<p>I am curious why posters above feel the need to stress the word “HONEST” when asking about opinions re the Barnard/Columbia relationship? Do you think all the other times this has been addressed we have been less-than honest?</p>
<p>thank you for your responses. i don’t feel that anyone has been dishonest. i just wanted to make sure that people wouldn’t be afraid to share their experiences, even if they were extremely negative.</p>
<p>at this point i’ve decided that barnard has way more advantages than disadvantages, and i wouldn’t let an awkward social situation keep me from an otherwise perfect school. now i just have to apply and get accepted!</p>
<p>I was not implying or inferring that anyone here was being “dishonest”- and of course, I’d like to thank you all for this. </p>
<p>However, I know that a lot of people are a little touchy with the some of the topics discussed here. I just didn’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable with giving the most honest answer possible. (I’ve talked to countless posters who say one thing there and another here in order to avoid heated debates.) </p>
<p>Further, as the above poster mentioned, I think we should encourage people to share their honest opinions no matter how negative their experiences were. (People are always going to have different experiences, so no need to be argumentative if you disagree.)</p>
<p>That is all. Cheers.</p>
<p>Barnard is a great school. My older son attends a different great LAC (obviously), and I’m a huge fan of the LAC.</p>
<p>My younger son attends Columbia College. With all respect and affection for the Barnard moms on this thread, I want to clarify that the “seamless academic integration” mentioned earlier between Columbia and Barnard seems to run one way only. In my son’s major, one of the most popular at both institutions, he needs consent from his advisor to take a course in his major at Barnard. Not a big deal, but not seamless either.</p>
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<p>This one is easy-- my daughter told me this within the first few weeks of the first semester.</p>
<p>The GS students are the smartest in the school. if there is a difficult concept being addressed in a class, the GS students will be the first to grasp it while the other students are struggling.</p>
<p>
Each department sets specific requirements for their own majors, and that could require that some specific courses for that major be taken within the school. However, a large number of courses are considered “joint” or “interfaculty” --they are labeled with either a “W” or “V”, even though they may be given at Barnard. (A Barnard-specific course would be labeled with BC). </p>
<p>I don’t have any direct knowledge of Columbia’s practices, but I would note that getting an advisor’s approval for things at many colleges, including Barnard, is pretty much a pro forma process. Barnard students must get their advisor’s approval in any event as part of the process of finalizing course registration, and they need to have their advisor’s approval to receive credit for courses taken while studying abroad – but study abroad is very common. My d. never seemed to have any difficulty or issues with getting approval – so I’m not sure why it would be seen as a barrier by Columbia students. One reason for the requirement might be to ensure that the course content was not duplicative of either other Columbia classes in that department, or content covered in the core. (I’m sure that there are many Barnard classes in different areas – such as philosophy, history, religion, political science, etc. – that probably overlap heavily with core content). </p>
<p>A final note – it ended up that, except for courses taken while abroad, all of my d’s courses in her major were completed at Barnard. Some of the profs in that department were awesome, and class size was generally smaller – so there really wasn’t much motivation to take her major coursework at Columbia. The real value of the Columbia presence was when it came to elective courses or fulfilling the 9-ways of knowing requirements, in terms of the sheer array of offerings. For example, Barnard requires 2 years of a foreign language (unless a student tests out of the requirement) – any stand-alone LAC the size of Barnard would only be able to offer a handful of the most common languages. But the presence of Columbia means that Barnard students can choose from dozens of language offerings. In fact, I think one reason that the 9-ways concept works so well is that there is such a huge array of courses available. It’s ironic, it’s as if Columbia has set out an enormous buffet with thousands of menu offerings, and then requires its own students to order a pre-selected menu - whereas Barnard has come up with a plan to encourage its students to sample widely. The core could as easily be taught in a very small school (such as St. Johns) – but the “9 ways” approach probably benefits from having a large-university array of options.<br>
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<p>Thanks for clarifying the “honest answer” thing. </p>
<p>I hope I do not come across as defensive or argumentative about the Barnard/Columbia relationship thing. Probably what does come across is a bit of frustration and for that I apologize. I have been on these boards answering this same question for quite a few years now, and I need to remember that it’s always a very valid question for those just getting to know about Barnard to inquire about! However, over those years there have been a few really abrasive individuals who insist that all Barnard students are there only because they really want to be Columbia College students; that they “always” tout themselves as Columbia students; that no Barnard student would ever chose Barnard if they got admitted to Columbia College (which I can dispute from first-hand knowledge!); etc. So this sort of dialogue that has happened (mainly over on the Columbia boards) in the past tends to add to my, ummm, “enthusiasm” for the topic, I guess. And the people who say those sorts of things are most often high school kids who have not even attended school there yet!</p>
