Barnard wasn't my first choice. Not after Barnard Bound and not even after I got my acceptance letter. Shocking, right? A small, liberal arts college in New York freaking City! Though I wasn't swayed by it, at first, as I had visited NYC a few years ago and was scared off by the continuous honking and yelling that comprises (what I imagined representative of) New York traffic. But, I wasn't going to be driving in college, so this would be different.
Out of my three major contenders, I thought Barnard was the least likely to be chosen. I despise cold weather, so a southern university renowned for pre-med appealed to me, and my other option was similar to Barnard — a certain women's, liberal arts college, which I had thought had a friendlier community. However, I visited this college during admitted students weekend and felt isolated from a city and yearned for a livelier campus and surrounding. Then, I gave Barnard a second look when I came to diversity pre-open house and open house.
To say I was impressed is an understatement. No other college I know of speaks to such volumes of shoved-under-the-rug topics in an open discussion. On pre-open house day, I attended an optional event, which was a presentation from an Athena Scholar, Adiya Taylor, about non-academic stressors and promoting resources that can help adjust from high school to college life. As seniors of Barnard College, she and two other students of Well Woman, a program for the wellness and health of women at Barnard, opened up to me the care and concern Barnard's community has for one another. It provided a judgement-free zone to explain any situations or issues without going through them alone. Later that day, Alina Wong, the associate dean for student life, held an interactive activity where we wrote down our identities — ethnic, sexual, racial, cultural, socioeconomic status, etc. She exposed to us our differences and others' that we may not understand yet. And we shared with each other, realizing how richly diverse our college community is.
At the Alumnae of Color Dinner, a young graduate spoke first, making it clear that from her Barnard education, she is not afraid to voice her opinion first and loudly in a room of more than 200 people. She exemplifies the bold, beautiful women Barnard reinvigorates. I say reinvigorates because Barnard selectively chooses young women who demonstrated at least in one point of their life courage as Barnard's writing supplement asks us to "tell [them] about a time when you majored in unafraid," the idea taken by alumna Anna Quindlen, stating that she "majored in unafraid" throughout her time at Barnard. Though we are not always brave all the time. I, for one, am usually a shy person, so it is difficult for me to say that I am always majoring in unafraid. However, there is a spark in every Barnard woman that the admissions office saw within our applications, and it just needs to be ignited.
As Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, voiced in her commencement speech at Barnard in 2011, "leadership belongs to those who take it" (Barnard), and she believes that Barnard women are the opportunists and the leaders who will make up the gender gap in the workforce.
The best of both worlds attracted me — Columbia's resources and Barnard's community. I knew looking for a college that I wanted a small community to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Also, many females applying to women's colleges are afraid of the women's aspect. However, just across the street there is a co-ed community available and many of the clubs and organizations are shared between the campuses. As a student planning to major in a hard science, I desired an urban community and the many hospitals and medical centers, like Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), and the Big Apple provided that. After all of these factors, I had fallen in love with Barnard, and I never second-guessed myself after I clicked "yes, I will attend Barnard College."
I knew that whichever college I had chosen, I would have thrived because, ultimately, YOU are what you make of your education, not your college. Barnard and Columbia serve to be my resources, my support, and my home as I embark on my journey to achieve my goals to serve the world.
