Barnard's social atmosphere/environment?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
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<p>Do Barnard students of different socioeconomic classes/religious backgrounds/interests intermingle? If I went to Barnard, I would have to be on generous financial aid, because my family doesn’t have enough money to pay for full tuition. I know that a good portion of students come from New York/the upper east side, and I don’t know how comfortable I would be with my own financial situation with so much surrounding wealth. I’m also Catholic, and from a Catholic family, but I’m very interested in other faiths (potential major in religion) and I want to go to a school where background doesn’t play a factor in how well people get along. I know that at any school there’s going to be division among classes and beliefs, just because some people just act that way, but is there more than what is expected? Essentially, would it be likely that I make friends outside of my own homogeneous group? Is there diversity?</p>

<p>I’m also really interested in community service. Does Barnard have a community service program run through the school, or would efforts have to be self-initiated? Are there overseas projects that students can participate in during breaks? I’ve looked on the website, and I can’t seem to find any ‘official’ program that elicits this, but I could be looking in the wrong place. Are students interested in community service? Do they use the location of New York City to an advantage and find service opportunities? Or is service not as highly emphasized at Barnard as it is at other schools?</p>

<p>And finally, do things happen on campus as well as in the city? I’ve heard many people say that social life basically revolves around the city. Does this affect the community or traditions? Would someone from a more rural/open area of the country (such as myself) have ‘less-than-big-city’ things to do on weekends? Does the small campus affect how much people do things on campus or plan events? I’m also looking into Smith, and I’ve heard that it’s a very residential school, and many events happen on campus and people stay there on the weekends for entertainment. Obviously being in an amazing city has it’s advantages (one of the reasons why I’m looking into Barnard!), but I want to know if I could still get the more secluded, close-knit feel with so much going on off campus.</p>

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<p>I’d like to bump this thread, as I am also curious to see the answer to some of the questions raised, particularly the things presented in the last paragraph. I love Barnard whether the answer is “yes” or “no” to any of the questions. The reason I love it is really because of a STRONG gut feeling I have toward the school (I can’t describe the love I have for it any other way). But I’d like to visualize a typical day and some typical activities I’d see there.</p>

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<p>I’ll try my best to answer from my perspective as a parent.</p>

<ol>
<li> Do Barnard students of different socioeconomic classes/religious backgrounds/interests intermingle?</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes (my daughter has friends with many different backgrounds & interests). </p>

<ol>
<li> I know that a good portion of students come from New York/the upper east side, and I don’t know how comfortable I would be with my own financial situation with so much surrounding wealth. </li>
</ol>

<p>I guess it really depends on you. First of all, I want to emphasize that there are many students on financial aid – so you would not feel overwhelmed or outnumbered. However, you are correct that there are also many students whose family’s are very wealthy. Some of them (certainly not all - probably a tiny minority) are insensitive (or perhaps clueless) and tend to flaunt their wealth, or at least make a big point of showing off whatever they’ve spent their money on. If it bugs you… then that could be a problem, but I think you would run into this at any private college. When half of the kids are full pay at $60K a year for tuition + housing, then you get a lot of very rich students (although some full pay kids come from families who are stretching to the max to pay, and they may be even more concerned about finances than kids on financial aid). But I think you would really need to opt for a public college to avoid that situation. </p>

<ol>
<li> I’m also Catholic, and from a Catholic family, but I’m very interested in other faiths (potential major in religion) and I want to go to a school where background doesn’t play a factor in how well people get along.</li>
</ol>

<p>Barnard is a very diverse campus and there are students of all faiths, ranging from very observant to very casual, and of course students for whom religion is not important. My family is Jewish & there are a lot of Jews at Barnard – but my d’s boyfriend is Catholic. My d also applied to Fordham as a safety, and we never thought twice about whether she would fit in at a Catholic college. </p>

<ol>
<li> I’m also really interested in community service. Does Barnard have a community service program run through the school, or would efforts have to be self-initiated?</li>
</ol>

