<p>We visited Barnard in April and spoke to quite a few students. They did not fit the "obnoxious rich" stereotype at all. They seemed lively, articulate, and fairly friendly--pleased with New York and the Barnard experience. On Barnard's campus, they were almost all dressed very casually and unpretentiously--jeans ,sweatshirts. On Columbia's campus we saw a number of women--don't know if they were from Barnard or not-- who were very expensively and fashionably "dressed up" and "made up".</p>
<p>sorry to take so long in responding-- i took my decision down to the wire (thank goodness for 24 hour post-offices!)
in the end i chose vassar. it was extremely difficult, and i know that if i hadnt applied to V i would without question be heading to barnard in the fall. But i did have a feeling in my gut in poughkeepsie (of all places). and i will still be close enough to the city, so i can come to visit often. still, it was sad to pass up the opportunity to get to know all of you
much luck in the future, and thank you for all of our advice</p>
<p>ok, this might sound kinda stupid...but I read that freshman had to take P.E...so is that really like high school gym class? I didn't know colleges make kids do that still O_o</p>
<p>I think there is a PE requirement (Columbia has a swimming test requirement!). But when my sister went to Barnard she took bowling! I heard there's a ton of fun stuff to take.</p>
<p>Not at all like gym class. There's a huge variety of things to take:</p>
<p>Transfers have to take one (I took foil fencing), all other students need two. I think dance classes count, too.</p>