A liberal arts education offers students both breadth and depth of learning. At Bard, the primary sources of breadth are the First-Year Seminar and the distribution requirements. The primary source of depth is the requirement that each student major in a stand-alone academic program, possibly in conjunction with a non-stand-alone field of study (a concentration), or with another program in a joint major.

Program vs. Concentration

A program is a sequenced course of study designed by faculty (and sometimes by students in conjunction with faculty) to focus on a particular area of knowledge or a particular approach to an area. A concentration is a cluster of related courses on a clearly defined topic. A student may moderate into a concentration, but only in tandem with his or her Moderation into a program.

With a curriculum based on programs rather than more traditionally defined departments, faculty rethink boundaries between disciplines and examine course content in terms of how courses interact with one another. This more flexible framework allows students to create interdisciplinary plans of study that take advantage of the faculty and offerings of the entire College.

The requirements for Moderation and graduation differ from program to program and are summarized in the program descriptions. All students must declare a major in a program in order to moderate from the Lower College to the Upper College. A student who pursues a double major must satisfy the requirements of both programs and complete two Senior Projects. A student who pursues a joint major moderates into two programs, ideally in a joint Moderation, and completes course requirements for both programs and a single, unified Senior Project. A student who pursues study in a concentration must moderate (in conjunction with moderating into a program), fulfill all course requirements, and produce a Senior Project that combines the interdisciplinary theories and methods of the concentration and the program.