Barnard vs. Wellesley and Smith

calmom
Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:00:46 +0000

I thought since Columbia kind of feels superior to Barnard, they’d intermingle there and Barnard women would have to look elsewhere

Columbia is not a monolithic body with a singular feeling, like the Borg in Star Trek. It is a large student body of young men and women. Most aren’t thinking about being “superior” to anyone – and those who arrive at school with that attitude have it knocked out of them rather quickly. It’s more likely that a typical Columbia student (male or female) arrives on campus feeling kind of intimidated by the whole thing.

It really depends a whole lot on you and your interests. My d. likes to go to baseball games; she was active in campus political causes – so she is doing the kind of things that guys also like to do. She was not interested in dating during her first three years, as she was still involved with a boyfriend attending a different school – but she had male friends she could hang out with. Probably more male friends than female.

You really have to keep in mind that it is an urban setting, most socializing takes place on the city streets near campus rather than on campus, and there is no way to know whether a given female student is from Columbia or Barnard unless you ask or that student chooses to tell you. My daughter found faces in her Barnard yearbook after she graduated of women students she had known for years, but never knew that they went to Barnard. Obviously many students tend to make friends with others in their dorm and hang out in the dorm a lot – and that isn’t a very effective way to meet men – but my d. tends to go out and about for her socializing.