Group - Bard High School Early College

Bard High School Early College (BHSEC), is an alternative public secondary school in New York City that allows five to six hundred highly motivated and scholastically strong students (approximately 70% of whom are female) to begin their college studies two years early. Upon entering, these students embark on a writing intensive journey and engage in far more critical thinking than the typical high school student does. BHSEC is located in the Lower East Side, Manhattan in a building previously occupied by Public School 97. There is a new campus for BHSEC, which is known as Bard High School Early College II, in Long Island City, but students are in a temporary location until 2009. Founded in 2001 as a partnership of the New York City Department of Education and Bard College and originally funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the school accepts students into the ninth grade and allows them to earn both a high school diploma and an Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree in four years. BHSEC was the first school in the Gates Foundation's Early College High School Initiative, which aims to improve education in the United States by introducing smaller public high schools which help remove the barriers to a college education by offering students a college education in a high school setting. Many of the teaching philosophies that BHSEC has implemented were originally developed at Bard College at Simon's Rock, the oldest and most highly regarded early college entrance program and the only accredited four-year early college to date. Many graduates of BHSEC transfer their 60+ college credits to another college or university and finish their Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in two more years; others opt to study for three or four years in their subsequent institutions. The tuition-free school is open to all New York City residents and attracts a highly diverse student body. Admission is highly competitive and is based on a comprehensive set of factors, including grades, an essay and math exam, and an interview. In admitting the class of 2001, 900 applicants made it to the interview stage of the application. Approximately 6000- 8000 applicants vie for approximately 148 seats each fall. Due to the limited number of spaces available at BHSEC, in Fall 2008, a new school, properly name, BHSEC II will be located in Long Island City as more gifted students in New York City are offered an early college education.