<p>Hi everyone!</p>
<p>I graduated Barnard this May and am an alumna interviewer. Feel free to ask me any questions you have! I majored in Linguistics so questions about linguistics are especially welcome. </p>
<p>One caveat: Please don’t ask me to chance you. I won’t respond. </p>
<p>Looking forward to your questions! You can also PM if you’d feel more comfortable doing so.</p>
<p>Hi! I was wondering if you knew how much the interview really factors in. If I did the interview, and did well, would that significantly boost my chance at acceptance?
Thanks.</p>
<p>It will help you, but I’m not sure how significantly. Honestly, probably not too significantly. Barnard wants to know if you are actually legitimately interested in Barnard, if you know anything about Barnard, why you’re interested, what you can offer to the Barnard community, etc. If you come to the interview late, are a jerk, know nothing about Barnard, and proclaim that Columbia is infinitely better or something, then it will probably significantly hurt your application. However, if you do well and seem genuinely excited about Barnard and have some knowledge about it, I don’t think it will help you as much as the former situation would hurt you.</p>
<p>I hope that made sense.</p>
<p>Oh, okay. Thank you!
Another question: I was wondering if you knew whether it could hurt me to not submit my rank, if our school does assign them.</p>
<p>I honestly have no idea, sorry!</p>
<p>How much does Barnard factor SAT (both I and II) scores into admissions?</p>
<p>ya I think I’m going to do miserably (but i’m hoping not of course haha) on the SAT IIs but did pretty well on the SAT…also what is the interview like? I know a lot about Barnard from looking at the website etc. but I’m hesitant b/c I don’t know what to expect and I don’t want to hurt my chances! and one more question-i know this is a faq about barnard but how did you like the all women thing? I wouldn’t have ever considered a women’s college if I hadn’t discovered Barnard, so I’m a little worried about that…what did you think about it?</p>
<p>thanks so much!</p>
<p>I know that Barnard shares clubs and classes with Columbia, but to what extent? Do you really interact that much with Columbians? To what extent? And I love the idea of the classes and the environment of all-women. It’s absolutely unique and awesome. But do you know any girls who date Columbia (or NYU?) guys? Also, I know it’s in the middle of NYC and that’s AMAZING!, but how do you know WHAT to do in the city? Is it all shopping and food? Are there coffee houses? What do people do in the city? How do you get internships? Do you have time for internships with classes?</p>
<p>That was a lot of question marks!! Haha! Answer what you’d like.</p>
<p>abercrombieindy: As far as I know, while Barnard thinks of standardized tests as important to understanding your range of ability, they are second in importance to your high school transcript. Barnard would rather reward students for rigorous coursework. Impressive test scores do not guarantee admission, and more modest scores do not necessarily lead to denial.</p>
<p>lorrainedelis: The interview is probably slightly different depending upon whether or not you’re having an on-campus interview, or an interview with an alumna. An on-campus interview is generally conducted with a current senior at Barnard who works in the admissions office (I believe). I didn’t end up working in the admissions office during my time at Barnard (no time!) so I can’t really comment on that, other than my experience with it when I was applying for admission for Fall 2007. It was pretty laid-back, and I wouldn’t be too worried about it. For alumna interviews, I think the same comments apply. The point of the interview is to learn more about you, about why you think Barnard would be a good fit (and to an extent, whether or not the alumna agrees on that point), what you know about Barnard, what you want to get out of Barnard, and if you have any questions about Barnard. Unless you come in guns blazing about how horrible Barnard is or something equally silly, I wouldn’t worry about it hurting your chances. Generally speaking, it can only help you.</p>
<p>Honestly, Barnard doesn’t really seem too much like a strictly women’s college. First-years do live in an all-female dorm, and generally speaking Barnard dorms do not have men in them (although Barnard students can live in Columbia dorms and vice versa, but there are quotas imposed on that and only a very small amount of students ever take advantage of that). First-year seminars and other Barnard-only classes do have only women in them. But otherwise, at least for me specifically, it felt pretty much like a coed college. There was a definite focus on women and feminism (in non-Gender Studies classes) in my Barnard classes, so that is different from Columbia classes to an extent. And there are definitely more women in power, holding tenure, etc, at Barnard. But the women’s college aspect of it can be as much or as little of your experience at Barnard as you’d like it to be. My major was basically housed at Columbia so I spent most of my time there, so it felt very coed to me. If my major was perhaps Urban Studies or Dance (both of which are housed at Barnard), my experience would most likely have been very different.</p>
