Four Pillars of Barnard: The Liberal Arts

I came into Barnard not really knowing what I wanted to study. While I’m not the first (or only person!) to matriculate into Barnard not knowing what they want to study, a liberal arts college allowed me to explore all the academic disciplines I was curious about.

I could have indulged the part of myself that enjoys STEM. I had a passion for chemistry and mathematics when I was in high school, so I thought I might major in chemistry. I didn’t like physics or biology, the other sciences mainly offered at my high school, and my high school chemistry teacher fostered my excitement for the subject. When I started as a first-year at Barnard, I ended up not taking a chemistry class the entire year. Even though this may seem like I lost my dedication to chemistry, attending a liberal arts college actually encouraged me to explore other areas of STEM. But what does attending a liberal arts college mean?

Students who attend a liberal arts college gain a range and depth of knowledge of a variety of fields outside of their major. The curriculum at any liberal arts college encourages students to explore different academic disciplines, although Barnard has a unique approach to its curriculum. Barnard frequently reevaluates its curriculum to ensure that its students are learning what prepares them for the world around them. The current curriculum, implemented in Fall 2016, is known as Foundations, which is made up of three parts:

• First Year Experience

• Distributional Requirements

• Modes of Thinking

The Foundations curriculum encourages students to explore a variety of academic disciplines while fostering their academic interests. The First Year Experience, which consists of First-Year Writing, First-Year Seminar, and Physical Education, prepares first years at Barnard for writing and discussion at the college level while introducing them to the style of Barnard classes, since most Barnard classes are nineteen students or fewer. The flexibility of Foundations means that students can take the classes that they are excited about, while still ensuring they are acquiring the broad depth of knowledge that comes with attending a liberal arts college. In my first year at Barnard, I took advantage of the curriculum by taking classes from psychology to art history.

In addition to potentially majoring in chemistry, I also thought I might major in art history. While it may seem like the complete opposite direction of my STEM interests, I grew up appreciating art. Throughout my childhood, my mother ensured that our family visited a museum about once a month and I became enchanted by art. My high school also lacked an arts curriculum so I hoped to make up for my lack of knowledge in college. During my first year, I took a year-long “Introduction to Art History” course at Barnard. While I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially since each semester had a different professor and covered different time periods, I recognized that I wasn’t ready to major in art history.

Every student is admitted undecided, so whether a student knows exactly what they want to study or they don’t know where to start, they’re not bound to any major when they arrive at the college. Thanks to the Foundations curriculum, I had the flexibility to explore other potential areas of interest and I wasn’t expected to complete the art history major.

As I started to explore academic disciplines besides chemistry and art history, I learned that I’m still interested in a little bit of everything, which led me to major in Cognitive Science. This major appealed to me because the major requirements extend across five different departments. While these departments are mainly focused on STEM, Cognitive Science at Barnard also involves philosophy and linguistics. I consider the major a “liberal arts science,” since Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary major, and I am learning how to connect and think about different scientific fields in relation to each other. My decision to major in cognitive science had the same motivation as my decision to attend Barnard: a liberal arts education means I can maintain my curiosity for whatever academic interest I have.