How am I different because of Barnard?

This is the question I’ve been pondering as I attempt to write this final blog post. Ultimately, you want college to be a place of learning and growth, and the inevitable consequence is that it sort of molds or shapes the person you become. It’s somewhat difficult to separate the “shapings” that came directly from Barnard and those that would have happened naturally as I grew from an 18-year-old to a 22-year-old.  But I do know that being at Barnard gave me a big push in the right direction towards becoming who I am today, and who I want to be in the future.

Crossing broadway for the class of 2012 Commencement

A combination of general shyness and an overactive blushing reflex made me a very quiet high-schooler.  Asking questions in class was a rare occurrence for me, and usually resulted in me turning twelve shades of red and wanting to crawl under my desk and never come out.  I don’t know what it is about Barnard (maybe something in the water?), but I found myself growing taller in the metaphorical sense.  My mind-talk went from “Oh, I have nothing to contribute to this conversation,” to jumping out of my seat during seminar classes because I just could NOT wait any longer to talk.  At Barnard, I learned to speak confidently and intelligently, and I realized even if I turn red (which I still do), I just need to keep talking.  And raise my hand again next time.





A view from my awesome seat at Commencement

Barnard has also shaped me in another very real sense: I was awarded a fellowship at the NIH largely through the recommendation of a fellow Barnard alumna.  I met Roxanne at a reunion event and she encouraged me to apply for a grant through the NIH’s Intramural Research Training Award program.  I ended up being placed in her lab and have had an amazing experience.  Roxanne is still very involved with all things Barnard – we went together to hear Debora Spar speak when she visited DC on her book tour.  I know my experience is not uncommon.  The network you find yourself in upon graduation is endless, and there is a special connection among Barnard women. 

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If you are still on the fence about Barnard, I encourage you to think about who you want to be when you graduate.  Barnard has a magical way of fostering confidence, intelligence and fortitude in its students… I’ve seen it happen to myself and so many of my classmates.  If that is what you are looking for, don’t be afraid to take the leap.  I can’t think of a better place to grow.

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Wishing all the best to the class of 2018!

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Melanie

Making the most of NYC

Midnight view of Manhattan from the Brooklyn Bridge

A huge draw for me when I was considering Barnard was its amazing location – who wouldn’t want to live in one of the most exciting cities in the world for four years?!  However, for me (and for a lot of the prospective students I speak to) this is also a point of concern.  Many students worry that the pull of New York City would be hard to resist.  And when the sun is shining and your friends are going to hang out in Riverside Park and you know you really should start on your Women in Culture paper, sometimes it can be hard to drag yourself to the library.  However, most semesters I found myself wishing I had taken advantage of the city more than I did.  Campus life itself is so fun it’s often easy to forget the wider world outside Barnard’s gates.  Luckily, you all can learn from my experience and go exploring more often than I did!

Here were some of my favorite things to do in the city while I was a student:

View of the Financial District  from the Staten Island Ferry

Field Trips: Classes at Barnard utilize the city as an extended classroom.  As an art history major, I visited museums and galleries in nearly all of my classes.  Friends in Environmental Science collected and tested water samples from the Hudson; my first-year seminar went to the opera.  There’s no limit to the things you can learn from New York City, and Barnard professors make full use of it.

Urban New York: Each semester, students can participate in Urban New York drawings to win free tickets to various New York City events.  Concert tickets, sports tickets, theater tickets… you name it.  I got a ticket to something each time I participated.  You can also buy discounted tickets to many city-wide events through the Columbia University Arts Initiative.  I tried to see a show at least once a semester, and rarely paid more than $30 for my ticket.

Eat: Most of my babysitting cash went directly to various restaurants around New York City.  After a long day, I would occasionally treat myself to delivery Indian or Thai food (you can get basically any type of food you want delivered directly to the Barnard dorms).  Weekend nights often revolved around an adventure to try a new type of food – dumplings in Chinatown, Korean BBQ, Indian frankies at Roti Roll on Amsterdam Ave.  Absolute Bagels (at 108 and Broadway) was a Saturday-morning must. 

Treats from Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Boating in Central Park

Parking: Spring in New York is my favorite time of year (although winter with the lights on College Walk is a very close second).  People emerge from their apartments like they’ve never seen sun before in their lives and the parks are crawling.  Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park was one of my favorite weekend outings, and during the week I would often run in either Riverside Park or Central Park.  In a time crunch or on a weekday afternoon, Lehman Lawn at Barnard is a perfect spot to read (or in my case, read for 5 minutes and inevitably fall asleep for an hour).  A picnic blanket was my first purchase once I got to college, and it got a lot of use over my four years.

No matter where you go to college there will always be things you would rather do than your calculus homework.  But if you’ve gotten this far, you know how to prioritize, and why in the world wouldn’t you want to be at a school with the world’s greatest distractions?!

