Barnard Myths

MLeigh
Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:56:34 +0000

This TOTALLY DEPENDS on how things work out for you. There are definitely guys around. But I ended up doing a bunch of extracurriculars at with all women and haven’t met any guys from classes, so I don’t have any male friends here. It’s definitely my least favorite part of Barnard, because I had a lot of male friends in high school. I’m starting to get a little bit insane about it, to be honest – there are perks to living with all girls but I’ve never been particularly girly so I do miss being able to screw around with my guy friends sometimes. BUT there are lots of girls at Barnard who do have male friends from Columbia; so, as I said – totally depends.
I have met one lesbian (that I am aware of).
Not that I have seen particularly. There are definitely some stuck-up rich girls, but they are a VERY significant minority. I think we are for the most part a down-to-earth bunch.
I don’t think so. It can be very difficult, yes. It really depends on what courses you’re taking. I inadvertently ended up in four VERY work-intensive classes my first semester, which was hellish, even though they were for the most part very interesting. This semester I ended up, somehow, in a slew of boring, non-work-intensive classes, which isn’t great. You have to try to guess what will be a good balance. It will be a lot of work but it’s generally manageable.
TINY. Seriously: so, so small. Columbia is a bit bigger (whether or not you’ll be over there a lot depends on your classes and your social scene; I’m there a few times a week but that’s all), and Morningside Heights has a campus feel overall, but Barnard (though very pretty) is very small. It can feel snug, and it can feel claustrophobic, but I think most people just get used to it pretty quickly. And having things like the dining hall/gym so close is really nice.