UPenn vs. Bard

This weekend, our group visited both University of Pennsylvania and Bard College. UPenn is located right in Philadelphia, so students have easy access to urban opportunities. After living in Columbia for two weeks, I think I would enjoy what UPenn's location has to offer. Bard, however, is very much on its own. Neighboring towns have been described as farming towns or summer towns. Neither of these schools are scattered throughout a city, but while I can say that UPenn is an enclosed school, I can't quite say the same for Bard. Bard is like a large park, with its buildings spread out on a large expanse of land. It is surrounded by nature, while UPenn is surrounded by city. I think Bard's campus itself is wonderful -- it provides for a nice break from the big city. The dorm buildings look interesting, and I absolutely love the science building. But I'm not sure if I would be able to handle being far from modernized towns. Oh, and I also love UPenn's buildings -- they are absolutely gorgeous. The theater hall was so large and ornate -- it made Bard's movie theater look scrawny. But the main dorm quads in both UPenn and Bard impressed me. I felt like I would love to live in either one.
UPenn's undergraduate system consists of separate colleges, which is perfect for those who already know what they want to major in. For students like me, who have yet to make such a decision, it may seem unappealing. However, Andrew (one of June Chu's students who came to speak with us) enlightened me and said that it was actually easy to transfer between the schools, since the university knows that students rarely know what they truly want to study right from the beginning of college. Bard makes it simpler and requires students only to declare their majors by junior year. Before then, they have what are called distribution requirements, in which students have to take one class from each of the nine distributions, which are general subjects. But, for example, if a student is focusing on history and dislikes math, he or she can take a History of Math course as an alternative. I find this system to be very appealing, because I feel less restrained in choosing classes, and I think it provides a better tactic for learning about one's self and what I would want to major in.
I didn't learn much about UPenn's faculty, but Bard seems to have an outstanding system. First of all, there are no TAs. All classes are taught by professors. Whereas in some of the more prestigious colleges, professors leave their TAs to teach the class. Actually, my Chemistry class here in Columbia is taught more by the mentors than Professor Avila himself. Moving on, the classes at Bard usually range from about 12 to 28 students. Personally, I don't have a specific affinity for larger or smaller classes, but the concept of a smaller class allows for a more involved experience in class, especially since most of Bard's classes are more discussion than lecture. Furthermore, students and professors get to know each other better. All this appeals to me very much, because I like participating and I like to have friendships with my teachers, rather than distant professor-student relationships. And although my Chemistry class at Columbia is taught more by the mentors, Professor Avila tries to be as involved with us as his available time permits. I also know that not all the Columbia classes are like this - others are taught specifically by the professor.
I think the one aspect that made me more excited about Bard than anything else I heard that day was its Bard Conservatory of Music program. Apparently, when in that program, the student will be earning a double degree - one from the Conservatory, and one in another subject. I have always planned to minor in music, but a double major with music would make me just as happy, I think. But even so, I also considered double majoring in other subjects, and I also considered whether or not I would be able to handle the workload. So...we'll see.
Wow, I found that I have ended up talking about Bard more than UPenn. But both made a really good impression on me, and I am thankful I got to experience both.