<p>I’ve read (and posted on) some posts on the Columbia board concerning Barnard. There were many pompous idiots (who, by the way, seemed like they knew nothing anyway) bashing the relationship and Barnard girls in general…</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me what it’s actually like> I’ve heard that it wears off after the first year, but I’m so over immature, high school talk that I would honestly just prefer to not deal with it and go to NYU? (it seems stupid, but I have my reasons…)</p>
<p>So basically, what’s it really like? Should it deter anyone from Barnard?</p>
<p>For instance, the argument in the article about the spec lol</p>
<p>Is is that bad? NYU is looking better everyday haha, but I do really like Barnard and Columbia.The people on this website are just very, I dont know…do they have anything better to do?</p>
<p>It has absolutely been a non-factor for my daughter during the four years she has been there. DO NOT make your decision based on this nonsense! You will be selling yourself short because of the idiocy of a few kids on College Confidential.</p>
<p>I am a Barnard soph. No one cares or thinks about this. I was worried about it before I came here, partly bc of this site, but I haven’t thought about it in ages. Once any student is here for a bit they realize there are some very dumb and very smart people at both Barnard and Columbia and you should not judge someone based on what school they go to. Sure, there is the occasional Barnard joke (and there are SEAS and GS jokes too!) but it’s usually in good jest and made by a Barnard student more often then not.</p>
<p>And think of it this way - in the off chance that you meet the (very rare!) person who thinks you’re inferior because you go to Barnard, they are not worth your time. </p>
<p>Usually, people dont know you go to Barnard , and when they find out THEY DONT CARE! I even have a (girl) friend in CC who says if she had to do it over again she would have applied to Barnard ED cause she likes our advising system and lack of core. Don’t let the CC-BC dynamic affect your decision; it’s really not an issue.</p>
<p>kmhuether, you are going to find some students who are immature jerks no matter where you go. NYU also has a hierarchy, with some students who have been admitted to schools like A&S thinking that are better than students who have been admitted to the newly renamed “Liberal Studies” program. (I’m sure the name change from GSP was partly to address the bad rap that GSP had gotten over the years). If it seems less apparent, it may be simply because the programs are more segregated – Liberal Studies students have a specific foundational program that probably keeps them in separate classes from the A&S students, whereas Barnard students can enroll in Columbia courses with ease. So while there are snide remarks sometimes posted online – just as with Columbia vs. Barnard – I don’t know whether that persists in any way among the student body on campus. </p>
<p>It sounds like you like NYU for other reasons and perhaps are looking for a reason to rationalize your choice? If you like NYU, by all means go there – but don’t make that choice out of a misguided sense that there is some conflict between Barnard & Columbia. It really doesn’t work that way on campus. </p>
<p>I’d have to say that from my observation of my daughter, there are 2 kinds of students at B/C. A= students that my d knows well and has become friends with; B= everyone else. Encounters with “everyone else” tend to be sporadic and superficial – if some small fraction of the “everyone else” are pompous jerks, it happens entirely outside my d’s zone of awareness. </p>
<p>I think that is true of life in general. The world is full of rude people – and a whole lot of them live and work in NYC, so New York in general is not a good place to live if you tend to be oversensitive to rude comments made by strangers – but you will spend most of your free time hanging out with your friends.</p>
<p>Thanks calmom, I agree with everything you said. I think i’m just overthinking my college choice. I know (and have heard) some things people say about me, and it doesn’t bother me at all. So, I guess I just had some sort of realization that it really doesn’t matter. I’ll be visiting Barnard and NYU this week. I know Barnard is the better “fit” for academic reasons. It’s just so hard to give up Greenwich, but I’ll get over it once I’m on Barnard/ Columbia’s campus.</p>
<p>kmhuether: A little heads up: New Yorkers call it “The Village.” Greenwich is in CT.</p>
<p>Morningside Heights is a lovely neighborhood. My D much prefers it to the Village to live. The Village is great for clubbing and night life, but Morningside Heights is a lovely residential neighborhood with two great parks. Riverside Park is right there and Central Park is not that far.</p>
<p>kmhuether, are finances a factor? My d was very much like you – her heart was really in the village, she had a close group of NYU friends, and she had been accepted at Gallatin which would have given the academic freedom she wanted and probably an opportunity to work closely with faculty. But the NYU financial aid was completely inadequate. </p>
<p>She also loved Barnard – in fact, Barnard had been her first choice, and then after the apps were in she decided NYU was her first choice. (Maybe doing the Gallatin app was part of it – it really took work for her to structure her personal statement for them, since she had to set forth her goals for independent study). </p>
<p>I honestly don’t know in hindsight what would have been best for her. She has done very well academically at Barnard – she has had some good opportunities and some profs that she has loved – but socially it has been hard for her to find her element. I have no way to compare her Barnard experience with what she might have found at NYU, however. </p>
<p>I’m trying to be as honest as I can. Do you know what your major would be? I would suggest that you take a serious look at what your academic experience would be at each school by looking closely at the requirements for the majors that interest you, AND the requirements for distribution or core courses. Then look at the course offerings for the fall at each college and try to imagine what your course load might look like at each. I think my daughter would have liked the greater freedom that an independent major at Gallatin would have offered, but if you are in CAS you are looking at a very different comparison.