<p>There are Barnard/Columbia student organizations involved in community service, as well as all sorts of opportunities to volunteer with all sorts of community agencies. A good starting point is here: <a href=“communityimpactatcu.org - This website is for sale! - communityimpactatcu Resources and Information.”>communityimpactatcu.org - This website is for sale! - communityimpactatcu Resources and Information.;

<ol>
<li> Are there overseas projects that students can participate in during breaks?</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes. </p>

<ol>
<li> Are students interested in community service? Do they use the location of New York City to an advantage and find service opportunities? Or is service not as highly emphasized at Barnard as it is at other schools?</li>
</ol>

<p>I think that students are interested in all sorts of things, including community service. My own daughter’s interests tended to be more political – so she volunteered with political action organizations rather than service groups, but I honestly don’t think there’s any limits. I believe that there are O-Week activities geared to community service, and I think there is actually a whole service week prior to O-Week that students can sign up for. (It was a long time ago, I don’t remember the details – but I think this is the web site for the program - [Columbia</a> Urban Experience](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cue/]Columbia”>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cue/) )</p>

<ol>
<li> And finally, do things happen on campus as well as in the city?</li>
</ol>

<p>Yes, there are a variety of activities going on at any time on the Barnard & Columbia campuses. However, there is also a lot going on off campus, and in a sense your “campus” is all of Manhattan. Just about everything is accessible by public transportation; you can get discount tickets to all sorts of events from Barnard – so you & your friends are going to want to enjoy all that the city has to offer. </p>

<ol>
<li>Would someone from a more rural/open area of the country (such as myself) have ‘less-than-big-city’ things to do on weekends? </li>
</ol>

<p>Yes, but obviously you would have to leave campus to do those activities. </p>

<ol>
<li> I’m also looking into Smith, and I’ve heard that it’s a very residential school, and many events happen on campus and people stay there on the weekends for entertainment. Obviously being in an amazing city has it’s advantages (one of the reasons why I’m looking into Barnard!), but I want to know if I could still get the more secluded, close-knit feel with so much going on off campus.</li>
</ol>

<p>I think there is a strong sense of community at Barnard as well as with the larger Columbia community, but I don’t think you could describe it as “secluded”. There really are no boundaries and because of the urban location, you also have regular interaction with non-students. That is, you are walking on public sidewalks, shopping in stores, riding public transit, etc., with people of all ages who happen to live in NY. As you want to enjoy more outdoor/open space type things, you probably will find yourself regularly walking or hanging out at Riverside Park – and the park is filled with ordinary people from NY. Mothers with their children, people walking their dogs, etc. </p>

<p>When I have visited my daughter, we actually spent very little time on campus. She only lived on the quad her first year – and when I visited her that year I did attend some classes with her, but pretty much everything else we did was off campus. In later years, she was living in Barnard dorms that are physically off campus – her senior year she was on 110th street and very happy to be farther away from campus. </p>

<p>The residence halls really felt more like apartment buildings than dorms in many ways. That is, it seemed that students kept their doors shut and there wasn’t a lot of interaction or much going on that I would call ‘dorm life’. When my daughter was in a suite her 2nd year there was a lot of interaction within the suite – the women who shared the suite got along very well and did a lot together – but I didn’t have the sense that the interacted very much with any of the students in any other suites. </p>

<p>I’m mentioning this because I know that Smith has a house system where students pretty much live in the same house for all 4 years, and that many of the houses have their own dining facilities. So I would guess that they develop strong bonds and a real sense of belonging within each house. If a sense of seclusion and a close-knit feeling are important to you, you may find Barnard’s urban setting difficult – it can seem a lot more impersonal. If you do end up choosing Barnard, you may want to opt for one of the seminar groups for housing – there is probably more of a sense of cohesiveness among those groups, as they are all taking the same first year seminar.</p>

4

<p>To smartundecided – I don’t think there is any such thing as a “typical” day or “typical” activities at Barnard – there is so much going on, and so many students with all sorts of different interests, that one student’s range of activities may be very different from another’s.</p>

5

<p>I am trying to see if I, also a parent of a Barnard graduate, have anything cogent to add to Calmom’s great post above.</p>

