Application Type	Deadline	Notification	% Accepted
Early Decision	11/15	12/15	73
Early Action	--	--	--
Regular Decision	1/5	4/1	63

Type of Early Action: n/a
Application website


Essays
________________________________________________________________________

Essay Questions 2010-11
1. Common Application

2. Supplement

What attracts you to Bennington College? (300 characters) What areas of study interest you? (300 characters) Do you have any relatives or close friends who attended Bennington College? If so, please list their names, relationship to you, and year of graduation. (200 characters) How did you first hear about Bennington College? Please be specific. (200 characters) The counselors, student interns, and staff in our office keep a running reading list. If you could contribute one book to the list, what would it be and why? (400 characters) Bennington's Field Work Term Office invites employers across the globe to consider hosting a Bennington student during its annual 7-week winter internship period. If you've come across a business or organization whose work fascinates you, please tell us about it. (400 characters) Please provide a sample of a graded analytical writing from an academic class. Your paper should be an original analysis, including a thesis or argument and secondary sources when appropriate. We will not accept creative writing samples, journal entries, handwritten essays, in-class assignments, or research papers.

Essay Questions 2009-10
pdf available: http://www.bennington.edu/go/apply-online

1. Common Application

2. Supplement

The Bennington Supplement incudes a cover page, the Bennington essay, and a graded academic paper. The form is provided on pages 1–2 and is available at www.bennington.edu and www.commonapp.org.

• Bennington Essay Choose from one of three Bennington essay options offered on page 2. Transfer students should also respond to the transfer essay, also on page 2.

• Graded Academic Paper Please submit an analytic essay in which you analyze, examine, and interpret an event, book work of art, etc. The paper should show your grade and the teacher’s comments. Handwritten assignments will not be accepted. Please also include a brief description of the assignment.
  

3. Supplementary Materials (optional)

We are eager to learn as much about you as we can. Please feel free to submit additional materials that reflect you, your work, and your passions.

(ed: the following have only a few lines of space in which to answer each. It's unclear from the pdf what the specific space requirements are)

• What areas of study interest you?
• What attracts you to Bennington College?
• Do you have any relatives or close friends who attended Bennington College? If so, please list their names, relationship to you, and year of graduation.
• The counselors, student interns, and staff in our office keep a running reading list. If you could contribute one book to the list, what would it be and why?
  

4. Please provide a typewritten response to one of the following.

a) Before I speak, I have something important to say.
—Groucho Marx
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals…except the weasel.
—Matt Groening
Humor, wit, and irony are often part of what are mostly serious matters. Choose a public figure, a fictional character, a novel, film, television show, or a piece of music, etc., and talk about the use of humor as a way to achieve a more serious goal. Why did the person, author, or maker choose humor? How does the humor affect the whole? What does the whole do for the humor? Have fun—seriously.

b) Bennington College faculty members design courses rooted in their intellectual passions and experience. Think of some learning experience(s) you have had that you would want to teach to others. This might include seemingly disparate subjects—philosophy and jazz, for example—or it might be a single experience, such as designing a scientific experiment. Write a course description identifying the course title, subject matter, reading and other materials, possible homework assignments, and final papers, projects, or exams. Write an essay explaining why you chose to teach this course and what you hope others will learn from it.

c) Wired magazine recently reported that a panel of engineers, technologists, and futurists, including Google cofounder Larry Page and genomics pioneer J. Craig Venter, spent more than a year pondering how best to improve life on earth. They came up with a list of “14 Grand Engineering Challenges” that addresses themes the committee considered “essential for humanity to flourish”—environmental sustainability, health, reducing our vulnerability, and adding to the joy of living. Among the challenges on the list are the following:

• Provide access to clean water
• Make solar energy affordable
• Restore and improve urban infrastructure
• Reverse-engineer the brain
• Enhance virtual reality

Pick one of these “engineering” challenges, discuss some of the critical issues connected to it, and lay out a design process for beginning to solve the problem.

5. Transfer Applicants

Answer "b" above and one of the following:

• The plan process at Bennington allows you to shape your education based on your passions, curiosities, and ambitions. Reflect on your education thus far, the one you are currently seeking, and how the two will come together as you begin to think about the direction your education will take at Bennington College.

• If today were the day of your graduation from Bennington College, of what would you be most proud?
  

Passport's take


Essay Questions 2008-09


Passport's take



Testing Policy Link to testing policy on admissions website
________________________________________________________________________

Required tests:

Score-choice policy:

AP policy:



Recommendation Letters Link to letters policy on admissions website
________________________________________________________________________

Letters of Recommendation required?

Total letters of recommendation allowed?


Coursework
________________________________________________________________________

Subject	Required	Recommended
English
Language
History
Math
Science
Social Studies
Visual/Performing Arts

Interview: (link)

• Interviews are not required.
• Tours and interviews can be scheduled most weekdays and Saturdays.
• In addition, upon receipt and review of your application, the Office of Admissions may get in touch with you to schedule a telephone interview.

List of majors offered: (link)

List of sports teams offered: (link)

If you like this school, you might also like: (list schools then insert poll widget)


Rankings and Lists

(ex: US News rankings, Princeton Review Lists, colleges that change lives, etc)

Selectivity

Selectivity Rating*
Avg GPA (unweighted)
Avg GPA (weighted)
% in top 10% of HS class
% in top 25% of HS class
% in top 50% of HS class
Avg ACT
Avg SAT Reading
Avg SAT Math
Avg SAT Writing

*on a scale from 60-99, produced by The Princeton Review

Educational Quality

4-year graduation rate
6-year graduation rate
Freshman retention rate
Professors interesting rating*
Professors accessible rating*
Student/faculty ratio

*ranked on a scale of 60-99 by The Princeton Review


Financial Aid

Financial Aid Rating*
Total Annual Cost **
% undergrads receiving non-need-based aid
Avg non-need based aid award
% undergrads receiving need-based aid
Avg need-based loan
Avg need-based gift aid
Avg % of need met
Financial Aid forms used

*ranked on a scale of 60-99 by The Princeton Review
**includes tuition, room and board, fees, books, and misc. expenses


Student Characteristics

Undergraduate enrollment
Total students
Male/female ratio
% undergraduate live on campus
% freshmen live on campus
% African American
% Asian
% Caucasian
% Hispanic
% Native American
% International
% join fraternities
% join sororities