My Favorite Classes at Barnard

Hornick, Andrea. Fashionable Goose Accompanies 
Flighty Mistress For Late Afternoon Stroll. 2009.

I have shared with you experiences of gaining professional skills during college and enjoying life in Morningside Heights outside class, but those are really just the tip of the iceberg. Today I am going to crack into the ice and show you the essence of studying at Barnard: strong academics.

As you may have heard, Barnard's curriculum, the Nine Ways of Knowing, gives you a great opportunity to explore various subjects, helping you find the field(s) of study that you are truly passionate about and further supplementing your major studies. I came into Barnard not knowing what to major in. So I started with classes that would fulfill the Nine Ways of Knowing. (There are really so many options and you can even petition for a class that's not on the pre-approved list.) I ended up taking classes that are fun beyond imagination.

One of the first classes that I took at Barnard was a drawing class called Drawing in Museums. I did a lot of visual arts in high school so I wasn't expecting anything brand-spanking-new. However, the moment Professor Andrea Hornick walked into the art studio, I knew that I was committing to an unprecedented adventure. Andrea (she liked to go by her first name) is an established artist in New York City known for her adaptations of Renaissance masterpieces. She began the class by showing us her recent works in which she copied Renaissance female portraits and elegantly superimposed animals over the space around the females portrayed. "This is exactly what we are going to do in this class," said Andrea, "to copy what people have long considered masterpieces and then give them a subtle twist and make them into something completely beyond people's expectations." She continued, "It doesn't matter if you have previous experience with drawing. I am not here to teach you skills but to inspire you to think in an artistic way. I want to be a visiting professor at Barnard because I know it's the perfect place to carry out experimental projects." 

Just like Andrea said, the class turned out to be an amazing experimental journey. We visited different museums during class time every week and copied artwork. The homework to take home was the "giving it a twist" part. And then we would come to next class to present our "twisted" works and we discussed the philosophy and process behind our artistic decisions with each other. At the end of the semester, Andrea helped each of us put together a portfolio and conferenced with us individually to discuss our experiences. I still remember the last comment that she gave to me: "You may or may not pursue drawing as your life career, but I do hope that it will always be part of you and remind you from time to time to give life an elegant twist!"

Another of my favorite classes is Intermediate French with Professor Brian O'Keeffe. You would imagine a language class being full of dull grammatical exercises, but surprise, surprise! At Barnard, you get sophisticated in language classes too. The best moments in class were when Professor O'Keeffe explained the philosophy behind particular French words or grammatical structure. For example, one day we were reviewing French words related to time and "maintenant" (now) was one of them. Suddenly he stopped and asked, "Has any of you thought about how this word was formed?" Nobody responded. He continued, "Well if you look at it closely, you will see that it is made up of 'main' (meaning hand in French) and 'tenant' (a form of the verb 'to hold" in French) so 'maintenant' literally means holding hands." He went on to challenge us to think about the relationship between the temporality of the word "now" and "holding hands." I won't go into detail because the discussion lasted half an hour, but one thing is for sure--it was a mind-blowing class for me. If I hadn't taken this French class, I would probably use the word "maintenant" for the rest of my life without knowing how philosophical it could be!

These are just samples of the amazing classes offered at Barnard. II could go on and on about all the "wow" moments in almost every class that I have taken. Barnard makes you want to learn and that's the best kind of education you can ask for.

Fangdai

Why I Chose Barnard

Meeting Gloria Steinem

“Why did you choose Barnard?” 

I have been asked this question since I got accepted early decision. I have yet to come up with one, single answer because there are so many reasons that I fell in love with Barnard.

In my first post, I explained how I found out about Barnard through a professor I had at a summer program at Columbia. Most of you remember writing that “Why Barnard” supplement essay back in the fall when you were applying. I’m going to share mine with you:
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“As I walked through the black iron gates, I knew I was entering an oasis, a place spiritually apart from the business of the city and where the students and faculty represent one body. I honor the idea of learning aside young women who are motivated to become productive and exemplary citizens. I am enthralled by Barnard's devotion to providing young women scholars with foundations in an expansive range of subjects with its Nine Ways of Knowing. I have always envisioned myself walking through those gates once again, as a Barnard student, and being exposed to such a superb academic environment. Barnard will bring my intellectual abilities to a whole new level and enable me to continue challenging myself.”
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My reasons for attending and loving Barnard have multiplied over the past year. I have to admit that the fact that Barnard is a top tier liberal arts college in the City of New York factored into my decision-making. But it was more than just that. I remember as a high school junior, looking through every inch of Barnard’s website and being in awe of what both the faculty and students had accomplished, of how the college expands its connections globally, and of how everyone has a genuine smile in every picture. Most importantly, it was extremely empowering to me that I saw women on all of those pages and postings.
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At my admitted students Open House

