"I’m looking for a school that essentially will help me earn a higher GPA. Do you think it would be easier to succeed academically more at Barnard or Northwestern? "
On gradeinflation NU’s GPA is 3.48 (2014) and Barnard is not there, though Columbia is at 3.45 (2010), so no real way to compare either the gpas or the trend, which is probably more important. However these are GPAs for all majors and you’d have to try and find out how hard the chemistry and maybe the math classes are.