<p>Hi, everyone! I recently committed to Barnard only to get accepted off of Amherst's waitlist a week later. I really love Barnard and the idea of living in NYC, but at the same time...how could I turn down Amherst? Any opinions? I'm stressing out a bit...How do the academics and social life compare at each? School spirit? How would you describe the student body at each? Diversity and interaction of classes? What type of community feel is there? Interaction with professors? </p>
<p>look you have committed to Barnard, whats not to love about college in NYC, at barnard you will love your undergrad and meet lots of amazing people, there is a great deal of diversity at Barnard probably as much as amherst, do you want to live in New York or in a small MA town, i know which I would. Barnard is great my bf went there.</p>
<p>OP you canāt go wrong. I am imagining that finances are the same since you donāt mention them. If so you are extremely extremely fortunate. If I were you I would go with my gut instinct. They are both amazing places although the city / college town is different. Either school has close connection with other schools. Morningside Heights has Columbia right there, and Union Theological and other schools in the neighborhood. NYC at your doorstep. Amehrst has the 5 colleges and free bus service, tons of students and stuff going on.</p>
<p>Are there any advantages regarding your area of study? </p>
<p>Congrat either way and enjoy it! </p>
<p>There are obvious differences in location. School spirit? What a strange question to ask about these particular schools! These arenāt āschool spiritā type of colleges. I imagine Amherst is smaller and more intense. But Iām sure Barnard is as intense as you want to make it. How to describe the student body? Donāt you know anything about them? If above posterās bf went there then no boyās are allowed to matriculate whatever that means. Just because you committed doesnāt mean you have to go there, thatās what waitlists are all about, you stayed on the w/l for a reason I guess. But if you are more into being in NYC then donāt hesitate. Up to you.</p>
<p>If you need to make use of cross registration, Barnard is a bit more convenient, being across the street, while Amherst is a mile away or so from the nearest cross registration school (although there is a bus).</p>
<p>Without being connect to the two, I can only make an informed speculation about school spirit differences - and they are going to come from two totally different directions. Barnard is a womenās college, so it has that vibe. (I did tour and it does have that vibe that you donāt find at co-ed schools, even if Columbia is across the street.) The women that attend there will be very loyal to their school, but in a way that is different from Amherst. Amherst is a NESCAC school with all that entails. They have sports rivalries, intense ones, and the whole school tends to get involved, or at least feels the impact, even non-sports people. Since Barnard women play for Columbia, I canāt imagine the sports intensity at Barnard ever gets as intense as Amherst, but Barnard women do feel intensely about their school, just in a different way.</p>
<p>Iām sure ābfā in the previous post meant ābest friendā, not āboyfriendā. I was a bit confused for awhile as well.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great replies, everyone! Right now, Iām really struggling between city and suburb/rural/not city/whatever. NY is amazing. But also I really love the female empowerment aspect of Barnard. Barnard women do have such pride in their school like @MrMom62ā mentionedā¦But Amherst admissions are so competitive; itās hard to turn down the name recognitionā¦Also @momcincoā I havenāt gotten fin aid yet, but Iām expecting Amherstās aid to be the same if not better</p>
<p>Btw it was hard for me to decide on Barnard, but when I did decide I really sold myself on it. Had I been accepted to Amherst RD though, I wouldāve gone in a heartbeat</p>
<p>OP keep us posted re. fin aid, I have heard they are both very generous. Above all let us know your final decision!</p>
<p>@momcincoā will do! (:</p>
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<p>If money is a non-issue, I think your answer is right here.</p>
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Whatever you do, donāt make a decision based on perceived prestige or name recognition ā and if that is important to you, keep in mind that at Barnard, you will also be studying at Columbia. This is not just theoretical ā I think that my d. spent more time attending classes on the Columbia campus than at Barnard during her first two years; there were times that she had classes 5 days a week at Columbia and only 2 days a week at Barnard. It isnāt even technically accurate to call it ācrossā registrationā¦ Barnard students have one system for course registration, which lists all courses offered on both campuses together. And of course, the degree you ultimately earn will be awarded by CU. I think that standing on its own, Barnard has equal status and name recognition among employers and grad schools.</p>
<p>That being said, I do think you should wait to see the financial aid award. If aid is important to you, then that very will might have been the deciding factor in any case, even if you had been admitted RD to Amherst.</p>
<p>^I came here to say what calmom said. If you are already really in love with Barnard, and have committed yourself there, donāt get swayed just because Amherst has better make recognition.</p>
