<p>Hello! I am well into my college process and it has narrowed down to two schools that I’d like your opinion on. I plan to be an English major with a tract in Creative Writing and two notable schools have entered my radar: The University of Iowa and Barnard College of Columbia University. Both excellent. Both different in many ways. If I undergrad at Barnard, I will surely go to Iowa Creative Writers Workshop. If I undergrad at Iowa Honors, I plan on going to Columbia’s MFA program. I, however, don’t know which tract to choose.</p>
<p>UIowa pros: a real college feel that I won’t get any other time in my life; school pride, great campus; I’ll probably get As more easily; the honors programs is fabulous; I visited there and feel like a queen; I am an NCAA Div 1 athlete and I’m getting money for both merit and athletics.</p>
<p>UIowa cons: almost EVERYONE there is from Iowa, and I am from the northeast so it will be hard to get home or have people relate to me in terms of being homesick and not able to drive to my house (I’d have to take a plane with a connection), it’s in the middle of nowhere (compared to New York); I’m not sure about job opportunities afterward.</p>
<p>Barnard pros: it’s in the middle of New York, it’s small and (though this sounds trivial) they pick my roommate by hand; I can relate to the girls there (they are smart and feminist like me!), Columbia is right across the street; job opportunities afterward are endless, beautiful campus; the diversity is endless and there are people from all around the country and world</p>
<p>Barnard cons: it’s expensive; classes are HARD and I’m not sure how that will lay the groundwork for me for graduate school; there’s not a true, college sense surrounding there (no football, huge parties, men running around being, well, MEN)-- I KNOW there are Columbia guys there, but they are not like other college kids</p>
<p>I want to write books and be happy and possibly find a boy of my dreams. I’m a novelist, so even though that sounds cheesy, that’s the only thing I really imagine for my future. I’m afraid if I choose one that I’ll lament not choosing the other. So, any guidance is appreciated!!</p>
<p>There is football, there are parties, and there are men all at Columbia. Barnard is included in – and ACCEPTED at – everything Columbia does, and doing so personally just means crossing the street. As far as finding the boy of your dreams, recall that you’re in the largest city in the country and your social life is not limited to the 0.25 mile radius that surrounds your dorm.</p>
<p>You won’t get an Animal House experience at Barnard, but honestly, if you’re interested in Barnard at all, that probably isn’t something you’re looking for in the first place.</p>
<p>As a novelist, how important is it to you to be surrounded by diversity, countless employment/internship opportunities, and intellectuals? What about being in a small college where everyone really is looking out for you? Being close to your family? In my mind, there’s no contest, but your priorities may be different.</p>
<p>I attended both, and what they play at Columbia is NOT the same game they play at Iowa. </p>
<p>Seriously, you have two great but very different options. I found Iowa (back in the day) to be full of smart, diverse, and very funny people. The English and writing programs are excellent. Iowa City is a fabulous town, though obviously much different from NYC. I loved my undergrad days there (studying creative writing) and never found myself wishing I was somewhere else. </p>
<p>I have not been impressed at the opportunities given by Columbia MFA. I think the Iowa Writers Program produces more connections and published authors.</p>
<p>I would say Barnard to Iowa is going to help your writing career much more than the other way around, and I am a writer.</p>
<p>I can’t speak to the other concerns because they’re very personal.</p>
<p>D1 attended a summer program at U Iowa, Iowa City seemed like a really good college town to me when I visited to drop off/pick up. When you put 30,000 students in the “middle of nowhere” it is transformed into “somewhere” by their very presence,energy and vitality. At least that was my experience in a similar college situation. Not to mention pop. 68,000 of Iowa City. Not huge, but a lot more there than where lots of people go to school.</p>
<p>On the other hand, though you can get to a lot of places from there, they are about equally unclose: within 2 hours to Des Moines, 3 hours to Madison, within 4 hours to Chicago or Omaha, within 5 hours to Minneapolis or Kansas City. Midwesterners drive these sorts of distances like they are nothing, BTW.</p>
