<p>Is there conflict between Barnard and Columbia? Is it detrimental to the Barnard experience? Is it a reason to not consider either school, especially Barnard?</p>
<p>I was wondering the same thing…I just got accepted to Barnard (and absolutely loved it when I visited!), but I wonder if it feels a bit weird being like Columbia’s less prestigious sibling? Apparently, B & C students are on sports teams together, take classes together, and can even live together in B && C dorms. Everything sounds good, but I’m the kind of person who would probs still have an inferiority complex. But, hey, if you want a small school feel with all the extra resources of Columbia, Barnard is a pretty sweet option! Plus, can’t lose with city life</p>
<p>BUMP. Accepted with the same reservations! Not to mention the fact that every single person I meet has to make the “barnyard” joke…I mean come on, where’s the respect? </p>
<p>There are a million prior threads, but a little hard to find now (by me anyway) as the new forum search features get sorted out.
For instance, my post,and the one below it, here:
<a href=“Ask a Barnard Junior Anything! - #129 by monydad - Barnard College - College Confidential Forums”>Ask a Barnard Junior Anything! - #129 by monydad - Barnard College - College Confidential Forums;
<p>DD is a Columbia College graduate from a few years back. She had friends at Barnard and took a few classes there. It just wasn’t a big deal. During the course of her four years there I heard only one mention of anything about Barnard said with an awareness that it was a different entity and that was at graduation…I guess that at some prior graduation apple cores were thrown at the Barnard students during the ceremony because they had not taken “The Core”. D mentioned it on graduation day as an aside but I saw nothing like that taking place. I would suspect the most there would ever be is the occasional bit of snark (from both sides) during comedy performances on campus.</p>
<p>When DD was looking at colleges I pushed Barnard hard. I think having a select smaller experience within a larger university is the best of both worlds and while she loved her time at Columbia there were a number of times that I wished she was across the street. (Shhhhh…don’t tell her I said that!)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. This is legitimately the only drawback I see to Barnard as of now, but it doesn’t seem like such an issue anymore. </p>
<p>My daughter is a Barnard alum (2010). I honestly saw no evidence of any true conflict or issues between students of various campuses while my daughter was there – and never any sort of complaint or comment from her. She took classes at both campuses and had friends at both – it’s hard for me to even write “both” because she really saw and experienced Barnard as part of the larger Columbia community. D. still lives in NYC and has a circle of friends that includes grads from both schools. </p>
<p>There is some college-culture humor that means that certain jokes are made involving stereotypes related to various colleges and majors. My daughter is a cynic with a great sense of humor – so it’s possible that things that would bring a smile to my daughter’s face would be taken as offensive or upsetting by someone who is more thin-skinned or easily outraged. Think of it as akin to blonde jokes – many women find that very offensive and sexist… but it always has seemed to me that blonde women do quite well. </p>
<p>That doesn’t mean that life at Barnard (or any other college) is perfect. But my sense was that the monetary class issues (kids from public high schools on financial aid vs. well-to-do kids from elite private prep schools) were far more of a dividing line socially. That probably is true at most private college campuses, but life in NYC might tend to make that more significant, given the impact of pocketbook issues on day-to-day lives in a city that has a wide array of choices for shopping, entertainment, dining out, transportation, etc. </p>
The two schools are completely integrated and share everything.
^That is not…entirely true. They don’t share everything, and while Barnard is affiliated with Columbia, they aren’t “completely integrated.” They do share a high level of integration, though.