (as well as being the birthplace of modern dance) however it is very possible to successfully pursue interests or all fields.

Student feedback on classes affects whether professors stay at the college or leave. Faculty members don't get tenure, which might discourage more renowned individuals from teaching at Bennington. Faculty members also seem to feel hesitant to speak their minds about the administration since they are frequently fired without explanation. Nonetheless, they are wonderfully available to students, incredibly knowledgeable, and willing to spend hours discussing students' ideas and plans outside of class. Classes are tiny, discussion based, and intense. We work incredibly hard because we're encouraged to study exactly what excites us most, without the constraints of arbitrary course distributions. The Plan makes us figure out what's most important to us through a series of essays and meetings with faculty members.

Bennington is geared towards learning for the sake of learning: grades are optional (instead narrative evaluations are commonly used to review students). I wouldn't say that going to Bennington isn't geared towards getting a job, though: with Field Work Term, experience-based labs and classes, and faculty who actively practice what they teach, if anything you are more ready for the working world than at a traditional grade-based school. There have been quite a few students who leave Bennington before graduation because of being hired by past FWT jobs and such.

Things get personal here. Professors know your name, your major, what you like & what you don't like (academically speaking). Classes are small enough to facilitate heated debates, & that's a beautiful thing. I have this photography professor who has an open workshop every Thursday night for his Photography Foundations class. He invites the class to show up in the darkroom for two hours & he provides the paper as well as support. He will also come in on weekends to help anyone who is having difficulties. I'm in Historical Processes with him & he is always fired up about the next process we're going to learn. I've also spent the past two years studying with a social psychologist. For every paper you write, in any of his classes, he will have about a page of typed feedback. I don't know of any other college that does that.

The classes are interesting for sure. The teachers are definitely accessible and they know your names. But I find that after taking a calculus course at Bennington I probably will have to retake the class at another college. If you want to study science or math, I highly recommend going to a different school.

Small classes. Teachers really get to know you & you them. Annabel Davis-Goff is an amazing though daunting professor. Oh, by the way, most teachers go by their first names, but not Professor Milford Graves. He is Professor Graves. Look him up. He is an incredibly interesting man. Take a class with him as soon as you get the chance. There aren't any required classes, or weren't before these Design labs, and grades are optional, but that doesn't mean the classes aren't challenging or time consuming. Work hard, it's worth it.

I love the classes at Bennington. The teachers definitely know your name and all students and teachers are on a first name basis. I think the largest class I have ever been in had 18 students. Of course, if you are the type of person who likes to sit in the back of the class and not talk this might be a problem. Due to the student/teacher ratio it is required to participate in class, but at Bennington you should only be taking classes you want to be in since we build our own curriculum, so it is assumed you want to participate in class. I recently took a class called From Process To Performance and it was the best class I've ever taken at Bennington. We studied Viewpoints and Meisner techniques and worked on a play for the whole term which we eventually performed and we had created such a world, it is indescribable. I love that we are allowed to take a broad range of classes, and we are encouraged to leave Bennington as a liberal artist, having gained knowledge in different categories of art. I find that most of the time our classes lead to intellectual and controversial conversations outside of class. I do think that students are competitive in their niches. For example, the theater department is very competitive and sometimes it seems like the same people are getting cast each year in the productions. This can just act as motivation to push you harder if you think about it that way.

The best thing about Bennington is the flexibility of the cirriculum. There are no required courses, so a first-year student can take only classes that interest him or her (considering the male-female ratio, it is more like to be "her"). While that is great for some students, I found that after my first year just taking random cool-sounding courses, I felt very unfocused and a little lost. Once a plan for your concentration is made and you're taking courses related to what you want to do, everything becomes more focused and more motivated. The professors here absolutely know your name if you take the time to do your work well and stand out a little. In that respect, Bennington is competitive. The only students the teachers don't know are the ones who sit at the back of the class and never speak up. Class participation is a really important part of each class and of evaluations, since almost all classes are discussion-based, and there are few to no lecture classes. Each academic department is very strong and unique. I'm in the literature department, which is one of the biggest, but is populated with the most well-read and creative people I've ever known. The professors are all active in their fields, publishing and writing (though all professors regardless of department are that way.) Some of the stand-out students in a department go to bars with their professors or have dinner at their houses. Professors are usually available one time or another inthe week to just visit in their office and have a conversation with. Bennington students don't necessarily have a lot of hours of classes, but it is expected that they are working on their own projects in their free time. Conversations among students at the dinner table can range from environmentalism to South American politics to French poetry to the latest movie up at Cinema 7 in town. A Bennington education is geared toward learning for the sake of learning.

Bennington's classes are amazing, and in my first two years I had but one bad class. The teachers are all professionals in what they do, so for instance, a music teacher may teach three days a week, and then go play the Broadway pit for "Chicago." In fact, one music faculty just received a Tony, and others have artwork in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA. Faculty are generally very engaged with the students and available outside of class. Bennington is also entirely unique in that each student designs his/her own academic plan from their freshman year. Students are responsible for outlining their academic plan with a committee of faculty, and having their plan proposal approved, and evaluated throughout their time at Bennington. In this way, you never have to take classes that don't interest you. The plan process is truly one of the most incredible aspects of Bennington.