I must confess that I was one of those people who came to Barnard despite the fact that it is a women’s college, but that is now one of the major reasons that I call this place my home. Because I’m in a nurturing environment where women are encouraged to go above and beyond their immediate potential, I am a stronger and braver woman than I was eight months ago. I never imagined myself speaking up in class, supporting women’s issues, majoring in economics, minoring in computer science, being elected class vice president, meeting the mayor and councilwomen in City Hall, or chatting with Gloria Steinem. If I weren’t attending Barnard, I probably would not have achieved even half of those things within my first year of college. Seeing women in leadership and being successful really encourages me to go out of my comfort zone and try things that might seem impossible at first, but are absolutely achievable.

Each day at Barnard is like a breath of fresh air: the strong sense of community, compassion of faculty, academic readiness of students, and unlimited possibilities of the future remind me how lucky and honored I am to be a Barnard woman. I chose to attend Barnard, and that made all the difference.

Sarah

A Very Busy Day in the Life of a Barnard Student

Hey, everybody! Greetings from Butler library, where I am mulling over an infinite number of amazing classes for next semester, trying to reading a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by my history prof (Eric Foner; look him up!), and eating pecan pie stolen from the dining hall. Not too shabby, eh?

So, today I thought I’d give you the scoop on… my day. (A little self-centered, I know. Bear with me; it might prove helpful!). Specifically, my day on Tuesday, which is my busiest day of the week. So here's how it went this past week:

7:00—My alarm went off, and I obediently dragged myself out of bed and into the kitchen to cook myself some pumpkin oatmeal. The dining halls are pretty cool (I have a post on that coming up!), but for financial and health (physical and emotional) reasons, sometimes it’s nice to cook for yourself. I actually only have 30 meal swipes this semester, so I’m getting to play grown-up and buy my own groceries!

7:15—I settled down in our floor lounge to tackle a few articles that I couldn’t quite finish last night. They were about Abstract Expressionism and were for a seminar, American Cultural Criticism, that I’m taking at Columbia.

8:40—I headed over to Barnard Hall for Ballet 5. It is normally taught by a wonderfully enthusiastic New York City Ballet soloist, Antonio Carmena, but he was absent this week, as the company is on tour. So…Wendy Whelan was teaching our class. Those of you who dance know what a big deal this is—she is one of the very top dancers at one of the (if not the single) best companies in the country. One of the absolutely incredible things about being in New York is that things like this can happen. (Check out this link to see her in action.)

10:10—After that mind-blowing experience, I speed-changed, and walked across the Barnard campus to my Electromagnetic Physics class. My professor, Janna Levin, is so cool (read: way more brilliant and way more stylish than the rest of us combined), which manages to make a rather challenging class completely worth it. I’m taking this to satisfy one of the Nine Ways of Knowing, and even though I’m having to work my…rear…off, there are people here to help, and it is all working out just fine. Plus, we get to talk about things like her research on black holes and her friendship with Neil deGrasse Tyson. 

My walk to class today.

11:40—Tuesdays are long ones, I’ll admit. Immediately after physics, I head across Broadway to my Latin class at Columbia. While I absolutely love being a Barnard student, I have also loved my classes at Columbia, and some classes, like Latin, are only offered there.  

1:00—In my hour off, I rush back to my room to make lunch and finish off some reading.

2:00—I grab a coffee from Joe (the best coffee on campus—take note!) and head back to Columbia for the aforementioned seminar. It was hard today—I’m not really an art person, so a lot of it went over my head—but my professor is truly wonderful (think hardcore-academic-wonderful), and my classmates are so intelligent. It is beyond exciting to be able to feel like you are in the middle of such a hotbed of serious critical thought.

3:40—My prof gave a classmate and me permission to leave early to go to a talk entitled Ebony and Ivy (about slavery and the foundation of America’s elite universities) in Low Library at Columbia. It was hosted by the president of Columbia (Lee Bollinger) and one of my professors (Foner, see above) was on the panel. So many amazing opportunities here!

5:30—Napped, snacked, called my dad to exclaim over housing for next year (good news!) and Wendy Whelan.

7:30—Met my roommate (a visiting student from China) and my friend at John Jay dining hall at Columbia. On the menu tonight (for me anyhow): salad, gnocchi, jerk chicken, and that pecan pie. And I helped myself to rather a lot of fruit…

8:00—Set myself up in Butler to get down to work!

Want to tell me how cool your day was? Wondering about my classes, or that never-ending reading? Leave me a comment! I love them all!

All the best,

Chloe