<p>My 16 year old D. has narrowed her choices to these 3 schools. She’s an artsy nerd and an old soul. (Favorite band is The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper was released when I was 2 yrs. old). We live in NYC, so she’s urban, but my D. is a home body. She wants to major in either the Classics, linguistics or a European language, such as Russian or Gaelic (she’s already fluent in French and has taught herself some German). However, she’s really a math/science girl (describes calculus as “fun” and her biology prof at Bard Early College (who previously taught bio at Columbia), thinks my D. would make a great research scientist).</p>
<p>So of these schools, any suggestions as to which school would be the best fit? My preference is Barnard (the respective financial aid packages are still being determined) as she’ll be close to home and she doesn’t drive. Plus, she doesn’t turn 17 until this coming November. She is great in classroom discussions (very assertive and even challenging according to her HS profs), but somewhat shy in social settings unless she knows you.</p>
<p>I’d love to hear from parents who have a young D. at any of these schools or younger students like my daughter.</p>
<p>My D, who graduated from Barnard in 09, had just turned 18 about two months before starting school at Barnard. She absolutely loved it there. She came in wanting to major in either dance or English and ended up a neuroscience major and is currently working on her PhD. </p>
<p>I can’t give you comparatives on Wellesley or Bryn Mawr. But I can tell you that your D and mine sound very similar, and Barnard was the perfect fit for my D.</p>
<p>Best to you and your D…what a great decision to have to make! Congrats!</p>
<p>All excellent schools. It’s hard to see a way to judge except by fit and financials. My D, who adored her time at Barnard, did not apply to Bryn Mawr or Wellesley. She did apply (and was accepted at) Smith and Mount Holyoke. I thought she’d make a mistake in not applying to the two others.</p>
<p>She found Wellesley too snobbish (my apologies to Wellesley women – a young kid talking, I do not agree.) I think she found Bryn Mawr geographically undesirable. Haha. Our trip from LI to PA involves so many bridges, that she preferred the New England schools.</p>
<p>Barnard stood alone for her as her number one. She loved the city, the Columbia connection, and Morningside Heights. </p>
<p>This might be an interesting ruler to use for your D. My D said, “I don’t want four years in a bubble at college, I want to start my life.”</p>
<p>Because she knew she wanted to spend her life in NYC she wanted to start making connections and being an adult immediately. It has worked out that way since she is currently in law school in NYC. She has three groups of friends: friends from HS who have moved into the city, friends from Barnard who have stayed there, and new friends from law school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my S went to Williams. He wanted that time in the bubble to contemplate the stars without our local light pollution. He hiked, climbed mountains, did very different things than I think he’ll be doing in the future. It was four years of very rigorous summer camp. Now he is coming home and starting over, something my D did not have to do.</p>
<p>If you present it this way to your daughter, perhaps a light will go on.</p>
<p>My S was not 16, but he was 17 when he when to school and he was fine.</p>
<p>Thank you for your response. My D surprisingly did not apply to Smith or Mount Holyoke but applied and was accepted to Sarah Lawrence and Holy Cross. I’m glad that Barnard was a great fit for your D and that she’s working on her PhD. My daughter’s dream is to be a professor of literature at Trinity College in Ireland, so she’s definitely grad school bound. I’m leaning towards Barnard and my wife seems to be too. Our D claims that she’s still undecided. She really likes Barnard though and last summer took a class there (she still has her Barnard ID proudly hanging in her room).</p>
<p>She’s also thinking about Bard College at Simon’s Rock. The attractive thing about Bard is that she would come in as a junior. She attends Bard High School/Early College so she’ll be graduating with both a HS and AA degree. I understand that Barnard will take only 16 credits of her courses at Bard HS/EC.</p>
<p>Mythmom: Interesting observations on your D and S. My D seems to want to start on her career ASAP but in academia instead of the “real world.” I was initially interested in having her attend college a little further from home, thinking that it would give her a little more street savvy. My wife thinks it’s better for her to be closer to home, and feels that the Barnard campus would provide that happy medium. My D was accepted to NYU as well, but she’s lost interest as she found that it liked the close knit personality of Barnard and Wellesley.</p>
<p>My D visits the Wellesley campus for the first time this Friday. I guess we’ll see what she thinks.</p>
<p>Good luck whatever she decides. She obviously a brilliant and accomplished young woman. I am a professor of literature, but not at Trinity College, Dublin, sad to say. I am sure any of these English Departments would be wonderful.</p>
<p>Simon’s Rock would have a lot of kids her age, but many of them transfer out for the end of their educations. I am not sure it would be as academically challenging/stimulating as the other choices, but what do I know? I see her HS every time I drive into the city from our Suffolk County Home.</p>
<p>What great options … congrats to your daughter. All 3 are great schools with great academics. To me Bryn Mawr and Wellesley are the most similar … beautiful campuses in nice suburban towns failry close to big cities. Barnard is the most unique among these 3 with an urban environment and it’s relationship with Columbia. Again what great options. (I have a daughter at Barnard who loves it … however she very much wanted an urban environment so the location is a HUGE plus to her)</p>
<p>An update. It appears as if my D has narrowed her choices to either Barnard or Bard. Barnard has awarded her with a very generous financial aid package, a major, major plus. But she likes the idea of starting as a junior at Bard – gee, the idea of her starting grad school at 18 would be both wonderful and scary at the same time. My understanding is that the academics at Bard are very, very good, though there is more of an artsy tilt. The decision is ultimately my D’s, though I think that my wife and I will recommend Barnard in the final analysis. </p>
<p>Interesting - I’m a lawyer with a daughter who wants to be a lit professor and you’re a lit professor with a daughter in law school.</p>