The Columbia Connection

Our Partnership with Columbia

Barnard College and Columbia University have a historic relationship that’s unique in American higher education. Students share academic resources along with extracurricular activities, athletic fields, and even dining halls. At Barnard, you’ll benefit from a college experience that offers small, intimate classes in a collaborative environment dedicated to women, along with access to the vast academic resources of Columbia University, just across the street.

Barnard + Columbia = the Ultimate Academic Powerhouse

accelerated master’s degree programs

libraries and collections

A Whole That’s Greater Than the Sum of Its Parts

Students from Barnard and Columbia share course catalogs and can take classes at either campus. From dance to differential math and architecture to philosophy, you’ll have the advantages of a flexible liberal arts curriculum that grows with you and that you can shape to meet your evolving interests.

Barnard students can also opt to pursue a joint degree program in coordination with Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

4+1 Pathways to a Master’s Degree

Barnard and Columbia partner on several 4+1 Pathways that let you earn a Barnard bachelor’s degree and a Columbia master’s degree in just five years. One of the newest is in engineering and applied sciences.

Learn about 4+1s

Barnard Professors Are Columbia Professors, Too

All tenured Barnard professors are also tenured at Columbia University, where they’re free to pursue their academic interests with full access to the world-class resources of a large research university. This means you study with the best teacher-scholars in the country.

Researching Bone Growth at Columbia

Biophysics major Ana Lam '20 took the opportunity of Barnard’s Summer Research Institute to spend the summer conducting scientific research at Columbia University’s Bone Bioengineering Lab.