<p>One of the only reasons I want to apply to Barnard is because of the Columbia Connection
Can anyone tell me more about it?</p>
<p>The Columbia connection is very well documented elsewhere, on both schools' websites, Wikipedia, and on this board. But in short, Barnard is an affiliate of Columbia. It is located across the street from the Columbia Univ. campus. Barnard has its own admissions, president, faculty (some of whom "float" between institutions teaching classes at both), endowment, dorms, campus, etc. Barnard students are part of Columbia Univ and as such can register for classes thruout the University, use the entire campus facilites on both sides of the street, join any CU clubs or teams, etc. Some majors are housed at Barnard (such as dance, theatre, you can find a complete list on their website.) and all CU students majoring in these fields go to Barnard for these classes. The diploma is joint between Columbia Univ and Barnard and signed by both Presidents. </p>
<p>All that being said, I think Barnard is quite proud of their individual identity. This is something you may want to carefully consider: why is this connection is one of the only reasons you want to apply. Have you considered applying to Columbia College if that one of your only reasons?</p>
<p>gapyearmom made several excellent points. Do the research.</p>
<p>And you are selling yourself and Barnard well short if one of the only reasons you want to apply there is its affiliation with Columbia. If that comes across in your application at all, I will venture to say with some confidence that you will not be accepted.</p>
<p>If you're only interested in Barnard because it's connection to Columbia, there are other colleges that also have connections with the college. I.E., I'm doing a 3-2 program with Fordham and Columbia where I spend three years at Fordham and two at Columbia and both colleges will give me degrees.</p>
<p>That's kinda disappointing. You should be interested in Barnard for Barnard....not just its connection to Columbia. If you want such a tight connection to Columbia why not just apply there?</p>
<p>churchmusicmom and letitbe : Barnard does have it's own identity and is very different from CC and one should embrace the LAC aspect, smaller community, etc if wishing to attend. But as a Barnard student, I disagree that you should be "interested in Barnard just for Barnard." I think you should be intrested in Barnard for Barnard to some extent...I did not want to go to Columbia, but I would never have applied to Barnard were it not for the Columbia connection and that was a big reason why it appealed to me. This is true of most students here (many of my friends didn't apply to any other womens colleges, for ex), and many students (including me) make that clear in their application to no ill effect! Barnard is its own woman but our connection with Columbia is one of the core features of our identity and for most, shapes the experience here in a big way. I mean, it says "Barnard College of Columbia University" on the gate, and all our classes our intermingled. </p>
<p>To the OP- there have been tons of posts on this before - try searching past threads.</p>
<p>letitbe, I don't think the problem is with people who apply because of the Columbia connection (that was a major draw (one of too many to count) for me too, having the benefits of a small liberal arts school as well as those of a big university), I think it is more with the ones who apply solely because of Columbia, the ones who use Barnard as a backdoor. Those are the ones who the admissions officers hopefully see straight through and reject.</p>
<p>I agree with aube88. Some people just don't have the stats to get into Columbia but still want Columbia education. I think Barnard is the best choice. It gives its students the benefits of a small liberal arts school as well as the resource of a big university.</p>
<p>Well... that's not quite what I was saying. I don't think you should want to go to Barnard because they think it's like CC or just as good/second best etc. I think those who go to CC and those who go to Barnard often want different things and should; but as someone who goes to Barnard and wanted to go here but not CC, I still highly value the Columbia connection and more than that, see it as an integral part of Barnard's identity and my experience as a student here.</p>
<p>Aube88, you said exactly what I was trying to say only you said it better! My daughter never, ever considered applying to any other women's colleges...that was not even on her radar. She "found" Barnard while doing a summer dance residency at NYU the summer before her Senior year and fell in love with it. You are absolutely correct that Barnard's Columbia affiliation is integral to its attraction...</p>
<p>I just tend to cringe at the notion that anyone would see Barnard as any kind of "back door" or "lesser option" to Columbia College or SEAS. Barnard is its own unique and extremely valuable option within the Columbia University community.</p>
<p>As a parent I think the Columbia connection is a great bennie of attending Barnard. That said I would not look at applying to Columbia or Barnard as equivalents with the connection being a tipping factor for applying to Barnard. I may have said that before visiting the schools ... but after visiting the schools I truely believe that Barnard and Columbia will (can?) provide very different experiences for a young women. Not better or worse but very different. The schools are very different in many dimensions ... and one probably is a better fit for any one applicant ... and if Barnard is a better fit the Columbia connection only raises the quality of the Barnard experience. This topic got a fair amount of discussion at our house as my daughter just went through this decision process at the top of her application list.</p>