2801 N. Dukeland St. Baltimore, MD 21216
No, Bard Baltimore is not a private school. It is a public early college high school operated through a partnership between Bard College and Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) for Baltimore City residents.
No. While Bard Baltimore shares some characteristics with charter schools, such as autonomy in hiring administrators and faculty, we operate as a partnership between Bard College and the local public school system. As a college, Bard Baltimore does not use a lottery-based admissions process. Our campus is governed by a Memorandum of Understanding between Bard College and BCPS.
All residents of the county of Baltimore City are eligible to apply for admission. Children of Baltimore City Public School employees who do not live in Baltimore City county are also able to apply, through the tuition waiver available to employees. If you have any further questions about residency requirements or eligibility, please contact the Admissions Department at [email protected]. We are not allowed to accept non-resident applicants outside of the Baltimore City School Employee waiver option.
Through a Memorandum of Understanding between Bard College and BCPS, Bard Baltimore shapes its curriculum, first and foremost, as a rigorous course of study in the liberal arts and sciences that meets Bard College requirements for a general education during the first two years of college. While students take local standardized assessments, those assessments do not drive the Bard curriculum or the material taught in the classroom; to the extent possible, state and local required assessments are given during the 9th and 10th grades so that they do not interfere with the associate in arts degree curriculum taught in the 11th and 12th grades. Students have choice over courses within the academic disciplines offered at Bard: Division of the Arts, Division of Languages and Literature, Division of Mathematics and Sciences, and Division of Social Sciences. Our course catalogue is available here.
The Bard High School Early College model allows all enrolled students the opportunity to earn an associate in arts degree from Bard College, worth approximately 60 transferable credits, completely free of charge. This saves students and their families up to two years of college tuition, fees, and related costs. While there are additional costs of providing a college program in high school, Bard relies on funding from public and private sources to ensure that costs are not passed on to students and families.
Applicants at all grade levels. We are recruiting an incoming class of 125 ninth graders and a select number of transfer students into other grade levels.
Applicants will be notified approximately one month after the date of their interview. Please note that notification of admission status may vary depending on when you apply in the cycle.
For general information about Bard Early College, click here.
