<p>I’m trying to decide berween Smith and Barnard. I lean towards BArnard because I’m a city girl but I’m concerned about the difference in their endowments. Is Barnard “poor”. How does this affect one’s experience going there?</p>
<p>i do not know anything about the difference in endowments, but you seem to indicate that smith's is greater. i would definitely not consider barnard "poor" - perhaps it does not have as large an endowment as other schools, but it is known for being supportive with financial aid, and it still manages to have incredibly strong academics and professors despite the costs of living in new york city. it doesn't sound like you are talking about comparing financial aid, but comparing the actual experience of going to school here.. i think that barnard spends money on what they think is important: academics. from dance programs and small adviser-student ratios, to a constantly-improving curriculum and top professors, barnard definitely is top-notch, and i assume their spending reveals that. but the laundry machines on my floor (and all throughout the quad) that have been flooding all year? apparently there wasn't money to buy new ones, and fixing them somehow never worked.
i don't know how barnard compares to smith, but their respective endowments, in my opinion, shouldn't affect your decision. both will provide what you need and give you a great, and fun, education.
good luck with your choice!</p>
<p>The lower Barnard endowment is misleading because of the relationship with Columbia. Basically, Barnard students have access to incredible resources at Columbia -- for example, the Columbia libraries, as well as the entire range of course offerings at Columbia. This is analagous somewhat to Smith's extended resources via the 5-college consortium, but Barnard is much more closely integrated with Columbia. Also, Barnard doesn't really support its own athletic teams -- Barnard student athletes play on Columbia teams -- so I would imagine that's another place where most colleges spend a lot of money, but Barnard doesn't have to.</p>
<p>Barnard pays for the CU-BC athletic consortium, too. (As well as a fair fee for use of all of the other resources).</p>
<p>But yeah, Barnard is relatively "poor" in endowment (~150 million to the very wealthy Wellesley's billion+), but you'd never know it as a student. Financial aid is good, there are plenty of grants for travel, research, and internships, awards at graduation and in departments, nice official events, professors are among the best paid of any liberal arts college... I don't know how they do it.</p>
<p>Even though Barnard pays fair fees for the use of Columbia facilities, that isn't nearly as much as the cost entailed in underwriting 100% of the costs for the same facilities. Since Columbia is much larger, it also pays a higher proportion of the fees. That is, its not a 50/50 split. As between the colleges, this is fair -- but it allows for greater resources overall. </p>
<p>That is, hypothetically College A pays $100K each year in order for their students to have access to College B's $20 million library. There is no way that College A could build or maintain a library that size with its resources, but the individual students end up with the benefit of the bigger library. </p>
<p>So basically a Barnard endowment $ can go farther because of its affiliation with a nearby large research university.</p>
<p>I graduated from Barnard many years ago and can tell you it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I was able to choose from a wide array of Columbia courses and was able to work with profs from both sides of the street.
I don't know how things have changes since Columbia started admitting women, but when I went, a Columbia education was several thousand dollars more expensive per yr.
I currently live in Ma. near Smith and truly believe that there is no way possible to have the same experience at Smith. Living in NY with access to a major research univ is unbeatable. Never give up the opportunity to live in NY. It is truly the center of the universe. Mass sucks in comparison.</p>
<p>Yes, I understand all of that very well. The point of the first part of my post was just to note that, quote, "the two institutions take equal financial responsibility for the consortium's operating cost." So Barnard is paying for its proportion of funding Division I teams, which is significant. I didn't disagree with your basic premise</p>
<p>And word to Mass sucking. :(</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. For those of you who are attending Barnard now or alumni can you tell me more about your experience - I'm leaning towards accepting but I'd like to know (1) Does anyone know about the science (bio) dept and if the bio lab facilities and equipment are any good? (2) How do you think that their plans to knock down the student center will affect life on the Barnard campus? (3) How are the study abroad prgrams? Are all expenses paid with my financial aid including plane fare? (4) How difficult is it to get funding for an unpaid internship? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance - I could really use your feedback.</p>
<p>I don't know anything specific about the equipment, but the bio program's good, my friends that did it loved it and their profs. Really easy to get involved in research. Lots of people off to med, vet, and grad school.
The student center being under construction is going to suck. I don't know where they're going to put the coffee place and the lunch place, but even if they put them somewhere that still allows for hanging out and socializing, there's going to big a big hole right next to the lawn. Dean Denburg said it'd be fine, that she went to Barnard back when they were first constructing the old center to begin with, but I dunno. I do think they're doing the loudest parts over the summer, though, so that much won't be so bad. My guess is that people will just eat in the neighborhood or at Columbia more often, and socialize in dorms.
Don't know much about study abroad, but I don't imagine they pay airfare? That probably goes into the travel expenses part of your total budget, and I don't think many people get grants above and beyond tuition, board, and fees. Loans and work usually make up living and travel expenses.
Internship funding is pretty easy. I don't personally know anyone that was denied their application; one friend even got two grants for two different summer internships.</p>
<p>barnard has excellent sciences.. part of the reason for that is the whole women's college thing and wanting to push women forward in science and all that. but also, i think barnard just finds science to be really cool. the classes are very intense for majors or if you're pre-med, i have heard. columbia fits in nicely here because i am sure some professor there is doing important research in biology, and if you're interested you might be able to get involved. (barnard professors do research too, but columbia is the "research university" and less focused on teaching.)
i'm SO happy about the nexus (the new student center). macintosh is so ugly! i just hope they finish it on time for me to use it. i think they are planning to put the food places in altschul atrium - not sure how that'll work, but that's what they say. so there will still be those options. and housing will get even more messed up, as they're moving the offices that are now in mac into a dorm (elliot). but i rarely use macintosh for anything except picking up my mail. the construction will be annoying, but it's not like there's never construction going on in nyc anyhow (for the whole first semester they were checking the bricks on the quad facade starting sooo early in the morning.. we woke up every day to jackhammers, oy).
as for study abroad, barnard LOVES study abroad, they really push it.. i think about a third of students eventually go abroad, this number is lower than other LACs because we just don't want to leave new york. i dont think they pay travel expenses, but i don't think that's a barnard oversight, i doubt any college pays those. i believe that whatever financial aid you get at barnard is applied to your program abroad - so if barnard gives you a $10k grant and you have to pay $30k out of pocket, it's the same thing whether you decide to go to france or chile or wherever. i'm not sure about that though, and i dont know how they would handle work study. but the study abroad dean is very enthusiastic and i am sure would be happy to answer all your questions.
the only problem i had with barnard's internship grants was that the deadline was too early. you had to have your internship completely set up by early april, and i got mine the week after, so it was too late for me to apply for the grants. but i am the only person i know who was not together enough to plan something beforehand. barnard is quite generous with their grants, because they know how important it is to have internships, etc in the city. and i'm doing a special interest housing program next year, where part of it is that they give me money to do an internship in the spring semester. so, yeah.</p>