Baird College: Unveiling the Real Locations Behind Fictional College Dramas and Academic Excellence

While "Baird College" might evoke images of steamy college dramas like those seen in "Tell Me Lies," it's important to distinguish between the fictional institution and the real-world locations that bring it to life on screen, as well as the actual colleges that share a similar name or academic focus. This article delves into the filming locations of "Tell Me Lies," explores the history and academic offerings of Bard College, and sheds light on other institutions that contribute to the landscape of higher education.

Baird College in "Tell Me Lies": From Fiction to Filming Locations

The series "Tell Me Lies" follows Lucy (Grace Van Patten), Stephen (Jackson White), and their friends as they navigate university life at Baird College. However, Baird College isn’t a real place. The book series the show is based on is set on the opposite coast in California.

Agnes Scott College as Baird College

"Tell Me Lies" does film on an actual college campus. You’ll just need to travel to Georgia in order to see it. Instead of Hollywood or New York, "Tell Me Lies’" production is based in the Metropolitan Atlanta area, with Agnes Scott College in Decatur subbing in for Baird College.

Similar to how "Sex Lives of College Girls" used both Vassar College and the University of Washington for Essex College, "Tell Me Lies" filmed at a real university and made it look like the fictional school in the series. Production put up banners for Baird College around Agnes Scott College in Georgia to make it look official, but in real life, you wouldn’t see Stephen, Wrigley, or Evan walking around campus.

Agnes Scott College is actually a private women's college near Atlanta. Since it is an exclusive university, visiting this filming location isn’t easy. You can register for a campus tour if you’re interested in attending as an undergraduate student and spot filming locations while checking out the grounds.

Decatur, Georgia: Beyond the Campus

A Decatur local told the outlet Decaturish that "Tell Me Lies" used the Ice House Lofts apartment building and No. 246 restaurant for filming, so while you’re in the Atlanta area, make a reservation at the latter for dinner. You could even walk around downtown and see if you recognize any other locations after watching all episodes when the Season 3 finale drops on Feb. 17.

Bard College: A Real Institution with a Rich History

While Baird College exists in the realm of fiction, Bard College is a real, private liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Founded in 1860, the institution consists of a liberal arts college and a conservatory. The college offers undergraduate and graduate programs. It participates in a network of many affiliated programs internationally.

Early History and Development

During much of the nineteenth century, the land since owned by Bard was mainly composed of several country estates. In 1853, John Bard and Margaret Bard purchased a part of the Blithewood estate and renamed it Annandale. The following year, in 1854, John and Margaret established a parish school on their estate in order to educate the area's children. A wood-frame cottage, known today as Bard Hall, served as a school on weekdays and a chapel on weekends.

In 1857, the Bards expanded the parish by building the Chapel of the Holy Innocents next to Bard Hall. During this time, John Bard remained in close contact with the New York leaders of the Episcopal Church. With the promise of outside financial support, John Bard donated the unfinished chapel, and the surrounding 18 acres (7.3 ha), to the diocese in November 1858. In March 1860, "St. Stephen's College" was founded.

Expansion and Transformation

In 1861, construction began on the first St. Stephen's College building, a stone collegiate Gothic dormitory called Aspinwall, after early trustee John Lloyd Aspinwall, brother of William Henry Aspinwall. The college began taking shape within four decades. In 1866, Ludlow Hall, an administrative building, was erected. Preston Hall was built in 1873 and used as a refectory. A set of four dormitories, collectively known as Stone Row, were completed in 1891.

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In the 20th century, social and cultural changes amongst New York's high society would bring about the demise of the great estates. In 1914, Louis Hamersley purchased the fire-damaged Ward Manor/Almont estate and erected a Tudor style mansion and gatehouse, or what is today known as Ward Manor. Hamersley expanded his estate in 1926 by acquiring the abandoned Cruger's Island estate. By the mid-1900s, Bard's campus significantly expanded. The Blithewood estate was donated to the college in 1951, and in 1963, Bard purchased 90 acres (36 ha) of the Ward Manor estate, including the main manor house.

