Barnard College Top Questions

Most of my classes at Barnard have been really good. I haven't liked all of them, but not necessarily because they haven't been good classes. The majority of my professors have encouraged a lot of student participation and questions, especially when there are break out discussion sections in addition to lecture. I have found the most competitive students to be pretty concentrated in the science courses, primarily because most of them are on the pre-med track. At least in the science classes is where the competition has been the most noticeable. My department, the religion department, is very small. I have gotten to know almost all of the professors, as well as the other majors. I feel like the department is very caring and nurturing, but not in an over brearing way. If you do not approach them for help or make an effort to get to know them the professors are not going to seek you out. I feel that there is a very nice atmosphere, and that it will be most visible during our two semester senior thesis writing seminar. Among my friends, our conversations range from what was just on America's Next Top Model to a theory that was recently proposed in a class to local event and articles in the Columbia daily newspaper.

Of course professors know my name, it's a small school. Where else can you hear the echoes of your name 10 miles away in another class? Barnard studnet do have intellectual conversations outside of class. And, at times, I find it funny because I do the same thing. Barnard classes and subjects surrounds our life and thought.

at barnard you will probably end up taking half your classes at barnard and half at columbia, although you can lean any way you choose to. classes at barnard are a great experience. professors are very passionate and communicative. professors usually know your name, except in some large lectures. classes are hard and grades will not be given away, but they are also not impossible. i have enjoyed my classes at barnard mostly more than my classes at columbia.

I have had class of about 100 students about twice, and both times, the actual Professor made a very concerted and success effort to learn all of our names. Favorite class: too many. Least favorite: Islamic Civ. I have had Professors meet me on the weekend. Class participation is practically a mandate of going to Barnard. Too often, you come to class with tons to say. Students are competitive, hard working, and very into their work. Professors are very available to meet outside of class for the most part, and most of the time are willing to be flexible in when to meet with you. I like the requirements, you can find more out about the 9 ways of knowing on the website. We do have a gym requirement though, which is good, but some people wonder why we still have it. I would say that Math classes aren't available in a Barnard environment, but anything we don't have is definitely available at Columbia (we have full access, we are an independent part of the Columbia University system, so we all take each others classes). Education at Barnard is about learning, learning how to think and apply knowledge. It isn't really job oriented. However, Barnard students often get internships or other relevent field work experiences and/or research awards in order to develop their resume and supplement their classroom experience. I sound like i could be a Barnard spokes woman, but this is really how I feel, and I really love Barnard. Learning is definitely very much for its own sake, although there is a bit of hype about grades, and many students are pre-professional.

Barnard classes will range from being very large to very small. In larger classes, whether or not a professor knows your name will depend on how much you talk to the professor and how thoroughly you go out of your way to make yourself known. Barnard is the type of school where help and attention will be given to you if you want it, but it wont just be offered spontaneously. Professors here expect that you'll ask if you want something and have no intention of babying you. If you dont come to class, no one will care (unless its a smaller class, in which case the professor might get annoyed), its your own decision and its up to you to decide how good of a student you want to be. I think this is true of college in general really. Your grade is determined in large part by how hard you're willing to work. As this is an intellectual campus, you can expect to talk about more than just the weather with your fellow classmates. Columbia and Barnard students really like protesting, so there is plenty of opportunity to discuss current events or things you learned in class in an ouside-of-class setting. On a similar note, class participation is fine for smaller classes, and is encouraged in seminars, but in a big lecture, not quite as much. If you have something intelligent to say, then fine, but if you are going to regale the class with a story about how intuitive your 3 year old cousin is, and how this relates to Freud, I assure you wholeheartedly that no one cares, and you will be generally hated for telling irrelevant anecdotal stories in class (again, this applies to all colleges. shut up in lecture unless you have something intelligent to say or unless you are going to ask a question. those of the not-obvious variety are preferred, but not required). General education requirements: known as "the 9 ways of knowing" (knowing you're educated? knowing you're a barnard graduate? i dont know, but they're 9 ways that you know). Instead of saying "you must take class XXXX", barnard gives you categories and asks you to take a class that fits into that category. no worries, its not a narrow pool to choose from. Example: for those of you that hate math, a class in logic satisfies the quantitative reasoning requirement. there are ways of getting around the stuff you dont like to do. Specific to me: I can really only speak for the science side of Barnard, being premed and a neuroscience major, but I generally find that students are competitive in a more subtle way. Science majors tend to be a bit more... aggressive in terms of work ethic. The neuroscience department isnt a real department, by which I mean it doesnt have its own faculty. As far as I can tell, the Bio and Psych departments had a play-date and the Neuro department was thus created. This creates a bit of difficulty when you're signing up for required classes for your major, because labs have to accommodate more students, but there arent enough lab sections made to do this efficiently. That said, I'm really glad there is a neuroscience department. Psychology wasnt rigorous enough for me, and I got really quickly bored in the upper level classes I took (this is just my craziness, dont think that this should reflect badly on the Psych department), and neuroscience is a really nice balance between the psychology and biology that interests me. Barnard has also recently made a big push to get women as involved in science as possible (largely due to the lack of women in the science community). Needless to say, a lot has been invested in the science labs and classes, so you can expect that the labs and equipment will be of good quality. Work load: A guess a lot by some people's standards, but considering the type of student that goes here, its certainly manageable and by no means unreasonable. There is a lot more work that goes into sciences, but I suppose I'm a bit biased in that regard. I dont considering being asked to read a novel a week or to write a few papers a semester to be exceptionally rigorous. One thing that surprised me a little is that the majority of classes will not have lots of little assignments. I took a class my first semester here in which the grade was based on a midterm and a final, each of which was 50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the final grade. It takes a little bit of getting used to, but it isnt that bad.

