<p>Admissions is separate. My D. graduated from Barnard in 2010 - she also very much liked the Columbia campus when she toured – but she never considered Columbia as she was looking for a more flexible curriculum. She actually would have preferred an entirely open curriculum – like Brown – so Columbia’s core was a non-starter for her. For about half the time she was at Barnard, half the campus was inaccessible due to the construction of what I guess they now call the Diana Center – it didn’t open until toward the end of her senior year – so I’m sure my D. probably ended up spending more time physically on the Columbia campus than Barnard.</p>
<p>I do think that the advising system at Barnard is far better than Columbia-- students at Barnard work very closely with faculty members, with a shift in advisers when they choose their major. Plus there’s a thesis adviser, and my daughter also worked very closely with the Dean in charge of fellowship advising. My daughter applied for a prestigious fellowship after she had been out of college for a year and then 2 years later applied to grad school, and she was able to go back to work with the faculty and get support and recommendation letters – plus she really spoke highly of Barnard’s career advising as well. </p>
<p>I don’t think that Barnard really cares whether a student has applied to Columbia or not, but I do think they probably look for clear signs of interest and fit in the application process. So if someone really prefers Columbia and is just throwing in another application to Barnard with the idea of it being some sort of backup in case Columbia rejects them – I think that probably is usually apparent in the application, and those students are probably more likely to get turned down than the ones who are showing more enthusiasm for Barnard in their application. So I don’t think it would be too helpful for you to push your daughter into applying to Barnard just because you like it better – Barnard is still very selective and they probably will pass on a student who doesn’t seem to connect with them.</p>