Barnard College
New York, New York | Admissions Phone: 212-854-2014
E-mail: admissions@barnard.edu | Website: www.barnard.edu
ADMISSION
Admission Rate: 14%
Admission Rate - Men: 0%
Admission Rate - Women: 14%
EA Admission Rate: Not Offered
ED Admission Rate: 30%
Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -7%
ED Admission Rate (5-Year Trend): -13%
% of Admits Attending (Yield): 55%
Transfer Admission Rate: 22%
# Offered Wait List: 1,608
# Accepted Wait List: N/A
# Admitted Wait List: 11
SAT Reading/Writing (Middle 50%): 670-740
SAT Math (Middle 50%): 660-760
ACT Composite (Middle 50%): 30-33
Testing Policy: ACT/SAT Required
SAT Superscore: Yes
ACT Superscore: No
% Graduated in Top 10% of HS Class: 84%
% Graduated in Top 25% of HS Class: 97%
% Graduated in Top 50% of HS Class: 100%
ENROLLMENT
Total Undergraduate Enrollment: 2,562
% Part-Time: 2%
% Male: 0%
% Female: 100%
% Out-of-State: 72%
% Fraternity: Not Offered
% Sorority: 15%
% On-Campus (Freshman): 99%
% On-Campus (All Undergraduate): 91%
% African-American: 6%
% Asian: 15%
% Hispanic: 12%
% White: 51%
% Other: 6%
% Race or Ethnicity Unknown: 0%
% International: 10%
% Low-Income: 18%
ACADEMICS
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 9:1
% of Classes Under 20: 75%
% of Classes Under 40: 90%
% Full-Time Faculty: 68%
% Full-Time Faculty w/ Terminal Degree: 98%
Top Programs
Area Studies
Art History
Dance
Economics
English
Neuroscience and Behavior
Political Science
Psychology
Retention Rate: 95%
4-Year Graduation Rate: 87%
6-Year Graduation Rate: 92%
Curricular Flexibility: Somewhat Flexible
Academic Rating: 
FINANCIAL
Institutional Type: Private
In-State Tuition: $55,781
Out-of-State Tuition: $55,781
Room & Board: $17,856
Required Fees: $1,887
Books & Supplies: $1,150
Avg. Need-Based Aid: $48,845
Avg. % of Need Met: 100%
Avg. Merit-Based Aid: $0
% Receiving Merit-Based Aid: 0%
Avg. Cumulative Debt: $20,829
% of Students Borrowing: 43%
CAREER
Who Recruits
1. Harlem Arts Alliance
2. 826NYC
3. Bank of America
4. Mastercard
5. Hospital for Special Surgery
Notable Internships
1. U.S. Embassy
2. MacMillan Publishers
3. Prudential
Top Industries
1. Business
2. Education
3. Media
4. Social Services
5. Healthcare
Top Employers
1. NYC Department of Education
2. Google
3. JPMorgan Chase
4. Citi
5. IBM
Where Alumni Work
1. New York City
2. San Francisco
3. Boston
4. Los Angeles
5. Washington, DC
Median Earnings
College Scorecard (Early Career): $57,900
EOP (Early Career): $56,300
PayScale (Mid-Career): $109,800
RANKINGS
Forbes: 50
Money: 94
U.S. News: 25, Liberal Arts Colleges
Wall Street Journal/THE: 51
Washington Monthly: 20, Liberal Arts Colleges
Inside the Classroom
Affiliated with Columbia University, this all-women’s college serves 2,500-plus accomplished young women in the heart of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The institution’s cosmopolitan locale is appropriately populated by a diverse student body—52 percent of attendees identify as women of color, and 22 percent are first-generation college students. Roughly fifty majors are offered, including crossover programs with Columbia such as the 3:2 engineering program or five-year programs that lead to a BA plus a Master of International Affairs or Master of Public Administration. Barnard also has partnerships with The Jewish Theological Seminary and the Julliard School.
The newly-adopted Foundations curriculum has refined an already rigorous educational tradition at the college. Freshmen must tackle a first-year writing course and a first-year seminar that emphasizes persuasive writing/speaking. In subsequent years, students must fulfill six Modes of Thinking courses that focus on local NYC history, global inquiry, social difference, historical perspective, quantitative and empirical knowledge, and technological thinking. Distributional requirements in a foreign language, arts/humanities, social sciences, and the hard sciences also must be fulfilled. Regardless of major, seniors must complete a semester or year-long thesis/project that is publicly presented or displayed.
All of this unfolds in an academic environment in which students will work closely with professors. Barnard has a 10:1 student-faculty ratio, and a sensational 75 percent of courses are capped at nineteen or fewer students; 26 percent have fewer than ten. Many get the chance to engage in research alongside a professor as 197 undergraduates were granted such an opportunity through the Summer Research Institute in 2018-19. Many students also take advantage of the more than 150 study abroad programs spread over sixty-five countries. Roughly one-third of students elect to take a semester in a foreign country.
Barnard’s most popular majors, by number of degrees conferred, are economics, English, political science, history, psychology, biology, neuroscience, computer science, urban studies, and art history. The dance program is notably strong and often places near the top of national rankings. With a strong emphasis on global perspective and public service, it makes sense that the school produces a disproportionately high percentage of Fulbright and Truman Scholars. In 2019, four graduates won Fulbright Scholarships, and three students captured Critical Language Scholarships. Additionally, four Barnard grads were named National Science Foundation fellows in 2018.
