Hosting for Barnard Open Houses
Each semester, current Barnard students have the opportunity to host prospective and admitted students visiting campus for Open House events. These overnights give prospective students a chance to see what it’s like to live on campus, meet other current and prospective students, and learn more about life at Barnard. Having hosted students myself about six times, I’ve gotten to meet amazing people, many of whom have ended up attending Barnard. I love being able to reflect on my time here with every prospective student and see how my experience at Barnard progresses each semester.
My friends and I have been fortunate enough to have some very memorable hosting experiences. During my first year, I took one of my prospective students on a tour Barnard and Columbia’s campuses and then went to Tom’s for milkshakes. Another memorable hosting experience happened during Admitted Students Weekend in the spring. I hosted Christine, who hadn’t decided on a school yet and was considering her options. While hanging out with my suitemates, we discussed our involvement in dance and theater, which Christine was extremely interested in. After bonding over our mutual interests and sharing our own experiences with our involvement on campus, Christine ultimately decided to attend Barnard and ended up becoming an Orchesis board member with some of my suitemates! We just celebrated our 2-year hosting anniversary (so cute).
Some testimonies from current Barnard students who've hosted:
My first time hosting, I was paired with a bright and bubbly prospective student from Arizona. We instantly bonded over our love of American politics and iced coffee, and I spent the afternoon telling her about all things Barnard and showing her around the neighborhood. I was so excited to see her on campus come fall, and today consider her one of my closest friends! - Rachel ‘17
I had a lot of great conversations with my prospective student about ways to get involved on campus, including Greek life, and then months later she joined my sorority! We’re now great friends. - Ellie ‘19
I had a wonderful time hosting again last weekend and highly encourage any interested prospective students to check out Open House programs in the coming year!
Open House information will be available on the admissions web site: https://admissions.barnard.edu
As always, feel free to comment or e-mail with any questions!
Deena Cohen ‘18
dc2970@barnard.edu