<p>I am sure that this topic has been exhausted, but I am applying RD to Barnard and I have visited the campus and fell in love with it. What programs are they known for? Who are some of the exemplary faculty? What do students like best about the partnership with Columbia? What do students like best about Barnard (besides small setting in big city, etc.)? Any information besides those posed in the questions would be helpful. Thank you so much!!!</p>
<p>Here's a hint: you can look up student reviews of faculty on <a href="http://www.culpa.info/%5B/url%5D">http://www.culpa.info/</a></p>
<p>So you can use the Barnard web site & catalog to get the names of faculty, then check them out on Culpa. Keep in mind that many departments are shared with Columbia, so depending on the major, a Barnard student may also be taking a lot of courses from Columbia faculty as well. </p>
<p>I'm a parent, not a student, but one thing I like about the Columbia partnership is simply that course registration is essentially seamless -- signing up for a Columbia course is no different than signing up for Barnard courses, and it is all done at the same time. So, with a few exceptions such as Columbia core courses, a Barnard student has the full resources and full course offerings of both campuses to choose from.</p>
<p>My D is a second year student. Barnard is the "happiest place on Earth". This from a young women whose enthusiasm for anything is muted at best. Her favorite activity is the opera (recent reviews Carmen: bad "We weren't really sad when she died at the end"; Barber of Seville: rave "The best production I've ever seen.") Favorite classes Art History.</p>
<p>I'm assuming this is professional opera at the New York City Opera...not Barnard? My D is training in opera and is interested in going to Barnard so I'm curious.</p>
<p>Ablestmom, one of the benefits of attending college at Barnard is that there are all kinds of free or reduced costs tickets available for various activities and events. </p>
<p>It's not exactly highbrow, but one of the high points of my daughter's first few weeks at Barnard were $5 tickets to a Yankees game - she went with a new friend from Columbia.</p>
<p>ABlestMom, you are correct. Those are professional operas, the Met and NYC companies. Theatre is based on the Barnard Campus, but I don't know that they do opera on either the Columbia or Barnard side of the street. My D saw six operas in her first year at Barnard. I think she has seen only three this year. She and her friends are going again to see Barbar of Seville in February. Tickets are hard to get for Barbar of Seville, and they have been taking the standing places. At the less in-demand performances Barnard students get tickets at a greatly reduced price. Twice a year they are free.</p>
<p>In fairness.....</p>
<p>Getting some of these tickets involves a willingness to get up very, very early in the morning (or not to go to bed at all), and wait in line a very long time. I don't know the ins and outs of it. I don't think my daughter had to wait in line for $5 baseball tickets, but I know that she had to wait in line for her free or drastically reduced-price ballet ticket (I think to ABT Nutcracker -- she told me that after waiting in line since some ungodly hour in the morning she simply opted for whichever available ticket would have been the most expensive in real life, so I think she got a $150 ballet seat for free or close to that). I do think that more modestly discounted tickets are easier to come by.</p>
<p>The point is that tickets are easy to come by, and there are a variety of ways that students can obtain reduced price tickets, either through the college or directly via the various venues.</p>
<p>Apologies. I left that out. You get in line at 6AM to make your preference known at 9AM when the office opens as there are several types of programs available. You come back at noon to pick up your ticket.</p>
<p>My daughter would be living there, lol! Free Met and NYC Opera tickets! She's a reviewer for High Five and gets some very few select ones for free...no where near as many as she would like! Even though the tickets are free, between the gas, the parking and her $26 brie sandwich at the Met, it's becomes an expensive night.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info...that's fabulous for the students!</p>
<p>
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her $26 brie sandwich at the Met
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Er, when I go to the theater, I carry protein bars in my purse so that can have a nutritious snack during intermission that does not involve spending too much money. For matinees, the last time I was in NY there was a hot dog vender outside on the corner near Lincoln Center who had very reasonable prices (I think it was $2 for the larger size). :)</p>
<p>There are COUNTLESS alternatives to that sandwich...it just happens to be something DH spoiled her with the first opera she attended and he has upheld the tradition ever since. :)</p>