Key Figures and Pivotal Moments

In 1919, Bernard Iddings Bell became Bard's youngest president at the age of 34. In 1928, Bard merged with Columbia University, serving as an undergraduate school similar to Barnard College. Under the agreement, Bard remained affiliated with the Episcopal Church and retained control of its finances. The merger raised Bard's prestige; however, it failed to provide financial support to the college during the Great Depression.

So dire was Bard's financial situation that in 1932, then-Governor of New York and College trustee Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a telegram to the likes of John D. On May 26, 1933, Donald Tewksbury, a Columbia professor, was appointed dean of the college. Although dean for only four years, Tewksbury had a lasting impact on the school. Tewksbury, an educational philosopher, had extensive ideas regarding higher education. While he was dean, Tewksbury steered the college into a more secular direction and changed its name from St. Stephen's to Bard. He also emphasized the arts, something atypical of colleges at the time, and set the foundations for Bard's Moderation and Senior Project requirement. While Tewksbury never characterized Bard's curriculum as "progressive," the school would later be considered an early adopter of progressive education. In his 1943 study of early progressive colleges, titled General Education in the Progressive College, Louis T.

Transformation and Modern Era

During the 1940s, Bard provided a haven for intellectual refugees fleeing Europe. In 1944, as a result of World War II, enrollment significantly dropped putting financial stress on the college. In order to increase enrollment, the college became co-educational, thereby severing all ties with Columbia. The college became an independent, secular, institution in 1944.

Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's experiences at Bard prompted them to write the 1973 song "My Old School" for their rock group, Steely Dan. The song was motivated by the 1969 drug bust at Bard in which the college administration colluded. The DA involved was G.

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In 2020, Bard College and Central European University became the founding members of the Open Society University Network, a collaborative global education initiative endowed with US$1 billion. institution in recent history. In 2021, philanthropist George Soros made a $500 million endowment pledge to Bard College.

Controversies and Ethical Considerations

Throughout the early 2010s, Bard College president Leon Botstein maintained a relationship with financier, child sex offender, and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, from whom he received gifts and donations to Bard totaling $150,000. Epstein had presented himself as a philanthropist interested in Bard's educational programs, particularly its arts and music programs, as well as taking an interest in Bard's high school early college model for young gifted individuals ready to start college 2 years earlier than typically normal. Epstein made an endowment gift to the flagship Bard High School Early College in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, to which he added 30% to the High School's endowment that operates separate finances from Bard College.

Bard College Campus and Location

The campus of Bard College is in Annandale-on-Hudson, a hamlet in Dutchess County, New York, United States, in the town of Red Hook. In January 2016, Bard purchased Montgomery Place, a 380-acre (150 ha) estate adjacent to the Bard campus, with significant historic and cultural assets. The estate consists of a historic mansion, a farm, and some 20 smaller buildings. The college purchased the property from Historic Hudson Valley, the historical preservation organization that had owned Montgomery Place since the late 1980s.

In late 2023, Bard purchased 260 acres of land adjacent to the Montgomery Place campus in Barrytown, which used to be the campus of the Unification Theological Seminary. The property, originally owned by the Livingston and later Aspinwall families, features a mansion designed by William Appleton Potter. It was acquired by the De La Salle Brothers in 1928, who completed a large seminary and normal institute there in 1931.

Accessibility and Transportation

Bard is 90 miles (two hours) north of New York City and approximately 50 miles (one hour) south of Albany, with Amtrak service to Rhinecliff, New York, about nine miles south of Annandale. The Taconic State Parkway and the New York State Thruway provide the most direct routes to our campus.

There are two train stations close to Bard College: one in Poughkeepsie, New York offering Metro North, and the other in Rhinecliff, New York offering Amtrak. Amtrak provides service from Albany and from Pennsylvania Station in New York City to Rhinecliff, about 9 miles south of Annandale. Taxi service is available at the station. Travel Time: Approximately two hours (one hour and 40 minutes by train and 15-20 minutes by taxi). Contact Information: Rhinecliff station can be reached at 845-876-3364.

