Barnard College Top Questions

Classes are usually between 10 to 20 students, and professors can easily be reached. There is one required class, First Year English, which everyone has to get through, but don't judge Barnard's english department based on it! It's the one downside to freshman year. Barnard has very good french and pre-med courses, but as a comparative literature major, I found Columbia offered more variety and depth, especially courses like Prague Spring (an examination of Czech film and literature in the 1960s). Barnard has the Nine Wasy of Knowing, which in contrast to CU's Core Requirements is a flexible program geared towards working with your interests.

Classes are on the small size. Seminars run around 12-18 students. Lectures from 20 to 100 (my biggest). My professors know my name but that's because I talk to much. Urban Studies rocks. education for its own sake and getting a job.

Barnard is for very serious students, who are devoted and passionate enough about their studies to spend all night at the library, if need be. It is not unusual to form friendships with the professors, who are very approachable and committed to teaching. I've found the English department to be especially fabulous.

Academics here are good and so are academics at Columbia. I spent one year at Tufts university and I can say that the teachers are definitely friendlier and warmer there but with a little effort, professors here are happy to speak with motivated, intelligent students. Furthermore, there is a very pressured academic environment here - there isn't really competition between students, but everyone participates and is looking to get a good grade.

Barnard academics are managable, but most students spend about 75{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of their time studying. All first-years have to take 2 seminars with no more than 13 or 14 students to a class, so even if the rest of your classes are huge lectures, you have the chance to get to know a few professors. Also, the Barnard advising system is pretty bitchin'. Most professors take on 4 or 5 students to advise for 2 years, then you pick an advisior in your field of study to help you as a junior and senior. All students have to complete the 9 Ways of Knowing - it covers a wide range of topics like quantitative reasoning and literature, but you have flexibility in picking your classes. For example, for the Historical Studies requirement, you have to take a history class, but it can be an art history course or a US history lecture or almost anything else. You also have to do 2 semesters of a science with a laboratory and 4 semesters of one language. The 2 semesters of Phys Ed also kind of suck, but you can fill that requirement with dance classes.

Academics are rigorous, challenging, and wonderful. There are amazing and interesting classes offered, and more than 70{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of classes have 20 people or less- meaning that students develop close relationships with professors, and participation in class is incredibly common. Barnard students bring their studies out of class and have intellectual conversations at all hours of the day. There are some students who are majorly competitive, however this is not the general feel. The most unique class I have taken here is Childhood in Wonderland. I really like the general education requirements as they allow students to truly get the "liberal arts" experience, getting a taste for a broad range of fields. Education at Barnard is definitely learning for its own sake as there are no pre-professional programs here.

Classes are relatively small, ranging from 15(seminars) to 70(larger lectures). Since the classes are small, you can get to know your professor, especially if you make use of office hours. For larger classes, there are usually TA sessions, which can be beneficial if you do not undertand the material. I would definitly recommend getting to know your professors because as you go on further into college, and start applying for internships, jobs, grants, scholarships etc. you usually need letters of recommendation from some of your academic professors. If you already have established a relationship with them, its not as awkward asking them for a recommendation. Barnard is all women, but at least half of the classes are integrated with Columbia guys. The only ones that are all women are the freshman english and some of the upper level seminars, because they are only for Barnard students. And Columbia people are always on Barnard's campus/taking Barnard classes because they are so good. So in no way do we feel excluded from men. After a while its just matter of fact. Barnard is challenging academically, so alot of time is devoted to homework, papers and tests, especially around midterms and finals. Those times, you do not have a life. Most of your time will be spent in the library, and sleeping sometimes. Since there are so many libraries and study areas between Barnard and Columbia, I advise that you find a few that work for you and then rotate between those during peak study times. That way you can spend 8 or 9 hours studying, but you also get a change of environment, which helps me to stay focused more. Barnard's requirements are called the nine ways of knowing, I believe. These are the general requirements, plus any other requirements for your specific major. The gen ed requirements were great, because they force you to try out different types of classes. Basically you have to take a year of science with lab, some sort of math or reasoning, freshman english, critical analysis, history, language and gym. Most of the intro level classes satisfy the requirements, so its easy to fufill most of the requirements in the first few years when you are taking the lower level classes. Since two years of language is required, I recommend that you take the placement exam first semester of freshman year to try and place out of some of the language requirement. And if you want to start another language, make sure you start freshman year. I started Spanish, but waited too long, and now I will have to take a year of Spanish my senior year, which just sucks. In terms of Barnard preparing you for a job, it is definitly geared towards learning for learnings sake. You learn how to be an intellectual, how to question and reason, to problem solve, to succeed, good work ethics, etc. But you do not get any sort of specific training, and most people will need to go on for further schooling or training in the field of their choice. For example, I want to go into buying, and even though my psychology classes have all been interesting, there are no classes at Barnard geared towards entering the fashion industry. I will have to enter a training program after I graduate. Even if I had decided to go into psychology, I still would have to get at least my masters to make any real money. So Barnard is definitly just a stop on the way to getting a job, but what you learn here is so helpful socially...especially in networking in certain social circles, its necessary to have a good edcuational background, especially a liberal arts background where you learn the basics in most subjects.

