<p>I have a few friends at Columbia and their source of humor always seems to be Barnard. Why do people always claim that it is an inferior school and make fun of it? Is it really, and is it considered equal to Columbia after graduation (in terms of finding a job, etc.)? Are the stereotypes true? I really like the college and am seriously considering it so I am very curious.</p>
<p>Are your Columbia friends freshpeople, by any chance? </p>
<p>I graduated from Barnard in May. My first year, particularly during orientation, there were a few Barnard jokes. If you ever read Bwog ([Bwog](<a href=“http://www.bwog.com%5DBwog%5B/url%5D”>http://www.bwog.com)</a>), you’ll see Barnard jokes pop up in the comments from time to time. But those are anonymous internet posters - in real life, people very rarely say these kinds of things.</p>
<p>I had friends on both sides of the street, and I took about half of my classes on each campus. And honestly, nobody cares. Everyone understands that the classes are rigorous on both sides of Broadway and everybody is so mixed up that sometimes you aren’t even sure which college somebody attends. My main extracurricular was a theater troupe, probably half and half Barnard/Columbia. It didn’t matter. (And, interestingly, Columbia has no theater department. So any Columbia College theater majors you may meet are all majoring at Barnard.)</p>
<p>It isn’t inferior to Columbia, just different. Some people like to make fun of Barnard because they think it’s easier to get into, and that Barnard women are really just trying to be Columbia students, but took a back door approach. There are a few people who fit that description, but the majority (including myself) are at Barnard because they love Barnard and not because they want to be at Columbia. (That isn’t to say that Columbia’s resources weren’t a huge part of why I chose Barnard, but I never considered applying to Columbia College. I wanted a smaller school, more attentive and approachable faculty, and the relative comfort of a sort-of women’s college.)</p>
<p>Barnard is a very impressive school to have graduated from, so you shouldn’t worry about that.</p>
<p>As for stereotypes, I honestly have no idea what you mean. Can you elaborate?</p>
<p>(Sorry if that was a very long answer - it’s a complicated question!)</p>
<p>Haha yes they are. Thank you for the detailed response! By stereotypes I mean the two I’ve heard the most about Barnard girls - slutty and dumb. Of course, I don’t subscribe to this at all - the three students there I know none of them fit either of those descriptions and all of the posters in this forum seem fairly eloquent.</p>
<p>For real? This is a real, non-■■■■■ question? Are Barnard girls slutty and dumb? Really?</p>
<p>I know they’re not! But do people on campus act like they are?</p>
<p>Do you think your Columbia friends are socially-awkward and nerdy? Because the “stereotypes” go both ways. </p>
<p>There is a lot of jealousy at the root of some of the stereotypes. That is, some Columbia students arrive and find that they are attending a school where faculty/administration/student relations are somewhat strained, advising is limited, and they are required to take a set of classes that don’t seem nearly as appealing once they re in them as they did on paper. Then maybe they look at Barnard women and see that the women seem to have a positive opinion of their school administration and faculty, are on a first-name basis with many of their profs, have a huge amount of flexibility in course scheduling, and are free to take any courses they want at Columbia… so they are resentful.</p>
<p>Interesting. Thank you.</p>
<p>People do not “always” make fun of Barnard. Forget this junk and
go hit the books.</p>
<p>.02 David</p>
<p>People make Barnard jokes here sometimes. It just happens–especially in Bwog comments. However, anyone who insults your school to your face isn’t worth your time.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/02/02/****-columbia-says-barnard[/url]”>http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2012/02/02/****-columbia-says-barnard</a></p>
<p>Especially some of the comments. Is this very distorted, or describes the common view?</p>
<p>Added:</p>
<p>I see that College Confidential edited out the expletive in the URL. Replace the “****” by “s” “h” “i” “t”.</p>
<p>Don’t get all worked up over this. There are jokes around campus, as the article and many of the comments indicate, about various “stereotypes”. Those kinds of things will continue as you advance into adult society. Have you watched a comedy on TV lately?? It’s all about poking fun at adult stereotypes. One of my very favorite shows, Big Bang Theory, is completely about poking fun at geeks and nerds. It’s hilarious!!!</p>
<p>My advice is to think enough of yourself and your school, no matter where you attend, to either ignore this kind of thing or to loosen up and laugh a bit. And I would offer that advice to the writer of the op ed piece in the spec as well as to many of the commenters.</p>
