How to Write the Barnard College Supplemental Essays: Guide + Examples 2024/2025

Founded in 1889 when nearby Columbia University refused to admit women, this small liberal arts women’s college is deeply rooted in the principles of equality, advocacy, and intellectual curiosity. They are principles that appealed to alums like Zora Neale Hurston, Erica Jong, and pioneering New York State Chief Judge Judith Kaye. As an aspiring Barnard student, you’ll likely connect with these values as well. 

You’ll get a deeper understanding of how Barnard envisions its role and how it wants to grow and evolve by reading its strategic plan. You’ll also find an extensive, by-the-numbers look at its offerings, from enrollment and tuition statistics to student life and financial aid information, on its Common Data Set.

 
 

What are the Barnard supplemental essay prompts?

Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #1

Barnard College is an extraordinary community of women committed to fostering curiosity and the exploration of new experiences and ideas. By utilizing the resources of our campus, our Foundations curriculum, and New York City, our students expand their world and discover their own capabilities. How do you envision these intersecting components of Barnard shaping your academic and personal journey? (200 words max)

Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #2

Barnard College students engage in the bold questions that define their generation. Choose one question that you have about the world around you, and explain why it matters to you. (150 words max)

Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #3

In college, you will encounter others with diverse viewpoints and experiences. Describe an instance where you engaged with someone who held a different opinion and explain how it shaped your perspective on the issue. (150 words max)

Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #4

Applicants to the Science Pathways Scholars Program for Underrepresented Minority and First-Generation Students: The Science Pathways Scholars Program (SP)2 aims to support underrepresented students of color and first-generation students as they pursue careers in science research. Please discuss your interest in science research and future career goals. You may choose to reflect on past experiences or projects, role models, or ideas for research that you would like to explore. (300 words)

How to Write Each Supplemental Essay Prompt for Barnard

How to Write Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #1

Barnard College is an extraordinary community of women committed to fostering curiosity and the exploration of new experiences and ideas. By utilizing the resources of our campus, our Foundations curriculum, and New York City, our students expand their world and discover their own capabilities. How do you envision these intersecting components of Barnard shaping your academic and personal journey? (200 words max)

This prompt has a bit of a change from past years’ prompts—this used to be a classic, straightforward “Why us?” prompt. 

And to a decent degree, it still is a “Why Us?” prompt. But it’s more akin to Carnegie Mellon’s approach to a “Why Us?” in which they ask how you will define a successful college experience.

That’s useful framing here for Barnard: Think about the human being you want to be in 5, 10, maybe even 20 years. What in your background/experience has shaped your path toward and desire to become that human being? And how does Barnard help you on that path?

You can perhaps structure this similarly to a “normal” why us, but you may have an easier time by essentially splitting your word count between the two major focuses of the prompts

Section 1: Background + experiences and “your most authentic, powerful self.”

Section 2: How Barnard can further cultivate this version of you. (Including “Why Us?” details + “so whats”—see the guide linked below for detail on what we mean there.)

For more, we recommend checking out this complete guide on how to write the “Why us?” essay and paying close attention to the “Why Cornell” and “Why Penn” examples, which are our favorites.

Here’s the short version of how to write the “Why us?” essay:

  • Spend 1 hr+ researching 7+ reasons why Barnard might be a great fit for you (ideally 2-3 of the reasons will be unique to Barnard and connect back to you).

  • Make a copy of this chart to map out your college research.

  • Create an outline.

  • Write a first draft!

As you write, try to avoid these common mistakes: 

Seven Common Mistakes Students Make on “Why Us?” Essays

Mistake #1: Writing about the school's size, location, reputation, weather, or ranking.

Mistake #2: Simply using emotional language to demonstrate fit.

Mistake #3: Screwing up the mascot, stadium, team colors, or names of any important people or places on campus.

Mistake #4: Parroting the brochures or website language.

Mistake #5: Describing traditions the school is well-known for.

Mistake #6: Thinking of this as only a "Why them" essay.