Oh I have so much to say about this... Okay first off, all my professors know my name, except in my lecture classes (1 out of 4 of my classes is a lecture). The relationships among professors and students are very close here, and I've learned so much from one on one meetings and discussions with my teachers. My favorite class would have to be "Spain through its art," which is an upper level spanish course over at Columbia. However, what I found most incredible about Barnard (especially its art history department) is how academics are incorporated into the city. I'll read about a piece in my textbook, take the subway to the Guggenheim and study it in person. For my spanish class, I've been to 4 museums in Manhattan that feature Spanish art. If you want to study art history, this is definitely the place to do it.

At Barnard you will never be taught by a TA and that's huge. I have found the teachers to be very accessible and true scholars in their work. When I was sick and was working on a paper, my teacher actually called me and we talked about my paper because we couldn't meet up. Also, at Barnard, the education is about learning and not necessarily about grades. Your teachers want you to come out of class having learned something and not fretting about your grades. As much as the academic requirements can be a bit much, it's flexible enough so you can explore different areas of study, which is essentially about making you a well-rounded person and the core of the Barnard education.

At Barnard, almost all classes are taught by professors, rather than TAs, who really love teaching. Most classes are small, and participation is huge. The typical seminar has 15 students, and not only do the professors encourage participation, but they even arrange individual meetings with students to discuss papers and the class overall. They really care about their students. Even in lecture classes, which tend to be a lot bigger, if the professor doesn't know your name, they know your face, and will recognize you if you run into them on campus. They are all extremely available, encouraging, and it's obvious that they love what they do.

Academics is really important at Barnard. Because we have complete cross-registration privileges with Columbia, there are an incredible number of classes to choose from and the faculty are amazing. It's a smaller school, so teachers are very available and happy to speak with students. Students definitely have intellectual discussions outside of class. Every first-year is required to take an English and a Seminar and if you have the opportunity, the most amazing Seminar is one called Reacting to the Past. It's run as a series of games (three) over the course of the semester, in which students act out periods in history. For example, the first game took place in Athens in 403 BCE. We were all members of the Athenian assembly. As Athens had just suffered a crushing defeat to Sparta, it was our job to make laws and determine how bring Athens back to glory. We each had roles and positions and we spent our classes arguing about who should be allowed to vote, about whether we should send military expeditions off to raise money, about what to do concerning education. It was amazing how seriously everyone took their roles. The game is fascinating because you really get to experience periods and time and interact with texts (like Plato's Republic) as if they're real things, not just classic books that some professor forces you to read.

Academics are superb! Barnard professors TRULY CARE about their students! They really are interested in each of their student's emotional, social, and academic well-being. I have never been in any class at Barnard where I didn't feel like my professor wanted each of us to succeed. I love how every one of my professors has always known my name and a bunch of tidbits about my peers and I. Class participation is pretty much the norm. It's wonderful because it adds so much to our overall learning experiences while fostering our public speaking skills and even confidence. I unfortunately don't spend a lot of time with my professors outside of the classroom, but that was my personal decision (due to being so busy with other things on campus). If I every want to, the option is alwayts here, as each of my professors has been incredibly accessible and welcoming. I LOVE Barnard's academic requirements. We have a distribution consiting of our 9 ways of knowing, which are broad categories in which we must take a course in before we graduate. As dull as this may sound, all of the categories have a huge range of interesting courses to choose from, and it's very easy to fulfill the requirements without even trying to! In fulfilling my requirements, I have taken some of my favorite courses so far at Barnard, such as Reacting to the Past II, The Novel and Psychoanalysis, and Dance in New York City. I also feel like our requirements really foster an education of the whole person while allowing each of us to graduate with a great range of knowledge outside of our major areas.