<p>Hmm, the OP said:

</p>

<p>When we moved our d in that first year, we took one of the circle line boat tours around Manhattan. We also later toured the Cloisters, which is situated in the middle of an absolutely breathtaking park on the northern-most part of Manhattan (I believe). It was (and is) remarkable to me how many beautifully “natural” areas there are throughout Manhattan. Not only Central Park, which is in itself remarkable and gorgeous, but Riverside Park right next to Barnard’s campus (as Calmom said) and then other areas more removed. And to me, the juxtaposition of those peaceful islands of natural beauty within the incredible confines of Manhattan was just the perfect combination.</p>

<p>So, to answer the question I quoted above, yes there are “less than big city things” to do. Parks to explore, beautiful places to just sit. There is also, I believe, the opportunity to participate in some hiking/rafting-type activities in the week leading up to orientation, that take place just outside of NYC. Sorry, I am kind of rushed and do not remember the details (d did NOT participate), but you can, I am sure, check into it if you look at orientation info…</p>

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<p>People here enjoy living in the fast lane - in fact, there’s some pressure to do so, since most people feel that they need to take advantage of living in this great city. It’s pretty thrilling when I talk to people about what they’ve been up to - hanging in Brooklyn, visiting a small music venue downtown or a concert, etc.</p>

<p>There are also campus parties, of course, which range from low-key dorm hangouts to boisterous frats - most of them take place at CU, something you can take as either a plus (quiet BC dorms to come back to) or a minus (you have be a bit more active when looking for parties) and of course, so many weekends when you can swing by Morningside Park, visit a farmer’s market, or just watch TV with your friends! But usually come most weekend nights, the dorms will be pretty empty, and during the week there are occasions of girls trooping through the streets in the wee hours. </p>

<p>But I also understand what you’re referring to with Smith. If you want a flashy, free-swinging cultural oasis for your college setting, there’s no place better than NYC. If you want New England wholesome - unique, quirky school traditions, laidback and intimate, then pick Smith. I know some girls at Smith who wholeheartedly adore the school. It’s the case between the wild city life vs the classic college experience.</p>

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<p>I have friends with D’s at Smith. Smith is not a classic college experience. It is very unique in its own way, as calmon touches on with her discussion of the house system. Smith “houses” offer very different experiences, depending on which one you happen to land in. Some are large; some are small. And your experiences varies by the luck of the frosh draw. And yes, the houses are very, very close-knit and the center of life at Smith.</p>

<p>This is heaven for some young woman, but another young woman I know transferred because this social scene was too intense for her and her relationship with her house went awry. She could have moved into a different house, but she was already soured on the idea of Smith.</p>

<p>The same could be true of Barnard in the opposite way. I am not taking a swipe at Smith.</p>

<p>Mt. Holyoke, Wellesley and Bryn Mawr are more in the middle, except Wellesley students also go to “the city” on weekends. Bryn Mawr students have Haverford. Mt. Holyoke probably has the closest to the classic college campus except it’s obviously one sex.</p>

<p>However, many of the things Barnard women do “in the city” are small excursions and then regroup, see their dorm friends, and venture out again. And they are venturing out with each other.</p>

<p>My D did not meet many women from “The Upper East Side.” Her suitemates were from Texas, Texas, Georgia, Brooklyn, and Ohio, and they were split between full-pay and FA.</p>

<p>Now as a law student in NYC, her BFF’s are still Barnard women so she did make close attachments. Unlike calmon’s D, although she did live at 110th St. soph year she came back to a single in the quad junior and senior years and was happy with that. No, her life didn’t revolve around her hall.</p>

<p>One flaw in the Barnard housing system is that students usually interact with their year. At Smith you would have friends among all the years. </p>

<p>And one way you could make the experience cozier is to take your first year seminars “in residence” and live on the floor with the women in your class. My D did this, and there was extra money for them to see a Broadway show together, for example. They did get very close this way.</p>

<p>However, if you are drawn to Smith you will not get that intense involvement at Barnard and will probably miss it.</p>

<p>Good luck in making your decision, or consider the colleges in between.</p>