You also have to throw in the fact that you are likely to have a closer relationship with Barnard faculty, and more personal attention. </p>
<p>Try to imagine yourself in 2014 looking back… imagine you have a degree from NYU and whatever experience you think you will have academically there… and then shirt and imagine you have the Barnard degree that says “Columbia University” on the diploma. I can tell you that Barnard’s academics are demanding – that degree will represent a lot of hard work. How will you feel about the 2 schools then? I mean… I think that if you want a fun place to live, the Village is a lot more exciting than Morningside Heights… but you have your whole life ahead of you to live in or travel to different places – you are in college for 4 years for a reason. Which college’s program best meets those goals?</p>
<p>And of course visit. If money isn’t a factor, then in the end you should follow your heart. I’m just offering some different ways of thinking about your choices, that might help you make your final decision.</p>
<p>:) Best to you in making your decision! I look forward to hearing about your visits…share with us! I am sure it will help someone else in the future.</p>
<p>No financial aid from either, and I think the price tags are about equal. Money isn’t a factor.</p>
<p>I mostly lean towards Barnard, but then I’ll go to the NYU board and lean back slightly. It’s a constant condondrum. I hope I’ll figure it out. I know Barnard makes the most sense for me to attend, its just so hard to resist a dream school like NYU haha, but I really should’ve applied to Stern, I’m just an idiot.</p>
<p>This is really stupid but I keep thinking about which one I feel lucky to get into. It’s hard to explain but part of the reason I wanted to go to UCLA was I really didn’t think I would get in, and then I did. And for some reason, I just assumed I’d get into Barnard and NYU and wasn’t surprised by the acceptance letters (I know that’s wrong and shouldn’t have been the case, I guess I just had a feeling.)</p>
<p>kmhuether, I’ve seen previous posts you’ve made and I think the only thing holding you from Barnard is the fact that it’s not Columbia. I know it was your dream school, but you were deferred and rejected. I think you shouldn’t worry about what other students think and do what is best for you.</p>
<p>Barnard is a wonderful school and you should see it as that, rather than the fact it’s not Columbia. Don’t go to NYU solely b/c you don’t want to be viewed as an “inferior” person.
I dont think you should worry about the image.</p>
<p>kmheuther, will you be able to visit both schools again this month? </p>
<p>Here is one thing I am grateful to NYU for: NYU sent an invitation to an admitted students event to my daughter in March, before results were in; the event coincided with my d’s high school spring break. Because of that, we booked a flight for my d, and she planned to stay the whole week in NY, since she also expected to be admitted to Fordham LC but had never visited that campus. When Barnard accepted her, then Fordham dropped off the visit list - and my d. had plenty of time in the city to spend on both campuses. As it happened, her decision process did not require spending much time at Barnard — but she definitely had the opportunity. </p>
<p>If you can – I think you should try to spend a lot of time at BOTH campuses - not just with arranged events for students, but sitting in areas where students hang out. Try to start conversations with random students who attend both schools - and ask them questions to draw them out. Such as: “what is your favorite thing about NYU/ Barnard?” “What are the 3 most annoying things about this school?” “On your worst day here, what happened?” “What do you like to do best here when you have a few hours of free time?” “What’s your favorite class and why?” Of course these are just suggestions – but I am trying to think of things that will get people to open up and reveal more details about their experience, rather than simply asking them if they like the school or what they think of the academics. Be creative: “if you didn’t go to school here, where would you rather be?” “In hindsight, what do you wish that you had known about this school before you got here?” etc.</p>
<p>Again: go with your heart. I think you should set a goal for yourself, such as that you will talk to 6 random students at each campus --and even if you tend to be shy, just kind of push yourself to start up some conversations. Try to approach students who look like different “types”, so you can get a sampling of different view points. The most important thing is to get a sense of which campus is really right for you.</p>
<p>I have one one daughter who just graduated from Barnard and one that is a sophomore at Columbia. Do not let the negativity that you may encounter in this thread in any way influence your decision. From my experience as a parent to children in both schools I have found it to be a non issue on both sides of Broadway. Speak to actual Barnard and Columbia students on campus and then make your decision. I think you will pleasantly surprised at how the students feel about each other and the relationship of the two schools!</p>
<p>collegeisfun – as a parent, how have the experiences of your 2 daughters compared? Were there specific benefits/ problems /issues at one school that didn’t seem to exist at the other? Or, from what your daughters tell you, does it seem pretty much the same?</p>
<p>I’m asking for specifics, not a comparison as to which is better/worse. My d. is always complaining to me about things that bother her – for examples, she has never been a fan of dorm food or the meal plans! On the other hand, there are some things that have never come up for her that were problems for my son at the colleges he attended. So I just thought it might be interested to get a parents take on how the experiences might have differed, if at all.</p>
<p>This is strictly my opinion and is based solely on my daughters’ experiences at the two schools. Remember that my child at Columbia is only a sophomore and my child at Barnard graduated and now attends medical school. </p>
<p>So far, for me as a parent, I have found Barnard to provide a more nurturing environment and to offer better advisement. This is not to say that Columbia does not offer good advisement but I found the difference to be remarkable. Barnard really held her hand and helped her throughout the whole medical school application process. I don’t think, based on the advisement to date for my daughter that the same is happening at Columbia. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised but I am not holding my breath!</p>
<p>As far as I know, Barnard students have full access to all Columbia facilities, except for restricted access to dorms. (But Columbia students have the same restrictions for Barnard dorms). </p>
<p>As to whether Columbia students use Barnard Facilities – things might change after the completion of the Nexus. Right now even Barnard students don’t really have full use of the facilities that were there when my daughter started, since the construction effectively shut down half the campus.</p>
GL on your choice</p>