<p>Hi all, I’m a high school senior who was recently admitted to Barnard. From the way things look, I will be attending Barnard in the fall. </p>
<p>I’ve never been to an all-girls school before, and having done a bit of research, I’ve found that the general consensus is that many of the girls at Barnard are spoiled, preppy rich girls. Is this true? Furthermore, I would greatly appreciate it if a current Barnard student could elaborate a bit on the social scene: I understand parties are not a big part of Barnard, and that it may be difficult meeting guys. What do you recommend, then, to meet guys? What types of clubs might one join? I am big on philosophy, politics, international relations, and such. Are there any specific clubs you might recommend? Is the social scene at Barnard hard to break into? Do you ever find that Barnard is cliquey? </p>
<p>Also, in terms of academics, what do the professors go for here? I’m sure classes vary depending on the teacher and subject, but for any political science/philosophy student, what has your experience been? Do the gunners get the top grades? Are grades given based on discussion and participation or exams? Or am I completely misconstruing the college academic scene?</p>
<p>Please be completely honest. I don’t need anyone to “sell” Barnard to me, given that I’m probably going there regardless of what people say. I would, however, like to get a good, candid idea of what Barnard is like before I attend. </p>
<p>Funny. There is plenty to love about Barnard, and I wrote about that. I did not take the “spoiled rich girls” comment seriously, and I also did not do as much research into the social scene until after I applied. I understand that there would be a variety of reasons why someone might post something so caustic, and I’m not here to start an online flame war. I would just like the frank opinion of a Barnard student regarding the social scene.</p>
<p>Hopefully you will get responses from current students. Until then, here is one from the mom of a graduate.</p>
<p>Of course there are wealthy girls that attend Barnard. Some of my D’s friends from her days there have been traveling the world and appear to still not have gainful employment several years after graduating…but my D (who was on financial aid and had various jobs to support herself all through school) just fondly rolls her eyes at this. She also had friends who worked their way through school, not “spoiled” or “rich” at all. She had no difficulty making friends during her time there…including friends who attended CC and SEAS. </p>
<p>As for meeting boys, just get involved in campus-wide activities and you will meet them. They will also be in your classes. You will also have opportunities to meet people during the week of orientation.</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptance! Best to you…try not to worry!</p>
<p>My daughter is a current student and has found that most of the students are on some type of aid, just like she is. Most are working, just like she is. There are men in almost all of her classes (except the Barnard specific First Year Seminar and First Year English). She’s involved in a lot of campus activities at both Columbia and Barnard and meets boys through all of those activities. I’m not sure where you’ve gotten your research information, but it doesn’t jive with my daughter’s experience so far.</p>
<p>My daughter relied on financial aid & at any given time had 2 or more part-time jobs as regular employment. She probably worked somewhat harder than many because she also wanted to travel abroad, so she was generally working to save up money to finance the travel as well as to pay for living expenses. But she would agree with you that there are “many” complacently rich girls at Barnard; also there are many complacently rich girls and boys at Columbia. I think “complacent” is more accurate word that “spoiled” - many of the students from privileged backgrounds are very nice, open, and friendly individuals – they just often lack sensitivity or awareness to the fact that money doesn’t come easily to others.</p>
<p>I think you would find that situation at any private college or university. The bottom line is that even if half the students are on financial aid, the other half aren’t, and in general it takes a lot of wealth these days to fund a college education. And NY is a place where it is possible to spend a LOT of money if you are so inclined. Many students do choose to attend Barnard & Columbia precisely because they want to take advantage of what NY has to offer, so in that environment it is unrealistic to expect that those who have money would curb their own lifestyles in order to accommodate less wealthy friends. So it does tend to encourage students to socialize mostly with those with similar financial circumstances.</p>
<p>NY also is a place where there are loads of things to do very cheaply or for free, so its not as if those without money are missing out. But they will end up moving in different circles - choosing different venues to shop and eat, etc. </p>
<p>2016BarnardMom is mistaken about “most” students being on some type of aid – I think roughly 45% of Barnard students receive some level of grant assistance, and some of those only qualify for a small amount – so probably it is more like around a third of the students who qualify for a significant amount of aid. The actual stats are easy to check. But her daughter’s perceptions probably reflect her actual experience – it’s likely that “most” of the people her daughter meets are in roughly similar financial circumstances, simply because students will tend to gravitate toward social activities or venues that they can afford. </p>
