Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college in New York City, New York, United States. It is affiliated with Columbia University and was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia University's trustees to create an affiliated college named after university president Frederick A. P. Barnard. The college is one of the original Seven Sisters—seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that were historically women's colleges.
Barnard College has independent admission, curricula, and finances separate from Columbia. It shares sports teams with Columbia through the Columbia–Barnard Athletic Consortium, an agreement that makes Barnard the only women's college to compete in NCAA Division I athletics.
Barnard College offers Bachelor of Arts degree programs in about 50 areas of study. In addition to Columbia, students may also pursue elements of their education at the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Jewish Theological Seminary which are also based in New York City. Its campus is located in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood of Morningside Heights, stretching along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets. It is directly across from Columbia's main campus.
Barnard College faculty and alumnae have been recipients of Emmy, Tony, Grammy, Academy, Peabody awards, Dan David Prize, Guggenheim Fellowships, MacArthur Fellowships, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Science, and the Pulitzer Prize. Barnard alumnae include leaders in science, religion, politics, the Peace Corps, medicine, law, education, communications, theater, and business.
History
Founding
From its founding in 1754 until the mid-1980s, Columbia College of Columbia University admitted only men for undergraduate study. Barnard College was founded in 1889 as a response to Columbia's refusal to admit women. Classes took place in a rented brownstone at 343 Madison Avenue, where a faculty of six offered instruction to 36 students.
The college was named after Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard, a deaf American educator and mathematician who later served as Columbia's president for over twenty years. He advocated for coeducational settings and proposed in 1879 that Columbia admit women. Columbia's Board of Trustees repeatedly rejected Barnard's suggestion, but in 1883 agreed to create a syllabus that would allow the college's students to receive degrees. The first such graduate received her bachelor's degree in 1887. A former student of the program, Annie Meyer, and other prominent New York women persuaded the board in 1889 to create a women's college connected to Columbia. Men and women were evenly represented among the founding trustees of Barnard College.
Morningside campus When Columbia University announced in 1892 its impending move to Morningside Heights, Barnard built a new campus nearby with gifts from Mary E. Brinckerhoff, Elizabeth Milbank Anderson and Martha Fiske. Two of these gifts were made with several stipulations attached. Brinckerhoff insisted that Barnard acquire land within 1,000 feet of the Columbia campus within the next four years. The Barnard trustees purchased land between 119th–120th Streets after receiving funds for that purpose in 1895. Anderson requested that Charles A. Rich be hired. Rich designed the Milbank, Brinckerhoff, and Fiske Halls, built in 1897–1898; these were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The first classes at the new campus were held in 1897. Despite Brinckerhoff's, Anderson's, and Fiske's gifts, Barnard remained in debt.
Ella Weed supervised the college in its first four years; Emily James Smith succeeded her as Barnard's first dean. Jessica Finch is credited with coining the phrase current events while teaching at Barnard College in the 1890s.
The college received the three blocks south of 119th Street from Anderson in 1903.Plimpton Papers, Barnard College Archives Rich provided a master plan for the campus, but only Brooks Hall was built, being constructed between 1906 and 1908. None of Rich's other plans was carried out. Students' Hall, now known as Barnard Hall, was built in 1916 to a design by Arnold Brunner. Hewitt Hall was the last structure to be erected, in 1926–1927. All three buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
By the mid-20th century, Barnard had succeeded in its original goal of providing a top-tier education to women. Between 1920 and 1974, only the much larger Hunter College and University of California, Berkeley produced more women graduates who later received doctorates. In the 1970s, Barnard faced considerable pressure to merge with male only Columbia College, which was fiercely resisted by its president, Jacquelyn Mattfeld.
Presidents List of presidents and deans of Barnard College from 1889 to present:
ImagePresidentTerm startedTerm endedChair of the academic committee of Barnard College (1889–1894)1Ella Weed1889January 10, 1894Deans of Barnard College (1894–1952)2Emily James Smith PutnamMay 11, 1894February 1, 19003Laura Drake GillJanuary 1901June 1907interimWillian Tenney Brewster190719114Virginia GildersleeveFebruary 19111947Presidents of Barnard College (1952–present)5Millicent McIntosh1947June 19626Rosemary ParkJuly 1962June 1967interimHenry BoorseJuly 1967November 19677Martha PetersonNovember 1967May 1975interimLeroy BreunigMay 1975June 19768Jacquelyn MattfeldJune 1976May 29, 1980actingEllen V. Futter1980April 19819April 1981October 1993interimKathryn RodgersJuly 1993April 199410Judith R. ShapiroJuly 1, 1994June 30, 200811Debora L. SparJuly 1, 2008March 5, 2017interimRobert GoldbergMarch 6, 2017June 30, 201712Sian BeilockJuly 1, 2017June 11, 202313Laura RosenburyJune 12, 2023present
Table notes:
Academics Barnard students are able to pursue a bachelor of arts degree in about 50 areas of study. Joint programs for the bachelor of science and other degrees exist with Columbia University, Juilliard School, and the Jewish Theological Seminary. The most popular majors at the college by 2021 graduates were: Econometrics and Quantitative Economics (62) Research and Experimental Psychology (56) History (43) English Language and Literature (39) Political Science and Government (36) Neuroscience (33) Art History, Criticism and Conservation (33)
The liberal arts general education requirements are collectively called Foundations. Students must take two courses in the sciences (one of which must be accompanied by a laboratory course), study a single foreign language for two semesters, and take two courses in the arts/humanities as well as two in the social sciences. In addition, students must complete at least one three-credit course in the so-called "Modes of Thinking" series, and fulfill other requirements.
