<p>I have heard from a website (can’t recall which, but it might have been Princeton Review) that Barnard is highly populated by extremely religious girls. In your experience, do you find this to be true? In addition, do you feel that that puts a strain on people who aren’t so religious? I’m Jewish ethnically, but agnostic in actual faith. I like Barnard, but I’m nervous about being surrounded by religious people who are offended by a lack of faith.</p>
<p>I am very interested in any other responses to this question. I can tell you that my d, who was raised in a mainstream denomination Christian church, lived very amiably with her Orthodox roomie her first year....they still meet up for lunch every week. She personally has not found (nor really actively searched for) a church to attend in the Morningside Heights area that seems "right" to her. And that is absolutely fine with me...</p>
<p>I have not gathered that there is "pressure" to be religious but the opportunity and support are certainly in place should you want to take advantage.</p>
<p>The Jewish population at Barnard is unusually high (43%) even accounting for its presence in NY. Across the street at Columbia the numbers are more typical of competitive schools in the East (25%). Of the 43%, there is a larger than typical number of Orthodox as opposed to secular students.</p>
<p>ARe catholic students a minority? I am assuming that they are
christians/catholics don't get a lot of crap from other students, do they? especially on issues such as abortion, etc?</p>
<p>1) As far as I know the colleges where Catholics are a majority are: Notre Dame, Fordham, et. al.. Most other places, I would expect that Catholics are a minority. Not a small minority, around New York anyway, but still.</p>
<p>More generally, in the NYC area immigrants from Ireland, Italy, and various Hispanic communities are very well represented. There are a lot of Catholics in New York.</p>
<p>2) I believe many secular college communities in the Northeast tend to have a liberal bent. I imagine that you will encounter some differences of opinion, but at really any such college not particularly Morningside Heights more than others.</p>
<p>3) To the extent that there is a relatively large orthodox jewish contingent, you should expect to get less 'crap" rather than more crap. In my experience religious jews share more political views with religious christians than they do with secular jews. They do not typically engage in doling out "crap" to christians.</p>
<p>4) As to OP, I'm guessing that a "larger than typical number of orthodox as opposed to secular students" is still a pronounced minority, and there will probably be tons of people just like you. I expect there are going to be plenty of people around with all types of beliefs. We're not expecting this to be a problem, and there's no reason it would be so long as people respect each other. IMO the sects that are into proselytizing are not likely to be sending kids to secular colleges. It's probably mostly "modern orthodox", I would imagine, and they don't do that. </p>
<p>But D isn't there yet.</p>
<p>Upon reflection, it wouldn't shock me if Barnard had an active pro-feminist contingent, and some of these people do not necessarily share the Catholic church's position on abortion. So maybe you will get more "crap" there than average, on that point anyway. But that supposition is based on the "women's college" aspect, not religion so much.</p>
<p>Getting back to the OP, think of what it must be like for the orthodox students. They are going into a community where they will be in a distinct minority; the majority of students aren't even jewish let alone orthodox. I can imagine one of them duplicating the concerns expressed in your post, only in reverse.</p>
<p>And as post #4 indicates, other groups will have their concerns as well. Ultimately every group is a minority of one sort or another there it seems.</p>
<p>Hopefully everyone gets their experiences and framework broadened a little, leaves others to do as they will, and tries to get along.</p>
<p>The relatively large Jewish population at Barnard (still by far a minority overall) was part of a well-rounded education for me (mainstream Protestant and Korean) in the 80s. The presence of orthodox Jews was not at all problematic or overwhelming or dominating. For my daughter, a rising junior at Barnard, it's great for her to have exposure to this community, but it doesn't define her experience there or her social life. There are LOTS of secular Jewish students--no problem, no pressure.</p>
<p>I am really looking forward to more of a religious variety...my family was Jewish up until the last two generations, I'm agnostic, and my parents are Episcopalian. Most people I know are either Christian (no particular denomination, according to them) or agnostic/atheist. So I'm excited for Barnard. It'd be nice to know a little more about other traditions, etc.</p>