When I was at UT, one of my lines in the Plan II info session was that there are more professors in the UT English department than there are at some small colleges. Now I know that one of those small colleges is charming little Bennington: located in the beautiful Green Mountains of southern Vermont.
But don't let Bennington's size fool you. This little school manages to pair the best of a small-school experience with some of the best off-campus study and internship programs around. This is the ultimate place to construct an intense interdisciplinary college experience.
This year's award for the most over-the-top hospitality goes to the friendly people at Bennington College. After my three-and-a-half hour drive from Boston, I got a personal tour of campus from a current student, free lunch in the campus canteen, and a one-on-one visit with our Texas admissions rep, Sarah McAbee. Ms. McAbee was incredibly helpful, and spoke warmly about Alexander Houthuijzen, STES '09, who was admitted to Bennington this past year and also had the chance to visit campus and correspond at length with students and admission staff. 
The hallmark of a Bennington education is the Bennington Plan, the four-year process by which students construct their course of study on campus. My tour guide Emily described this process as an ongoing conversation between her and her adviser, who she was matched with at the beginning of her freshman year. This adviser helped Emily refine her initial interest in painting and creative writing into a program of study that focuses on sculpture and cultures of communication. As Emily described this process--a four year "conversation" that demanded tons of writing, self-examination, and hard work--she emphasized that the Bennington experience is not for the faint of heart. "We work really, really hard here," she said. "We're always being told to ask why, why, why." An education at Bennington may be one of the most thoughtful and intentional around: every student has to take on the responsibility to construct--and then justify--their own education choices and come out with a coherent final product that pulls it all together. It sounds like hard work--but it also sounds like a ton of fun. Strikingly, Sarah McAbee noted that though a majority of Bennington students continue on to graduate work (e.g. law school, medical school, etc.), most don't take that plunge right away. Instead, most Bennington alums will wait a year or two to apply, giving themselves the chance to make a thoughtful decision about what they want to study and exactly why they want to choose that path.
What impressed me most about Bennington was the level of personal attention you can get at a place like this. When I walked into the admissions office, my tour guide Emily and two other students were stuffing big envelopes with green and white baseball tee shirts--Bennington in script on the front, the number 13 on the back--to send to all students in the incoming class. As we walked around campus, Emily greeted every person we met by first name, and each smiled back. When I asked her to identify these people, it turned out they were the provost of the university, the university president, an English professor, a Biology professor, the head librarian, and a member of the admissions staff. I was bowled over by the arts facilities: a 120,000-square-foot facility including two black box theatres, studio spaces for all students, a sculpture workshop, drawing workshops, dance studios, and digital media labs fully equipped with computers and sound equipment. If you're interested in getting a serious undergraduate degree while working with some of the best fine arts facilities available, Bennington could be the place for you. 
Bennington is pretty isolated: it's a three-and-a-half hour drive from Boston, and it's a long way to the nearest airport. It's a peaceful, quiet place; tellingly, my tour guide apologized for how "crazy" it was on campus the day I visited as we walked by a lone groundskeeper on a riding mower. Again, this is a place you choose because of its location, not in spite of it, but Bennington does a lot to connect students to the world beyond its bucolic environs. Bennington has a close relationship with Williams College, just a short drive across the border in Massachusetts, and students from both institutions can take classes at the other. Each spring, Bennington students participate in the Field Work Term, a seven-week period during the winter when students go off-site to work as interns, study abroad, or volunteer. Many of the internships are abroad and more still are available in New York City; indeed, my tour guide has spent two summers working as an intern in Manhattan museums. You can read about the Field Work term HERE.
As you might imagine, the ideal Bennington student is extremely self-directed and doesn't crave a lot of structure. But if this experience sounds exciting to you--the chance to think deeply about the world and your place in it and to participate in research and work at a high level--then this could be the place for you.
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