Anonymous
12/30/2025 18:45
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
OP, I went to Columbia years ago and Barnard had a reputation for having much easier classes (not just intro classes). I took several classes there and that was my personal experience. Having said that, the teaching was generally wonderful and I think your DD will get a great education (and likely will be much less stressed that at many other selective institutions).
Anonymous
12/30/2025 03:51
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Barnard has always attracted quirky girls of middling intelligence.
2 close friends of mine attended and I would sometimes visit. All their friends and room-mates were low-to-middle intellects.
That's rude
It's just my assessment, take it or leave it. A lot of the girls also had psychological issues.
Visiting a couple of friends at a school will not give you a representative view of the overall student body at that school. It will give you a representative view of their social group, which says more about those two friends of yours than it does about the school.
Ok. So to be fair, you have no idea how many times I visited / stayed over in the dorms / hung out with or indeed, just how many different people I met while there. But if you think my opinion is invalid, you can run with that as long as you care to, just not based on your complete absence of facts.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 12:59
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Barnard's faculty is distinct from that of Columbia College. The relationship either of these undergraduate schools have with Columbia University as whole doesn't seem to be relevant to the classroom experience.
Barnard maintains its own science facilities, including research laboratories. These facilities will be greatly enhanced by a new science building set to open in 2026. Barnard faculty and students may use the "core" lab facilities of Columbia University.
Except that is not the point. They are not distinct from Columbia faculty, because they ARE Columbia faculty. Even if they are approved promotion by Barnard, Columbia is looking at a professor's research output to see if they should be faculty; this actually occurred with Dr. Bashir Abu-Manneh, who is a great post-colonial scholar that was denied tenure from Columbia, but not Barnard, due to his lack of research productivity and consequently had to leave the institution.
No one is denying the autonomy of Barnard, but there is an institutional order which says that undeniably Barnard faculty aren't distinct from Columbia faculty.
In the absence of your having made a distinction between Columbia College and Columbia University, I've found it difficult to follow your reasoning.
Because no one made that distinction...
This is what made that poster's language very hard to follow — the term "Columbia" was used without clarification as to whether Columbia College or Columbia University was being discussed.
Why would anyone need to clarify it. Barnard can’t be a part of Columbia college… that’s not how colleges work.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 11:41
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Barnard has always attracted quirky girls of middling intelligence.
2 close friends of mine attended and I would sometimes visit. All their friends and room-mates were low-to-middle intellects.
That's rude
It's just my assessment, take it or leave it. A lot of the girls also had psychological issues.
Visiting a couple of friends at a school will not give you a representative view of the overall student body at that school. It will give you a representative view of their social group, which says more about those two friends of yours than it does about the school.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 11:18
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Barnard College's faculty is distinct from Columbia College's faculty...both are part of Columbia University's faculty. Barnard's faculty is NOT part of Columbia College's faculty.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 10:09
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Financially, Barnard is largely independent, and has experienced significant recent challenges related to its substantial debt:
Barnard lays off 77 full-time staff members in collegewide ‘restructuring’ https://share.google/jZ6Icw0NYXfK2Z3xd
Important information regarding Barnard College's debt & endowment. Applying as a full-pay students should help increase one's chance for an offer of admission. Barnard is need-aware for transfer applicants, international applicants, and wait-listed applicants.Hard to believe that the school is really need blind for some applicants in light of its financial situation.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 09:29
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Barnard's faculty is distinct from that of Columbia College. The relationship either of these undergraduate schools have with Columbia University as whole doesn't seem to be relevant to the classroom experience.
Barnard maintains its own science facilities, including research laboratories. These facilities will be greatly enhanced by a new science building set to open in 2026. Barnard faculty and students may use the "core" lab facilities of Columbia University.
Barnard professors obviously take Columbia graduate students for lab work? The "core" facilities are naturally shared by the entire Columbia community? Why would you get another whole set of NMR, X-ray, Mass spec only for Barnard. The more you describe it, the more it sounds the distinct part is in name only.
You appear to be winging information. Barnard houses its own NMR, for example.
