Barnard College Top Questions

Barnard is pretty diverse. Although there are some who say that Barnard is pretty much a bunch of rich white girls, I would beg to differ. I have met all different types of young women from around the world and who come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. We're a pretty liberal campus so anything that you're into, you'll probably find here.

At Barnard, there is a club for just about everything, and if there isn't, you can make one. Many students are politically active, mostly on the liberal side. The student body is fairly diverse, and attracts people from many different racial and economic backgrounds. There is a lot of social interaction between different kinds of people on campus, and everyone is generally very friendly. Being in New York, most girls dress very fashionably even for class, but there is no pressure. If you show up in sweats, that's fine too, nobody is going to judge you.

Barnard is made up of every type of person imaginable except for, of course, males. There are numerous vocal groups for every race and religion as well as LGBT groups. Personally, I have experienced the Hillel, the Jewish students group that is joint with Columbia. It's full of events but not precisely the most welcoming organization. Hillel students seem to expect their fellow students to fall neatly into one of Judaism's three or so denominations - Reform, Conservative or Orthodox. It's tricky to be a Conservative Jew who doesn't keep kosher. It's also tricky to be Conservative because many Conservative students on campus are in a joint program with the Jewish Theological Seminary. As a result, they all know each other and have a common background. This isn't to say it isn't impossible to get involved, it just takes some action on your part. Most students come from the New York/New Jersey area, but there are also lots of students from across the country and indeed across the world. It's predominately white, in terms of race, but I understand that the administration is trying to change that. It's about 40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} Jewish, too. It's also mostly liberal, but there is a College Republicans Club on campus. Students, for some reason, tend to dress well - heels and skirts, for example, even just for class. It can be a bit disconcerting at first and it isn't the entire population at all, but perhaps it stems from living in New York; many Barnard women like to keep up with fashions.

Students at Barnard are very diverse! You can pretty much find any type of person at Barnard, and there is definitely no typical Barnard student. However, Barnard women are generally strikingly intelligent, motivated, and independent. We are also usually friendly and very personable. I feel like most students are upper middle class, however there are many students from each end of the spectrum. Different types of students definitely interact. Girls here can seem snobbish sometimes and only hang out with their established networks, but there are still a multitude of really friendly students that are always open to being friends with anyone! Cliques are also not a pervasive part of campus life. Students all seem politically left! Over my entire time here at college, I have met a total of two right wing students (and they are both from across the street at Columbia College). Nonetheless, I don't think students would be be treated differently if they were very conservative.

In looking at Barnard in comparison to other schools I could have gone too the diversity factor is HUGE. I love that I can see people of different races, religions, and ethnicities when i walk around campus. It is a learning experience in itself to be able to talk to all sorts of people. On the other hand I did feel in my first year like a bit of an outsider when I found out that I was the only one of my friends who was on financial aid.

Barnard is super accepting campus. Anything goes. There is even a student who is undergoing a gender changing surgery. An interesting concept at an all female institute. Barnard students come from a wide range of economic backgrounds but I would say that generally people are very well off.

Barnard students tend to be very liberal, but within that the student body is fairly diverse. Most students are from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and California, even though there are plenty of people from the more obscure states and abroad. I terms of different groups, there is a distinctive group of wealthy, fashionable girls who are a minority at Barnard despite the fact that they give off a big impression. There is a strong LGBT group and a close Jewish community. But in general I would say most of the students at Barnard are just normal, friendly people.

Most students dress in a "hipster" sort of style. I feel as though many of the girls came from upper crust prep schools so they had to wear the whole preppy look for years and years. I personally have never gotten out of the preppy style; however, even those girls who try to branch off, it's evident that they probably had preppy roots. In the spring, dresses are very popular, in the winter it's mostly leather boots and dark jeans. Longchamp bags tend to be a huge trend as well as various accessories from Vineyard Vines. If I had to put a style on Barnard I'd say, take a crossroads between Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren.

I just went over and over and over in my head the four tables of students in the dining hall, and I can't describe them, which I think is a testament to the diversity of our campus. Diversity isn't even the right word. It's like, a melting pot but not melted, kind of like a trail mix, where everything gets put together but the individual flavors retain their integrity, and just have a light dusting of everything else in the bag. That's weird, but it's how barnard is. everyone is different and true, but also learns from the experiences of others, and learn to appreciate different backgrounds as not better or worse but different.

The dining hall: two of the tables will be Barnard girls. All different races, religions, sexual orientations and interests piled together. They are probably wearing Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Anthropologie and vintage store items. They are either talking about sex or having an interesting conversation about a film, book, class, etc. Many of them receive some financial aid but most come from upper-middle or middle-class backgrounds. There is also an "activist" table, full of really loud black and Hispanic kids who will tell you that the school is socially segregated, blah blah blah. These are the kids you will see at every protest and socialist meeting. More often then not there a good portion of them are from Columbia. One table will be four or five Columbia boys thinking they can walk into the dining hall and expect to get a date by virtue of being male. They will either be athletes or completely socially awkward geeks, and they are probably being ignored. Barnard is left, but Clinton-Obama left, not Marx left. Most are politically aware. Nobody talk about how much they will earn one day, especially since a lot of Barnard women are interested, at least initially, in the not-for-profits.