<p>I hope that answered your question!</p>
<p>smartundecided: Basically, in my experience, Barnard is a vital part of the Columbia community. You can join pretty much any club or sport (etc) that you want to, with the exception of student government for CC or SEAS, since obviously a Barnard student can’t represent them. Columbia students can join Barnard clubs, except student government. Unless you’re wearing a Barnard sweatshirt or something, there’s basically no way for anyone to tell if you go to CC, SEAS, or Barnard (or GS for that matter), and students from CC/SEAS/GS/Barnard all join one another’s clubs without consideration for if it’s a club housed at Columbia or Barnard. </p>
<p>I can only speak to my experience, but how much you interact with Columbians depends on how much you want to. If you only want to take Barnard classes and only want to be friends with people from Barnard, it’s probably possible. Generally speaking though, even at Barnard classes, there will be people from Columbia. And unless they’re male or you ask them, you won’t know if they go to BC or CC/SEAS/GS. My major was basically housed at Columbia so I spent almost all of my time over there. I played on the rugby team and was a member of a variety of clubs for Columbia University in general, and I had a ton of friends at each school. </p>
<p>There are lots of girls who date Columbia & NYU guys (and girls). It’s pretty common, actually. </p>
<p>There’s tons of coffee houses! In Morningside Heights, there’s a coffee shop that everyone always talks about called the Hungarian Pastry Shop, on 111th & Amsterdam. There are others, but that’s “the” coffee shop people associate with M’side Heights for whatever reason. There’s always stuff to do in NYC. It can be all shopping and food if you want it to be, or it can be all about parks and museums, or free events, or music, or pretty much anything you want it to be! Don’t worry about finding things to do or being overwhelmed with options! </p>
<p>Barnard Career Services always has postings of internships, and you can always seek one out if you have an idea of where you’d like to intern. I personally never did an internship because I didn’t have time. The only reason I didn’t have time is because I was involved in research and I was graduating a year early so I took a ton of credits each semester. I know many people who had amazing internships and it’s definitely possible to do them.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long-winded answers everyone! I hope I answered your questions.</p>
<p>thank you so so much! I’ll probably be back with more questions later :)</p>
<p>haha sorry I already came up with more! how much hostility is there towards Barnard (from Columbia)? I’ve heard they can be pretty awful, which makes me uneasy about everything b/c I would love to spend time there too. (though barnard is the best in my opinion haha)</p>
<p>also, was it easy finding a job when you graduated? I’m so scared I won’t be able to get a job (or get a job I like) after spending so much $ on college in nyc. also, i’d like to stay in nyc after I graduate, so I’d be interested to hear how everything worked out for you!</p>
<p>also, i read somewhere that at Barnard you don’t choose your major until sophomore year. is that true? as of now I’m undecided…I just want to do something with travel, languages, history, and art…I have a lot of interests but I can’t choose to major in just one yet! and I don’t know what I want to do at all, so picking a major kind of scares me!</p>
<p>how manageable is the workload? I’ve heard its hard, but I want to make sure I’m not miserable studying all the time…I know nyu’s is more manageable which is making me consider it as well. I love everything about Barnard, but I don’t want it to be ALL school since I’ll be in nyc…(this is considering I actually get in which is a stretch…I’m so nervous!)</p>
<p>do you feel Barnard gave you a great education that will get (or has gotten) you a great job? I want to have a great time in college but I know that after I’ll be thrown out into the real world and I want to succeed. If I get into both, I’ll be between nyu and Barnard. Barnard sounds perfect b/c of the smaller school (which is much better than feeling like a number or getting lost in how big nyu is!) and everything else about it, but I don’t want to make the wrong decision b/c I know nyu is great too…</p>
<p>how are the dorms? did you like your roommate(s)?</p>
