Bard College, USA – Rankings, Campus, Programs, Admissions, Cost of Attendance & Scholarships

Popular Courses and Fees at Bard College at Simon’s Rock 2027

Bard College at Simon’s Rock offers only undergraduate qualifications: a two-year Associate of Arts, a four-year Bachelor of Arts continued at Bard’s main campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, plus the Bard Academy grade 9-10 pathway. There are no postgraduate programmes. The 2025-26 published tuition is USD 68,850 for both the Early College and Bard Academy years; the 2026-27 rate is set annually and will be posted on the official Simon’s Rock fees page before the December Early Action deadline.

Dual-degree engineering runs as a 3+2 partnership: three years at Simon’s Rock and Bard leading to a BA, then two years at Columbia University School of Engineering or the Dartmouth engineering school culminating in a Bachelor of Science. Partner-year tuition is set separately on the Columbia and Dartmouth engineering fee schedules.

Insider note: Indian families typically pick Simon’s Rock only when the applicant is genuinely ready for college coursework at 16 or 17; the college does not admit students who have already completed Class 12, so this is not a substitute for a standard four-year BA route.

Read More: Simon’s Rock Programmes and Course Fees Guide

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Admission 2027

Bard College at Simon’s Rock runs Fall and Spring intakes on Early Action, Regular Decision and Rolling schedules. Fall is the primary intake for Indian applicants and carries the widest financial aid consideration.

Indian applicants also need to schedule the F-1 student visa appointment after receiving the I-20 form from Bard’s International Student Advisor.

Planning note: Simon’s Rock requires an admissions interview and a two-part essay including a W.E.B. Du Bois critical analysis. The interview is typically scheduled two to three weeks after the Common Application submission, so file the application well ahead of the December EA date to leave interview room.

Read More: Bard College at Simon’s Rock Admissions Guide for Indian Students

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Admission Requirements for Indian Applicants 2027

The Bard College at Simon’s Rock admission committee weighs Class 10 or 11 academic records, an English test, two written essays and an interview alongside optional standardised test scores.

• Academic: Class 10 or 11 completion with 70% and above in CBSE, ICSE, IB or state boards (recommended); typical admits carry a GPA of 3.3 out of 4.0 or higher.
• English test: TOEFL iBT 100, IELTS 7.0, Duolingo English Test 120, or PTE Academic 65 — verbatim from the official Simon’s Rock international students page. Scores must be sent directly from the test centre.
• Standardised tests: SAT and ACT are optional; SSAT or ISEE are required only for Bard Academy grade 9 or 10 entry.
• Essays: Two required essays — a Why Here Why Now personal statement of 500 to 1,000 words plus a Critical Analysis essay on a W.E.B. Du Bois quotation.

Key insight: Indian students schooled in a fully English-medium institution may email admit@simons-rock.edu to request a TOEFL or IELTS waiver. The waiver must be requested before the application file is reviewed and needs a signed medium-of-instruction letter from the head of school.

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Acceptance Rate 2027

The Bard College at Simon’s Rock acceptance rate for the 2025 admission cycle is 96% (estimated), based on institutional reporting to the US Department of Education. This positions the college as least selective on academic profile, but the review turns on essays, the interview and demonstrated fit rather than test scores alone.

For Indian applicants, the bottleneck is not academics; it is enrolment capacity at Massena, which caps at 150 students per year across all grade levels the college covers. The self-selected applicant pool is a group of students choosing to leave standard high school two years early, which shapes the interview screen.

Reality check: A high acceptance rate does not mean an easy fit. The 140-student cohort at Simon’s Rock is composed of students who genuinely want to accelerate, and the admissions interview is designed to screen out applicants who are only chasing an early US degree without the motivation to match.

Read More: Bard College at Simon’s Rock Acceptance Rate

Simon’s Rock Fees and Cost of Living for Indian Students 2027

The total annual cost at Bard College at Simon’s Rock for the 2025-26 year is USD 88,650, or INR 84.83 lakh at the current rupee rate, covering tuition, mandatory fees, room and board on the Massena campus in Barrytown. The 2026-27 comprehensive rate will be published before the December Early Action deadline.

Simon’s Rock Tuition Fees for Indian Students 2026-27

The published 2025-26 rate is the most recent verified figure. Trustees set the following year’s rate each spring, and the college does not release forward guidance. Benchmark this against the wider cost of studying in USA guide to compare with peer liberal arts colleges.

Monthly Simon’s Rock Cost of Living for Indian Students in Barrytown

The Massena campus sits in rural Dutchess County, so daily costs run below the national US average but transport requires the Bard shuttle to nearby towns or a shared car. Refer to the wider list of budget-friendly cities in USA for benchmark comparisons.

Insider note: On-campus room and board is bundled at USD 19,800 per year, roughly USD 1,650 per month, which typically undercuts off-campus rent in nearby Rhinebeck and Red Hook for a first-year Indian student without transport.

