,·Private Liberal Arts (Early College)·Est. 1966
“America's original early-college residential liberal arts school — where exceptionally motivated students start college after 10th or 11th grade.”
Bard College at Simon's Rock is the United States' original early-college residential liberal arts college. Founded in 1966 by educator Elizabeth Blodgett Hall on the conviction that many bright, motivated young people are ready for serious intellectual work at 16 or 17, Simon's Rock admits students after the 10th or 11th grade — without a high school diploma — directly into a four-year BA program. This model is genuinely rare in U.S. higher education: while a handful of dual-enrollment and accelerated programs exist, Simon's Rock remains the only fully residential, four-year liberal arts college built from the ground up around early entrance, and it is widely credited with launching the American early-college movement. The school is intentionally tiny — historically around 300 students, now closer to 200 following a major 2024-2025 transition — which produces seminar-style classes, deep faculty mentorship, and a culture of unusually self-directed intellectual life. Students design individualized concentrations across four divisions (the Arts; Languages and Literature; Science, Mathematics and Computing; and Social Studies), earn an AA after two years, and most continue to a Simon's Rock BA. Affiliated with Bard College since 1979, Simon's Rock now sits adjacent to Bard's main campus, opening doors to Bard's library, faculty, and dual-degree pipelines (including 3-2 engineering with Columbia and Dartmouth). IMPORTANT CURRENT STATUS: After 59 years in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Simon's Rock relocated in Fall 2025 to the Massena Campus in Barrytown, New York — adjacent to Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson — citing declining enrollment and the strategic value of co-location with Bard. The new 260-acre campus is the former Unification Theological Seminary site. Applicants for Fall 2026 should expect a smaller, in-transition community of roughly 140-200 early-college students, with continued integration into Bard's broader academic resources.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceSpring 2026 Entry
Mid-year entry option
Early Action (Fall 2026)
Non-binding
Regular Decision (Fall 2026)
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$62,320
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
Studio art, dance, music, photography, and theater taught in small studios and seminars; strong emphasis on creative practice paired with critical theory.
Creative writing, literary studies, and modern languages — a historic strength of Simon's Rock, with Coen brothers, Ronan Farrow, and Alison Bechdel among its alumni.
Lab-based sciences and quantitative concentrations with small cohorts; supports a 3-2 pre-engineering pipeline to Columbia University and Dartmouth's Thayer School.
Concentrations in history, economics, politics, psychology, and area studies, with a notable cluster of diversity- and identity-focused programs.
4 years
Simon's Rock's signature: enter college at 16 or 17 without finishing high school, complete an AA in two years, then design an individualized BA concentration. Genuinely unique in U.S. higher ed — most U.S. early-college options are commuter dual-enrollment programs, not a four-year residential degree.
5 years
Three years at Simon's Rock for the BA, then two years at Columbia or Dartmouth's Thayer School for a BS or BE in engineering. A direct accelerated path from age 16 to a top-engineering bachelor's by the early twenties.
4 years
Across 40+ available concentrations, students build an individualized course of study in close partnership with faculty advisors — the small scale (often <10-student seminars) makes genuine curricular customization feasible.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $68,780
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
