Agreed - no private plane here lol but don’t want to consider cost on colleges for our kids and will happily pay full freight at school of their choosing. I think there is over focus on costs on CC - if someone tells us they don’t need to consider costs I would believe them.
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Totally derailing this thread - but for the UW all campus are the UW. The expansion to Bothell and Tacoma allowed many more 1st generation, low income and working young adults to obtain a degree and housing is very limited due to lack of demand and also additional cost for these students and/or they need/want to live at home to help with family responsibilities. The degree is from the UW and they are entitled to the resources offered at the main campus. I am sorry to hear that it doesn’t “come off well” to you - as it remains a quality education and these students are being educated by a world class institution and shouldn’t have to quantify it by noting campus location.
I know the whole history and I know the UW rather well. I was around the conversation at the university when those campuses first became an idea. I’m not trashing the quality of education at UW Bothell, nor would I argue they weren’t entitled to any of the things you point out. That’s all true and correct.
But you’re sweeping over what I wrote without actually addressing what I wrote: people generally view admission to one of those campuses, and hence the degree, very differently than the other. It’s just a fact, even if it seems harsh. Don’t shoot the messenger. I could walk you around that campus right this very minute and objectively demonstrate the point, and I could do it all day. I’m near Eastlake - just say the word. 
I’m not saying it’s right or wrong - just that it is.
Which tells you that these anecdotes were solicited from Obama-envy people who don’t know (or intentionally chose to ignore) how the undergraduate colleges at Columbia U actually operate:
All students register from the same University course catalogue - classes/lectures will be a mix of students from the different colleges, and everyone is graded the same, by the same professors/TAs.
So if it’s easier/harder for some, would this be an unintended compliment to a superior academic prowess of “Barnard Girls” 
in the class? (Fortunately BC doesn’t feel devalued for having to “pull along” any such-challenged CC students. 
)
The one recurring valid/understandable “envy” from CC underclass(wo)men that I’m aware of, is that some of them feel stuck in the “Core” which precisely mandates specific classes and readings, while BC offers their students a drastically more liberal way to satisfy foundations.
Can’t speak about 2012, but ten years later, with 4 years almost complete, my daughter has no such impressions. In fact she always made equal number of friends at CC as she she does had BC, and equally visits suites at either’s housing.
Which is only natural, because when you walk on the same campuses, or attend the same classes, or go to the same gyms, or are working together at the same assignments, one is not even aware, which of the colleges at Columbia U the person next to you attends.
That’s easy to answer between adults. For undergraduates, Columbia University offers/“is”:
- School of General Studies
- Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Columbia College
- Barnard College
(in descending alphabetical order).
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@cquin85 cost obviously has some relevance or the OP wouldn’t have said this in their original post.
I’m not advocating one way or the other, but simply to help students understand the impact of spending more or less. Ultimately it’s up to them and their families.
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Hi. I’ll comment on some of the schools you mentioned in case any of this helps.
Mount Holyoke – absolutely beautiful campus, in a consortium of colleges but MoHo kind of a bit of a bus ride to get to some of the schools. In Western Mass so about 2 hours to Boston, no real urban area around but beautiful area, lively with all the colleges in that area. North Hampton a fun area not far. Great food. Excellent education. My daughter got $20K merit if I remember correctly, she opted elsewhere (Skidmore-- which I dont want to complicate you further but you might like Skidmore and no supplemental essay!)
Wellesley College – I actually live not far. In a lovely residential suburban area with a cute upscale downtown right there. Boston is about 30 min drive away, public transportation access. Beautiful campus, excellent education.
Connecticut College-- Very small school, beautiful campus, large size rooms for dorms but not much in terms of on campus apt living. There is nothing walkable around campus which I didnt care for. No practical public transportation. Seems like students Uber or have a car. Got the impression food is not the best. Surrounding town kind of charming in that rough around the edges New England sort of way. Mystic CT not far and that is cute. Beach close by too. Very sportsy school which didnt appeal to my daughter much but for others that is a draw. Daughter got 30K in merit and did not interview and did not visit prior to getting accepted so were were surprised by the nice amount of merit. Also NO supplemental essay so it’s easy to apply!
Clark Univ – I am an alum from way back in the 80s! Love love love Clark but you have to know it’s not in a great area of Worcester and Worcester is well… a bit rough around the edges, there are nicer areas of Worcester though and things to do. Still the campus is really nice and Clark does a lot to support the surrounding neighborhood. Excellent education.
Good luck. If you have more questions about any of the schools I mentioned happy to respond!