Academics at Barnard are no joke. Students come here serious to learn, are not afraid of showing their intelligence and are ready to take the workload head on. But while Barnard students tend to be overachievers, the sense of competition is surprisingly low; students' good nature travels into the class room and most everyone is willing to help a fellow student out when it comes to studying and classes. An upside to the school's small size is how easy it is to meet with professors for help and guidance. Barnard professors are known for their willingness to work with students, keeping office hours and encouraging email. Most professors are on your side- and those who aren't can be avoided with the help of www.CULPA.info (Columbia Underground Listing of Professor Ability), a student-run site that profiles numerous University professors' habits and competence honestly. Another "best of both worlds" perks of Barnard is the opportunity to take Columbia classes without the burden of Columbia's infamous Core Curriculum. More flexible that Columbia and never requiring any one specific class, Barnard's Nine Ways of Knowing are nine categories, including Quantitative Reasoning, Historical Studies and Visual and Performing Arts, and students are required to take one class in each over their time at Barnard. The categories can be fulfilled with a broad range of classes, and fulfilling the requirements is often more rewarding and mind-expanding than burdensome.

every professor, except one, i am on first name basis with. i think that in order to get close to profs, especially first year, is to go to office hours. i learned that going to office hours of profs with 150 student lecture classes helps. they remember you, and like that you came to them, because a lot of students are too afraid. i've had some fabulous classes, and one that was absolutely horrible (and i expected better, from the english department). i think that some students study a lot, and some little. it depends on who they are. everyone, that i know, studies enough, and is concerned about classes and assignments. i think that some students are competitive, however, i haven't been in any small class where that is obvious. i have a unique relationship with the profs in my department, because i work there. i know them all, and they know me, even though i haven't taken a class with all of them. as a rising soph, i think this puts me in a good place. i think the 9 ways of knowing is great; it's better than core requirements, like at columbia. you can fulfill requirements in a variety of ways, instead of being forced to take specific classes (except first year english, unfortunately). as a humanities students, the math requirement was tough, but it's only one class. i think the 2 semester lab requirement is a little much. one should do. i think that education here is geated towards learning just for learning. many people have majors that are obscure, or would make it difficult to get a job after school.

very rigirous, but really worth is- the professsors are so caring, and if you want close relationships you can find it.

The classes are great, hands down. You have both small intimate seminars for, let's say English, where participation is not a chore but comes naturally because of the interesting topics. The lecture classes are usually not larger than 200, simply because the lecture halls are Barnard are small. If you want a big lecture, or simply a different class that isn't offered at Barnard, you can take anything except Core Classes at Columbia. Half my classes are there. Barnard classes are harder/easier than Columbia classes, just different. Perhaps Barnard inspires more creativity and Columbia is more strictly prescribed. But either way, the small intimate classes want more out of you in terms of a personal level, and the large lectures want to see you absorb information as efficiently as possible.

I found the professors at Barnard to be very accessible, supportive, and always willing to talk outside of class. Academics at Barnard are quite competitive, especially within the sciences, and there is a tendency among students to make the workload seem harder than it really is. After freshman year, and adjusting to the academic standards of college, the workload for most of my classes was rigorous but definitely manageable. I would recommend taking a combination of Barnard and Columbia courses. I absolutely loved my major, American Studies, but some of the key courses I took for it were offered at Columbia, and I don't think my experience would have been as fulfilling if I had stayed solely within the American Studies department at Barnard.