Read More: Cost of Living in USA for Indian Students

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Campus, Facilities and Student Life

Bard College at Simon’s Rock sits on the Massena Campus in Barrytown, New York, a five-minute drive from Bard’s main campus in Annandale-on-Hudson and about 90 miles north of New York City.

• Location and transport: Hudson Valley setting; Metro-North commuter rail from Poughkeepsie connects to Grand Central Terminal in under two hours, and a shared Bard shuttle links the campus to Rhinebeck and the main Bard site.
• Campus housing: Residential accommodation on the former Unification Theological Seminary grounds; 100% of first-year students are offered on-campus housing at the bundled room and board rate.
• Shared Bard facilities: Full access to the Reem-Kayden Center for Science and Computation, the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, and the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard main.
• Indian student community: Very small international cohort; the Bard South Asian Students Organization draws Indian students across both the Simon’s Rock and Bard main sites for cultural programming.

What Indian students say: Recent students describe the small tutorial-style classes as the biggest draw, with faculty access that is not possible at a large research university. The stated trade-off is a limited Indian peer group and few South Asian food options within walking distance of the Barrytown campus.

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Scholarships 2027

Bard College at Simon’s Rock does not run any India-nationality-specific scholarships. Institutional need-based aid and merit awards are open to international applicants but require a separate International Student Financial Aid Application filed with the admission file.

Planning note: 96% of full-time students at Simon’s Rock receive institutional aid, but international applicants must complete both the International Student Financial Aid Application and the International Student Certification of Finances every year; a missed form removes the file from aid consideration for that cycle.

Read More: Bard College at Simon’s Rock Scholarships Guide

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Rankings 2027

Bard College at Simon’s Rock is not ranked by the major global bodies. As a small two-year early college of about 140 students, it sits outside the enrolment and research thresholds used by QS World, THE World and US News Best Global Universities.

Simon’s Rock competes in the US News Best Colleges - National Liberal Arts Colleges category rather than the global research rankings. The parent Bard College main campus sits in that same US News liberal arts list; the Simon’s Rock specific rank for the 2026 US News edition is not disclosed on the public list. Compare this positioning against the wider set of Ranked Universities in USA that Indian applicants typically shortlist.

Key insight: Rankings weigh heavily in F-1 visa credibility interviews at US consulates. Because Simon’s Rock is not on the global lists, the visa file should lean on the Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation letter plus the formal Bard College affiliation, not on ranking screenshots.

Read More: Study in USA Guide

Bard College at Simon’s Rock Placements and Career Outcomes 2027

Bard College at Simon’s Rock does not publish a formal placement rate. Graduates typically continue into the Bachelor of Arts at Bard’s main campus, transfer to another liberal arts college, or move directly into graduate school after the four-year BA.

• Continuation route: The majority of Associate of Arts graduates continue to a four-year BA either at Bard College main or another liberal arts institution; official 2025 cohort figure not disclosed.
• Notable alumni: The Coen brothers (filmmakers), Tom Ford (fashion), Ronan Farrow (journalist) and Alison Bechdel (author), all from earlier Simon’s Rock cohorts.
• Career services: Shared access to the Bard Career Development Office, the Bard Center for Civic Engagement and the alumni network of the wider Bard College system.
• F-1 OPT eligibility: Indian graduates on the F-1 visa qualify for 12 months of Optional Practical Training after the BA; dual-degree engineering graduates from the Columbia or Dartmouth partner routes qualify for the additional 24-month STEM OPT extension.
• Median earnings: Simon’s Rock specific salary data is not disclosed; the US Department of Education College Scorecard reports median earnings of USD 27,000 (INR 25.83 lakh) for graduates 10 years after entry.

Insider note: Recruiter access at Simon’s Rock alone is limited by cohort size; most careers programming for Indian graduates runs through the shared Bard College events calendar, which strengthens the case for choosing the Bard BA continuation route over transferring out mid-degree.

Bard College at Simon’s Rock vs Peer Universities

The natural peer set is small US liberal arts colleges that either offer an early-college pathway or admit students on academic profile and essays alone.

Reality check: The QS column reads Not ranked across all four peers because National Liberal Arts Colleges are covered by the US News Best Colleges list rather than QS or THE, which weight large research output that these colleges do not chase.

The four colleges in this shortlist run on similar liberal arts principles, but Simon’s Rock is the only one that admits Indian students after Class 10. For applicants set on a traditional four-year residential BA, Bard College main is the closer analogue and sits five minutes away on the same shuttle route. Browse further options within the wider set of universities in USA before finalising the shortlist.

Bard College at Simon’s Rock fits the small subset of Indian students who are ready to leave standard schooling after Class 10 or 11 and want to start college work at 16 or 17. The total annual outlay lands at USD 88,650, offset by institutional aid for most full-time students, and pairs with post-BA Optional Practical Training for early US work experience on the F-1 visa.

It is a hard no for students who have already completed Class 12 or want a large campus with a strong Indian community; the small residential cohort and absence of postgraduate programmes rule out those profiles. A realistic alternative is the Bard College main campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, which delivers the same liberal arts style over a standard four-year timeline. Complete the US student visa checklist once the offer is in hand.