barnard vs. wellesley

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is that if Barnard is chosen, and the student introduces herself as going/having gone to Columbia, and it is found out to be Barnard, a significant portion of people will think poseur.

unfortunately, parents also brag that their kid got into Columbia when it is Barnard. Don’t be that parent. smh

Don’t be that kid/recent grad either. Some won’t care when they look up your linked in profile, but many will.

I don't see why not. DC has a friend at Barnard, but she's in a Columbia Sorority, as an undergrad nabbed a position on the Columbia Law Review, and by all intents and purposes is a Columbia student. She just sleeps like, what, two blocks further west than Columbia students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you really call it a LAC if the only part that is separate is a dorm? It’s part of a university and Barnard students can take Columbia classes and even live in Columbia dorms. It’s probably going to go the way of Radcliffe soon and be fully dissolved.

No reason to go the Radcliffe path. They have a shared enrollment system that works and it IS Columbia. The school has a massive endowment, a long history of powerful alumna, and has a different mission than Columbia University.

[Anonymous]

So basically you can do everyone that a Columbia College female undergrad does and take all same classes etc? That’s a great option to have then if you want Columbia, just apply to both! But I don’t think you can call Barnard a LAC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wellesley is a stand alone LAC, Barnard is deeply integrated with the larger Columbia University experience. Barnard students say they have the best of both worlds- at Barnard, they can have the social experience of a women's college and intimate connections with Barnard affiliated faculty. Through Columbia, they get access to their classes, world class faculty members and associated researchers, Ivy league networking, and a larger undergraduate student body and extracurricular activities reflecting 12000 students.

Wellesley historically has a better reputation as the crown jewel among the women's colleges, but currently Barnard is seen as more desirable due to the Columbia/Ivy relation. Barnard actually has the highest yield of any LAC in the country, and it is considerably harder to get into vs. Wellesley these days.

I'm a Barnard alumna. My cousin is a Wellesley grad. PP is right on many things. I would like to add the following:

1. Barnard's popularity is also due to its location. Friends and Sex in the City really popularized NYC.
2. Wellesley has more space due to its urban location. Barnard's campus is very crowded due to its urban location.
3. Wellesley probably was more prestigious historically, but Barnard's alumnae list is pretty impressive. Fact is, if you see any woman out in the world doing something interesting with her life, good chance is she's a 7S alumna.

Sorry, non 7Ss, your life is not interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you really call it a LAC if the only part that is separate is a dorm? It’s part of a university and Barnard students can take Columbia classes and even live in Columbia dorms. It’s probably going to go the way of Radcliffe soon and be fully dissolved.

No reason to go the Radcliffe path. They have a shared enrollment system that works and it IS Columbia. The school has a massive endowment, a long history of powerful alumna, and has a different mission than Columbia University.

Barnard’s endowment is $448 million. Wellesley’s is $2.8 billion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wellesley is a stand alone LAC, Barnard is deeply integrated with the larger Columbia University experience. Barnard students say they have the best of both worlds- at Barnard, they can have the social experience of a women's college and intimate connections with Barnard affiliated faculty. Through Columbia, they get access to their classes, world class faculty members and associated researchers, Ivy league networking, and a larger undergraduate student body and extracurricular activities reflecting 12000 students.

Wellesley historically has a better reputation as the crown jewel among the women's colleges, but currently Barnard is seen as more desirable due to the Columbia/Ivy relation. Barnard actually has the highest yield of any LAC in the country, and it is considerably harder to get into vs. Wellesley these days.

Barnard's not that hard to get into. My kid got in with an essay prompt that I would be embarrassed by - it was filled with grammatical errors, run on sentences and ultimately had no point. It was a last minute application and it showed.

It may be that your kid got in on transcripts alone and they didn't bother reading the essay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you really call it a LAC if the only part that is separate is a dorm? It’s part of a university and Barnard students can take Columbia classes and even live in Columbia dorms. It’s probably going to go the way of Radcliffe soon and be fully dissolved.

No reason to go the Radcliffe path. They have a shared enrollment system that works and it IS Columbia. The school has a massive endowment, a long history of powerful alumna, and has a different mission than Columbia University.

Barnard’s endowment is $448 million. Wellesley’s is $2.8 billion.

You don't need billions to educate 2000 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you don't care about the brand, and are flexible in terms of urban/suburb experience, which one is better outcome wise? Success rates for pre-med, pre-law, PhD, or even wall street.