Mistake #7: Writing a “Why Columbia?” essay instead of a “Why Barnard?” essay, because of the two schools’ close connection. 

Here’s a great sample essay for this prompt (note that this was written for an older Barnard prompt, but can still work for the new version with some additions/modifications; detail on how it could be tweaked in the analysis below): 

Example: 

I grew up near the birthplace of the riotgrrrl movement, inspired by zines and women who refuse to minimize themselves. When I read about Barnard’s zine library, I was ecstatic. Barnard's pedagogy embodies zines’ same spirit of fighting injustice, giving women the skills and close-knit community to fulfill their potential.

With Barnard’s flexible curriculum and dedicated professors, I can pursue all my interests without sacrificing in-depth analysis for interdisciplinary freedom. I’d explore mathematical cognition during early development with Koleen McCrink while discussing circular economy models with Sandra Goldmark. Within the sociology department, I’d examine my family’s roots by taking Politics and Society in Central Eastern Europe and investigate the theories fueling activism in Social Movements. With opportunities like externships and BCRW’s Interrupting Criminalization initiative, I’d navigate the world holistically.

Barnard empowers women to learn boundlessly. In the collaborative spaces of the Milstein Center, I’d develop my screen-print projects and my fluency in web development. Upholding Barnard’s commitment to environmentalism, I’d love to join the SGA Sustainable Initiatives Consulting Board. From workshops on salary negotiation to seminars on women in leadership, Barnard offers me the necessary tools to thrive in my multidimensional life.

In the middle of explaining first-year curriculum, my Barnard tour guide stopped to point out the newly installed “I Am Queen Mary,” going off-script to highlight how crucial continued decolonization is. In that vignette, I found the riotgrrrl attitude alive at Barnard--a community of unafraid women, passionately speaking their minds and eager to change the world.

— — —

Tips + Analysis:

  1. Show how you and Barnard share key values. In any Why Us, it’s useful to show how you and the school align (Pro tip: checking out a school’s mission statement is a great way to do this). Keep this Values Exercise handy as you write, and identify a few you believe Barnard shares. The essay above is packed with shared connections: In her excitement over Barnard’s zine library, for example, the writer shows creativity, self-expression, community pride, and a thirst for knowledge. Likewise, in defining her own understanding of Barnard’s pedagogy, she reflects key values—meaningful work, justice, community, helping others—while her description of Barnard’s flexible curriculum shows her appreciation for freedom, personal growth, and self-expression. This passage is particularly effective in helping the reader visualize how those shared values would benefit this student’s experiences on campus: “Barnard empowers women to learn boundlessly. In the collaborative spaces of the Milstein Center, I’d develop my screen-print projects and my fluency in web development. Upholding Barnard’s commitment to environmentalism, I’d love to join the SGA Sustainable Initiatives Consulting Board.” 

  2. Show a range of interests/engagement. Notice that this prompt is not just asking about your chosen major or your academic interests. So after talking about, say, courses and professors and programs that interest you, you can also talk about aspects of campus life—clubs, activities, sports, and other extracurriculars—that you feel will help you grow. This is a great way to show that while you’re a serious student, you’re interested in other things too. For this student, it wasn’t just the curriculum that drew her to Barnard; it was also the school’s “commitment to environmentalism,” its workshops, seminars, and externships, and especially its “community of unafraid women, passionately speaking their minds and eager to change the world.”

  3. Be specific. Notice too how this student doesn’t stop at generalities like “flexible curriculum and dedicated professors” or how “Barnard empowers women to learn boundlessly.” She backs them up with specifics unique to Barnard—from professors (Koleen McCrink and Sandra Goldmark) to courses (Politics and Society in Central Eastern Europe) and other academic opportunities (BCRW’s Interrupting Criminalization initiative) to avenues for personal growth (“collaborative spaces of the Milstein Center”) and community involvement (SGA Sustainable Initiatives Consulting Board). These details are critical to showing Barnard not only that you’ve done your homework in researching what the school is all about, but that you’ve given serious thought to why it’s a good fit for you—and you for it.

