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Bad Education

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Worst Trust-Fund-Baby College: Bennington College (VT)

With the exception of the converted barn that houses the school's administrative offices, the quaintest thing about Bennington is its business model. With a high price tag, low graduation rate, and esoteric approach to academics, the college has become a mecca for entitled rich kids with artistic pretentions who reek of Pimm's and patchouli. Last year, the school ushered in 73 percent of its applicants. Next year, after dispensing with SAT requirements for incoming freshman, they may well admit the entire student body of Chico State. Instead of letter grades, students have the option of being subjected to "critiques" by their faculty and peers. Ahh, the rigors of pseudo-academia.

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Illustrious Alumni: Extortionate former gossip columnist Jared Paul Stern (right) and enfant terrible writer Bret Easton Ellis—who subsequently trashed the school in his novel Rules of Attraction.

Notable Course: "SHHH! The Social Construction of Silence," a class focused on breaking down the classification of silence as an absence of sound and "establishing it as a presence." Or, the class where you sleep off your hangover.

Raw Data: A 60 percent graduation rate and the proud look on your parents' faces when you tell them about your new coke addiction.

School Pride: As one Students Review poster puts it, "Unless you value an extremely isolated environment with the lamest town in the world around you, self-absorbed pretentious hippies, a very 'white' homogeneous campus, and a lack of a wide range of courses in one discipline, do not come to Bennington College."

Fun Fact: The number of bird species on campus (121) is more than the number of black (10), Hispanic (18), international (19), Asian (14), and American Indian (1) students combined.

Tuition: $36,800 + room and board


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