I would venture to say that more Barnard professors take time to learn their students names than Columbia professors whose lectures are much bigger. My favorite class was a historical survey of American religion- the class that made me a religion major. The professor was enthusiastic about the subject, approachable outside of class and probably the most intelligent man on earth. Barnard is definitely a place where at times I feel as if the competitive nature of the school cannot be good for the emotional well-being of the students, but everyone seems to get along fairly well. That being said I would guess that most people have to go see a counselor at some point in their time here.

Academics at Barnard are very strong. Really interesting courses, great teachers who know your name and are generally available for extra help. Students are super studious. You know the saying "work hard, play hard"? Well Barnard students work very hard and play so so. I'm an Urban Studies student which is great because a lot of my class projects involve getting outside of the classroom and doing field research...and what better place to be for Urban Studies research than NYC?

All of my professors this year know who I am and what kind of student I am. The classes that I've chosen to be in are generally 15 people or below, and I might have one class with about 40 students every semester. Because the professors at Barnard are not focused on graduate students, the undergraduates at Barnard are their main focus and professors are generally very available and more than happy to have a conversation with a student outside of class. I'm currently majoring in architecture, and am very happy with the department so far. The program is very intense, but it's a major that is incredibly rewarding and in which you form very close relationships with your classmates. There is also plenty of cross-over between the undergraduate school at Barnard and the graduate school at Columbia, and I am currently taking a graduate seminar at Columbia's architecture school.

My favorite class is Applied Ecology and Evolution. It's a great class, only 7 girls in total, 5 of which are Biology majors, 2 which are just generally interested. It is an upper level class so the course load can be challenging but the professor is wonderful and more than happy to sit with you all night long helping you on a problem set if need be.

Difficult. Just as hard as columbia except the professor's tend to care more about individual students.

Classes vary greatly in size and difficulty. I've had a class of 200 and a class of 4. My hardest and easiest classes have both been at Barnard (you also can take classes at the other Columbia schools). All in all college is easier than I expected, although certainly not normally easy. Studying is a pretty normal pastime; I'm not sure how it is at other schools, but here you generally spend a lot of time in the library (Columbia's library, that is...the Barnard library is drab, doesn't have a lot of the books you'll need, and is generally a really depressing place in which to study, at least for me). Of course this is an individual choice: I'm sure there are some people who've never seen the inside of the library. Students are competitive, but the environment remains encouraging, especially in Barnard seminars, colloquiums, or first-year classes, which are usually made up of groups of 10-15 women. A great thing about Barnard is the Reacting to the Past classes - they're all over the country now, but they started here - where you embody a character from a certain time period and try to complete your "victory objectives" while interacting with the other characters....it's a little hard to explain, but you basically live in another place and time period for a while. I cannot say enough good things about this program. It is incredibly well-done and so interesting (you will definitely remember that time in history...you were THERE).

I love my friends from high school. They are fun and great and always ready for a good time, but I have never had a conversation with them about my favorite book or the merits of Shakespeare's tragedies over his comedies. That was by far the most refreshing change of coming to Barnard, that students were not only well-read, but well versed in talking about literature or current events or history or anything really, and had opinions and thoughts that they wanted other people to share. Barnard really fosters this sense of the importance of sharing your opinions.

If you want your professor to know your name, he or she will. Our largest lectures are for the intro to sciences, and those are only 160 or so people, a lot of them Columbia students. If you walk up to your professor and tell them your name in the course of a conversation, chances are they will know it the next time you see them. My least favorite class was a statistics class. The professor was new and not very good at explaining things. I had to drop out. It was terrible. I love my history classes, though. I took one called Merchants, Pirates, Slaves and the Making of Atlantic Capitalism--the class was so popular that the late students always sat on the floor. The readings were interesting and the professor was knowledgeable about his subject. It was a fun class. The students at Barnard are competitive, but not in the backstabbing sort of way. We might ask how you did on a paper to see how we measure up, but we will also answer "all right" and "really well" instead of discussing actual grades.