<p>and last question: i’m from texas and I’m kind of worried about how well I’ll fit in in new york. visiting, I’ve absolutely loved it, but I know it will be different living there…I’m worried it will be all strong liberals (I’m not that political but since I am from the south I’m sure I’m a bit more conservative than most at Barnard) and since I’ve never been around it, I know I won’t be that comfortable around gays. I’m not against it, I just know it would be very different for me! but I think as long as I had a straight roommate it would be ok haha…how prevalent is that though? and are most Barnard girls nice? you seem super nice, so I’m hoping you represent the majority! I read somewhere that they all wear designer clothes and are super competitive, which I’m hoping isn’t true…thats how high school is and I can’t do that again!!</p>
<p>you don’t have to answer everything, I know I asked a lot!! thanks so so much, you are really helping all of us out!</p>
<p>The most hostility you will ever encounter towards Barnard will be here, on this forum. For whatever reason, a ton of people ■■■■■ here and say stupid things about Barnard for “fun.” It isn’t actually like this at Barnard/Columbia. I’d say 99% of the people at BC/CU don’t care at all. The 1% that might care you can easily avoid and shouldn’t be a deterrent to you applying to or going to Barnard. There will always be haters, no matter who you are, or what you’re doing. Don’t let them ruin it for you.</p>
<p>I’m actually attending grad school right now, so I can’t really comment on job prospects. However, every alumna I know who wanted a job right out of college (aka didn’t go to grad school), got a good one. Career Services is excellent, as is Barnard’s reputation. In fact, I applied to a job for the summer and was told I wasn’t asking enough for compensation; since I went to Barnard I “should be asking for much more.”</p>
<p>It’s true! In fact, it’s true at most colleges. Even after you choose your major, you can change it if you really want to. Don’t stress about choosing a major yet; I came into college absolutely convinced I was going to major in Russian. I took an Intro to Linguistics class fall of my first year and fell in love, and that’s what I ended up majoring in.</p>
<p>It really isn’t all that much work. I barely did anything in hs and got stellar grades and found that in order to achieve the same grades at BC I had to do maybe 20% more work. It all depends on the class (language classes will require more work) and the professor. But it’s definitely manageable and not scary! Barnard students lead very active social lives outside of school! I’m a huge procrastinator and managed to make Dean’s List so I wouldn’t worry.</p>
<p>Barnard has an absolutely stellar reputation. It will give you a leg up in graduate admissions and job applications, I can pretty much guarantee it. Whenever I went to an interview for a job or grad school and told them I went to Barnard, the interviewer invariably said “Oh! BARNARD! How wonderful!” or something similar. NYU obviously has a good reputation as well, but I would say that Barnard’s reputation is better. </p>
<p>The dorms are pretty good, I would say better than Columbia’s in general (although it depends). My dorm freshman year was fairly big, and I liked my roommate. We aren’t great friends or anything, but we were friendly and had fun. Sophomore year I had a huge single in a suite with a hodgepodge of other sophomores and juniors, which was fun. I moved off campus to live with my girlfriend for my last year because I didn’t get the dorm I wanted for senior year, so I can’t comment on that particularly. I’ve been in every Barnard dorm (and most Columbia ones) and they’re all pretty good. Barnard dorms aren’t as cockroach-infested as Columbia ones. I only saw maybe one cockroach in a Barnard dorm ever.</p>
<p>Where in TX are you from, out of curiosity? You’ll fit in just fine, there are tons of Texans at Barnard/Columbia and in NYC in general. My girlfriend is actually from Texas and she adjusted fairly easily to NYC. There are also definitely republicans and/or conservatives at BC/CU, so you won’t be alone!</p>
<p>If you’re worried about being around LGBTQ people…Barnard/CU may not be the place for you. NYU definitely isn’t, as there is a very large LGBTQ population there. What about being around them would make you uncomfortable? (I’m not judging, just trying to help you figure out if BC is for you.) You can’t request a straight roommate, as far as I know, and I think that would generally be…frowned upon. There is a large and active LGBTQ population at BC/CU. There’s a Barnard-specific club, as well as a CU-wide one (which was the first LGBTQ club in a US college), in addition to a variety of others. I’m sure there are people at BC who are not particularly comfortable around LGBTQ people but I wouldn’t say that that’s the norm, at all. I’m not sure exactly how many women at BC/CU are gay or bi (etc) but it’s not a very tiny population. They are there, and they are vocal. There’s even a whole month devoted to LGBTQ events! It’s October every year.</p>
<p>Barnard girls are definitely nice! I made a lot of friends at Barnard, and they’re all nice. 
