Fall Open House

Photo by Chris Kayden

Fall Open House in Annandale-on-Hudson

Welcome to Bard's Fall Open House for prospective students and their families!

We are hosting an in-person Fall Open House on Saturday, October 8. We look forward to meeting the many students and families attending the event! The day centers around activities that allow students and their families to explore the campus and experience the excitement of Bard College classes. Check-in is at the Reem-Kayden Center (RKC), where students will be directed to their classes in various campus buildings. All other visitors will attend an Academic Panel in Olin Auditorium with the Dean of the College and faculty. There will be special campus tours that will showcase program facilities for all visitors, including a residence life tour. Lunch will be served on the beautiful Blithewood lawn, with views of the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains. The day ends with a not-to-be-missed Q&A with Bard College President Botstein!

Registration is now full for 2022 Fall Open House

Click here for other ways to visit

Details about the Day

October 8, 2022, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm (ET)
Annandale-on-Hudson

Time (Eastern Time)	Session	*Location*
9:00 - 9:30 am	Check-In Grab-and-go coffee and breakfast items	Reem-Kayden Center (RKC)
9:30 - 10:00 am	Introduction to the day's events	Reem-Kayden Center (RKC)
10:30 - 11:30 am	Classes (Students only) During this student-only session, students will break out into small classes assigned upon arrival.	Various Campus Spaces (Students will be assigned upon arrival)
10:30 - 11:30 am	Academic Panel (Families/Guardians only) Parents, families, and guests are welcome to join the Dean of the College & Bard Faculty for an academic panel.	Olin Auditorium
11:30 am –1:30 pm	Special Campus Tours The tour includes these facilities: RKC (Science), Kline Commons (Dining), Stevenson Athletic Center, Woods Studio (Photography), Fisher Studio Arts Building, Residence Halls, Avery Arts Center (Film and Electronic Arts), and ends at Blithewood with lunch.	Start at Reem-Kayden Center (RKC)
1:30 - 2:30 pm	Lunch and Faculty/Staff Meet and Greet	Blithewood Lawn (Tent)
2:00 - 2:30 pm	Music/Conservatory Facility Tours (Rolling schedule of 15-minute tours) Music/Conservatory Department staff will lead a tour throughout the facility while answering questions.	Bitó ’60 Conservatory Building (A short walk from Blithewood Lawn)
2:00 - 3:00 pm	Dance/Theater & Performance Facility Tours (Rolling schedule of 30-minute tours) Dance/Theater & Performance Department staff will lead a tour throughout the facility while answering questions.	Fisher Performing Arts Center (Luma/Studios)
3:00 - 4:00 pm	Q&A with Bard President, Leon Botstein All visitors welcome	Fisher Performing Arts Center (Sosnoff)
4:00 - 4:30 pm	Coffee/Tea/Beverages and Cookies	Fisher Performing Arts Center (Sosnoff Portico)
Anytime	Audio-Guided Driving Tour At the Admission Office kiosk, grab a map and enjoy an audio-guided driving tour.	The audio-driving tour guides you along a full loop of campus, starting at the Admission Office (Hopson Cottage) and ending at Blithewood on the southwest end of the main campus.

Fall Open House Classes

The Fall Open House (FOH) classes are designed to reflect the mission and power of Bard's Liberal Arts and Sciences Education, which intentionally provides opportunities for students to dive deeply into existing passions and requires students to explore brand new fields. FOH students will be randomly assigned to one of six classes at check-in, each taught by a member of the Bard faculty from one of the College's four main divisions (The Arts; Languages and Literature; Social Studies; Science, Mathematics and Computing). The faculty leading the FOH classes will curate hour-long sessions themed by a division that is accessible to students with varying degrees of experience with the subject material.

All COVID-19 requirements MUST be adhered to:

Please bring a mask with you to the event. You might be asked to wear it.

We expect all visitors to campus to be fully vaccinated and to bring a mask with them in the event that they are asked to wear a mask during their visit. Visitors who are not fully vaccinated must receive a negative COVID test result before arriving on campus.

Transportation Information

The following information is for those students (and their guests), who will be taking the Amtrak train to campus on the morning of October 8, and taking the Amtrak train back that afternoon from campus.

For those taking the train from Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station:

From Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station to Rhinecliff, you MUST take the train that departs at 7:15 am, arriving in Rhinecliff at 8:58 am
For your return, you will take the 5:14 pm Rhinecliff train to Moynihan Train Hall arriving in NYC at 7:05 pm

For those taking the train from Albany-Rensselaer:

From Albany-Rensselaer to Rhinecliff, you MUST take the train that departs at 8:10 am, arriving in Rhinecliff at 8:52 am
For your return, you will take the 5:27 pm Rhinecliff train to Albany-Rensselaer, arriving at 6:20 pm

There will be one Bard Shuttle bus to take you from the train station to Bard's campus in the morning and one shuttle bus in the afternoon. The returning shuttle will depart from the Fisher Center at 4:15 pm to accommodate both trains.

You do not need to inform us if you will be using our shuttle bus. We will have Bard staff outside the train station at Rhinecliff to greet you and lead you to the shuttle bus. Masks are encouraged inside the bus.

Transportation Assistance Program
Bard offers a Transportation Assistance Program for our in-person Fall Open House for prospective students from the New York Metro Area and New York's Capital Region. Qualified students (and up to two guests) will be given train tickets to and from Bard for this event. The transportation assistance program is subject to transportation availability and eligibility requirements. See further details in the Fall Open House registration form.

Local Transportation Notice
Please note that ground transportation options are limited at the Rhinecliff station. If not utilizing the Bard shuttle service, please plan accordingly.

Other Campus Happenings

Saturday, October 8

Women's Tennis Match
Bard V Hunter College at 12:00 pm at the Stevenson Athletic Center Tennis Courts
Men's Soccer Game
Bard V Ithaca at 2:00 pm on Ferrari Field

Sunday, October 9
Montgomery Place walking tour
A guided walking tour through the beautiful grounds of Montgomery Place at 10:30 am
More information to come

For more information, please visit the Bard Events Calendar

There are Many Ways to Apply to Bard!

Bard College has been test optional for nearly 50 years.
You do not need to take the SAT or ACT to apply to Bard.

SAT and ACT scores should only be submitted if a student feels that their scores are an accurate reflection of their academic abilities. Submitted SAT and ACT scores are only used to inform our review process in a very small fraction of applications that include SAT or ACT scores. Students who do not submit their SAT or ACT scores are not penalized in any way during the application review process.

For more information about our test optional policy, please reach out to the Office of Admission at [email protected] or 845 758 7472.

There is NO application fee to apply to Bard College!
Learn more about applying to Bard. We have some unique application options in addition to the regular methods of applying to college.

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