Barnard vs Columbia women

[Anonymous]

It may depend on the social circles. My Barnard daughter is in a sorority. It’s the Columbia chapter and is pretty evenly split between Barnard and Columbia students. This seems to be the case with all of the sororities. At the end of the day, your DD should choose Barnard for Barnard, not Columbia. My DD loves her Columbia greek life circle and has a very active social life and friend group across both schools, but also really loves Barnard and is very active in some Barnard-only activities as well. She is a Columbia legacy and did not apply to Columbia, only wanted Barnard. No complaints at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is simply not true! if anything columbia women envy that barnard women are like..... cooler and smarter? better freshman community building so the wheels are greased socially and everything sort of falls from there. if anything barnard students are often more self-directed/curious/intellectual as opposed to the head-down grindset that leads a lot of kids to ivys. i say this as a columbia woman! my cc classmates were nerds, often boring, had a hard time with ideas because they were trying to be right all the time and struggled with nuance or criticism (which is.... where real thinking happens.......). it's one school, with shared libraries and classes and dining halls, but everyone knows you have a better time at barnard.

PP here with dd at Columbia. I agree with this. The Barnard girls seem to be somewhat more sophisticated and the men are often more intrigued with them.

Definitely a true stereotype. They say that Barnard girls dress up for class and Columbia girls wear sweats.

[Anonymous]

Of course it's true.

[Anonymous]

The Columbia Core is the big differentiator and a bit of a badge of honor and shared experience among alums of all Columbia College generations. Very heavy reading and more restrictive requirements vs Barnard foundations curriculum. I agree that socially, the 2 schools are very integrated in terms of greek and clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: My DD was advised by a friend’s sister (who goes to Columbia) not to apply to Barnard unless she can handle feeling “looked down upon” by Columbia women. She wasn’t trying to be mean- in fact, she suggested that she hates that there’s this attitude among her Columbia peers but wanted my DD to go in eyes wide open. Curious if others have heard or experienced this.

DD graduated from Columbia and this is correct.

[Anonymous]

Barnard, for such a great institution, still amazes me that their endowment is so low compared to other LACs. quite frankly they have a JOKE of an endowment. No wonder they are about to go bankrupt and need Columbia to save them from themselves.

[Anonymous]

Why do the kids care? Sounds like many dont and some do. And for the one who
"Look down on BCers" does that mean they look down on everyone that doesn't go to
an Ivy? Do they look down on kids from Wellesley, U Michigan, USC, Tufts, etc

[Anonymous]

My DD went to Barnard and loved it but definitely felt that some (not all) CC students looked down on Barnard women. It was a thing. Having said that, she had plenty of CC friends and had a great overall experience.

[Anonymous]

This is messed up. Barnard has a 7% acceptance rate and Columbia has a 4.2%. the admissions difference between them could be a paragraph on their personal essay.

Didn't attend either but reading through this thread. If Columbia women are like this to Barnard women that is really messed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is messed up. Barnard has a 7% acceptance rate and Columbia has a 4.2%. the admissions difference between them could be a paragraph on their personal essay.

Didn't attend either but reading through this thread. If Columbia women are like this to Barnard women that is really messed up.

Barnard acceptance rate is a little deceiving. They get significantly fewer applications v columbia. It is more of niche self selecting group as a Women's institution. (Approx 10k apps for barnard vs 60k for columbia)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a student athlete who had the option from the coach to choose either CC or Barnard. She chose Barnard because she liked its more flexible class options vs. CC's required core curriculum. She loves Barnard. There is no animosity from CC students. None. Especially now after going through the protests and Trump admin attacks together, all 4 Columbia University colleges are one family. If someone says otherwise on here they either have a very insecure daughter or are trolling after an admission denial.

They don’t look down on her as a Barnard student athlete for one obvious reason: she is taking up a mere Barnard vs. a more precious CC spot.

[Anonymous]

All the top LACs max out at 10k-11k apps. Nothing deceptive about those numbers.

[Anonymous]

It’s not the 70s anymore. This doesn’t matter.

[Anonymous]

Totally agree it matters and disappointed to see people so aggressive i that way in 2025. Cutting down people so effortlessly. No wonder things in US are a mess.

[Anonymous]

There was a little bit of friction between Columbia and Barnard women back in the '90s when I attended Columbia. It seemed most pronounced during freshmen year when everyone was still figuring things out. As a female, you'd get asked if you're Barnard or Columbia. FWIW all the Barnard women I knew were very proud to attend a women's college. Also agree with PP who mentioned the Core. That's a huge piece to the Columbia side/identity.