Visit Barnard

Campus tours, class visits, interviews and more! Scroll down for details.

Is Barnard for you?

The best way to learn if Barnard is right for you is to visit. Take a guided tour and learn more about our programs from a current Barnard student. Explore our neighborhood and New York City (take the subway or hail a cab). Talk to faculty and students (sit in on a class and sample the wares). Meet with Columbia coaches (contact coaches in advance of your visit). Observe the flow between buildings, between classes, between campuses.  Most importantly, listen to your gut. See what it says when you step through the gates.

Tours and Information Sessions

Departing at 10:30 AM and 2:30 PM Monday through Friday from the Visitor Center in Sulzberger Annex, tours are offered weekdays year round.  They last about one hour and are immediately followed by an information session, led by an admissions counselor, at 11:30 AM. and 3:30 PM in Milbank Hall.  Tours cover academics, extracurricular experiences, community, and residential living. Information sessions, which follow the tour, are designed to complement tours, and focus primarily on admissions and financial aid.

Appointments are not necessary for weekday tours, though we recommend checking our homepage for schedule changes (see announcements posted in the right column). Or, contact the Office of Admissions before planning your visit.

If you are planning a trip for the month of April, we have added weekend tours, since we know we will have both juniors and seniors (and their families) at different stages of the college process, both trying to see many colleges.  If you are interested in a weekend tour in April, we do ask that you sign up in advance.

› Meet a Barnard Student Admissions Representative (BSAR), your tour guide.

Need an accessible tour?

No step tours are available upon request.  Please notify us in advance at 212-854-2014 if you require ramp-accessible entry or the use of an elevator.  The bulk of the Barnard tour is quite accessible, but there are points where we may want to alter the route to ensure that the use of an elevator or alternate path to make it more enjoyable for all.  Let us know if we can adjust our route to accommodate your visit.

Group Tours

To arrange a group visit to the Barnard campus, complete the form below and email to the attention of Jordana Lopez-Da Silva at jlopezda@barnard.edu or fax it 212-854-6220 at least 3 weeks prior to the date of your intended visit. Note that the form is a word document -  you may fill it out, save it, and then email it back to us as an attachment. We will finalize our commitment to your visit when we are able to confirm a tourguide volunteer. We will also confirm the receipt of your request within 3 working days of receiving your form.

Group Visit Request Form

Attend a Class

The vitality of intellectual life at Barnard is best sampled in the classroom, where small groups of students engage with professors freely. We ask faculty at the start of each term to let us know if visitors are welcome to visit their classes - nearly all respond in the affirmative, but there are a few for whom space in a small seminar room may be an issue, so their class wiill be deleted before posting.  Many of our classes don't meet on Fridays.

* Sprint 2013 Class List

* Note: If you are looking for a dance technique or theatre performance course, visitors are asked to contact those departments in advance. See the section below for more details. 

Visit the admissions office for directions (and help with the abbreviations) before attending class so we can help guide you to where you will find the classroom. We ask that you arrive in the classroom about ten minutes before class and introduce yourself to the instructor. Please plan to stay for the whole class. And, sorry, class visits are intended for STUDENTS only. 

Interested in a theatre or dance class?

Students interested in attending theatre department or dance department performance or technique classes are asked to review the appropriate websites and reach out to the designated departmental contact before visiting classes. 

The theatre department prefers that only admitted students be permitted to attend performance classes; but will welcome inquiries from interested students via phone, email or by appointment.  The dance department prefers that prospective students have a conversation with department contacts before attending a technique class.

Both departments understand that the process of selecting an appropriate program in theatre or dance is a complex one and are delighted to help students learn as much as they can about their departments.  In order to serve the needs of continuing and prospective students, each department requests that you do not drop by without connecting with staff beforehand.

Meet a Coach

Through the Columbia/Barnard Athletic Consortium, women at Barnard College and the undergraduate divisions of Columbia University compete together as members of University-wide athletic teams -- it is the only consortium of its kind at the Division I level. Our varsity teams compete within the Ivy League Conference. If you are interested in competing on one of our Division I athletic teams, we encourage you to contact the coaches directly to set up a time to speak with them or observe a game when you visit. You may also contact Carolyn Middleton or Danielle Jakob for more information on athletic opportunities at Barnard.

Schedule an Interview (optional)

An interview with a representative of the Barnard community (senior interviewer, staff member, alumna) is an option available, but not required, for first-year applicants in their senior year of high school. If you choose to have an interview, it is an opportunity for admissions to learn more about you and for you to learn more about the College; it is, therefore, both informational and evaluative in nature. The interview will be considered in our application review, but applicants without the opportunity to interview will not be penalized in any way.  Additionally, please note, interviews are not part of the transfer application process.

On-campus interviews are available for high-school seniors only Monday through Friday, from June through mid-December. (Early Decision candidates must complete their interview by the ED deadline.)  Students may call Admissions at 212-854-2014 to schedule an on-campus interview. Weekend interviews are available on select dates during the fall semester only. We recommend requesting an appointment at least three weeks in advance.  Please do NOT wait until you submit your application before requesting an interview!

Please remember, only one interview per student!

› Meet our Senior Interviewers

Off-campus Alumnae Interviews

If you are interested in an off-campus interview with an alumna and are unable to travel to Barnard's campus, we provide the opportunity to interview with trained alumnae interviewers. Alumnae interviews take place between mid-September and December and are available only to first-year applicants in their senior year of high school.**

Students living in the five New York City boroughs, Long Island, Northern New Jersey, Southern Connecticut, and Westchester County are strongly encouraged to come to the Barnard campus for their interviews.  Interviews are not part of the transfer application process.

**Note that we are unable to accommodate requests for off-campus interviews submitted after December 7, 2012 for Regular Decision (October 26, 2012 for Early Decision).  Interviews may end up occuring after these dates, in some cases, but requests made after these dates will not be honored. 

Please do NOT wait until you submit your application before requesting an interview!

Learn about a Faculty Member

Committed teacher/scholars are core to Barnard's educational mission. In their direct, close interactions with students, Barnard faculty members embody the ideal of the passionate teacher combined with world-class scholar in nurturing intellectual scholarship in their students. Many students indicate that their reasons for loving a particular subject or embarking on a new path of inquiry were influenced by faculty members' enthusiasm.

As you explore your own idea of scholarship at the college level, discovering your areas of interest and uncovering new directions, review our departmental pages to learn more about the specialties of each faculty member. Department pages will often provide insight not only into requirements for a major or course descriptions, but a fundamental sense of departmental philosophy, research interests, or co-curricular activities. Take a look at the Barnard catalogue to learn more about academic departments and faculty or check out the Faculty Experts page.

Visitor Information

For advice on how to get to here and where to go when you're in New York, including: nearby accommodations, parking, maps, and places of interest. The best way to visit the college? Include a visit to New York City: see a show, visit a museum, do some shopping, walk through Central Park, people watch. Of course, to get here, we recommend public transportation whenever possible, but there are parking garages within a few blocks of campus and there is some metered parking along Broadway.

› Information on visiting campus and New York