Admissions +Enrolled first-year student statistics 20222021202020192018Applicants12,00910,3959,4119,3207,897AdmitsNA1,0841,0221,0971,099Admit rate6%10%10.8%11.8%13.9%EnrolledN/AN/AN/A632605SAT mid-50% rangeN/AN/AN/A1360–15001330–1500 ACT mid-50% rangeN/AN/AN/A31–3430–33
Admissions to Barnard are considered "most selective" by U.S. News & World Report. It is the most selective women's college in the nation; in 2017, Barnard had the lowest acceptance rate of the five Seven Sisters that remain single-sex in admissions.
The class of 2026's admission rate was 8% of the 12,009 applicants, the lowest acceptance rate in the institution's history. The median SAT composite score of enrolled students was 1440, with median subscores of 720 in Math and 715 in Evidence-Based Reading and Writing. The median ACT Composite score was 33.
In 2015, Barnard announced that it would admit transgender women who "consistently live and identify as women, regardless of the gender assigned to them at birth" and would continue to support and enroll those students who transitioned to male after they had already been admitted.
The college practices need-blind admission for domestic first-year applicants.
Rankings
In 2025, U.S. News & World Report ranked Barnard as tied at 13th of 211 U.S. liberal arts colleges overall. Barnard was tied for 30th for "Best Undergraduate Teaching" among U.S. liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report. Forbes ranked Barnard 73rd of 500 colleges in 2023. In 2024, Washington Monthly ranked Barnard 63rd among 194 liberal arts colleges in the U.S. based on its contribution to the public good, as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
Campus
Library
While Barnard students have access to the libraries at Columbia University, the college has always maintained a library of its own. The Barnard Library also encompasses the Archives and Special Collections, with material that documents Barnard's history from its founding to the present day. Among the collections are the Ntozake Shange papers.
Zine collection
The Barnard Zine Library is a unit of the Barnard Library and Academic Information Systems (BLAIS). Zine collections target primarily female, default queer, intentionally of color, and gender expansive topics. In 2004, it became the first zine library in the United States to be fully cataloged in the OCLC. It opened for circulation in 2008, and holds roughly 5,000 processed zines as of 2018. The library supports the student-run Barnard Zine Club.Freedman, Jenna. "The Barnard Zine Library: The Controlled and the Wild." In Zines in Libraries: Selecting, Purchasing, and Processing, by Lauren DeVoe and Sara Duff, 85–100. Chicago: American Library Association, 2022. .
Student life
Student organizations
Every Barnard student is part of the Student Government Association (SGA), which elects a representative student government. SGA aims to facilitate the expression of opinions on matters that directly affect the Barnard community.
Student groups include theater and vocal music groups, language clubs, literary magazines, a freeform radio station called WBAR, a biweekly magazine called the Barnard Bulletin, Club Q, community service groups, and others.
Barnard students can join extracurricular activities or organizations at Columbia University, while Columbia University students are allowed in most, but not all, Barnard organizations. Barnard's McIntosh Activities Council organizes various community focused events on campus, such as Big Sub and Midnight Breakfast. There are sub-committees focussed on cultural events (Mosaic), health and wellness (Wellness), networking (Network), event-planning (Community), and service (Action).
Sororities Barnard students participate in various sororities. , Barnard does not fully recognize the National Panhellenic Conference sororities at Columbia, despite it being home to the Alpha chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi, which was founded at Barnard in 1897, but it does provide some funding to account for Barnard students living in Columbia housing through these organizations.Barnard funding for sororities, but not recognition | Columbia Daily Spectator . Columbiaspectator.com. Retrieved on September 7, 2013.
Traditions Barnard Greek Games: One of Barnard's oldest traditions, the Barnard Greek Games were first held in 1903, and occurred annually until the Columbia University protests in 1968. Since then they have been sporadically revived. The games consist of competitions between each graduating class at Barnard, and events have traditionally included Greek poetry recitation, dance, chariot racing, and a torch race.
Take Back the Night: Each April, Barnard and Columbia students participate in the Take Back the Night march and speak-out. This annual event grew out of a 1988 Seven Sisters conference. The march grew from less than 200 participants in 1988 to more than 2,500 in 2007.