<p>I read in my Fiske guide that there are a couple co-ed dorms at Columbia that Barnard students can live in. Are these impossible to get into? Would a student be missing out on the true Barnard experience by choosing to live in one?</p>
<p>I cannot answer your question regarding "the true Barnard experience" and living in Columbia dorms. But I can tell you that Columbia students (including guys) also live in Barnard dorms; Plimpton, for example. I also am sure that you will be required to live in the "Quad" at Barnard for your first year.</p>
<p>after freshman year (you must live in the quad, if you aren't a commuter), BC and CU students can live in any dorm, on either side of broadway. (unless, it's the quad, or, there might be some restrictions in CU dorms that i'm not familiar with). it's very hard to dorm with students that are not at your school (either BC or CU), because your housing points can not be included in the equation, making it a risky move to entire the lottery (as there is a chance you will not get housing, as your lottery number will be low). i hope this makes sense. that is not to say that it's impossible. i know of juniors and seniors that do it.</p>
<p>Room</a> Selection 2008-2009</p>
<p>Another thing to keep in mind is that once you dorm over at Columbia, you can't dorm over at Barnard after that. I'm not really sure why it's like that. Now that I think of it though, one girl I know was somehow placed into a Columbia dorm (East Campus) because she couldn't get a Barnard dorm during the lottery. But from what I've seen so far, Barnard dorms are a lot nicer.</p>
<p>Curious to know which dorms are nicer at Barnard. Optimistically, I am assuming that dorms beyond freshman year offer nicer accommodations, is that true? Freshman dorms were extremely depressing on recent tour, and there were only three bathroom sinks per hall. Did I miss something?</p>
<p>Chatabout, three bathroom sinks per hall is highly inaccurate--I can't imagine where you were. Where I'm living currently in Sulzberger (summer housing), there are two bathrooms, one is coed and one is women only, and each has five sinks. That's ten sinks on one hall. The quad is four halls connected and each has a bathroom, so, there are five bathrooms with several sinks and at least three shower stalls in each. Bathrooms were never an issue living in the quad.</p>
<p>I don't agree, however, that Barnard dorms are nicer, with the possible exception of Cathedral Gardens. Many Columbia dorms have been renovated far more recently than Barnard dorms. They also just have a really different feel to them which is hard to pinpoint--maybe due to a more diverse population (for example, more engineering students are present, and men, obviously) Still, I'd rather live at Barnard... It just feels homier and more centered to me.</p>
<p>To answer the OP, if you want to live in a Columbia dorm, you just have to make friends at Columbia and then live with them. Your suite has to be at least 50% Columbia students to live over there, and 50% Barnard to live over here. I've never heard of a rule that says once you live at Columbia you can't come back, although perhaps you would be considered withdrawn from Barnard housing and so you would not have first priority for housing the next year. It's not difficult, per se, to get housing at Columbia, and it's what you make of it.</p>
<p>My D really loved living at 110 as a sophomore. She's back in Sultz tower as a senior, already moved in (summer job) and happy to be there.</p>
<p>The dorms are very Manhattan, yes, grittier than a suburban palace or rural abode. You have to love the city. D does. She loves her dorms and dorm life.</p>
<p>i think reid hall has three sinks per bathroom per floor. they also don't have ac .</p>
<p>It's true that the Reid bathrooms haven't been renovated in a while, but really, you just go down the hall to the one in Sulz or around the corner to the one in Brooks. The distance is probably the same as in your own house. I don't think the quad should be looked at as separate halls. Also, there rarely are times when all three sinks are being used.
Reid doesn't have AC, but this will hardly be an issue unless you are staying during the summer in which case you buy a powerful fan.
Mythmom makes a good point: the dorms are very New York... and that's part of why you choose Barnard :)</p>
<p>Oh and yes, Chatabout, dorms are nicer after freshman year. Some of them are old--I think 616 and 620 were built in 1905--and you can tell. But it's easy to get a single, and wonderful to have your own kitchen. CG is brand new and Sulzberger Tower has fantastic views of the city.</p>
<p>i think the freshmen housing is actually pretty good. freshmen live in either sulz, reid, or brooks. brooks has two-room doubles, so you basically get a single. sulz and reid doubles tend to be decently large, but reid rooms dont have air conditioning and some of the reid bathrooms aren't renovated, the poster above is right on... there are other bathrooms nearby (This must be the part you visited, which is the worst part). i lived in a pretty large double in sulz, but it was closest to a reid bathroom. so, for example, i used that normally but sometimes went to the renovated sulz bathroom to shower cause the showers are nicer and larger, and its really just around a corner.</p>
<p>and yes, there are some nicer dorms in later years!</p>