Navigating New Disciplines

When I was applying to college, I really had no idea what I wanted to study. Barnard doesn't ask you to apply into a specific program—you come in undeclared—so that also certainly helped, but it felt like I simply had too many interests. Too much curiosity. Too much passion for too many things to simply pick one. 

I went through so many phases when I arrived: Political Science? Comparative literature? Economics? Psychology?

Eventually, I landed on cognitive science, but even then, I didn’t choose it because I had a perfectly clear plan—I chose it because it gave me options. I loved my psychology and neuroscience classes, but I wanted room to ask big questions, to have the freedom to take classes in philosophy and computer science, and still have it count toward my major. I didn’t want to be locked into one path. I wanted to explore.

And that’s something Barnard students talk about all the time—how flexible the academic experience is. It’s one of the most common questions I get from prospective students, and one of the clearest advantages Barnard has, especially compared to larger research institutions or liberal arts colleges with a core curriculum. Barnard students tend to have a lot of interests. So it makes sense that our curriculum is designed to work with that, not against it.

There’s even a joke on our shared Barnard and Columbia campus (or Barnumbia, as we like to call it) that if you ask a Barnard student what they’re studying, you should get ready to hear a compound sentence. Double majors, minors, concentrations, and post-grad tracks are everywhere. And it speaks to the academic and personal support at Barnard, but it’s actually possible to pull that off because the curriculum gives us the freedom to do so.

Our current curriculum, called Foundations, was introduced in 2016 and is reimagined about every 15 years to keep up with the changing world. Students complete Foundations alongside their major(s), minor(s), and electives. It starts with the First-Year Experience—First-Year Writing, First-Year Seminar, and a one-credit P.E. requirement. Then there are Distributional Requirements (which expose you to a variety of disciplines like social science, lab science, foreign language, etc.) and the Modes of Thinking, which are all about how you learn rather than what you learn.

This is where the flexibility really kicks in. A single course can fulfill multiple requirements. I took an art history class about monuments in NYC that very obviously counted for “Thinking Locally” and also “Thinking Technologically and Digitally” because we created a podcast episode as our final project. I’ve taken English classes that counted toward “Thinking with Historical Perspective.” Some of my friends have fulfilled the “Thinking Quantitatively & Empirically” requirement through philosophy classes.

(And fun fact: we’re one of the only liberal arts colleges with a tech literacy requirement built into the curriculum—which is actually really helpful, whether or not you plan to work in tech.)

The flexibility given to us lets us try anything under the sun, and we see that in action over and over again. I’ve met students combining environmental science and visual arts, or classics and computer science. I’ve seen people completely change directions between first year and senior year two different times and still graduate on time. It’s the kind of place where academic exploration is not just allowed—it’s expected.

And that freedom means more than just checking off credits. It means you get to design an academic path that actually reflects who you are. It makes it easier to double major, follow a pre-professional track, or just take that random class that seems interesting without worrying about messing up your timeline. You’re encouraged to stretch, explore, and follow what excites you. And honestly? It’s just more fun that way.

When we come to college, we’re not just transitioning from high school to college—we’re growing up, too. From childhood to adulthood. And part of that growth comes from being able to explore, to try new things, to chase different interests and figure out what matters most to us. 

That feeling I had when I applied—of wanting to study everything all at once—never really went away. But instead of being a problem, it turned into possibility. 

So, if you’re someone who’s always had too many passions to choose from, you’re in good company. Barnard might just be the place for you.