My daughter is looking at Barnard for next fall. She is looking forward to attending a co-ed college. Nothing against all girls, just a preference.
She loves many aspects of Barnard - we would like to know if Barnard student life overwhelminglly feels like going to an all-girls school or does it have more of a co-ed feel.
Want to know from students who actually attended Barnard !
Everytime I see a parent write “we would like to know” I wonder who is the strongest part of that “we”. Fwiw, the one that matters in this conversation is your daughter, as she is the one who has to write the “why Barnard” essay and the one who would actually go. Barnard is proud of its history, ethos and culture as a women’s college. If your daughter isn’t attracted to that in its own right, she probably shouldn’t apply.
Otherwise, the challenge inherent in your question is that neither the schools nor the students are homogenous.
For example, Scripps and Barnard are all-women colleges that are fully integrated with the mixed-gender colleges with whom they are contiguous, whereas Smith, Bryn Mawr and MoHo are part of consortiums- but the level and type of class cross-registration is much more uneven.
Further, the students are not homogenous: they vary in the extent to which they prefer the things that can come with an all-women’s environment. For example, a current physics major at Smith is loving the combination of strong teaching, academic rigor and supportive environment for women in STEM that she is getting. On the other hand, a Scripps student I know has taken classes at all of the CMcK campuses, and enjoys the mix in class, but loves coming home to her all-female housing, with its strong sense of community.
If your daughter is not attracted to the idea of a women’s college I don’t think Barnard is the right place for her.
I know a lot of Barnard students past and present and they tend to say it’s both. It’s very easy to study and socialize in a co-ed situation and it’s also very easy to not. Hopefully someone with direct experience can answer you.
Not to nitpick, but all-girls schools are K-12. Women’s college is the term you should use.
Agreed. Or either. The student can mold her experience as she sees fit.
My sister attended Barnard many years ago when it was the only way women could enroll at Columbia (other than as grad students.) It functioned mainly as a place to sleep. The rest of her life revolved around classes which could take place anywhere at the university, and the immediate neighborhood of Morningside Heights which, of course, she shared with thirty-five thousand other people.
Yes! 
In some aspects it feels overwhelmingly like a women’s college, because top management are women, and the majority of the faculty will be. So much of your interaction with the college will be in “Futureworld”, where there is no male dominance - making everyone understand that there is no valid reason to accepting it elsewhere when current students become future professionals.
Naturally, dorms will feel like a women’s college - because bath rooms, showers, common facilities will not look like you’re living with a bunch of high-school boys (so much for not stereotyping ).
So Barnard’s campus feels as little bit like an oasis of sanity whenever wants to get a bit of a break of college-testosterone.
On the other hand, while formally independent, it is practically fully integrated with Columbia University. Students from all colleges at Columbia U will attend classes on either side of Broadway (they all show up in Columbia U’s course catalogue) - it’s controlled only by which college hosts which course/course level in which semester, and which classes at which college you can fit in your personal class lineup.
Students from all C.U. colleges will share common facilities, such as dining halls at either schools, gyms, libraries, etc.
And from that sharing in lecture halls, seminar rooms, group projects, clubs, dining halls, gyms, campuses result friendships across all the colleges and genders.
So from THAT aspect, student life has a perfectly regular co-ed feel.
It’s up to each student to balance those two as it best fits one’s personal preference.
Now this is a really nice reply to the question being asked by the op. Thank you .
My sister goes to Barnard. She said that 99% of classes are coed, that Columbia is literally steps away, and that it often feels like a single institution. She said at times it feels like it isn’t a women’s college.