<p>My daughter had no problem meeting males. New York is full of them. That’s fortunate, because there are many nice young men who don’t happen to attend Columbia. My d. had male & female friends who attended other colleges, including NYU & CUNY, as well as Barnard & Columbia. It’s a big city with a highly reliable public transit system that lets you go wherever you want. </p>
<p>I think one thing that is important to understand is that you would be attending a school with a LOT of different people. You will meet people based on your own interests. If you are interested in politics, then you will have no difficulty meeting oppositely-gendered individuals-- just get involved in whatever political cause fits your interest.</p>
<p>Yes, my daughter’s perception may be skewed on how many are receiving aid. She knows a lot who work and it is possible that even kids who aren’t on aid have parents who encourage them to work for their own personal spending. She hasn’t found people to be snobby though.</p>
<p>Well, my D is in her second year at Barnard and is generally happy. My D was primarily interested in attending a woman’s college and Barnard seems to have been the perfect choice. I’d describe her experience as being that of Barnard essentially being an all-woman “residential college” that is part of a major university. She has a few male friends from “across the street” as many Barnard students like to say. But the relative small number of male friends is due to her personal choice (she started as a shy 16 year old her first semester) rather than lack of opportunity. She took a fair number of her classes at CC (Columbia College) and found little distinction between classes at CC versus BC.</p>
<p>My D finds the workload significant, but not overwhelming and the professors (both Columbia and Barnard) accessible and friendly. In fact, she is very friendly with one of her profs from last year, whom she will take another class with next fall.</p>
<p>We live in NYC, so my D comes home most weekends even though she lives in one of the dorms. She has a part time job in the library. And she loves the food, which is notable because my D is both a vegetarian and a picky eater.</p>
<p>In sum, with only minor exceptions, my daughter is very happy with her choice. She plans on going to grad school and is considering Columbia as one of her leading choices given that it is, as she says, “the devil she knows.” I suspect that if you are looking for a serious and stimulating college experience that offers both a small LAC/large research university experience, you will be very happy with Barnard as your choice.</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot, as to grades, based on my D’s experiences, grades are based primarily on exams, participation (if it’s a seminar style course) and labs (if it’s a natural science). Her only complaint that she had was with the TA for her lab work in classical physics. Evidently the TA routinely posted the lab assignments later than he should have, which frustrated my daughter. But beyond that, she reported no issues with the class work.</p>
<p>First of all, I haven’t read previous answers. But. I want you to know straight away - Barnard is nowhere near cliquish. In fact, about a month ago I was having this conversation with someone, and we couldn’t come up with a single example of a clique.</p>
<p>I’m not a polisci major, but I want to tell you that classes differ very much. My econ professor insists we keep a discussion even though there are some fifty kids in her class. Well, econ is as close I came to a social science thus far.
If I had to give you a piece of advice, it’d be to toughen it out. Courses have a tendency to become increasingly more interesting as semester progresses. And use CULPA. In my experience, it is usually pretty accurate.</p>
<p>Meeting guys is easy as long as you join clubs. I think there’s a polisci club that has a giant number of participants. Also, you can join whatever you want - people here are so amazing!</p>
<p>Current student here! I’ll try to be thorough…</p>
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<p>Nope. Of course there are some spoiled, preppy rich girls, but that’s par for the course at an elite liberal arts college. There are all kinds of people here and the majority are very friendly and down-to-earth. Also, as someone who’s far from rich and has to be careful about spending money (I have significant financial aid and all of my disposable income comes from my work study job), I actually feel like my situation is the norm rather than the exception.</p>
<p>And I’ll answer your question about breaking into the social scene and cliqueyness here as well. It’s no more cliquey or difficult to break into the social scene here than it would be at any other school. If you’re shy and tend to isolate yourself, of course you’re going to have more trouble getting socially integrated than someone who’s naturally outgoing, but I think it’s quite easy to make friends. Admittedly, it can be hard to find a “group” because social life isn’t 100% centered on campus and a lot of people prefer to go off and do their own thing around the city, but almost everyone here is able to form meaningful relationships.</p>
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<p>Who told you parties weren’t a big part of the social scene? There are a lot of people who choose to either hang out in the dorms or explore NYC’s bars and such for nights out, but if you want to get involved in the party scene, it’s absolutely present. On any given weekend there will almost certainly be frat/club-sponsored parties all over the place and if you’re really desperate you can always just get signed in at EC (East Campus, arguably Columbia’s biggest party dorm) and party-hop. Also, even if that’s not your scene, chances are you’ll find yourself at plenty of parties through club involvement and the like. </p>