<p>Edit to add: this does NOT completely characterize attitudes on campus, as many of the commenters pointed out. It truly is not that big of a deal unless you go in expecting issues.</p>
<p>From what I can tell, self-described geeks & nerds like Big Bang, so it’s not the sort of stereotyping designed to denigrate.</p>
<p>My point is that you can get offended if you want to at almost anything. There are, I understand, usually Barnard jokes that are part of the Varsity show, for example. My D always thought they were pretty funny. We have often laughed at some quirky Barnard things…for example, she can get in a Barnard student mode of talking unbelievably FAST. </p>
<p>I am a Southern woman and there are plenty of jokes about that. I am also from the state of Alabama and, well, you get the idea. If I got my nose out of joint every time someone made a joke about those things, I’d be pretty unhappy. Truly cruel jokes are one thing…but I really don’t think that happens very often at all at Columbia re Barnard. At least that was not my d’s experience.</p>
<p>Er, there’s nothing about Barnard in the video…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I am confused. What video?</p>
<p>Post #10 refers to an op ed piece in the Columbia Spectator that complains about Barnard-bashing in a video called “S-t Columbians Say” – the op ed is at [</a> Columbia says about Barnard](<a href="http://■■■■■■■.com/73d37vc]“>http://■■■■■■■.com/73d37vc) - the video is at [</a> Columbians Say | Spectrum](<a href="http://■■■■■■■.com/6msyxtm]”>http://■■■■■■■.com/6msyxtm) – the video has absolutely nothing to do with Barnard, it’s just a film of (apparent) Columbia students saying random things. They weren’t telling jokes or trying to be funny – it’s just fairly random comments, like someone saying that it’s too far to walk to Dodge Center. About one minute into the 2+ minute video, a girl wearing a Columbia t-shirt embedded in the rather boring film, makes the statement:</p>
<p>"My best friend went to Barnardwell, like, she goes to Barnard. Were not really friends anymore. </p>
<p>The op ed writer apparently took this to be a dig at Barnard, though I think one would have to border on paranoid to make that assumption. I mean, my daughter could truthfully say something like, “My boyfriend lived in San Francisco – well, he still lives in San Francisco, but he’s not my boyfriend anymore.” That would not be a dig aimed at San Francisco or its inhabitants, it would be a clarification of the relationship. </p>
<p>So I think any normal person would interpret the Barnard comment buried in the video to mean the same thing: a person on the video used to be best friends with someone who went to Barnard, but the friendship has lapsed. Given the fluidity of college relationships, I find it hard to read more into it.</p>
<p>So we have a situation where an op-ed writer draws a rather odd conclusion from a video, and now a cc poster read the op ed – and apparently without bothering to view the video – posts a comment saying the op ed is “very disturbing.”</p>
<p>The only thing I find disturbing is that there are people who would draw that type of conclusion from an innocuous video. I mean, I guess if you are going to construe everything you hear as some sort of insult or a dig, you will find plenty to complain about.</p>
<p>Ahhhh!!! I read the op-ed piece but totally forgot it was even about a video. Gotcha. </p>
<p>Reinforces all I was trying to say as well. It’s just not a big deal, and silly (even, perhaps, a bit self-destructive) to get all worked up over this type of thing.</p>
<p>Yes, what I found disturbing was the op-ed piece, and the comments thereafter, as should be clear from my posting. The video was harmless.</p>
<p>Glad knowledgeable here affirm that the op-ed represents the opinions of a small minority. Op-eds (and editorials too) often do.</p>
<p>How about those apples and apple cores thrown by Columbia College students at Barnard and SEAS students during graduation – was that a one-time small scale prank, or is that a tradition?</p>
<p>I graduated from Barnard in May and nobody threw apples at us. I’ve never heard of anybody throwing apples at anybody during graduation.</p>
<p>Each graduating class has their own silly prop during the big university-wide ceremony. CC has apples for the “core”; when my daughter graduated in 09 all Barnard students had sunglasses given to them as they assembled (it was a crazy, hot bright beautiful day); right now for the life of me I cannot remember other schools’ props…maybe med students had inflated surgical gloves? you get the idea!). If a few people threw their apples, that was not the norm, and it certainly did not happen when my D graduated. The worst thing that happened that day was that we all got sunburned!!</p>