Twyla Tharp and the Opportunities of Barnard

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a lecture on campus given by alumna Twyla Tharp about her work “Treefrog in Stonehenge.” Barnard and Columbia students also performed the piece last weekend as a part of an annual show, Barnard/Columbia Dances, produced by the Barnard Dance Department.

What may be even more exciting to you, as incoming Barnard students, is that Twyla Tharp will be a guest artist at Barnard for this upcoming year! She will be involved with lectures, master classes, interdisciplinary projects, among other things.

As I sat and listened to this woman, whose presence and work is so well-known in the dance world, I thought about how this sort of opportunity wouldn’t exist for me if I weren’t at Barnard. Outside of the dance world, Barnard attracts and produces fantastic people who are very willing to share their experiences in so many subject areas. While I’ve been able to hear spectacular guests talk at Barnard, I’ve also had wonderful experiences with my professors and friends. I have gotten to learn things from conversations with my peers that I could never learn in a classroom. These friends have taught me about staying happy and working hard.



Prof W.H. Haller conducting English class in the Jungle, circa 1946.
Courtesy of the Barnard College Archives.

It’s bittersweet for me to think that with the close of my sophomore year approaching, my time at Barnard is nearing half over. I only have two more years to be surrounded by the great people and fabulous opportunities that Barnard offers.

Obviously, I hope you choose Barnard. Barnard is fantastic. The people here make it an enthusiastic, intellectually stimulating environment like I’ve never experienced elsewhere. I hope you are able to make the most of your Barnard experience in a way that works for you. And if you come to Barnard, and you see me around campus in the fall, I’d love to meet you and learn from you too!

Margeaux

Secret Places on Barnard's Campus

(Ok, so maybe just less visible places on Barnard's campus.)

As this month comes to an end, maybe you’ve explored every link and photo on Barnard’s website. Maybe you’ve also toured Barnard’s campus already and/or come for admitted students weekend. I’m gonna try to tell you about some cool places on campus that I didn’t know about before I came to Barnard.

 

So maybe you caught a glimpse of it on a tour, but on the roof of Milbank Hall, there is a greenhouse! This space houses all sorts of plant species, including some for different professors' research. The greenhouse is open to everyone on Wednesday afternoons, but you might also have the chance to visit it with your Biology or Environmental Science lab courses. Coming from the desert, my favorite part of the greenhouse is the cacti section. 

Feels like home!

Additionally, the top of the Diana Center is a green roof, which means the vegetation grown there helps improve the energy efficiency of the building. While this space is used for research and work in different classrooms, it’s also a great space with a view for different events, like yoga during Spirit Week!

Though the 9-15^th floors of Sulzberger Tower are (unofficially) reserved for upperclassmen housing, the 16^th floor is more of a meeting space. A number of events and meetings are held there (like the one during Spirit Week that I missed out on). But when there isn’t something going on there, it makes an awesome place for getting some studying done, with a great view of the city!

Lastly and a bit more personal, I end up sitting at the tables in the little space between the library and Altschul Hall at least once a day if the weather is nice. I often go there to do some reading or call my sister or a friend, because it’s quieter and slightly removed from the main “thoroughfare” on Barnard’s campus. It’s a great little place to be alone and outside. As I was talking on the phone with my mom the other day, I realized that Einstein also hangs out near the back of Altschul (which I find funny since Altschul is the science building). If you prefer the tables on the north side of Altschul, you might be able to wave at one of the deans (some of my favorite people at Barnard!) whose office windows face that space.  

Einstein keeping me company

If you come to Barnard, I’m sure you’ll find your own favorite spaces on campus, just as I have.   

Margeaux

Hosting Admitted Students Last Weekend!

A group of admitted students that Lina brought to Vine,
a local Asian fusion restaurant

So last weekend, one of my suitemates, Lina, and I hosted two students for admitted students Open House weekend. I wasn’t able to go to admitted students weekend before I came to Barnard, so it was fun for me to experience some of the fun events that the Office of Admissions plans! Hosting admitted students was also a great excuse get milkshakes at Tom’s Diner (of Seinfeld fame and the restaurant which Barnard alumna, Suzanne Vega, wrote a song about!) with my first year roommate, Hayley, and the admitted student she was hosting.

Having just recently declared my major and pretty much set up the rest of my coursework (though I could technically still change it), it’s fun to talk about all the possibilities that lie ahead for you all as you begin your time at Barnard. Talking with prospective students over the weekend also reminded me how diverse the interests are of all the people I’ve met in my time at Barnard.  As the prospective Barnard students asked me about clubs or majors they were interested in, if I didn’t personally know much about it, I could almost immediately name someone who they could talk to about this or that.

