Satisfying Barnard distribution requirements at Columbia
I know that Barnard students can take any courses they want to at Columbia. Barnard's distribution requirements are the 9 Ways of Knowing, and the Barnard website helpfully lists which Barnard courses satisfy each of the 9 ways. But how does a student determine which Columbia classes satisfy each of the 9 ways? Just asking because adding the Columba classes in gives more choice. What is the easiest way to know what you are satisfying when you are trying to choose your courses?
The Columbia classes will also be listed in the documentation available from Barnard as to which courses satisfy the 9 ways. There really is no distinction. That is, whatever lists Barnard puts out as to which courses satisfy which requirements will have Columbia/Barnard courses all mixed together. The vast majority of courses housed at Columbia are "V" or "W" courses (not "CC") and designated "interfaculty". Many introductory level course are offered interchangeably between the campuses -- that is, the same course, with the same course number, may be offered one semester by a prof at Barnard and the next semester by a prof at Columbia; you could even have one course with multiple sections the same semester, given at different campuses. Students would choose which course to enroll in based on their scheduling needs or the information they have about the professor, not the location of the classroom or the name of the school.
From what I understand there's really no way of differentiating whether a class is taken at Columbia or Barnard when you're choosing courses other than seeing BC in the course number (BC means Barnard, obviously). Both Barnard and Columbia classes are listed in the course catalog and the only Columbia classes that Barnard students can't take are classes from the Columbia Core.
The only way you can know for sure that a class will be taught at Columbia or Barnard is if the class you're taking is only offered at one of the schools. For example, Barnard does not have a Computer Science or Statistics department so all of your CS and most (if not all) of your Stat classes would be taken at Columbia, whereas only Barnard has a Dance program and two of your requirements are Barnard specific so all of your Dance classes and First-Year Seminars would be taken at Barnard. It also depends on your major - some are more of a mix of the two schools (Architecture), while some are more Barnard heavy (English) and others are more Columbia heavy (Math and Physics).
Thanks, everyone. So, is it the case then that the only courses labeled "CC" are Columbia core courses? That would make sense I guess, and would explain why there are no CC courses listed here as satisfying Barnard distribution requirements: https://barnard.edu/provost/teaching/gers/courses
I'm not actually LOOKING for Columbia classes, just want to be sure that I'm seeing every single course that might satisfy the Barnard general ed requirements.
Yes -- every course you see listed on that page with "V" or a "W" could be taught at either Barnard or Columbia -- you would have to look up the course itself to find out where it is taught. Sometimes it can be confusing. For example, if you look up "HSEA W 3850 Contemporary Chinese Culture and Society" you will find that the course for next fall is given in a room in Hamilton Hall (Columbia), but taught by a Barnard professor and offered via the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Department at Barnard.
I honestly don't think most students even care about this. When you sign up for courses you will be looking at what is available in the time slots you have open; what seems interesting to you; and you will probably want to check out reviews of the course and the professors that teach it in CULPA. You will probably also be influenced significantly by what other students tell you. You'll get intrigued and want to take the classes your friends are raving about, and want to avoid the ones they are griping about. You won't really care which side of the street it is on.
There's a great list that tell you which courses satisfy requirements, and if a class you want to take isn't on the list, emailing your advisor can sometimes get you a good answer. Lots of columbia classes are on that list as well. I take the class that has the best reviews (which can be found on CULPA.info) and usually I don't worry where it is--unless it's in a building super far away, in which case I might drop it. For instance, I'm taking at astronomy at Columbia instead of Barnard because the professor here had a tricky accent.
Yeah, that's all relative, I suppose. Two of my kids attended the University of Georgia, and you could literally walk for miles, up and down hills, to get from one side of that campus to the other (or take a bus). They were pretty tickled when they visited their sister at Barnard and walked around THAT campus and Columbia.
The most "super far away" Columbia class I ever had was held in a building called Knox Hall, which is at 122nd Street - 2 blocks north of the northern edge of the Barnard/Columbia campuses, or about a 1/10th of a mile off campus.
After first year, it's quite possible that a student's housing will be farther away than that (and often there are buildings on the Columbia campus that end up being a shorter walk from wherever the student lives than buildings at Barnard.)
I think my d's happiest year in terms of housing was while living on 110th St., 6 blocks south of the edge of the Barnard campus, but only 4 blocks south of Butler Library. I helped her carry back dozens of library books in the days before she graduated ... Butler was definitely a lot closer!
