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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Can someone explain the Barnard/Columbia consortium to me?  Columbia is a Top 5 national, while Barnard is the #32 SLAC.  From what I've read online, it seems that Barnard students can enroll in all Columbia classes and use all Columbia facilities.  How then is a Barnard education different from a Columbia education?  How does the market view a Barnard degree?[/quote]

Haverford/Bryn Mawr are the same way. Haverford usually ranks in the top 10 and Bryn Mawr more like top 30, yet you can take any class on either campus--there is literally one course catalog for the two schools--and you can major at either school. Each campus has its own culture, but if academics are what schools are ranked on, it doesn't make any sense that they are so far apart. [/quote]

PP, they're not.  Haverford and Bryn Mawr are two totally separate non-profit corporations that have elected to share certain costs and to permit course-level cross-enrollment (including cross-majoring).  If you get admitted to Haverford, you receive a BA or BS from Haverford, even if you complete your major at Bryn Mawr (in which case your transcript is annotated accordingly).

By contrast, while Columbia and Barnard are two totally separate corporations, the similarities end there -- bear in mind that Barnard was formed in 1889 or so with the specific intention that it be something like a subsidiary of Columbia.  First, Barnard is not legally eligible to grant degrees other than honorary degrees.  Barnard graduates receive degrees from Columbia University that are annotated "at the recommendation of the President and Faculty of Barnard College."  Second, Barnard faculty members cannot receive tenure absent the explicit, prior, written consent of Columbia.  It is almost (ALMOST) never withheld, but it does happen and always could happen.  Third, Columbia and Barnard exhibit some contractually-agreed non-overlaps -- architecture, dance, education, theater, and urban studies can only be offered to undergrads by Barnard, while programs in computer science, statistics, and engineering can only be offered to undergrads by Columbia.  Fourth, academically, Barnard in its entirety is a "faculty" of Columbia and is represented as a Columbia component in Columbia's University Senate (which makes the non-academic, non-fiduciary regs of the University) -- so Barnard is treated like a component school of Columbia.  Fifth, under Columbia's charter (which is a state-enacted law) and a set of agreements that the Charter explicitly allows Columbia and Barnard to execute, the President of Columbia is automatically a Trustee of Barnard.  Sixth, Barnard is prohibited from granting any non-honorary degree other than a Bachelor's.  Barnard is a separate entity from Columbia but not really that separate -- it's a sub.  Havrerford and Bryn Mawr aren't parents/subs at all.  
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