After we all went to Tom’s, we came back to my dorm and distracted Lina from her problem set. To be honest, it is equally as important to find time for fun as it is to set aside time for work. Lina and I spent the night telling the prospective students about some of our favorite Barnard memories. If you didn’t have the chance to come to admitted students weekend (or even if you did!) feel free to ask me any questions in the comments or through email, so I can put off homework tonight too (:

Margeaux

Adventures at Spirit Week 2014

What’s better than free food? Free food on Lehman Lawn, in beautiful spring weather, under the blooming magnolia tree, complete with a mechanical surfboard.

This past week was Spirit Week at Barnard, and it entailed all of these things. Spirit Week is a celebration of Barnard-ness organized by Student Government Association (SGA) and McIntosh Activities Council (McAC). It is comprised of a number of different events (often with free food!) around Barnard’s campus, and always seems to coincide with the blooming of the magnolia tree. This year’s Spirit Week theme was "road trip," so each day had a different mini-theme like a stop at the beach or stop at the park.

The first event was on Sunday night on the top floor of Sulzberger Tower. I wasn’t able to go to the event, but I heard they had the terraces open, and now am forever mad that I couldn’t go. Reason number 1298493 to go to Spirit Week events: cool things happen, like Sulz Tower being open.

Here's a photo that I took from Sulz Tower last year, which gives you an idea of the view that I missed on Sunday!

On Tuesday, there was flower pot painting and s’mores on the roof of the Diana Center. And on Wednesday, there were free drinks in coconuts and a mechanical surfboard on Lehman Lawn.
 

A stop at the beach: Meghan with her piña colada and someone “surfing” in the background!

Thursday came with free donuts in the morning, a BBQ lunch on Lehman Lawn, and ice cream in the afternoon.
 

BBQ on Lehman Lawn

Lina (in this year’s Spirit Week t-shirt) and me enjoying sunshine and BBQ.

Spirit Week and seeing all the Barnard students out on campus enjoying the beginning of spring always reminds me about why I chose Barnard in the first place.

Margeaux

 

Lectures vs. Seminars: Barnard's Classroom Experience

My seminar classroom in Milbank. 

 

 

 

Small class size was a huge factor in my decision to attend Barnard, and while I’ve had the opportunity to take a number of small classes here, I’ve found that even professors of “larger” classes at Barnard are just as available to interact with students as well. 

As a first year, you’ll have at least one small seminar style class, if not more. In a seminar class, you’re asked to do readings and then discuss them in class. The professor usually provides some suggestions or questions throughout class, but the way the class proceeds is really up to the students. These classes give you the opportunity to discuss a specific subject matter with 12-16 of your peers and really get to know your professor.  

Lecture courses at Barnard usually (but not always) consist of slightly less discussion among students, and more presentation by a professor. When I hear my friends at larger universities talk about their gigantic lectures in auditoriums where they see their professor on a screen, I realize that what I define as a “large” lecture course at Barnard... really isn't that large. Yes, there are certain lecture courses, like Intro Biology and Introduction to Art History, that are a bit larger than the average Barnard class. However, for courses like these at Barnard, there are often weekly sections where you break up into smaller groups and discuss the material in more depth. Professors also hold weekly office hours where you can ask specific questions and get to know your professors better. 

Lehman Auditorium, a lecture hall in Altschul. 

I’ve found that a lot of classes at Barnard fall somewhere in the middle of “large lecture” and “small seminar.” For example, the History of Science course I took last semester was considered a “lecture” course, but it was around 18 people. The professor often asked us for our take on the readings or to discuss a question with someone sitting near us in class. There are probably 100 or so people in the Philosophy class that I’m currently taking, but it doesn’t feel so large because, in every class, the professor is constantly asking for the students' thoughts about an idea or theory he is presenting. Barnard faculty members have a commitment to teaching undergraduates, no matter the size of the class.

While smaller seminar courses are usually the ones that you see taking place on Lehman Lawn at this time of year, just last week even my Organic Chemistry lecture class got to take a practice quiz outside! 

Margeaux

No Matter How You Study, Barnard Has a Place for It

A view of Columbia from the Barnard Library

While I’d consider myself one of the Barnard Library’s biggest fans (I mean, they even have a zine collection!), some days the library isn’t where I feel like studying. In high school, I never really studied in only one room, but preferred to move around my house. At Barnard, there are plenty of places I can go to study and get work done depending on what I am doing that day.

If I’m looking for silence, but need a change of scenery, I like to go to the study room on the third floor of the Diana Center. There are large windows there, so it’s pretty bright and great for keeping me awake. As is the coffee from Liz’s Place, also located in the Diana Center. There are some comfy chairs there also, if I’m not in the mood to sit at one of the desks or tables, which is often. (If I’m studying in my room, I almost always preference my bed, over my desk, so the non-desk options often win me over.)  