<p>As for the guy situation, it’s not much different than any other school - I’d say it’s more like living in a women’s dorm at a co-ed college. There are girls who’ll tell you it’s hard to meet guys, but as long as you join clubs and/or go to parties and actually make an effort instead of expecting guys to come flocking to you, you’ll be able to meet them easily. </p>
<p>The only issue with getting involved with guys romantically is that it is still a college campus, which means there’s a HUGE hook-up culture. If you want casual hook-ups you’ll have no trouble finding them, but dating can be harder and serious relationships are somewhat rare. Plenty of people still do date (in fact, I’ve been seeing a Columbia guy from one of my clubs all this year and we’re still going strong, though now that I think about it we did actually start with a drunken hook-up…), but if you’re uncomfortable with casual sexual encounters, you’re going to have a harder time.</p>
<p>Also, if you’re a bit more adventurous and are willing to expand your reach past Columbia, online dating is a pretty big thing here. It is NYC, after all.</p>
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<p>It sounds like CIRCA would be up your alley - it’s Columbia’s IR/Model UN club and it’s big and very active. CU Dems is another gimme, since it’s easily one of the biggest, most diverse groups on campus. Your options may be more limited if you’re conservative because the vast majority of the student population here (especially the politically active population) is liberal, but the conservative groups do tend to attract more guys so if that’s your primary concern…</p>
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<p>Ooh, this is a tough one to answer because you really can’t generalize. There’s not really a universal thing that professors “go for,” but I will say that they can pretty much all detect BS from a mile away. Also, contrary to what the brochures may tell you, it can be difficult to form relationships with professors in your freshman and sophomore years because intro classes are pretty large and you’re surrounded by 50+ other super smart, type-A students who are trying just as hard as you to get on the professor’s good side (though you definitely will get to know your FYE and FYS professors quite well). That said, I’m an underclassman, so I imagine it gets easier once you’re taking upper level seminars and the like.</p>
<p>Now, for the grading procedure. The weight of class discussion/participation varies depending on the class - it will hold a lot of weight if you’re in, say, a small English seminar, but in a larger lecture, you’re lucky (or unlucky, depending on your interpretation) if attendance is even taken into account. The math and science classes can be pretty brutal because every exam is weighted VERY heavily and if you mess one up you can’t really redeem yourself through class participation, but since your interests tend to be in non-Econ social sciences and humanities, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue for you. </p>
<p>In your typical (non-Econ) social science lecture course, your grade will most likely consist of two essay tests, a final paper, and, in most cases, attendance - sometimes there’ll be a little more than that, sometimes it’ll just be the midterm and the final. If you’re an excellent writer, you attend all of your lectures, and you at least try to keep up with the readings, you’ll be a-okay; if you’re not a natural writer and you skip class all the time, you’re screwed. That said, don’t get too cocky - almost all of the girls here come in thinking they’re brilliant writers and most of them get smacked in the face once they start getting their first essays back.</p>
<p>Another thing worth noting: There’s a HUGE stress culture here. You’ll constantly be competing in the stress Olympics and everyone LOVES to brag about the absurd amount of work they have to do. The truth is, it’s really not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. You just have to learn how to prioritize and accept imperfection because there’s no way you can do every reading and get As on every paper. </p>
<p>Hello!
Rising senior here. I don’t normally comment here but I feel the need to add some information, because a lot of people who answer these questions are either students who are in love with the school or parents who may be too removed from the culture to provide an inside perspective.
Barnard doesn’t neccessarily consist solely of "spoiled, preppy rich girls"but it can still be very difficult to connect with people or find a solid community. If you go to Barnard, or any school in New York City, people usually don’t spend nearly as much time on campus as they would at other colleges. People tend to go off campus a lot and as a result there aren’t nearly as many opportunities to form close bonds. Barnard often boasts that they’re a “small tight-knit community” in a larger city but this only goes so far. I personally have found other students to be very independent and often cold towards one another.
Also, in my opinion, Barnard is cliquey in the sense that if you’re not a stereo-typical “hipster” you won’t have much to talk about with other people. My interests usually don’t align with the other girls’ which I can move past sometimes, but often becomes a barrier in meeting people.
Finally, people keep saying that it’s easy to meet boys if you just join a club. Keep in mind, that at best, Columbia students are prejudiced against us and, at worst, they despise us. I’m not going to sugar-coat the relationship between the two schools. It’s bad and there’s a lot of tension on the other side of the street. This will be the main thing that can prevent you from meeting guys and other Columbia students in general.
