After Barnard - Grad School

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

<p>Hello everyone!</p>

<p>I am a junior and I’ve lately considering Barnard for college. The atmosphere seems ideal to me and the affiliation with Columbia an amazing chance.
However, my mother is extremely put off by the rankings. Barnard may be an amazing school but what about graduate studies? Since its ranking is not very good, does it mean that I will have trouble being admitted to a very good university (let’s say an Ivy) for a master’s degree?
I am a non-US citizen, in a country where people know pretty much nothing about colleges in the USA, so how is it with Barnard’s reputation?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance</p>

2

<p>I got into an Ivy with a degree from a no name state U. Barnard has a much better rep than my school did. It rests on the.quality of your own work.</p>

3

<p>Barnard has an excellent reputation. My D was admitted to all her top choice grad school programs (for neuroscience).</p>

<p>A couple of things: USNWR rankings are based in large part upon a survey given to college administrators, in which they rank other institutions based upon THEIR own perceptions. Barnard, along with quite a few other colleges, pulled out of participating in that survey, as they felt it added little info of real value. </p>

<p>Also, the rankings do not con side the access that Barnard students have to Columbia University resources (libraries, facilities, classes, etc). That is just silly and has little real life bearing on the Barnard experience. Hopefully, your mother can be made to understand this and also, hopefully you both can visit Barnard in person some time soon…</p>

<p>Best to you!</p>

4

<p>The degree you get from Barnard is from Columbia; Columbia U. essentially dictates the academic standards for Barnard faculty. (That is, the President of Columbia has veto power over hiring & tenure decisions). </p>

<p>Barnard is part of a group of colleges that used to be known as the 7-sisters -those are the women’s colleges that also include Wellesley, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, and Byrn Mawr. The other two former 7 sisters were Vassar, which is now co-ed, and Radcliffe, which merged with Harvard. This stems from the days when most of the Ivies (Harvard, Yale, etc.) admitted men only, so the 7 sisters were the most prestigious colleges for women. All of the 7 sister colleges remain well-known and highly respected. </p>

<p>I think your mother is confused by “rankings”. The US News list is not official - its just a way for a magazine publisher to generate revenue, and no one in the world of academics pays attention to those “rankings”, except for the people in admissions who are worried about boosting the rankings of their own school. But they rely on other sources of information or their own experience when evaluating the quality of applicants for admission to grad schools. </p>

<p>In any case, Barnard is not ranked “low”. Any college within the top 50 is considered excellent – and it is very common in the US for students to attend lower ranked schools that offer merit aid for financial reasons. Many colleges much farther down the list are highly regarded – their students win prestigious awards and fellowships and attend top grad schools. For example, schools such as Bard(#51), Rhodes (#51), Reed (#57), Beloit (#60), Knox (#71), Lewis & Clark (#71), St. John’s (#71) are all highly regarded for graduate admissions. Obviously how well you do in school is an important factor. </p>

<p>A better measure in the US as to which colleges are respected in terms of graduate admissions may simply be to look at which colleges have phi beta kappa chapters. See <a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/choosingacollege/a/phi-beta-kappa.htm[/url]”>http://collegeapps.about.com/od/choosingacollege/a/phi-beta-kappa.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Barnard is the most selective of the seven-sister colleges, though the one that most consider to be the “best” in terms of academic reputation is Wellesley – I don’t know why and that may have to do with historic factors</p>

<p>However, Barnard does not promise to meet full need of international applicants - they offer financial aid to only a small number of international students each year – so if you would need financial assistance to pay the ~$250,000 it will cost to attend Barnard over 4 years, you might look elsewhere.</p>

5

<p>[nsf.gov</a> - NCSES Baccalaureate Origins of S&E Doctorate Recipients - US National Science Foundation (NSF)](<a href=“http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/]nsf.gov”>http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/infbrief/nsf08311/)
Table 2 lists the PhD productivity of some of the North American institutions. This list doesn’t reflect professional schools such as law or film where my daughters are going, but it can give you an idea.</p>