65 Books You Need To Read In Your 20s -
Check it out - several of these authors are associated with Bennington!
Jonathan Lethem and Bret Easton Ellis both attended Bennington. Joan Didion also wrote the memoir “Blue Nights,” which focuses on her daughter Quintana, who went to Bennington for two years (Didion herself wanted to attend Bennington, but went to Berkeley instead). Nick Flynn wrote this commencement speech for Bennington in 2010. Jamaica Kincaid taught at Bennington, and still lives in North Bennington.
Donna Tartt wrote “The Secret History,” ‘a murder mystery in reverse’ about a bacchanal gone wrong at a small liberal arts college in New England, during her sophomore year at Bennington.
~ Holly ‘13
Anonymous asked: Is there a pool or a basketball court or a squash court? i really want to practice either of the three...
The pool’s in town, and there’s at least one student (Glennis H. ‘15) who goes almost daily.
The basketball court is next to the tennis courts and soccer field, on the west end of campus. There’s a group that plays at a local elementary school in the winter (not against elementary schoolers - they would crush us).
The only “squash court” we have is in the student garden. Summer squash is one of our biggest crops, and we get great squash-based dishes in the fall. D-lish.
- David ‘13
Anonymous asked: so i just pre-registered for my courses and i'm super excited about what i picked! i just have two concerns. first, i signed up for a biology course (2000 level) and a dance course. in high school i was in a lower level biology course but i did really well. am i going to be behind at all in terms of material because i didn't take a higher level course? secondly, i've never taken a dance course! i've never danced in my life! am i going to totally embarrass myself?
Don’t you even worry about dance. Don’t even. I took dance for the first time my junior year (I was too horrified to do it before that) and it was seriously one of the best decisions I ever made. Dancers are really nice people and they will HELP you be more awesome. We all have bodies, whatever.
About bio — also don’t worry. If you are ever in a class that is clearly not the appropriate level for you (way too hard or not challenging enough), you can drop it and add a different class during the first three weeks of school.
-Riley ‘13
p.s. You don’t always get into the courses you pre-register for. Fair warming. :)
Anonymous asked: Are students required to have cameras when studying Film & video? If so, which type should they use?
Hello stranger,
Video students are by no means required to have their own equipment. The college runs ans extraordinarily well stocked “video-cage” in which students can check out anything and everything you might need or want to make work. I’m sure you’ll have a blast exploring it!
Best,
Sarah ‘15
Anonymous asked: Students of color! From what I see in pictures, there's always white students interacting with other white students. Socially, do you non-white students feel left out or excluded? Or do you think your skin color has nothing to with anything and no one could even care less?
I asked my friend Sara Green to answer this one — she’s an expert.
-Alan ‘15
Hey! It’s really neither. Instead what you have is sort of an awkwardness when questions or comments about race are brought up. My experience has been that people would rather not talk about race- students of color and white students alike. Alas, hope is alive! Recently, there has been a small group of students that is creating spaces to talk about race in academic and student-led spaces. I could talk forever about race at Bennington. Email me if you want to keep talking; there are a lot of intricacies in the conversation. (sgreen@bennington.edu)
Anonymous asked: Does Bennington offer double majors?
Bennington doesn’t offer majors, much less double ones. Because of the ‘plan process’, each student develops their own unique program, as it were, specific to his or her own interests. A lot of times these are questions that can be explored through multiple disciplines; its like looking at the same thing through two different vantage points. Other students choose to do something that might be more similar to a ‘double major’ — they right their plan in two different disciplines and choose to keep them separate. If you are worried that you won’t be able to explore all your interests, don’t be. The freedom we have here, in my experience, prevents us from getting too boxed in. (The best way to understand the plan is through examples — check these out)
-Alan ‘15
Anonymous asked: Hi, if I haven't gotten any course registration/housing stuff, should I be worried? I know it's supposed to come mid-May, but it seems like other people have gotten it.
Don’t worry! If it still hasn’t come through in a couple of days I recommend shooting your councilor an email or giving the office a call: 800-833-6845. You’ll have plenty of time to fill everything out. In the meantime…
-Selina ‘15
Anonymous asked: If I've never acted at all in my life, can I sign up for an acting class?
Most definitely. I did that last year (as a junior) and absolutely fell in love.
- jason ‘13
Anonymous asked: Is there a pdf available of the course curriculum for the coming term?
Just this online link.
-Selina ‘15
Anonymous asked: do you guys spend a lot of your budget on capital improvements? like fancy looking buildings?
I have no idea. I don’t even know if we have access to the budget. If I do, I have never looked. We did just build CAPA (rumored at $20 million), and are now renovating commons. I’d say the’re quite capital!
Kevin ‘13
Anonymous asked: Would you say that Bennington is more hippie or more hipster?
I’m gonna punt on this answer, because honestly I don’t know. But, Jason just showed me this video by a Bennington alum on what it means to be a hipster.
Kevin ‘13
[video]
[video]
Anonymous asked: Are you guys gonna make a map of where all the incoming freshman class is from like there was last year? That was pretty cool..
I’ll be around this summer and that sounds like a great project! I’ll keep you updated. Glennis will also be around and since she studies design I bet we could come up with something good.
Looking forward to it!
-Selina ‘15
Anonymous asked: Hi! So I've been hearing a lot about something called "Greenwall" lately. What is it, and is it really that bad?
Every Bennington student has a Greenwall story. It’s the registration event that takes place in Greenwall Auditorium where you can add or drop classes for the upcoming term. It can be stressful but if you just take a deep breath and realize that your life doesn’t depend on securing the perfect schedule you’ll be fine. Teachers are very reasonable and if there’s a class you really want you can always get on the wait list and keep showing up until they let you in. Michael’s looking nervous but really don’t freak out!
-Selina and Michael ‘15