<p>What has been said I think are accurate and rational approaches to the decision. I would like to add, however, that you should NOT base your undergrad decision on where you MIGHT go to grad school. Getting into the Iowa MFA program is EXTREMELY difficult. It is the most well-known program of its kind and many people compete every year for limited spots. Not to say you shouldn’t try, of course you should pursue your dream and go for it. But there are no guarantees in that process. Also, getting into Columbia’s program is also really hard, not to mention vastly expensive if you do get in. So don’t choose your college with the notion that you’ll definitely end up in either of those two places. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but that is the reality of the situation.</p>
<p>Thanks you, everyone, for the replies. Mysteryflavored came up with a wonderful analogy of what I expect from UIowa in the Animal House experience, but I’m wondering if there is more to it. I wonder if there IS Animal House at Barnard or if there IS elitism at UIowa. I know these worlds don’t match up often. 502W, thank you for pointing out my mistake. I should have caught that. (This is why I want to go to college :D). Phedre, I will do anything in my power to get into UIowa Writers Workshop and that is why I am thinking about Iowa Honors, also. I could easily make connections there whereas Iowa would see Barnard as a name and not me as a writer. This is where the conflict comes further.</p>
<p>I have a question that does mean a lot to me: What to Barnard girls do for FUN? Is fun something that I must seek out there or does fun come to me? The only thing I fear with Barnard is that I’ll do what I’ve done my whole life and push away going out in favor of staying in and working on homework to get good grades. I want college to be a whole new, independent experience where people will accept me as both a soul and a brain, not the letter I get on my report card.</p>
<ol>
<li>be in the marching band (no, seriously).</li>
<li>find a new (cheap) place to eat around NYC every week.</li>
<li>visit friends and family members around the city.</li>
<li>nycgo.com and newyork.timeout.com</li>
<li>cook with friends (can you tell I like food?).</li>
<li>my social network holds a party every Saturday night, so…</li>
<li>occasional bar-hopping, but drinking is expensive.</li>
<li>take long walks through Central Park (on nice days).</li>
<li>bartend (and get paid).</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m never not doing anything, and I do NOT spend all of my time working. And my idea of “fun” represents only a fraction of what people here actually do. Part of going to school in New York is this weird obligation to go out and explore the city for things you like to do. Fun is not something that will always come to you – Barnard dorms are a (thankfully) quiet respite from the rest of the city.</p>
<p>I’m not saying you have no chance at Iowa’s grad program. I’m saying there’s no way for you to know whether you will get in or not, and if you don’t believe me you are fooling yourself. Even if you made connections at UIowa, your place will not be secured. Also, MFA programs most likely do not care so much where you went to college, whether it’s Barnard or any other place. They are interested that you got your bachelor’s degree from somewhere and, most importantly, your writing sample. Your degree from Barnard will be impressive in the greater academic arena, maybe even to MFA admissions people who know Barnard has a history of encouraging and cultivating stellar creative writers. The Barnard name won’t crowd out your writing ability. It may have no effect, it may help. It will definitely not hurt you.</p>
<p>“I wonder if there IS Animal House at Barnard…”
We have a relative who was in a Columbia fraternity, D2 reported his house was doing its utmost along those lines, when she checked in as a Barnard frosh. Unfortunately she was not enamored of that scene, but her report was they were quite welcoming- in the Animal House tradition- to those who felt otherwise about it. (Actually he tried to discourage his “little cousin” from coming to their parties…)</p>
<p>Glad to help, smartundecided. I didn’t want you to get that sinking feeling we all get when we submit something and THEN realize there was a mistake.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for everyone’s help and information! I think I’m going to go ahead and apply ED to Barnard and, if I don’t get in, I will go to UIowa. If I don’t try for Barnard, I’d be kicking myself in the butt while at Iowa. I know that I will eventually work my way into the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and, reflecting on the atmosphere and crossing it with my own personality, I think I will be able to prosper at Barnard just as easily as I will at Iowa, though they are two different types of brands. I wish you all (and your children) a successful journey in this college process!</p>
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