Barnard as a Historically Women's College

Barnard can be described as a school in a city, a small liberal arts school, and one of Columbia’s undergraduate colleges. But one thing that perks the ears of many applicants is our designation as a historically women’s college.

Barnard is part of the Seven Sisters Colleges  – a group of all-women’s colleges that were founded as counterparts to Ivy League colleges. These schools were founded with the mission of making the quality of education for female students equal to the education of men, and many of the original seven continue to serve this mission today. 

Like the other Seven Sisters colleges, Barnard was founded with the idea of degrees for women that are of the same quality as Columbia. In 1889, Barnard became the first college in New York City to offer degrees to women.

Today, some may say that historically women’s colleges no longer have a place in society. After all, if Barnard students often go on to work in male-dominated fields, shouldn’t we just get used to it?

But the “real world” argument misses the point of going to an institution such as Barnard – to develop students who can reimagine the real world. Unlike almost every other university, Barnard was designed with its female students in mind. This means that Barnard students see each other in leadership in every club and activity, taking up space in the classroom, and excelling at internships off-campus. Many Barnard classes, no matter the subject, make sure to highlight the contributions of female scholars. Being in an environment like this allows students to see this as the norm, and empowers students as they go into the world. 

What does it mean to be a historically women’s college today? Different schools have different policies on admissions for those who don’t use she/her pronouns. The Barnard policy on gender is linked here. 
For more resources, here is a post was written by a tour guide in 2018, and guidance from Barnard on inclusivity in the classroom.