<p>so, if any of you have seen my previous posts, you know I’m a lover of women’s colleges :)</p>
<p>I want a school with a campus. like northeastern university. it is a city school but it has it’s own enclosed feeling, with more greenspace than BU.</p>
<p>is barnard like this??? if there’s anything else about barnard you would like to share, please do!</p>
<p>Barnard is certainly no Bryn Mawr, and for good reason. It is in the middle of NYC. However, it’s not NYU either. Barnard, as well as Columbia, both have lush green areas where students like to play frisbee and soccer. In fact, when I went to the accepted students day at Barnard, I saw girls at Barnard and Columbia playing Ultimate Frisbee (kinda like frisbee football) on the lawns. Barnard has this huge Magnolia tree in the center, and it has becomes a symbol of the campus. There is also plenty of area to spread out with your laptop and do homework and read or play games with friends.</p>
<p>However, with Barnard, you are definitely not in the woods, although there are many clubs that provide you the opportunity to go hiking or mountain biking. You need to make the decision whether or not living in the city with no acres and acres of green lawns is right for you. For some, it’s not.</p>
<p>Not really. The Barnard campus is very small, with not much greenery (not much space for all of that), and because of the relationship with Columbia, a significant number of activities & classes are taking place physically at Columbia rather than Barnard. The Columbia campus is larger than Barnard, but not much larger – and similarly doesn’t have much in the way of green space. During the first year at Barnard, students reside in the dorms on the “quad” – physically on campus – but in subsequent years, most students are in housing that is physically located off campus, some very close (like across the street), some several blocks away. </p>
<p>You’ve got all of NYC – Riverside Park is a block away and central park is within walking distance – but obviously that is not going to give you a sense of an “enclosed” feeling.</p>
<p>You can use Google maps to get a good sense of what the campuses look like from above – here’s a link to get you started: [New</a> York, NY - Google Maps](<a href=“http://■■■■■■/maps/rSlZ]New”>Google Maps)</p>
<p>Here are some videos with lots of campus scenes:
[YouTube</a> - Platinum Television Group Presents Barnard College](<a href=“Platinum Television Group Presents Barnard College - YouTube”>Platinum Television Group Presents Barnard College - YouTube)
[url=<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube]YouTube</a> - About Barnard<a href=“This%20one%20is%20from%20Barnard-%20so%20it’s%20got%20more%20hype%20–%20you%20might%20want%20to%20watch%20the%20video%20with%20the%20sound%20turned%20down%20just%20so%20you%20can%20focus%20on%20the%20visuals”>/url</a></p>
<p>thanks for your replies, summer1stlove and calmom.</p>
<p>barnard has the perfect mix of city and greenspace that I was looking for (the barnard video was especially helpful)</p>
<p>Suggest you visit.</p>
<p>I am not able to visit anywhere else until admitted students days.</p>
<p>I really don’t think Barnard has the “perfect” balance of the city and a traditional campus… you can literally see one end of the campus from the other. Of course, I didn’t really go explore Columbia’s campus too much. For Open Campus, Barnard took us (the admitted students) out for dinner in the city, which just kind of shows you how intertwined Barnard is with the surrounding area. Also, a lot of the admitted students that weekend went out exploring the city and got bubble tea and yogurt and such. It didn’t feel enclosed at all.</p>
<p>About the lawns and Frisbee playing-- Columbians seem to always be complaining about the strict rules regarding when they can and can’t sit on the lawn or play frisbee. (There are red and green flags that are raised and lowered) It’s turned into some kind of running gag, I think.</p>
<p>My daughter is in her second year at Barnard and loves it … and I think it is the PERFECT school for her and a GREAT place. That said, the campus is not a selling point … it is tiny … the shot of the green space in the second video above is all the green space on campus … it is probably the smallest campus of any school I have visited (and I’ve been to 50 or so) … with Columbia literally next door that certainly provides a lot more space for the students … someone headed to Barnard (or Columbia) should really want an urban college experience (IMO).</p>
<p>Barnard doesn’t have a ton of greenspace, but it does have a CAMPUS. All classroom buildings, the student center, and a few dorms are contained in the 4-sq-block campus, which is gated on all sides and has some kind of security surveillance at each entrance. Some entrances even require BC/CU ID to swipe in. So yes, Barnard does technically have a campus, in that it’s a quite safespace that is entirely devoted to the college. It is quite distinct from the rest of the neighborhood.</p>
<p>That said, some dorms are located beyond these boundaries, some of which house permanent residents as well as students. And like I said, there is little greenspace. Everywhere that is NOT a building on campus is all lawn and shrubbery and benches, but fitting 9 large buildings into 4 sq blocks doesn’t leave much room for it. Columbia has a much bigger campus space and many more lawns and recreational space. Personally, when I’m looking to spend time outside, I do it at Columbia.</p>
<p>I will add that when I was looking for college (ahh back in the day – I literally just graduated Barnard yesterday), I was more attracted to urban campuses. Clark and Penn come to mind, in addition to Barnard. I didn’t want a large green sprawl that would mean 15-minute walks between classes. I wanted a campus, but I loved the urban/nature mix.</p>
<p>
But Columbia also is physically a very small campus, and a rather crowded one at that in terms of the proximity of buildings to one another. Yes, it has some open space – but it is still very small overall compared to most other colleges and universities. For example, is less than half the size of Northeastern (the school mentioned by the OP) – Columbia=32 acres; Northeastern=73 acres. </p>
<p>There’s an advantage to small, especially in a northeastern city where winters are cold, wet & snowy. There are many students at small suburban or rural LAC’s who are entranced by lovely photographs in college brochures, only to find themselves having to trudge a long way through snow and ice to get to class, to the library, even to their dining hall. Barnard, being not only tiny but also connected by a network of underground tunnels, can be fairly comfy during winter months. (Perhaps even little too enclosed for some) </p>
<p>My d. really loved the compact campuses – she rejected colleges with photos of wide open spaces out of hand. But I just think that in the interest of accuracy, it has to be emphasized that, although there is a true “campus” (as opposed to, say, NYU)-- it is physically quite small and not necessarily a place where students spend their time to hang out. That is, students who have an hour between classes on sunny day may opt to hang out on the lawn – but a student who has no particular need to be on campus is probably going to go off campus, whether to a park or cafe.</p>
<p>to mysteryflavored who said :
</p>
<p>CONGRATS!!! 
:)</p>
<p>Thank you. (: I’m off to more purple pastures… (NYU Med)</p>
<p>Cool! But try to poke around these boards some (in all your spare time during med school!!) to help out the prospies! We parents really appreciate the input of students and graduates here!! :)</p>
<p>mysteryflavored: Congratulations!!! And a great med school placement, too. I’m happy for you.</p>
<p>As for the campus: My daughter adored it. I guess if you were the kind of little girl who loved doll houses, Barnard seems just about perfect. The green space is surprising. It is postage sized, no doubt about it, but Millbank is a Beaux Arts building that is lovely and anchors the space.</p>
<p>The new student center has added considerable space to the campus and allowed them to regrade it, so it doesn’t have the awkward two level feel quite so much any more.</p>
<p>The years that the Diana was in construction were difficult and the campus was a chopped up mess. Thank goodness that is over.</p>
<p>For my daughter, the little campus was an oasis in the city and she never felt it too small.</p>
<p>Obviously a lot of students would feel differently and find it “dinky”. As for Columbia, the campus to her is just about perfect.</p>
<p>Thanks to all of the replies! And congrats, mysteryflavored! I wish you all the best success in med school 
I’m also thinking about med school as an option.</p>
<p>Another congrats to mysteryflavored! :)</p>