<p>I also agree that the cross-registration is really quite free between the campuses (I work at Barnard and have TAāed classes at both campuses). In fact, I co-taught a class at Columbia that was primarily Barnard students. I couldnāt tell the difference. I also know so many Barnard women who are interning at prestigious New York companies because of the location. The college is very well-known and respected; I donāt think thereās a huge difference in the prestige between Amherst and Barnard, and Barnard students certainly have more access to these things (especially in finance. I feel like everyone at Barnard/Columbia is either pre-med or pre-banking/finance, lol).</p>
<p>I went to a small LAC myself - a womenās college quite similar to Barnard - and as I worked at Barnard, I kept thinking to myself that Barnard is just perfect, the best of both worlds, and I really wish I had known about it as a high school student. You get access to the world-class resources of Columbia but still get to attend a small, intimate, empowering womenās college right in the heart of the city.</p>
<p>@juilletā thanks for the thoughtful reply! Iām still stuck between them, but have until Thursday to reply</p>
<p>@MrMom62ā I think I wouldāve picked it right away because of the prestige tbh I almost didnāt apply to Barnard until they extended their RD deadline, and now Iāve talked myself into really loving it, and Iām not sure Amherst is the place for me /: itās hard to turn down NY. Also I know obviously not everyone at Amherst is preppy and sporty, but what is the student body like? I really want to sort though any stereotypes surrounding the college and get the real scoop. Amherst is so ethnically and socioeconomically diverse, as well as interest-wise, yet Iāve still heard people say Amherst is set in some of its old ways</p>
<p>NYC is not a great place for undergrad unless you are from the area and have a lot of money. Barnard is a neither nor. Itās neither a real LAC not is it really Columbia. Amherst is hands down much better college than Barnard and nearly a full order of magnitude better endowed with a smaller student body. Further, anything Amherst College doesnāt offer is available through the five college exchange.</p>
<p>Postpone any ideas of study in NYC until itās time for grad school.</p>
<p>N.B. You wonāt have any grad student TAās at Amherst - only profs, but you definitely will have TAās at both Barnard and Columbia. Also, do you really want the Barnard dilettantish ānine ways of knowledgeā stuff as opposed to an open curriculum.</p>
<p>@rhg3rdā I was thinking the same thing regarding grad school. Plus, though I donāt think I count as a millennial (?), millennials andāI can only assumeāgenerations to come will no doubt continue to flock to cities as is. Iām sure work, grad school, love of city life, or whatever will take me back to New York in my 20s. Also, prof attention is VERY important to me as well. Iād been wondering how many TAs there would be at barnard </p>
<p>Iāve visited both with my daughter. Do not decide without visiting!!! They are so radically different, Iām certain youāll know the answer after you visit. Start driving today you have to!</p>
<p>Whatās your prospective major? </p>
<p>My d. had very close, personal relationships with many professors & Deans at Barnard. She also had TAās in larger classes, but TAās didnāt stand in the way of access to the professors. Generally, the Barnard TAās were involved in grading papers ā again in larger classes ā but I remember one case where my d. was unhappy with something really dumb the TA did in grading her paper and went to see the prof ā I know that story because the prof fixed her grade and also said, āyou write very well for a first year studentā - which of course made my d. very happy. (The dumb thing was that my daughter made a literary allusion, and the TA graded her down for being āwrongā because the TA had seen the movie but not read the book, and apparently the movie version was different than the book).</p>
<p>My dās foreign language sections were essentially taught by TAās at Columbia ā but that experience would depend on the language being studied ā and my d. became very close friends with one of her TAās, a Princeton grad. So TAās arenāt necessarily all that bad. Both my kids have also had TAās in grad school ā again, more often in a paper-grading capacity than in a teaching capacity. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that TAās at schools like Columbia are typically grad students, and they provide something of a generational bridge - that is, you might have a 24 year old TA and a much older professor, and may find sometimes that it is easier to talk to or broach a subject with the TA than with the the prof ā for all sorts of reasons. (Maybe you feel intimidated with the prof,maybe thereās a personality issue and the prof seems very egotistical or set in her ways, or maybe you need help with a minor issue and donāt want to trouble the prof with it, for example).</p>
<p>Soā¦ what is giving rise to to this concern about TAās for you?</p>
<p>@calmomā thanks for the input! Iām mostly worried about not having enough interactions with professors, but it seems like TAs can be an advantage/lifeline in bigger classes and, as you mentioned, that professors are always accessible especially when it comes to grades. Iāll mostly be in humanities and languages (possibly social sciences, not positive yet), so I canāt expect those classes will be too big?? Unless the social science classes are intro, right? I suppose Iām more worried of being lost in a big class</p>