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It’s clear that it isn’t like any existing Seven Sister college.
My sister went to BC back before the merger and even then the Columbia diploma thing was a subject of bemusement. The key difference was that women had no choice but to apply through Barnard if they wanted to attend Columbia as an arts and sciences student. Unlike Pembroke and Radcliffe, the women’s division at Columbia escaped complete liquidation only because their endowment was too big for them to completely go out of business; they had just enough money to hang on as Columbia’s poor relation, possibly even undercutting Columbia’s brand, if absolutely forced to fend for itself. So, they reached an “accommodation”: Columbia would allow cross-registration between the two institutions while Barnard undertook to raise their faculty pay to the same level as their Columbia counterparts.
But, what that didn’t buy Barnard was the ability to expand their campus; thanks to a lot of back-filling over the years, Barnard has hardly any outdoor space to call its own. Basically, the steps in front of Columbia’s Low Memorial Library (which is not really a library) serve as the main outdoor hang-out for the whole university. That’s my principal reason for disagreeing that life at Barnard is like that spent at any other 3,000 student LAC. It just isn’t.
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Based on my experience, I would give greater weight to such a comment if it came from the parent(s) paying for college. Unless, of course, the parents were in the Bill Gates or similar level of family income.
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Since you’re whittling a good list, I might take out the CA schools given your preference for cold. Because Haverford is a definite, I’d keep BMC. Bowdoin and Midd may have more of the feel of privilege but I love both so would keep. St Olaf seems a little less progressive than what you want.
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Well, the NY Times covered the background back in 1976. More a matter of struggling Columbia University hoping for an easy fix to its varied problems by leaning on the little, highly-respected sister:
Needless to say, a lot of development/construction has happened in 45 years since, and the college and the university have gobbled up real-estate and Appartement buildings in the neighborhood, because BOTH original campuses have reached capacity.
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Interesting article, though it should be noted that President Mattfield did not last long in her job as President of Barnard. She was dismissed by the Barnard trustees about four years after the TImes article was written, basically because she was screwing up negotiations with Columbia.
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Okay, noted!
But… I wonder how relevant/helpful “ancient” politics between Barnard and a changing Columbia University, or the length of tenure of some college president 40 years ago, still are to today’s applicants - two generations later? 
They weren’t even born then, possibly not even their parents.
(Kinda like insisting on bringing up Spain under Generalissimo Franco to today’s students who are considering whether to spend a semester abroad in Madrid…)
That’s fair. Agreed.
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Yeah, I mean some people drive $150,000 cars!!! 
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I hear what you’re trying to say. Like you, I’m a big supporter of the LACs and a big fan of the women’s colleges. I’m not just saying that; my posting history supports it.
But you’re working hard here to convince me of something, and I’m just not your huckleberry. I have no axe to grind with either school. There’s been this thing among CC undergrads … we all know where it come from … and it can manifest itself in BC being on the defensive. That you D has made friends doesn’t really change the facts.
Again, don’t shoot the messenger. That it is a things is not something for which I’m responsible and I don’t participate in the arguments because I have no dog in the fight.
As for how it struck us, I think my Ds would have liked Barnard even more If it were more separate from Columbia. Like, literally not connected but you can take classes, etc. - it’s own identify not tangled up with Columbia.
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Well, where we live, many do as you well know!
I don’t think that cost isn’t a consideration and this is definitely something I’ve spoken to my parents about at length. I just wanted the focus of the replies to be about the schools themselves rather than their costs because I feel like that is something for my family and I to figure out and not what I wanted input on from outside sources.
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I really appreciate everyone’s input! Thank you for taking the time to try and help out
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Not at all trying to convince you - just helping others “reading along” with a dose of reality as experienced by actual students there, vs. sour-grapes repeated in a decade-old NYT bit that are easily disproved.
And I absolutely respect that your daughter was looking for a more traditional/seperated women’s LAC. Those all good, and real, reasons to prefer other colleges.
(Indeed, we “all know where it came from”: some CC undergrad, who isn’t representative of the student body, who apparently felt snubbed when Obama spoke at Barnard. And since it’s being re-warmed in these forums, and many visitors are objectively unaware how tight the integration is, some guides might intentionally correct any such mis-information up-front.)
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I think that’s all fair; no fundamental disagreement other than to point out that the Obama piece was just one context I randomly found on a search. I’ve read others, which has led me to believe it’s not just one or two crazies, though, yeah I’m sure you’re right it’s not the typical CC undergrad.
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