What do you really love/hate about Barnard?

barnardgrad09
Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:31:36 +0000

Loved:

-The sense of empowerment that Barnard gave me. A strong feeling of agency regarding both my intellectual knowledge and my ability to do amazing things in life.

-Sisterhood. Knowing that Barnard students and alums are devoted to each other.

-The reputation of Barnard in the job and internship market (especially in NYC where Barnard is well-known). An interviewer once told me that “knowing I was a Barnard student was enough”. She said she had never been unhappy with a Barnard student or alumna.

-I honestly loved every place I was housed through Barnard - and I lived in campus housing all four years. I had, at various times, high-floor Hudson and city views, and a huge apartment that I shared with one other person.

-NYC at large! Love Morningside Heights (city or college town? who knows?); love the Upper West Side; love the city.

Didn’t necessarily love:

-If you are a reader of CC, you have probably noticed that the term “feminism” is usually (always?) used disparagingly in regards to Barnard. Well, I think that sucks. The main reason I love Barnard is because it instills feminist values (Go out there and do what you love! Speak up! Kick some ass!), and I think it’s a shame that some students won’t use the F-word. Speaking of which, the Barnard Center for Research on Women sells a shirt, or at least used to, that says “Dare to say the F-word: Feminism.” If only everyone felt that way!

-Barnard’s (and its students’) identity crisis, especially when the crisis manifested as a) too much competition/cattiness with Columbia and its students, and b) too much obsession with “Boys! Live Boys! - I swear, I still date them!” …fortunately, issues with these things were mostly concentrated around the applying to Barnard and first year time.