<p>All I can tell you is that my daughter’s experiences at Barnard did not include personal encounters with Columbia students who were rude or condescending, etc. Yes there were the annual Varsity Show jokes, but that was not a big deal to her. She loved her years at Barnard and her time in the various Columbia groups in which she participated. Those are the only experiences to which I can personally attest. But I certainly do respect and welcome the personal accounts of those who might have had different experiences!</p>
<p>@churchmusicmom At Latin Nationals, (NJCL) my daughter placed 1st in the nation in two different categories , she is the Editor in Chief of her School Newspaper, VP of Student Council, an AP Scholar, National History Fair (1st Place State), in partnership with the University of Texas Health Science Center she was a research assistant on neuroscience research that has been submitted for peer reviewed publication, She serves as a Teen Art Guide at the McNay Art Museum, and is a teacher’s assistant at Sunday School, is fluent in multiple languages, started a book club, has excelled in every AP Course offered at her Nationally Recognized Public Magnet School. She has the pre-requisite Test Scores and GPA . Each and every person that has read her application essay has been moved to tears and said that it was the strongest they have ever read and should be published. Barnard was her 1st choice and she applied and was accepted ED. Part of the requirement of applying ED is to withdraw your applications to other schools once you are notified of acceptance, (a task my daughter did with joy), so technically we will never know if she would have been accepted any place else, and I can admit a proud fathers bias, but when I hear about Barnard being a back door to Columbia, well if she wanted to I believe my daughter could have strolled in through the front door, and they would have held it open for her and smiled as she passed.</p>
<p>Wow, davidmarne, congrats to you and your daughter!! She will have a fantastic time at Barnard and be an asset to her class. She is a great example of why Barnard is such an exciting and stimulating school to attend. </p>
<p>And I agree, Columbia (or any other school) would have been lucky to have her apply. All the best to her and to you! Enjoy being a Barnard parent!</p>
<p>how heavily do the admissions officials weigh GPA? my test scores are very good (2200 first time for SAT, 35 practice test for ACT) but my GPA is a 3.6. i take all honors and AP’s.</p>
<p>hi, I am a newly admitted international student to Barnard College. Just curious about Barnard’s graduation rate and whether it is easy for Barnard women to find a job without any graduate degree(i mean Barnard is an LAC and not vocation-oriented any way). BTW, how much does it cost at Barnard (in NYC) a year except the tuition of around $40,000?</p>
<p>Please help! I’m seriously considering Barnard, but some of the stuff on this site has scared me that the Columbia students make it unpleasant. Is there really that much friction?</p>
<p>No.
…</p>
<p>Snippy: definitely no.</p>
<p>My daughter, a soph at Barnard, would also say no. To be totally honest there is a bit of a semantics issue here … Columbia ia big school with a ton of students. Over the 2 years, taking courses at Columbia, doing research there, and hanging out on campus a lot there have been a couple times she has heard a comment or two. So … a lot depends on how the occational comment hits you … for my daughter the comments slide off and she figures there are a few idiots in any population of thousands … for others those comments are more troubling … neither is right or wrong but just how they experience the situation.</p>
<p>For my D who graduated a couple years ago, it was a non-issue. No problems at all. She was very involved in Orchesis, a Columbia University dance group, and felt very involved in the larger University environment, and she is a very, very proud Barnard alum.</p>
<p>sorry in advance if this question was already answered somewhere. I really want to go to Barnard, but I also was accepted to Wellesley and my parents are pushing me toward going to Wellesley. Their reasoning is that Wellesley is the #4 Liberal Arts college in the country while Barnard is #26. ([National</a> Liberal Arts College Rankings | Top Liberal Arts Colleges | US News Best Colleges](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges]National”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-liberal-arts-colleges))
Is there a specific reason why Wellesley is ranked so much higher than Barnard?</p>
<p>The ranking system doesn’t take into account Barnard’s shared resource arrangement with Columbia. They look at Barnard’s endowment as reflecting its total resources. They look at the size of Barnard’s library as if that was the only library its students have access to. They look at Barnard’s faculty as if those were the only teachers available to Barnard students. Etc. </p>
<p>Barnard is pretty much a 2 for 1 deal. You get Barnard + Columbia. </p>
<p>Wellesley is Wellesley. An excellent college, but if your parents are really that focused on ranking or prestige, I don’t see how they can ignore the Ivy affiliation.</p>
<p>It’s great to see that others have been answering questions for prospective students. Barnard really is an amazing place.</p>
<p>aileenlu09: Right now it seems that with a degree from any school it’s still difficult to find a high paying job without some sort of graduate degree, especially if your major is not, as you say, vocation oriented. I was always a member of the camp that preached to do what you love, though, and I think that’s very important. In my experience if all you’re going to college for is to get a “good” job, it may not even be worth it to go at all, and especially to a school with such high tuition. But if you do what you love, the rest will come.</p>
<p>As for NYC expenses, they’re pretty high, but it all depends on what you want to do. A round trip on the subway alone is $4.50, and food is pretty pricey. I have often felt left out because I can’t really afford to go out to a lot of places with friends. That being said, there are also plenty of free things in the city too, and you can have fun if you put up with big crowds; we do still have a good amount of on-campus events too. Just make sure to budget a little bit each week for entertainment so you can enjoy what the city has to offer.</p>