Barnard students aren’t super competitive, but they are definitely motivated/driven, and won’t take bs from people. There are definitely girls who wear designer clothes…I wasn’t one of them. It’s NYC, so you’ll have some fashionistas, but I’d say most of the student body dresses relatively casually. I wore pajamas to class A LOT. </p>
<p>I hope that all helped! I also forgot to mention that anyone else is free to respond, too…:)</p>
<p>lorrainedelis, you haven’t been around many gay people <em>that you know of</em> ;). Most estimates place it at about 1 in 10 people, regardless of location :).</p>
<p>If the idea of going to school where LGBTQ people and perspectives are far more visible makes you uncomfortable, I’d be happy to discuss it with you over PM. I’m also a high school senior but I’m a very active straight ally in a place with a LOT of out people and I’d be happy to talk it out in a non-judgmental way and see if college in a liberal place is right for you. I’ve helped other friends from different backgrounds broaden their perspective before and it went really well :). Just an offer, not meant to offend- I think you’d end up just fine at Barnard or wherever else as long as you were able to keep an open mind.</p>
<p>Right, I should probably mention that I’m a lesbian and was active in the LGBTQ community in HS and at Barnard, so I might be a bit biased…</p>
<p>lorrainedelis, on the jobs thing - my daughter graduated in the spring; she has a job that she absolutely loves… it is really an amazing position given her career aspirations. </p>
<p>Barnard career services was amazing. My d. has made comments along the lines that the career workshops were among the most valuable things she had in all 4 years of college. She felt she really got tremendous support and was given the skills she needed to find a job-- even a connection to a mentor in her field. </p>
<p>However, I would’t say it was “easy” for my d. to get a job – she had to work hard at sending out resumes and interviewing. She actually was offered her job the same day she graduated, and I can’t imagine a more perfect job for her – but the point is, the job didn’t just fall from the sky into her lap. I don’t know what things will be like in 4 years, but right now it is a tough economy. </p>
<p>I do want to say that don’t think the name of the college on the degree is nearly as significant to an employer as the experience (work and/or internships) and college performance. That would be especially true if you planned to return to Texas after you graduated, where you might find that job applicants from less-prestigious local colleges were actually at an advantage.</p>
<p>thanks for not judging…I don’t want to offend anyone or anything, I’m just not used to being around gay people at all. maybe there are like 2 (in the closet) gay guys at my school (I’m totally okay w/ them tho, i’m friends with both of them haha) but I’ve never been around lesbians…I just think that it’d be awkward to have a lesbian roommate just b/c you’re rooming w/ a person that likes girls…it’d be like rooming w/ a straight guy! (of course not exactly like that…but still) and though I’d be more okay with it, my parents would probably freak if they knew I was rooming with a lesbian. sad, but true. they’re super conservative…(oh ya I’ll msg you where I’m from in TX just so I’m not giving too much info away on here!) I’m just worried it will be too LBGT…but I guess if I visit later this year, I’ll get a good idea?? I hope I’m not offending you at all, you seem awesome and I’d definitely be friends with you!! I just would feel super out of place if it was everywhere :)</p>
<p>haha good I’ll probably dress cute like once a week (or less) so pajamas sound perfect! </p>
<p>thanks so much, thats so so nice of you to spend so much time answering all my questions! from everything you’ve said, Barnard seems PERFECT and I really hope I get in!! (do you know if you can do interviews after you submit your app? like if I went in Feb. or something even though the deadline is jan 1st?..or does it have to be before the deadline?) and you don’t seem biased at all thanks!</p>
<p>@rasberi: haha you’re probably right, but its definitely not accepted here, so if people are in the closet, they’re good at it!! k that sounds great, I’ll PM you later, thanks! haha I’m not offended at all, I hope I’m not offending anyone! thanks so much! </p>
<p>@calmom I’d love to stay in nyc though, so hopefully I won’t have to return to tx (don’t get me wrong I love tx but I want to live in nyc!!) thanks so much! I guess I’ll decide barnard vs nyu later…they’re probably my top 2, but barnard sounds amazing, so its probably my #1!! thanks for your advice!</p>
<p>Just wanted to say thanks for this thread-- it’s making my wait a lot less agonizing. I applied to Barnard ED.
I don’t really have any questions, but I love all this insight to the LGBTQ community at BC/CU. I’m the president of the GSA at my school.
lorrainedelis: answering 'cause I can-- I applied ED and I called the office to ask if I could schedule an interview after the ED date, and they said no and emphasized that the lack of an interview couldn’t significantly hurt me. (However, I do live in NJ… 
)</p>
<p>Oh right, what were you involved in at Barnard? I’m simply interested. I’m sure this is true at most colleges, but I just feel like there’s so many things to be part of, and I’m scared of being overwhelmed, (considering I get in) balancing coursework and clubs… because looking at my activities in HS I really get sucked into things and don’t know when to stop. XD And like lorrainedelis said, there’s the whole NYC factor too.
I also feel like a lot of Barnard girls dance? When I visited, our guide mentioned that she was majoring in dance and so was her roommate, and just from looking through the viewbook dance/performing arts look really prevalent. I have minimal dance experience but it’s just something I’d like to try if I can.</p>