Colleges Barnard College

Barnard College https://barnard.edu

Barnard College is an all-female private institution that was founded in 1889. It’s located on a 4-acre campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Students at Barnard can experience two extremes of education: a small, liberal arts school and a large, coeducational Ivy League institution through its partnership with nearby Columbia University, all the while enjoying an urban lifestyle in New York City. Barnard women can take classes, play sports and join organizations at Columbia and its students can do the same at Barnard. The school’s renowned Barnard Center for Research on Women sponsors conferences and panels on the subjects of gender, feminism and women’s rights. Barnard College has roughly 80 student organizations. The school’s Urban New York program takes first-semester students to free events around the city, and all Barnard women get student discounts on tickets to Broadway shows, sporting events, and concerts. Barnard’s Career Development office creates opportunities for student internships in New York City.

Academics

Barnard College, officially titled as Barnard College, Columbia University, is a private women’s liberal arts college. It is one of the original Seven Sisters—seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that were historically women’s colleges. Barnard is currently one of four Columbia undergraduate colleges with independent admission, curriculum, and financials. Students share classes, libraries, clubs, sororities, athletic fields, and dining halls with Columbia. Barnard offers Bachelor of Arts degree programs in about 50 areas of study. Students may also pursue elements of their education at Columbia, the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and The Jewish Theological Seminary. The student-faculty ratio at Barnard is 10:1, and the school has 72% of its classes with fewer than 20 students. Popular majors include Economics, Research and Experimental Psychology, and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Special Highlights

Barnard Global. Barnard Global works closely with the Barnard community to enhance and broaden the College’s engagement with the world. The office provides opportunities for faculty to expand their teaching and research through global partners and perspectives, both abroad as well as through the rich global networks of New York City. It facilitates faculty and students travel abroad and the hosting of international scholars at Barnard. Through study abroad and other international and global opportunities, Barnard Global challenges students to think and act well beyond the Barnard gates and to investigate their role in a rapidly changing world.

Beyond Mentoring. Beyond Mentoring provides students with opportunities to complete short-term, high-impact projects where they can develop professional skills, add to their resume, and develop a relationship with a mentor. All participants receive a stipend for their work. Often called “micro-internships,” Beyond Mentoring projects have been an essential addition to the College’s portfolio of opportunities for students to pursue mentorship. Beyond Mentoring projects are a fantastic way to gain exposure to a new field, or to deepen skills in an existing area of interest. Alums, parents, and employer partners have posted a wide range of projects for students. Hosts come from a wide range of industries, jobs functions, and stages of their own careers.

School Mission & Unique Qualities

Barnard College aims to provide the highest-quality liberal arts education to promising and high-achieving young women, offering the unparalleled advantages of an outstanding residential college in partnership with a major research university. As a college for women, Barnard embraces its responsibility to address issues of gender in all of their complexity and urgency and to help students achieve the personal strength that will enable them to meet the challenges they will encounter throughout their lives. Every Barnard student is part of the Student Government Association (SGA), which elects a representative student government. SGA aims to facilitate the expression of opinions on matters that directly affect the Barnard community. Barnard students can join extracurricular activities or organizations at Columbia University, while Columbia students are allowed in most, but not all, Barnard organizations.

Student Reviews…

“While the administration is having trouble reflecting the true needs of the students right now, my experience has been very rewarding so far. The academics are rigorous, but it always feels like the professors want you to do well. There are plenty of opportunities and events for networking as well as an extensive extracurricular community.”