Admission

You love to learn.

You’ve always asked the difficult questions. Now you wonder where college can take you.

Bard will give you a home to refine your talents and find what inspires you. Pursue diverse academic offerings and take part in vibrant campus life.

Your Bard journey begins here.

Inquire
Inquire

Tell us a little about yourself and we’ll send you information about Bard’s academics, student life, and how to apply.

Inquire Now

Visit Campus
Visit Campus

Explore the campus on a tour and get a feel for life at Bard, whether you can make the trip or want to start from home.

Plan Your Visit

Apply
Apply

Find application options, deadlines, and everything you need to submit your application to Bard.

Start Your Application

A Bard Experience expands what is possible.
A Bard Experience expands what is possible.

A Bard Experience expands what is possible.

Explore Our Campus →

Bard by the Numbers

A closer look at the Bard community.
1,900
undergraduates		 8:1
student–faculty ratio		 $73M
distributed in Bard aid		 14.5%
international students / dual citizens
 

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Learn at Bard

Small seminars, dedicated faculty, and work that matters.
Academics
Academics

A first-year core curriculum, then faculty-guided research across the arts, sciences and humanities.

Explore Academic Programs

Faculty
Faculty

Bard has no graduate teaching assistants, so you learn directly from faculty who teach and advise you.

Meet Our Faculty

Engaged Learning
Engaged Learning

First-year experiences and the Senior Project, plus programs in New York City and around the world.

The Bard Curriculum

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Hear from students
Small seminars, first-year research, and faculty advising.

Hear directly from current students about what it’s like to learn, live and get involved at Bard.

Chat with Our Students Student Stories →

See Bard for Yourself

Take a virtual tour and experience our campus from anywhere.

Start Virtual Tour →

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Admission & Financial Aid

Applying is simple, and Bard works with families to make it affordable.
$0
application fee		 50+
years test-optional		 100%
need met, early round		 ~$10K
average merit award
 

Apply through the Common Application, Coalition with Scoir, or the Bard Entrance Exam.

Apply Now Learn About Bard Financial Aid
Important Deadlines
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Important Deadlines

Key dates for your application and financial aid.

November 1

Application
Early Decision, Early Action, and the Bard Entrance Exam

Registration
Immediate Decision Plan

Financial Aid
International early applicants
Immediate Decision Plan

December 1

Financial Aid
U.S. early applicants

January 15

Application
Early Decision II and Regular Decision

Financial Aid
International Early Decision II and Regular Decision applicants

February 1

Financial Aid
U.S. Early Decision II and Regular Decision applicants

FAFSA
Free Application for Federal Student Aid deadline for all applicants

Discover More About Bard

How to Apply Academics at Bard
Student Stories Our Faculty
Civic Engagement Our Campus
Meet Our Students Life After Bard
Bard College seeks to inspire curiosity, a love of learning, idealism, and a commitment to the link between higher education and civic participation. From its historic Hudson Valley setting to its state-of-the-art science and arts facilities, the College offers an idyllic environment where students can enjoy a rich social life interwoven with their cultural and intellectual pursuits.

How to Apply

Every Bard applicant is unique, so we offer multiple ways to apply. You only need to choose how and when.
How:

  • Common Application
  • Coalition with Scoir
  • The Bard Entrance Exam
When: 
  • November 1 — Immediate Decision Plan, Early Decision I, Early Action, The Bard Entrance Exam
  • January 1 — Early Decision II, Regular Decision
Get Started on the Application Process

Academics at Bard

Academics at Bard focus on giving students a strong scholarly foundation with our rigorous core curriculum, then encouraging them to explore individual academic interests. The College seeks to engender in every student a wide curiosity and a profound love of learning. Professors at Bard are active in their disciplines, producing new scholarly work and engaging in ongoing research, and the level of academic discourse in the classroom is high.
Explore Our Academic Programs

Student Stories

Students come from across the country and around the globe to study at Bard. While pursuing their degrees in a broad range of academic programs, they volunteer in the community, develop their career goals, and bring their talents to the campus and the region. For Bard students, education goes well beyond the classroom. They all share a love of learning and a readiness to make their mark on the world.
Meet Our Students
 

Our Faculty

Bard’s extraordinary faculty are dedicated to the philosophy of teaching. Today and throughout Bard’s history, members of the faculty have effected change in medicine, the arts and letters, international affairs, journalism, scientific research, and education, among other endeavors. These distinguished scholars are advisers as well as instructors: Bard has no graduate teaching assistants. 
Learn More About Our Faculty

Civic Engagement

The Center for Civic Engagement at Bard College coordinates a broad range of initiatives that connect students to internships, volunteer opportunities, community engagement, and activism. Bard students tap into their own idealism and vision, developing civic skills that are fundamental for active citizenship.
Learn More About Civic Engagement
 

Our Campus

Bard’s campus covers approximately 1,200 acres of fields and forested land bordering the Hudson River in New York State, and features such state-of-the-art facilities as the Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Center for Science and Computation, Center for Experimental Humanities at New Annandale House, and Frank Gehry–designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. The campus is a center from which students explore the rich natural and cultural life of the Hudson Valley and also have access by car or train to New York City, about 90 miles to the south.
Explore Campus Life

Meet Our Students

Students come from across the country and around the globe to study at Bard. They undertake a broad range of academic programs in Annandale. While pursuing their degrees, they volunteer in the community, develop their career goals, and bring their talents to the campus and the region. They share a love of learning and the leadership to make their mark on the world.
Chat with our Students now

Life After Bard

Whether working in Annandale or Berlin, in sustainable agriculture or in a tech startup, Bardians make a difference. Learn about Bard alumni/ae in the world, and how Bard supports graduates.
Learn More About Our Alumni/ae Network

Connect with Bard

  • Ask a Student
    Get a current student’s take on campus life, from First-Year Seminar to Bard clubs. We invite all prospective undergraduate students to connect with current Bard students via our chat platform. Get your questions answered and make your first friend at Bard!
    Get Started on Chat Now
  • Contact Your Regional Admission Counselor
    Our staff is here to introduce you to Bard and guide you through the application process. Contact our office if you have questions. We're here to help!
    Reach Out Now
Engaged Learning in the Classroom and Beyond

Engaged Learning in the Classroom and Beyond

From our first-year components—Language and Thinking and First-Year Seminar—to the Senior Project, Bard’s unique curriculum combines rigor and flexibility. Students take control of their education while immersing themselves in dynamic programs of study and engaging with their peers and the community at large.
The Bard Curriculum →

The Love of Learning

  • “The university can be a center for and a model of cultural creation, debate, service, and political exchange among citizens of the future, one that is dominated not by commerce and a narrow definition of utility, but by a love of learning.”
    — Leon Botstein, Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities
  • Continue Reading→
At Bard, every class is taught by a professor, and most of them happen around a seminar table with fewer than twenty students. First year students start doing real research and creative work right away, with a faculty advisor who gets to know them from the start. It all happens on over a thousand acres in the Hudson Valley, about ninety minutes from New York City. Hear from current students about what makes Bard different, and where it leads.

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