Tony, age fifteen, is being recruited by a college in Massachusetts; Bard College at Simon’s Rock. They want him to drop out of high school and go to college next fall. Bard College has an enrollment of 400 students and specializes in early entry. That’s all they do, take kids that are way above grade-level in high school, and put them in a safe college environment with a bunch of other kids their own age. This is a very attractive proposition for Tony. He wants to be a particle physicist and cosmologist, but has to study all that stuff on his own. It’s not in the high school curriculum. Now that he knows a lot about it though, there isn’t anybody else around he can talk to about it.
The college recruitment came about because earlier this year as a sophomore, Tony took the PSAT, the test that measures critical reading, math problem-solving, and writing skills. His score on the PSAT got the attention of Bard’s admissions office. They’re very selective. On College Day at Tony’s high school, with all the other colleges making mass presentations to all the students, Bard College sent their Vice President of Admissions to talk with Tony.
Tony’s parents aren’t anxious for him to go off to college in another state at sixteen, but they’ve recognized for quite a while that he needs something he’s not getting. So today, Becky, Brian, and Tony are at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in New Barrington, Massachusetts, having a look at it.
http://www.simons-rock.edu/about
It’s right down in the lower left corner of the state.
Becky and Brian get the parent’s orientation while Tony is escorted through classes and college life on campus. Tony and company are only part way through the application process, but the college has already told Tony they want him. If he applies he’ll be accepted.
And it doesn’t stop here. Bard has exchange/study/matriculate-to arrangements with Columbia, M.I.T., Dartmouth, and Oxford. What an opportunity for Tony.
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