Anonymous
12/29/2025 09:22
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Financially, Barnard is largely independent, and has experienced significant recent challenges related to its substantial debt:
Barnard lays off 77 full-time staff members in collegewide ‘restructuring’ https://share.google/jZ6Icw0NYXfK2Z3xd
Barnard lays off 77 full-time staff members in collegewide ‘restructuring’ https://share.google/jZ6Icw0NYXfK2Z3xd
Anonymous
12/29/2025 00:07
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Barnard's faculty is distinct from that of Columbia College. The relationship either of these undergraduate schools have with Columbia University as whole doesn't seem to be relevant to the classroom experience.
Barnard maintains its own science facilities, including research laboratories. These facilities will be greatly enhanced by a new science building set to open in 2026. Barnard faculty and students may use the "core" lab facilities of Columbia University.
Except that is not the point. They are not distinct from Columbia faculty, because they ARE Columbia faculty. Even if they are approved promotion by Barnard, Columbia is looking at a professor's research output to see if they should be faculty; this actually occurred with Dr. Bashir Abu-Manneh, who is a great post-colonial scholar that was denied tenure from Columbia, but not Barnard, due to his lack of research productivity and consequently had to leave the institution.
No one is denying the autonomy of Barnard, but there is an institutional order which says that undeniably Barnard faculty aren't distinct from Columbia faculty.
In the absence of your having made a distinction between Columbia College and Columbia University, I've found it difficult to follow your reasoning.
Because no one made that distinction...
This is what made that poster's language very hard to follow — the term "Columbia" was used without clarification as to whether Columbia College or Columbia University was being discussed.
Anonymous
12/28/2025 23:53
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Wait, there were TAs grading papers at Barnard? That would bug me a ton. It's a small college that supposedly prides itself on small classes....
Yes -- I was surprised too. She's had a couple classes with 180kids + though and yes TAs
Anonymous
12/28/2025 23:49
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Barnard's faculty is distinct from that of Columbia College. The relationship either of these undergraduate schools have with Columbia University as whole doesn't seem to be relevant to the classroom experience.
Barnard maintains its own science facilities, including research laboratories. These facilities will be greatly enhanced by a new science building set to open in 2026. Barnard faculty and students may use the "core" lab facilities of Columbia University.
Exactly.
They are completely wrong.
Anonymous
12/28/2025 23:49
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Barnard's faculty is distinct from that of Columbia College. The relationship either of these undergraduate schools have with Columbia University as whole doesn't seem to be relevant to the classroom experience.
Barnard maintains its own science facilities, including research laboratories. These facilities will be greatly enhanced by a new science building set to open in 2026. Barnard faculty and students may use the "core" lab facilities of Columbia University.
Except that is not the point. They are not distinct from Columbia faculty, because they ARE Columbia faculty. Even if they are approved promotion by Barnard, Columbia is looking at a professor's research output to see if they should be faculty; this actually occurred with Dr. Bashir Abu-Manneh, who is a great post-colonial scholar that was denied tenure from Columbia, but not Barnard, due to his lack of research productivity and consequently had to leave the institution.
No one is denying the autonomy of Barnard, but there is an institutional order which says that undeniably Barnard faculty aren't distinct from Columbia faculty.
In the absence of your having made a distinction between Columbia College and Columbia University, I've found it difficult to follow your reasoning.
Because no one made that distinction...
Anonymous
12/28/2025 23:37
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Barnard's faculty is distinct from that of Columbia College. The relationship either of these undergraduate schools have with Columbia University as whole doesn't seem to be relevant to the classroom experience.
Barnard maintains its own science facilities, including research laboratories. These facilities will be greatly enhanced by a new science building set to open in 2026. Barnard faculty and students may use the "core" lab facilities of Columbia University.
Barnard professors obviously take Columbia graduate students for lab work? The "core" facilities are naturally shared by the entire Columbia community? Why would you get another whole set of NMR, X-ray, Mass spec only for Barnard. The more you describe it, the more it sounds the distinct part is in name only.
Anonymous
12/28/2025 23:28
Subject: Disappointed with Barnard
Anonymous wrote:Barnard's faculty is distinct from that of Columbia College. The relationship either of these undergraduate schools have with Columbia University as whole doesn't seem to be relevant to the classroom experience.
Barnard maintains its own science facilities, including research laboratories. These facilities will be greatly enhanced by a new science building set to open in 2026. Barnard faculty and students may use the "core" lab facilities of Columbia University.
Exactly.