<p>I just thought I’d start a parent thread, so we can help other CC’ers, including newly admitted Barnard students, Barnard applicants, and their parents, to know who we are – since we can answer many of their questions – and so newcomers will know who we are. </p>
<p>So, for that purpose, I’ll reintroduce myself:</p>
<p>I am the parent of a Barnard first year student, class of 2010; we live on the west coast, SF bay area. My daughter is a dancer and interested in studying psychology, linguistics, Russian language, political science, and/or international relations. Right now her major is undeclared and she is focusing on “9 ways of knowing”. Also, my daughter receives need-based aid from Barnard, so I have a little bit of experience with the financial aid department, too.</p>
<p>I am the parent of a Barnard second year student, class of '09. We live in the Atlanta, GA area. My daughter is also a dancer and has loved being able to continue her training at Barnard while embracing very challenging and stimulating academics. She plans to declare her Behavioral Neuroscience major next semester and to minor in dance. She also receives some aid and has a work-study job, so I might be able to answer some questions (though not as well as Calmom, I am sure!).</p>
<p>My daughter is also in her first year at Barnard, and we live in Southern California. She is interested in journalism, politics, photography and more. Right now she is taking a broad array of courses and had a great first semester. She also got involved with the Columbia Spectator (the daily newspaper) and enjoyed that. She chose Barnard over several other liberal arts colleges and larger universities, so I'm pretty well versed on the pros and cons of the various schools as compared to Barnard.</p>
<p>My D is a second year and like Marvlounge we are from Southern California.
D was accepted at Wellesley, Occidental, Whitman, Davidson and Bryn Mawr.
By that point she was very big on women's colleges and New York city. I would have been happy with any of these colleges. Her choice was more visceral than logical, which is unusual for her. There was something about Barnard that drew her there.</p>
<p>My daughter was also accepted at Bowdoin, Kenyon, Colby, Michigan and GW. Each of these schools has very good academics and each school had something she wanted. However, after visiting them and talking with students over a several month period, she concluded Barnard seemed to have more than any of them, particularly: </p>
<p>(1) Best of both worlds -- she liked what liberal arts schools had to offer on the academic side, but was concerned about the limited social opportunities. She liked the opportunities at a great research university like Michigan, but was worried about getting lost in the crowd. Barnard seemed to have the best of both worlds -- the academics and faculty interaction of the liberal arts schools, but the resources of a large research opportunity because of the Columbia connection.</p>
<p>(2) Location -- at first the atmosphere afforded by the traditional liberal arts college seemed very appealing, but having grown up in an urban setting, she became concerned about spending four years in rural Maine or Ohio. </p>
<p>(3) Opportunities -- she had a couple of great summer internships in high school and wanted the go somewhere she would have great internship possibilities. If you talk to any Barnard students in their upper years, it seems all of them have great internships, and this was very appealing. </p>
<p>(4) Peers -- she knows a bunch of kids who go to school in the NY area, and there was a strong sense NY was the place to be. </p>
<p>My daughter was also accepted at Michigan and our state flagship U (with full tuition available). One of the huge draws for her was that Barnard offeres absolutely top-notch academics while allowing her to continue to train as a dancer. She has also auditioned successfully in NYC for some professional theater work , even though at this point her plan is not to to work professionally in theater full time for the rest of her life. Being in NYC and at Barnard particularly affords her the opportunity to actively pursue opportunities in both "worlds": academic and artistic.</p>
<p>Kind of simple here -- Barnard was the only private college which accepted my daughter which also offered enough financial aid to be affordable to us; if it were not for the finances, I don't know how she would have decided as between NYU (Gallatin) & Barnard. Many other nice acceptances, but for financial reasons there really weren't any other choices.</p>
<p>My d is in her second year at Barnard; I'm a Barnard alum. We're in the midwest. Probably will be a comp lit major. Barnard was her first choice but she applied RD because she was planning a gap year, and ED applicants cannot defer enrollment. She worked and spent 6 months in Belgium. She is very happy at Barnard, taking great classes, has wonderful friends. Also accepted at Mt Holyoke, Sarah Lawrence, UW-Madison...it seems so long ago and far away I can't remember where she applied (after all that fuss). My second d just got an early acceptance from NYU. She wants to be in NY but the Barnard/Columbia atmosphere did not appeal to her. She's more artsy, Village-y. Barnard felt too intellectual for her, I think.</p>
<p>Just to set the record straight: My daughter was just accepted ED and she DOES have the option to defer enrollment, right there in the letter. She's actually thinking about it.</p>
<p>Perhaps this is a change from prior years, don't know.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your replies. D is in 10th grade and we are going to visit Barnard this summer. I think it would be a good fit for her, we'll have to see what she thinks!</p>
<p>ahisma, my daughter is also more the artsy, village-y type -- which is why the choice between NYU/Barnard would have been difficult if finances weren't a factor. But after a semester at Barnard I can see that the academics are top notch -- it is amazing how much my d's intellect has already been stretched. That part isn't exactly fun -- it's a lot of hard work and when a student is in the midst of it there can be a lot of griping and groaning -- but I know that down the line she really is going to appreciate the quality of the education she received at Barnard. She realized last spring that what she really liked about NYU was the social aspects, and that living in Manhattan she could have both -- and she really does spend a lot of time socializing with NYU friends in the village. </p>
<p>But I do think fit is important -- so I am sure your younger daughter has made the right choice. My d has a lot of NYU friends, and they are doing well and happy.</p>
<p>One more parent here. We are from the NYC suburbs. Daughter is a first year student who, at first, did not like the idea of attending school a short train ride away. When I took her to visit the campus, she fell in love. Barnard was her first choice. She also was accepted at Tulane, University of Miami, Scripps, and our State University of New York at Stony Brook. She intends to major in science. She likes the strong female support sytem and has made some good friends.</p>