I have made much better friends out in the city than in school. As a senior, I feel like I only take classes at Barnard, while the rest of my life is elsewhere. I know this all sounds really negative but I still view my experience here as a positive one. The academics have been amazing and I think Barnard has made me a better person because it has challenged me to branch out. If you love New York City and are willing to get out into the city and meet people and experience new things it’s a great place to be. But, IF HAVING A COMMUNITY IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, DO NOT COME HERE. Look for a more traditional college.</p>
<p>I honestly think that the student’s personality plays a large part in their perceptions. My d. made friends with Columbia males. She did not report hostility or difficulty making friends. I am not a parent seeing things through rose colored glasses – I am a parent who knows who my d’s friends are and has spent time hanging out with them. She graduated from college 4 years ago and is still together with the guy she started dating her senior year, who is a Columbia grad. I have to say I know him pretty well and he seems to have a lot of respect for my d. o</p>
<p>Now my daughter is a very socially outgoing person who finds it very easy to start up conversations with new people, is very comfortable in her own skin and has a great sense of humor. So she’d probably laugh off a lot of things that might be distressing to others. She also has always had many male as well as female friends, and she’s quite comfortable hanging out with guys doing guy-type things, such as attending sports events. </p>
<p>I think a person who generalizes about others-- assuming that everyone fits a certain “type” – maybe creating their own barriers to meeting and relating to others. A student who believes that that all students at Columbia are prejudiced against or despise Barnard students will probably take any negative incident as confirmation of that belief, whereas another student might walk away from an encounter thinking “what a jerk” but not letting the one bad experience get in the way of her getting to know other people. </p>
<p>I’m also a very extroverted person. I have had no problem meeting people in the city and have a group of wonderful friends that I met outside of school. I’ve always got along with other people pretty well and really a lot of faith in the kindness of strangers, so I guess coming to Barnard was kind of jarring for me because I didn’t necessarily relate to people immediately. I’m not someone who has no friends whatsoever on campus. I’ve met plenty of interesting people especially in my major, but school definitely isn’t my main social outlet. To add information, I guess I’m just kind of a partier and I’m not that into clubs and things like that so I haven’t really found that scene on campus outside of greek life. I’m not as serious or driven as other students and I’m more into learning for the sake of learning without any specific career goal, and that’s obviously not the vibe on campus.
I’m not meaning to generalize but I guess I think that people on the internet and the school itself portray this relationship like it isn’t much of a problem, when in fact it is, and it frustrates me. The relationship also may have been different four years ago because forums on the internet such as this one weren’t as prominent and this type of interaction tends to inflate issues and controversies. I exaggerate a little and I don’t mean that I think ALL Columbia students hate us. That’s just what I view as the general attitude. I’m saying that it’s a better school for those who are independent and extroverted, like your daughter, because there isn’t a very strong support network.
Also since when are sports solely a “guy thing”? I grew up watching baseball with my mom and I know plenty of lady football fans. </p>
<p>Also, my freshman year I was dating a Columbia student for a semester who would brag to his friends that he was “taking advantage of a Barnard girl” behind my back so I’m sure I’m a little scared by my own experience. </p>
<p>Octothorpe, that guy you dated sounds like a total jerk. The Columbia grads that are part of my d’s social circle are very different. The guy she is with is an absolute sweetheart. I never hear him making derogatory comments about anyone. Generally even someone doesn’t say bad things to your face, you can get a sense of what they are like. I’ve always avoided the type of people who are always the source of negative gossip or always berating others in our social circle when I am with them, because my first thought was always, “if this is what X says about Y when X is with me, I wander what X is saying about me when X is with Y?” But there are people like that everywhere. It’s not a Columbia thing – it’s just that if someone at Columbia happens to be a jerk, that’s what the person might say. In another context he’d find something equally derogatory and disrespectful to say about the women he dates. The point isn’t that he made the comment about Barnard – the worse thing is that he viewed dating as an opportunity to “take advantage” of someone.</p>
<p>You wrote:
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<p>I agree that neither Barnard nor Columbia is a good fit for someone who is looking for more of a campus party scene. My d. was there for the academics – she also found the overall college social environment lacking, but she had friends all over the city and at other colleges as well. I do think the academics are Barnard are intense and the school is best for students who are strongly driven and independent - though with the resources at Barnard that drive could be just about anything. </p>
<p>I’m thinking that you might have met a different element from Columbia if you were going to frat parties and looking for that sort of thing. My d avoided frat parties because she did see that as a place where women were putting themselves in a very vulnerable position, with the level of drinking going on. </p>
<p>There hasn’t been much of a change in terms of the internet and social media over the past 8 years – that big revolution came a little earlier, but this forum has been around going back at least to 2004. So you really can’t blame that. I’m sure there is the same overall mix of students. </p>
<p>I made the comment about my daughter doing “guy” things simply because my d. has always had male friends she hangs out with – not guys she is dating, just friends – and I’ve always seen her socialize based on the interests of her friends. That is, she has broad interests and a very broad circle of friends - so she might go to a ball game with a friend who likes baseball, and go to an art museum with a different friend who likes art galleries. It’s just that she probably wouldn’t make a statement like, “my interests don’t align with others” - I think she has many different interests and an internal mental catalog of which people in her life share various different interests.</p>
<p>My d. found a very strong support network at Barnard for academics and career – with the advising system, her close relations with faculty, and the career center. I don’t think she was looking for a social support network.</p>
<p>I agree with you that I wouldn’t recommend any school in NYC for students looking for a college social life more centered around campus. </p>