Outside the Classroom
Outside the classroom is where Barnard’s affiliation with Columbia really comes into play. The school doesn’t have its own athletic teams, so Barnard students are recruited to play for Columbia’s NCAA Division I teams. Barnard has seventy clubs of its own, mostly of a fairly serious nature (pre-professional and performance-oriented), but the bulk of opportunities for campus engagement come from Columbia’s more than 500 student organizations that are open to Barnard students. Parts of dorm life are also a shared experience. For the 91 percent of students who decide to live on campus, two buildings serve as co-ed dorms where Barnard students are mixed with Columbia students, and meal plans for all dorm residents can be utilized at either school’s cafeterias. Of course, being located in the heart of New York City, opportunities for fun and excitement are hardly limited to the Barnard and Columbia campuses. Within a single mile of their dorm rooms, students can enjoy multiple parks, theaters, music venues, diners, and countless other attractions.
Career Services
Barnard has ten professionals, a number of peer advisors, and a handful of administrative assistants working in the offices of Beyond Barnard, the recently reorganized/renamed career services center. In past years complaints about the lack of hands-on assistance from the career services office were voiced by the student government and school newspaper. The college responded by beefing up its offerings, and the work being done today is impressive by any quantifiable measure. Beyond Barnard’s 256:1 student-to-advisor ratio is superior to many other colleges featured in this guide, and it puts that staffing to good use. In 2018-19, they conducted 4,424 one-on-one appointments, hosted 350+ events, and served 2,500 individuals in some capacity.
The school hosts career and internship fairs in the fall and spring. Fairs are attended by 1,000 students and approximately fifty employers including Brown Brothers Harriman, Uber, and Hearst Magazines. Those sessions also are open to Columbia students, and there is some degree of reciprocity with Barnard students being allowed to attend a good number of Columbia-hosted events. The New York Network mentoring program saw 140 alumni work in person with current students, and an additional seventy individuals participated in a Virtual Mentoring program. Beyond Barnard helps fund internships offering summer stipends of $4,000; it funded 425 internships last year alone. Students interned at exciting locations including the New York Times, the US House of Representatives, Comedy Central, and Christie’s.
Professional Outcomes
Six months after graduation, 93 percent of 2018 Barnard grads had found employment or were enrolled in a graduate program. The school is known for producing women with a wide array of interests, so it makes sense that grads disperse into many different fields. Finance and banking led the way, albeit only representing 10-15 percent of graduates. JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Blackrock, Citibank, and Morgan Stanley all appear on the list of the top fifteen employers of Barnard alumni. Education, law, and technology sectors are next in popularity. Across all fields, companies employing twenty-five or more Barnard alums include the NYC Department of Education, Google, IBM, Accenture, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The median income for Barnard grads at age thirty-four is $56,000. For comparison, women graduating from Columbia have a median income of $64,000 at the same age. By leaps and bounds, New York City remains home to alumni with small clusters of graduates forming in San Francisco, Boston, Los Angeles, DC, and Philadelphia.
It is rare for a student to call it an academic career after finishing her bachelor’s. Within ten years of graduation, over 80 percent of Barnard alums eventually enroll in graduate school. Those entering graduate school flock to a number of other nearby institutions with Columbia, Yeshiva, Rutgers, Fordham, NYU, and Hunter College (CUNY) among the ten most commonly attended schools. Boston University, Georgetown, and Harvard also have a strong representation of Barnard grads in their graduate/professional programs. Medical Schools where 2018 grads enrolled include St. Louis University School of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine, and Jefferson College of Health. Barnard typically sports a medical school admissions rate of 60-75 percent.
Admission
The last five years have seen the admission rate at Barnard fall from 24 percent (2014) to an all-time low of 14 percent for those entering the Class of 2022. The middle-50 percent SAT range of attending students is 1350-1500; for the ACT it’s 30-33. In 2014, the 25th percentile was a far friendlier 1240 SAT/28 ACT. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Barnard is trending in a more selective direction.
The average weighted high school GPA of a Barnard student was over 4.0, and 84 percent finished in the top 10 percent of their high school class. That aligns with the school’s stated beliefs that rigor of secondary record and GPA are among the admissions committees’ strongest considerations. Also making this list are more holistic factors including the essay, recommendations, and character/personal qualities. The early decision acceptance rate is 30 percent compared to 12 percent in the regular round, so that may be an avenue worth exploring for those dead-set on attending this fine institution. Additionally, transfer students fare well at Barnard, especially relative to other highly selective liberal arts schools. In 2018, there were 166 applicants accepted as transfers—22 percent of the transfer applicant pool. As at many selective colleges, gaining acceptance into Barnard is more difficult than ever. Sterling grades, solid test scores, and winning personal attributes are the right combination to receive serious consideration at one of, if not the best women’s college in existence.
Worth Your Money?
Forty-six percent of Barnard students come from families that fall in the top 5 percent of income-earners in the United States. Those individuals will almost always be asked to pay the full $78,000 cost of attendance as merit aid is nonexistent at this school. Those on the lower end of the income scale see 100 percent of their demonstrated need paid for by the college through an annual grant of $49k. Thanks to this equitable process, the average debt carried by a Barnard graduate is far less than the average college graduate. In addition to its generous financial aid, Barnard is worth the price for the incredible employment and graduate school networks it will open for you postgraduation.