Bard College is accessible from New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) and LaGuardia airports, as well as from the airports in Newark, New Jersey, and Albany and Stewart Airport in Newburgh, New York. You can get to and from Bard College using local taxi services, regional bus services, or the Bard College shuttle.

Academics and Programs at Bard College

In the undergraduate college, Bard offers Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees. There are 23 academic departments that offer over 40 major programs, as well as 12 interdisciplinary concentrations. Academics at Bard focus on giving students a strong scholarly foundation with our core curriculum, then encouraging them to explore individual academic interests. In the classroom, the level of academic discourse is high, and students are in close contact with scholars who are active in their disciplines alongside teaching.

Admissions and Enrollment

For the academic year 2022-2023, Bard's acceptance rate stands at 46%. Out of the total 6,482 students who applied, 2,982 were admitted to the school. For the 2022-2023 academic year 447 students enrolled representing a yield rate of 15%. Admission trends note a 25% increase in applications in the 2022-2023 academic year.

Bard does not require applicants to submit SAT or ACT test scores in order to apply. As an alternative, applicants may take an examination composed of 19 essay questions in four categories: Social Studies; Languages and Literature; Arts; and Science, Mathematics, and Computing, with applicants required to complete three 2,500-word essays covering three of the four categories. For admitted students who submitted test scores, 50% had an SAT score between 1296 and 1468 or an ACT score between 28 and 33, with a reported average GPA of 3.79. Admissions officials consider a student's GPA a very important academic factor.

Graduate Programs and Institutes

Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts is a nontraditional graduate school for interdisciplinary study in the visual and creative arts.

The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture is a graduate research institute and gallery located in New York City. Established in 1993, the institute offers a two-year MA program and a PhD program that began in 1998.

The Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College (CCS Bard) established in 1990, is a museum and research center dedicated to the study of contemporary art and exhibition practices from the 1960s to the present. The museum, spanning an area of 55,000 square feet, offers a variety of exhibitions accessible to the general public throughout the year. It houses two distinct collections, the CCS Bard Collection and the Marieluise Hessel collection, which has been loaned to CCS Bard on a permanent basis. The CCS Bard Library is a research collection for contemporary art with a focus on post-1960s contemporary art, curatorial practice, exhibition histories, theory, and criticism.

Levy Economics Institute is a public policy think tank focused on generating public policy responses to economic problems.

Financials

Bard has access to multiple, distinct endowments. Bard, along with Central European University, is a founding member of the Open Society University Network, endowed with $1 billion from philanthropist George Soros, which is a network of universities to operate throughout the world to better prepare students for current and future global challenges through integrated teaching and research. As of 2025 Bard maintained its own endowment of approximately $395,986,151. In July 2020, Bard received a gift of $100 million from the Open Society Foundations, which will dispense $10 million yearly over a period of ten years. In April 2021, Bard received a $500 million endowment challenge grant from George Soros.

In 1990, Bard College acquired, on permanent loan, art collector Marieluise Hessel's substantial collection of important contemporary artwork.

Campus Life and Extracurricular Activities

Inside and outside the classroom, the focus of student life at Bard College is on campus. Civic Engagement Civic engagement is at the core of Bard College’s institutional mission, reflecting the fundamental belief that higher education institutions can and should operate in the public interest.

Arts and Culture

Arts at Bard Bard College offers the best of both worlds: a traditional liberal arts college with exceptional programs in the fine and performing arts. In small classes taught by notable faculty, students work closely with top professionals in their fields.

Athletics

Bard College teams (nicknamed the Raptors) participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Raptors are a member of the Liberty League. Prior conference affiliations include the Skyline Conference and the former Hudson Valley Athletic Conference. Women's sports include basketball, cross country, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, volleyball and squash. Bard College Rugby Football Club fields men's and women's teams that compete in the Tristate Conference, affiliated with National Collegiate Rugby.

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