I’d say Wellesley. Barnard has the bigger risk of falling in love with the NYC theater life and becoming a bohemian waitress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So basically you can do everyone that a Columbia College female undergrad does and take all same classes etc? That’s a great option to have then if you want Columbia, just apply to both! But I don’t think you can call Barnard a LAC.

A few LACs are like this where you have broader access to another institution(s). You could spend four years huddled at Barnard only, but attending college in New York in general doesn't give this vibe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you don't care about the brand, and are flexible in terms of urban/suburb experience, which one is better outcome wise? Success rates for pre-med, pre-law, PhD, or even wall street.

I’d say Wellesley. Barnard has the bigger risk of falling in love with the NYC theater life and becoming a bohemian waitress.

It also has a bigger risk of you making serious money in the nation's financial capital so ymmv.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is that if Barnard is chosen, and the student introduces herself as going/having gone to Columbia, and it is found out to be Barnard, a significant portion of people will think poseur.

unfortunately, parents also brag that their kid got into Columbia when it is Barnard. Don’t be that parent. smh

Don’t be that kid/recent grad either. Some won’t care when they look up your linked in profile, but many will.

I don't see why not. DC has a friend at Barnard, but she's in a Columbia Sorority, as an undergrad nabbed a position on the Columbia Law Review, and by all intents and purposes is a Columbia student. She just sleeps like, what, two blocks further west than Columbia students.

In the 1980s the Barnard administration and alumna fought to keep the school from being absorbed by Columbia. They are 2 separate schools. Would someone who went to Smith, but took a lot of classes at Amherst, say they went to Amherst?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is that if Barnard is chosen, and the student introduces herself as going/having gone to Columbia, and it is found out to be Barnard, a significant portion of people will think poseur.

unfortunately, parents also brag that their kid got into Columbia when it is Barnard. Don’t be that parent. smh

Don’t be that kid/recent grad either. Some won’t care when they look up your linked in profile, but many will.

I don't see why not. DC has a friend at Barnard, but she's in a Columbia Sorority, as an undergrad nabbed a position on the Columbia Law Review, and by all intents and purposes is a Columbia student. She just sleeps like, what, two blocks further west than Columbia students.

In the 1980s the Barnard administration and alumna fought to keep the school from being absorbed by Columbia. They are 2 separate schools. Would someone who went to Smith, but took a lot of classes at Amherst, say they went to Amherst?

But here's the difference: Amherst grads don't get degrees from the other 4 colleges, nor are their campuses on top of one another. Barnard is an official college of Columbia University. It's just a women's LAC under a university brand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out Bryn Mawr as well. Smaller than Wellesley, suburban but easy access to Philly.

But less prestigious and rigorous.

Not a prestige wh*re but peers are different by gpa and test score. Wellesley and Barnard take top 5% of the class, Bryn Mawr top 50%.

Not top 50% by any means. But they also give merit aid--whereas Barnard and Wellesley do not. We looked at all of them. We are paying half of that and saving that money for grad school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I can say is that if Barnard is chosen, and the student introduces herself as going/having gone to Columbia, and it is found out to be Barnard, a significant portion of people will think poseur.

unfortunately, parents also brag that their kid got into Columbia when it is Barnard. Don’t be that parent. smh

Don’t be that kid/recent grad either. Some won’t care when they look up your linked in profile, but many will.

I don't see why not. DC has a friend at Barnard, but she's in a Columbia Sorority, as an undergrad nabbed a position on the Columbia Law Review, and by all intents and purposes is a Columbia student. She just sleeps like, what, two blocks further west than Columbia students.

In the 1980s the Barnard administration and alumna fought to keep the school from being absorbed by Columbia. They are 2 separate schools. Would someone who went to Smith, but took a lot of classes at Amherst, say they went to Amherst?

But here's the difference: Amherst grads don't get degrees from the other 4 colleges, nor are their campuses on top of one another. Barnard is an official college of Columbia University. It's just a women's LAC under a university brand.

A women's college experience is different from a co-ed college experience. Barnard and Columbia College are two different undergrad experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Check out Bryn Mawr as well. Smaller than Wellesley, suburban but easy access to Philly.

But less prestigious and rigorous.

Not a prestige wh*re but peers are different by gpa and test score. Wellesley and Barnard take top 5% of the class, Bryn Mawr top 50%.

Not top 50% by any means. But they also give merit aid--whereas Barnard and Wellesley do not. We looked at all of them. We are paying half of that and saving that money for grad school.

Which 7S's give merit?