After spending an extended weekend visiting Barnard (February 22 - 26), and attending classes, I formed an opinion of this college. For the most part, I liked what I saw. The friendly people I met were happy both with the atmosphere and level of education. I found the classes to be interesting and not too confusing. The food, though not Mom's cooking, was edible and the cafeteria was clean. The main dormitories in the quadrangle are all connected, facilitating all those emergency 3: 00 a.m. visits to classmates the night before a major test. In addition, all the buildings are connected underground, so on cold winter days, venturing outside is unnecessary, if one can navigate them without getting lost.

Barnard might have been on the top of my college list if it were not for one other factor,New York City. I know people that love New York, that cannot dream of living elsewhere, but I am not one of those people. The streets are too dirty and too full of beggars asking for donations. (One man even asked me for the cookie I was holding.) I was constantly afraid that I was going to be mugged and that the taxi driver was going to cheat me. (They did, either by failing to turn off the meter immediately, or by pretending they had no change.) Maybe I would get used to the City, but at the moment, while I like Barnard, I hate New York.




Reviewed in 1990