Melanie :)

What does it mean to be "Pre-Med" at Barnard?

Me with my first ever scientific poster at an NIH symposium.

As exciting as it is to start college, I know that many of you are already thinking about your lives four years from now.  What kind of job do you want to have?  What graduate school do you want to attend?  Where do you want to travel?  While it is important to appreciate the moment you are in now, I totally understand the necessity of thinking forward. How can Barnard help get you where you want to go?

It’s important to keep in mind that where you think you’re going may not be where you end up.  I began college as an art history major, and while I loved my classes and professors and wouldn’t change my major for the world, I’m on a slightly different path now.  I will be starting medical school this August, and I want to talk to you all about the pre-med experience at Barnard, hopefully calm some of your fears, and answer any questions you may have about getting ready for medical school.  I’ll start with some common questions, but if you have more specific ones, or are concerned about something I’m not addressing, please feel free to post questions in the comments section below!

What does it mean to be “pre-med” at Barnard?

Barnard is a liberal arts school, and encourages students to study a wide variety of academic disciplines and not only prepare for a future career.  That’s why you can’t major in “pre-med” at Barnard, but instead are considered on the “pre-med track.” What’s wonderful about this is that you can major in anything you want - history, chemistry, dance, anthropology - and the pre-med advisors will help you plan your schedule so you can be sure to get all your requirements finished before you apply.

In my dorm room with my completed Art History thesis.

Is it difficult to balance pre-med classes and a non-science major?

Many students at Barnard (and everywhere - this is very common) plan to take a year off before starting medical school.  Having four years to finish a major and your pre-med requirements is very doable, and you can apply to medical school the summer following graduation.  Students who hope to apply the summer after junior year (to begin medical school immediately following graduation) may not have as much flexibility in their schedules, and may find it more difficult to major in a subject that doesn’t have overlapping requirements with the pre-medical coursework.  However, with careful planning it is still possible.

What’s different about being pre-med at Barnard?

I feel strongly that the best doctors (and therefore the best med school applicants) are people with a wide variety of experiences: social, academic, and extracurricular.  I don't think there is a cookie-cutter "best way" to get into medical school, and I was so lucky to go to Barnard because they embraced that philosophy as well.  I wanted to work in the biology labs and be an art history major.  Sure, Barnard said, no problem!  I wanted to spend my free time planning on-campus events and wasn’t even a member of the Barnard pre-medical society.  No big deal.  “Pre-med robots” are rare at Barnard.  All the students I knew who planned on going to medical school were interested in so many other things, and were participants in a huge array of activities, both on and off campus.  I really do think that if I had gone to any other school, it would have taken me many years of being unhappy in a curatorial position at a museum to realize my passion (or, let's be real, obsession) for genetics.  Because of the flexibility of Barnard's curriculum and the general encouragement on campus to just learn what you love, I am going to be a doctor (so crazy to think about!).

Questions about preparing for medical school at Barnard?  Ask away!

Melanie

My cat Harriet "helping" me study organic chemistry.

Meaningful Events on Campus

If you are lucky enough to visit campus this week, you will be witnessing one of the great Barnard traditions.  Spirit Day has evolved into Spirit Week since I graduated: the result of hard-working and ambitious students who recognized that one day just wasn’t quite enough.  I had the great pleasure of serving on the McIntosh Activities Council (McAC) during my time at Barnard, and worked closely with members of the student government to plan Spirit Day, as well as several other school-wide events, throughout my senior year.  
 

Maya Zinkow (the current McAC president) 

and me with Millie, Spirit Day 2012

During my first three years at Barnard, these celebration days were always highlights of my year.  Barnard is a very academically focused school, and these events brought people out of the library and computer labs during the day to relax and visit with their classmates.  When the opportunity arose for me to take over the management of these events my senior year, I was thrilled to be able to give back to my college community.  

Best part of the early set-up shift?   

Picking up the balloons!

I remember walking up Broadway towards campus on my final Spirit Day, carrying (or being carried) by seven dozen multi-colored balloons and thinking back to my first Spirit Day three years previous.  It was the end of what had been a year of difficult transitions: moving to a new city, adjusting to college, making new friends.  I spent a good majority of that year being unsure of where and how I fit in to my new community.  However, as I sat surrounded by my fellow students, eating barbeque and making ice-cream sundaes, I realized how many people I knew, how many people cared about me, and how welcome I was in my new world.  I hung up balloons with renewed vigor on my final Spirit Day, thinking about all the first-years who would be having the same epiphany that day, and feeling grateful that I had the opportunity to contribute to their realization. 

My roommates and heroes Rebecca Moore, Shilpa Guha, and 

Clare Korir at our last Midnight Breakfast

It is rainy today in Washington, DC and I am sending thoughts of sun to Barnard’s campus.  Barnard is such a special place, and I love that there is now a week to remind us how appreciated each student is by her peers, the administration and the community.

Melanie