Update (2025): Sadly, Simon's Rock is closing in 2025 and integrating with Bard College and their main campus.
I spent almost eight years of my life at this wonderfully crazy place called Simon's Rock (4 as a student starting in 1996 and 3+ on staff in the Computer & Media Services department, later renamed ITS).
What? You say you've never heard of Simon's Rock? Well, that could be because it is small (300-400 students) or because it's unconventional. Almost all of the students (myself included) are high school dropouts. Which just means that we got bored of high school and/or didn't fit in and wanted more of a challenge. Most students start Simon's Rock at age 16 or 17. Simon's Rock is, as the old website used to say, "unique and, we think, quite special".
It is (despite the obligatory kindercollege jokes) a real college, not a boarding school. The academic program (in most disciplines) is extremely rigorous, on par with (or better than) the Ivy Leagues and other top liberal arts colleges. People who transfer or go on to graduate programs typically remark on how much heavier the work load was at Simon's Rock. The faculty are excellent people who genuinely care about the students and teaching. Classes are interesting. Classes are small and usually discussion-oriented; you won't get lost in the crowd. If you want to study something that isn't offered, you can probably find a faculty member to teach it or supervise an independent study.
Simon's Rock isn't just about the classes. It's an intense social experience. It's a place where it's okay to like learning, a place to make friends who share your interests. If you've been to CTY or some other similar summer program, think of that for a whole year rather than just a summer. Then think of it for two years or four years. It's a place which, for many people, became home. (Home, as Robert Frost says, "is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.")
If you have stumbled upon this page as a prospective student in the hopes of learning more about the college, I recommend finding out what current students and more recent alumni have to say about Simon's Rock and themselves. They are your best resource.
(Last updated May 2005)