Barnard College

Date: Aug 23 2008
Major: Undecided (This Major's Salary over time)
I'm working on transferring to another college as we speak. Barnard is the biggest waste of time and money—especially money—that I've ever had the misfortune to experience. I came to Barnard because I loved what the college advertised it being—"a liberal arts college for women associated with Columbia University in New York City." What could be better, right? Wrong. I came to college excited to move past the mostly apathetic classmates I knew in high school, and I only found more of the same. Not everyone is like that at Barnard, but many of the students don't care about anything other than going to the same clubs as the Olsen twins or getting student rush tickets. A lot of my professors knew what they were talking about but unlikely to teach outside of their doctoral thesis, which means that you get a lot of classes that will feature really arcane facts loosely grouped together in a syllabus. And no context. Professors (and TAs) are impressed when students speak at all, even if it is to release some pseudo-intelligent BS, and are generally willing to go over stuff in office hours or even just to have a great conversation. The administration is misguided and has the wrong priorities in mind. They care more about sucking up to alumnae to get more money (which they don't use on financial aid, believe me) than about their students. Just take a look at the website and see—all of the news and highlights are about what alumnae are accomplishing. Also: 30% of the students are fun and friendly, but the rest are either a) rich or b) a hipster or c) both. It's not as diverse as you think. One of the best choices I've made in the past few years is sending my letter of withdrawal to the dean's office.