The L&T Program is an intensive introduction to the liberal arts and sciences with a particular focus on writing. All incoming first-year students attend the program during the last three weeks of August. Students read extensively, work on a variety of projects in writing and other formats, and meet throughout the day in small groups and in one-on-one conferences with faculty. The work aims to cultivate habits of thoughtful reading and discussion, clear articulation, accurate self-critique, and productive collaboration. Satisfactory completion of the program is required for matriculation into the College.
First-year students return to Bard in January for a first-of-its-kind course that focuses on a specific scientific issue—infectious disease, for example—and looks at it from different methodological and conceptual approaches. This technique leads to an understanding of the impact of science and mathematics on everyday life and how Bard students, regardless of major, can become constructive participants in the debate over and solutions to crucial global problems.
Entering students may spend their first year at Bard’s campus in Berlin, Germany, joining a global student body of 260 from more than 60 countries. Begin in Berlin students take Language and Thinking and the first-year core sequence at Bard College Berlin, and may choose electives from courses in (among others) German language, practicing and performing arts, social studies, literature, art history, aesthetics, philosophy, and social engagement—many of which use the city as a classroom. All credits transfer automatically to Annandale.