Barnard College Campus Visits: Share Your Tips & Recommendations

Did you recently visit Barnard College? Share your experience with the community! Post your review in the comments below.

Some ideas for what to share:

  • When did you visit?
  • Where did you stay? Would you recommend it?
  • Where did you eat? Did you try any local specialties?
  • How did you get there? What’s the best transportation mean to get to-from the campus?
  • What was the campus vibe?
  • What did you think of the dorms?
  • What are some must-see things in or around campus?
  • How were the school facilities?
  • Did you like it more or less than you thought you would? Why?
  • Did anything surprise you?

We’d love to hear any tips or recommendations you can share for people planning their visit!

We visited in April 2023. Best way to get to campus is via the Metro. We stayed in Manhattan. We signed up for an official tour of Barnard, but also got an informal tour of the college and of Columbia from a friend who is a Barnard student. If you visit Barnard, definitely walk across the street and check out Columbia since Barnard students use Columbia facilities and take classes at Columbia (if they want).

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Absolutely, once being a student at Columbia University, you will absolutely explore the university’s many different libraries, dining facilities/options, gyms/pools, etc. before settling on personal “favorites”. They may or may not all be the ones on the Barnard side of the campus.

The same is true in reverse: Some university grad students or students from Columbia College or SEAS, might prefer certain dining options, study spaces, professors, or courses held on the Barnard side of the campus.

So touring the entire university should be part of any visit.

PS. The big lawn in front of the Low Library is where the students of all the colleges and graduate schools of the university will be graduating together.

Just to clarify, for Columbia do not expect to see anything indoors during your tour (other than perhaps the student store). So you get a feel for the campus, but won’t see inside the libraries, dorms, dining halls, classrooms, etc., like many other tours.

On the plus side, it means you can easily informally see the same things just by walking around on your own.