How challenging are Barnard's classes compared to Columbia's?

calmom
Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:13:15 +0000

I think they are about the same. My daughter got slightly higher grades at Columbia than at Barnard - and as a freshman she got an A+ in a 5-point Columbia course that did wonders for her GPA from then on. (Actually, after her first year, every time she got an A- it brought her GPA down, which is a mixed blessing, as I don’t think students should need to stress out over an A-).

It’s hard to compare though because my d. also pulled very similar grades while studying abroad.

I do think that there is grade inflation at both schools and there was some recent discussion of that in the Spectator – [Students, profs talk grade inflation](Students, profs talk grade inflation - Columbia Spectator)

I do think that the issue is kind of muddled because profs seem to have high expectations of the students, and both Columbia and Barnard are filled with very smart, highly competitive students who generally have aspirations to attend grad school or professional school. My impression is that if my daughter put full effort into a class, she would get an A, and if she did all that was required but didn’t put extra energy, she’d get an A-.

I’d note that my d. was not a math or science person. She did get A’s in the required math/science courses, but certainly put in a lot of effort to get them. So I wouldn’t know how grades compare in those areas – my guess is that math/science classes are more likely to be graded on a curve.

Currently, the top 20% of the graduating class has a GPA of 3.8 or above – see [url=http://www.barnard.edu/catalogue/policies/grades]Grading & Academic Honors | Barnard College/url – this number is based on the average for the three proceeding years and crept upwards every year that my d. was at Barnard. My d. graduated summa cum laude, with her GPA just at the cutoff for 2010 – the same GPA won’t be quite enough for 2011.

Again, it’s hard to say whether this is grade inflation or a trend toward more serious & focused students as admissions gets more competitive. But the bottom line is that once my d. got the hang of things after her first semester - the work was hard, but the grading wasn’t.