<p>One of the things that I’m not so sure about with Barnard is that, even though I love the city, I also really love camping and the outdoors, which I know is a bit hard to access in the middle of New York City. I haven’t found any information on whether or not there are any opportunities to do this sort of stuff at Barnard, but that’s one of the main things I plan on asking once I get to visit.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how the financial aid is for ED, although I’ve heard that it’s not a good idea to go ED if you’re unsure if you’ll be able to pay. I’m no expert, though. :P</p>
<p>KaiserinSisi, I’m pretty sure there is probably a club that does camping and stuff. You just wouldn’t get to go as often if you went to… say… Dartmouth.</p>
<p>Ditto^
Central Park is actually pretty incredible once you get into the thick of it, you can’t camp there but it’s actually very quiet and peaceful.</p>
<p>There are definetly clubs that would allow you to do that, but some of them are based out of columbia.
[Home</a> - Columbia University Hiking Club](<a href=“http://www.cuhc.net/]Home”>http://www.cuhc.net/)</p>
<p>Thank, Jaden! I had gone through the list of clubs in Barnard and Columbia, but I guessed I missed that one! And I know what you mean about Central Park. I love it there, though I was only there for about 20 minutes. </p>
<p>And Rainbowrose, I’m fine with not going to often. I only get to go when my Girl Scout troop and Venture Crew go, which is about 2 or 3 times a year. ;D</p>
<p>I love camping and hiking as well! Although Manhattan isn’t exactly an outdoor mecca, a fairly quick train ride will get you to some beautiful hiking trails. </p>
<p>I love so many things about Barnard. I love the idea of a small liberal arts school with small, discussion-based classes, but a good number of those were in the middle of nowhere, and I’m a city girl. BUT I really wanted a campus, which 9 out of 10 city campuses don’t really offer. So I wanted a small liberal arts school with a beautiful campus in a huge city with lots of school spirit and a great advising system with lots of sports to cheer on. Whew. I thought I’d never find a school like that, and I was prepared to compromise, but then I found Barnard!!! <3</p>
<p>How hard is it to get from the train stops to the trails? How would you do it without a car? I’m not all that familiar with the area around New York City. </p>
<p>If your not from NYC, one of the most amazing things is the public transportation system it’s pretty incredible. I would say probably around one hour to the trails.</p>
<p>Wow, so the public transportation goes right to the trails, more or less? I’m used to being in a area where a car is a necessity if you want to get anywhere. Thank you!</p>
<p>From what I’ve gathered, the main difference is the fact that Barnard is a small, LAC with smaller, more personal classes. There also seems to be a different atmosphere at each, though I can’t say this for certain since I haven’t visited either school.</p>
<p>Barnard is focused on undergraduate education, with strong advising and close relationships between faculty and students. Columbia is a large research university. Class size can be variable at each, but my impression from my d. was that the smaller classes she took at Columbia were taught by grad student TA’s rather than the tenured faculty. </p>
<p>So basically its the same LAC vs. large research university factors you might look at with any 2 colleges – but of course Barnard students have access to most courses at Columbia, and it works in reverse as well – Columbia students can sign up for classes at Barnard if they decide they would prefer particular Barnard profs or course offerings.</p>
<p>A big, tangible difference between the two schools is their curriculum. Columbia has an incredibly structured Core that the students bond over – Barnard has a more flexible set of requirements that allow you to personalize your own liberal arts education.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I don’t know a single undergrad TA at Columbia. At Barnard, I’ve been a TA since my second year.</p>
<p>I respect what Barnard can offer. I’m a huge fan of liberal arts colleges. I’m confused, however, by calmom’s assertion that her daughter’s smaller Columbia classes were taught by graduate student TAs (a phenomenon that my Columbia son has not yet experienced), which is apparently a bad thing, while mysteryflavored has been a TA at Barnard since her sophomore year (presumably a worse thing in calmom’s view, although better in mysteryflavored’s view).</p>
<p>Seriously, Barnard offers a different, but not lesser or better, experience from Columbia. Sing the praises of Barnard (as you should!), but don’t try to compare it with Columbia. They’re different.</p>
<p>(My other son, a senior at an elite LAC, has not had a TA in any class.)</p>
<p>Columbia’s graduate TAs actually run the show in some cases (not all), “assisting” in facilitating smaller classes which is something one professor cannot do on his own. I’m personally an intro bio lab TA – I “assist” a lab instructor, I don’t teach a lab. My point is that Barnard offers me this experience as soon as I’ve completed the course myself, which is something none of my UG friends at Columbia have had access to.</p>
<p>I have had both my physics labs at Columbia taught entirely by graduate TAs. It was not an ideal experience – they were not on board with what was being taught in lecture, and each TA had vastly different requirements and grading standards. They were also generally poor instructors.</p>
<p>In addition, every single discussion section I have taken at Columbia has ALSO been fully run by a graduate TA. Better experience (they are not responsible for teaching and grading you, just facilitating discussion), but the same point.</p>
<p>Sometimes classes aren’t available at Barnard. For instance, I want to take Chinese in college, but Barnard doesn’t offer it. Columbia, however, does :)</p>
<p>My daughter’s language sections were all taught by TA’s at Columbia; I also had the impression that her statistics class was taught by a TA. </p>
<p>She also had recitations for larger classes led by TA’s, but that occurred for classes taught by Barnard faculty as well as Columbia classes. Ditto with the lab section – her class was at Barnard, the required lab was at Columbia, TA in charge.</p>
<p>Not necessarily a bad thing – she got along great with some of the language TA’s. The very likely were native speakers (I don’t know for sure). On the other hand, the TA who taught the stats class was also a native speaker of a language other than English, which didn’t help with the task of explaining concepts to his students, though I had the impression that he was a very nice guy. </p>
<p>As to the question a to why the classes are taken at Columbia – its because that’s the way it’s set up. ALL lower level classes in my daughter’s language department are taught at Columbia. The irony was that my daughter’s advisor was the head of the language department at Barnard - so even though my d. was taking classes from TA’s, she was on a first name basis with the dept. head, and frequently dropped in to chat with her over the years. </p>
<p>The stats class was required to fulfill the quantitative reasoning requirement for 9-ways of knowing – Barnard doesn’t offer a whole lot in the way of lower level math classes, and the only class that my d. could fit into her schedule was the Columbia course. </p>
<p>That’s something to be aware of – Barnard simply does not function as an entirely separate school from Columbia. It would be very difficult for most students to get in all their requirements without taking some Columbia classes. The “Barnard curriculum” is structured with the assumption that students will be taking courses at both campuses. (Without Columbia, they’d probably have to require “5 ways of knowing” instead of 9… jk )</p>
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