| Location: | Northeast |
| Setting: | Small Town Setting |
| Type: | Private |
| Size: | Small (Under 2,000 Undergrad) |
Simon's Rock College of Bard is a selective, private coeducational college of the liberal arts and sciences specifically designed to offer bright, highly motivated students the opportunity to begin college after the tenth or eleventh grade. At Simon's Rock, these students pursue academic programs leading to the A.A. in Liberal Arts and the B.A. in eight interdisplinary majors.
Bard College at Simon's Rock, also known as Simon's Rock and previously as Simon's Rock College of Bard (see below), is a small liberal arts college located in the small town of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in the United States. The foremost of the many unusual things about Simon's Rock is that it is designed for students to enroll after completing the tenth or eleventh grade of high school, rather than after graduating. Students who attend Simon's Rock rarely earn a high school diploma, and enter, on average, at the age of 16.
The college's founder, Elizabeth Blodgett Hall, had formerly been a private girls' school headmistress at Concord Academy. She concluded from her experience, and that of her colleagues, that for many students the latter two years of high school are wasted on repetitious and overly constrained work. Many young students, she thought, are ready to pursue college-level academic work some time before the usual system asks it of them.
While Simon's Rock is still the only college to take this approach with all of its students, it is now only one of a number of early college entrance programs that provide opportunities for students to enter college one or more years ahead of their traditional high school graduation date.
Because Simon's Rock provides this accelerated program, it also attracts many students who might not consider a "liberal arts" education if they had to wait two more years. Computer science, pre-med, and math students read Plato, Dante and Nietzsche, alongside dancers, artists, and literary students. A majority of students transfer to larger institutions after receiving an associate's degree degree after two years, although some stay for four.
The name "Simon's Rock" comes from a large glacial erratic, currently in the woods on the campus, a short walk from the main part of the campus. At the time that Simon's Rock earned its name (in the early 1920s), the woods that now surround it were part of the vast area of land called Great Pine Farm. The rock was a favorite spot for people who lived nearby, especially children. One neighborhood child, named Simon, claimed the rock as his own.
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| Percent of Students International: | 0% |
| On-Campus Housing Available: | Yes |
| Percent of Students Living On-Campus: | 96% |
| Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: | Yes |
| Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) | Expenses | ||
Published Tuition and Fees: |
$ 33,334 | ||
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 32,834 | ||
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 500 | ||
| Financial Aid | Avg. Amount Received | % of Students Receiving Aid | |
Federal Grants: |
$ 2,725 | 34% | |
State and Local Grants: |
$ 1,213 | 12% | |
Institutional Grants: |
$ 14,779 | 78% | |
Student Loans: |
$ 3,417 | 65% | |
Any Aid: |
78% |
| Acceptance Rate: | 77% (Selective) |
| Test Scores | |
| SAT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting SAT Scores: | 53% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Verbal: 580, Math: 530 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Verbal: 700, Math: 690 |
| ACT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting ACT Scores: | 10% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Composite: 22, Verbal: 21, Math: 20 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Composite: 28, Verbal: 26, Math: 27 |
| Application Fee: | $ 50.00 |
| Formal Demonstration of Competencies: | Recommended |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent: | Not Required |
| High School GPA: | Not Required |
| High School Rank: | Not Required |
| High School Record: | Required |
| Recommendations: | Required |
| TOEFL: | Required |
| Test Scores: | Recommended |