Bennington College

Quick Facts

Chance of Admission:
Location: Northeast
Setting: Small Town Setting
Type: Private
Size: Small (Under 2,000 Undergrad)
Jennings, the college's music building.
Jennings, the college's music building.
[source]
Bennington College From Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Bennington College is a nationally recognized liberal arts college located in Bennington, Vermont. The College was founded in 1932 as a women's college focusing on arts, sciences, and humanities. It became co-educational in 1969. The campus was once a working dairy farm, and still affords a beautiful view of the Green Mountains. The college has long been known as a leader in progressive, student-centered education, with particular strengths in the creative and performing arts. The college's educational philosophy encourages students to discover and develop individual academic passions and lines of inquiry, to work closely with faculty members in tutorials and seminars, and to take responsibility for their own educations and lives.

Educational style

At Bennington, students plan their own courses of study through a series of meetings with faculty members, and by writing reflective essays where they set out specific questions and areas of interest to pursue over their four years. Students clarify and refine their lines of inquiry throughout the Plan Process. Some students focus in one discipline, while many chose to combine their interests in more than one subject; others create Plans around central concepts that may draw from several disciplines.

Though there is no "core curriculum" of required classes at Bennington, students choosing to focus in particular fields are encouraged to take certain classes, or a certain amount of credits in the field. Plan Meetings are attended by the student's Faculty Advisor and a small selection (normally two or three, but sometimes four or even five) of faculty members who may or may not be a part of the student's chosen discipline. Students can request changes to be made to their Plan Meeting rosters.

Main subjects taught at Bennington include: Social Sciences and Humanities, Dance, Drama, Theater Arts, Music Performance and Composition, Life and Physical Sciences, Literature, Teacher Education (Center for Creative Teaching), Foreign Language Arts (Isabelle Kaplan Center for Languages and Culture), Visual Arts (ceramics, painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, printmaking, architecture), Video.

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Read the full entry on Wikipedia

Students & Campus Life
Undergraduate Enrollment: 579
On Campus Housing: Available
Full Time Students: 100%
Athletic Programs: Unavailable
> More Students & Campus Life
Expenses
Average Tuition: $ 33,570
Students Receiving Aid: 74%
> More Expenses & Financial Aid
Admissions
Application Fee: $ 60
Selectivity: Selective
> More Admissions

Students

General
Full-Time vs. Part-Time
Full-Time 100%
Part-Time 0%
Men vs. Women
Women 70%
Men 30%
Race/Ethnicity
Caucasian 87%
Other 7%
Hispanic 3%
Asian 2%
African-American 1%
Geography
In State vs. Out-of-State
Out-of-State 98%
In-State 2%
Top States for Incoming Freshman
New York 21%
California 9%
Massachusetts 9%
Connecticut 7%
Pennsylvania 4%
Percent of Students International: 3%

Housing

On-Campus Housing Available: Yes
Percent of Students Living On-Campus: 86%
Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: Yes
Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) Expenses  
Published Tuition and Fees:
$ 33,570    
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads:
$ 32,700    
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads:
$ 870    
Financial Aid Avg. Amount Received % of Students Receiving Aid  
Federal Grants:
$ 4,723 18%  
State and Local Grants:
$ 1,100 12%  
Institutional Grants:
$ 14,955 69%  
Student Loans:
$ 4,353 64%  
Any Aid:
  74%  

Selectivity (Undergraduate Only)

Acceptance Rate: 62% (Selective)
Test Scores  
SAT Scores:  
% of Students Submitting SAT Scores: 96%
Bottom 25th Percentile: Verbal: 610, Math: 540
Top 75th Percentile: Verbal: 700, Math: 640
ACT Scores:  
% of Students Submitting ACT Scores: 18%
Bottom 25th Percentile: Composite: 25, Verbal: 25, Math: 23
Top 75th Percentile: Composite: 28, Verbal: 31, Math: 28

Application Requirements (Undergraduate Only)

Application Fee: $ 60.00
Formal Demonstration of Competencies: Not Required
High School Diploma or Equivalent: Recommended
High School GPA: Recommended
High School Rank: Recommended
High School Record: Required
Recommendations: Required
TOEFL: Required
Test Scores: Required

Degree Programs at Bennington College

Bachelor's Level Majors

College Advice

Yahoo
I havent heard much about it but it is supposed to be high ranking. Can i get some opinions? possibly from someone who went there?
13 months ago
Best Answer
It's not nearly as prestigious as the other three schools you mentioned. I'd never heard of it until you mentioned it, and I'm pretty familiar with a *lot* of schools.
I am really involved in high school and have a b+ average. What do I need to do to get into one of these excellent colleges?
15 months ago
Best Answer
Both Mt. Holyoke and Bennington are highly selective schools. A B+ average will likely not be sufficient. However, if your high school is top-notch and highly competitive, and if you've taken several AP courses, you could possibly gain admission if your SATs, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and extracurriculars are absolutely and uncommonly stellar. Shoot for above 700 on verbal, math, and writing on your SATs, and do something outrageously creative and valuable in terms of community service. Those two factors could really help. Best wishes to you.

28 months ago
Best Answer
A college thats in different from other colleges. Instead of having a set course of action to get a degree you along with the faculty figure it out as you go in a precess called "THE PLAN PROCESS" QUOTE The Plan Process is the structure Bennington students use to design and evaluate their education. In a series of essays and meetings with the faculty throughout their years at Bennington, students learn to articulate what they want to study and how they intend to study it. They identify not only the classes they wish to take, but how those classes relate to each other and the rest of their Bennington experience: Field Work Term, tutorials, projects beyond the classroom, and anything else they undertake. END QUOTE Here is part of the schools philosophy The principle of learning by practice underlies every major feature of a Bennington education: the master-apprentice model of teaching and learning; the requirement that students direct the course of their own education; the winter Field Work Term, which gives students work experience and connects them to the greater community. The College's commitment to learning across the disciplines extends to the faculty, who teach what is uppermost in their minds, exploring new pursuits as well as ongoing areas of study and work. Bennington is grounded in the conviction that as a college education develops students' professional capacities, it should also prepare them to be deeply thoughtful and actively engaged citizens of the world. Doesn't sound to bad if you want to do things your way instead of the mans way *lol* They also have a wide variety of programs you can check into such as Courses are offered in: Anthropology Architecture Art History Astronomy Biology Ceramics Chemistry Computer Science Chinese Dance Design Digital Arts Directing Drama Drawing Economics Education Environmental Science Film and Video French History International Relations Italian Japanese Literature Mathematics Music Painting Philosophy Photography Physics Playwriting Political Science Printmaking Psychology Religion Sculpture Spanish Teaching And what attracted me the most was Today, the female-male ratio is approximately 65:35. Gotta love that :D

Photos

  • Jennings, the college's music building.
    Jennings, the college's music building. [source]
  • Dewey and Canfield, two of the college's older student housing facilities.
    Dewey and Canfield, two of the college's older student housing facilities. [source]
  • The college's newest student housing, completed in 1999.
    The college's newest student housing, completed in 1999. [source]
  • Martha Graham
    Martha Graham [source]
  • Commons stands before Commons lawn and The End of the World.
    Commons stands before Commons lawn and The End of the World. [source]