If I want to get work done, but don’t mind a little bit of noise, I usually head to the Altschul Atrium which is on the first floor of Altschul Hall, which houses most of Barnard’s science departments and labs. This space is supposed to be more of a fun, no studying zone because (there’s a foosball table!), but it’s often not very crowded and always full of light. There’s also a piano, so every once in a while, a student might come in and provide some nice studying music! 





Diana Center Reading Room. Photo courtesy
of www.dwell.com.

As a first-year, you’ll be living in the Quad, which has it’s own study room, Brooks lounge. I liked studying there my first year year. It felt very collegiate and was in the same building as my dorm room, which meant I could stay as late as I wanted (needed?) without having to think about when a building was closing or the weather outside.

 



One great thing about Barnard is that everything is relatively close together, so you can stay in the Diana Center till late and not have to worry about a long walk back to your dorm. I guess if I’m being totally honest, I liked that the Brooks lounge felt like an extension of my hall, and I could head there in pajamas and be in like company. (:





Barnard offers plenty of places that lend themselves for studying, whether they be designated “studying zones” or just somewhere you feel comfortable and productive. I’ve had fun exploring different places that work for me, and I’m sure you’ll find the space that’s best for you too!

 

Margeaux

 

           

The Roommate Matching Process

Hayley and me on move-in day!

Once you confirm that you will be attending Barnard, you’ll receive a survey from Barnard ResLife that includes questions about when you like to sleep and wake up, your study habits, and some of your interests. When I filled out this survey the summer before my freshman year, I tried my best to be honest about my living style, likes, and dislikes. I had read about how Barnard ResLife hand-matches roommates based on these surveys, so I put some trust in the system and tried not to worry too much about who I’d be living with in the fall.

When I moved into my dorm at Barnard in August, I quickly learned how well my roommate, Hayley, and I had been matched. Not only had we answered our survey questions about sleeping, tidiness, and studying in similar ways, but we also found that we were similar in ways that weren’t even a part of the roommate matching survey. For example, we have both mastered the task of ignoring our alarms in the morning, much to the dismay of our other hall mates. We both enjoy Broadway shows, though Hayley is much more knowledgeable about everything related to Broadway than I am, and continues to be the person I turn to when I want to know more about a show. We both appreciate the music of the early 2000s.  We understand each other’s senses of humor, and she has never judged me for consuming a box of cereal in one sitting, due to our mutual love of this great breakfast food.

Our last night as first-year roommates called for some
celebratory toothbrushing

So my advice is to answer the survey honestly, and try not to worry too much about your future roommate. Don’t judge your future roommate based on her Facebook profile. In general, Barnard does a great job of pairing roommates who live really well together, even if your roommate isn’t your best friend.  Regardless of if you’re best friends or not, living together often does create some inside jokes between you and your roommate. And if you’re as lucky as I was, you’ll gain a really great friend. 

Margeaux

 

In our suite in Plimpton this year

My Home Away from Home

Name: Margeaux Miller

Class: 2016 (Sophomore)

Hometown: Yuma, Arizona

Major: Biochemistry

Clubs/Organizations: Barnard Dance Department, Orchesis


I first learned about Barnard when I was looking for schools that would allow me to continue studying ballet seriously, but would also challenge me academically. Since I started at Barnard last year, the dance department and community have become another home for me, far away from my home in the Southwest. I’ve been able to take dance classes with fantastic teachers and also see discounted performances around New York City through programs at Barnard. I love that there are all different levels of instruction and that students have a variety of different interests in dance. A number of my friends, who aren’t trained dancers, have also had great experiences within the dance department, whether that be an African dance class or a beginning ballet class.  

One of Barnard's multiple ballet studios.

Outside the dance department, I love the enthusiasm that Barnard students share about this community. I’m so grateful for Barnard's school spirit, which stems from things other than sports, like Big Sub and Midnight Breakfast. This sense of community is something I was seeking in my college experience and has been very different from my high school. I’ve even seen firsthand how this excitement and love for Barnard extends to alumnae. Last summer, I happened to sit on an airplane next to a Barnard alumna. We didn’t have all that much in common beyond our association with Barnard, but she was so excited to share her Barnard experiences with me, and I was more than excited to hear and learn from her.   

I was ecstatic when I found out I had gotten into Barnard, and I think a little part of me knew at that moment that I had already made my decision about where I wanted to go to college. Barnard was a place that was entirely new and exciting for me, which was exactly what I wanted. My first day on campus was invigorating, and also a little overwhelming. But I thought about the day I found out I got into Barnard, and remembered how I felt then. I felt so accomplished knowing that someone else thought that I belonged here. The friendships I’ve made and the ways that I’ve grown, through the classes I’ve taken and experiences I’ve had here, assure me that I made the right choice in choosing Barnard.   

Some friends and me on the roof of the Diana Center for a Constellation event last spring