  4. How the example could be adjusted for the new prompt: While this essay (again, written for the older “normal” Barnard Why Us) still largely works here, it could be strengthened for this new version of the prompt by adding greater detail and language about how specific aspects of Barnard will shape “[her] academic and personal journey?” For example, could modify language in the body and especially in the conclusion to more directly discuss how these different aspects of Barnard can help her to cultivate the version of herself she wants to become.

And here’s a bonus example, also written for the older version of the prompt, but with many details/elements that work for the new one. 

Bonus example:

In the words of my campus tour guide:

“You know whether a student is from Barnard just by the air of confidence she has around her.”

I could see it in her . . . and blossoming in me—a Barnard woman.

Barnard is that tightly-knit family within the larger Columbia community. They live symbiotically as independent institutions with unique perspectives. I too was brought up in a large family, each of us joined by our collective history, but independent in our ideologies. Barnard holds strong to its ideology of enabling women to pursue their passions. Barnard would shape me, not to become a great woman neuroscientist, but a great neuroscientist. In a field heavily dominated by men, Barnard provides the blank page for a STEMinist like me to write her own stories in the company of bright female students and faculty working together to uplift one another.

Under the tutelage of professors such as Kara Pham and Elizabeth Baur, whose papers on fear conditioning I analyzed while writing my own investigative reports, I’ll be able to experience the thrill of intensive research, such as exploring the cellular makeup of the brain at SRI. With my experience in publishing a student-led psychology and neuroscience magazine and researching divergent behavioral traits, I look forward to contributing to the Barnard Psychology Journal and participating in discussions in the Barnard Psychology Society.

Barnard is my qualia. 

I aspire to live the lives of my YouTube idols( Izzy Snapshots and Isa Farfun) one day taking part in Barnard’s quirky traditions in the heart of New York. From Midnight Breakfast to Big Sub, Barnard embraces the weird and emphasizes the spirit of community.

Barnard is more than a school. It’s a sisterhood, a sisterhood of boldly independent women—Barnard women. (290 words)

— — —

How to Write Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #2

Barnard College students engage in the bold questions that define their generation. Choose one question that you have about the world around you, and explain why it matters to you. (150 words max)

The word “bold” may seem intimidating. You may be asking, What if I don’t have any bold questions? Sure you do. Bold questions are merely those that stimulate your intellectual curiosity, that go deeper than the surface and seek to get at the heart of important issues—issues and concerns that interest you. Here are some ideas on how you can brainstorm for this prompt: 

Step 1: Start by asking: What do I want Barnard to know about me that isn’t coming through enough in the rest of my application? And more specifically: What did I touch on only briefly (or not at all) in the Why Barnard essay for Prompt 1? Write down some ideas.

Step 2: Still stuck? The prompt centers on “academic inquiry,” so one simple way to approach the prompt would be to think back to your academic interests, something you could explore on a deeper level. It could be something in your major—but it doesn’t have to be. It could also be an area of interest you’ve explored outside of school—like getting out the vote in your precinct, or starting a recycling program in your high school cafeteria. You have a couple options here: 

Option 1: Go wide: Pick 2-3 issues that you can discuss more broadly. Or …

Option 2: Go deep: Pick one issue and delve deeply into how you’d answer thoughtful questions around it.

Step 3: What deeper questions come to mind around these topics? In the get-out-the-vote example above, maybe you have questions around voting rights laws or gerrymandering. If you started that recycling program, you may be interested in sustainable building practices or environmental activism. 

Optional Step 4: Connect those questions back to Barnard resources that will help you more deeply explore.

Step 5: Showcase your values. That Values Exercise linked above will help you identify the ones that matter most to you. (Hint: Curiosity is a good one for this prompt.)

(Note that this was written for a version of this prompt with a larger word count.)

Example:

I am interested in questions surrounding gender justice and sexual violence, specifically their intersection with economics and politics.

At Barnard, I hope to ask difficult questions surrounding women, labor, and safety. Specifically, I hope to research sexual violence, enrolling in Professor Tolonen’s class ECON 3063, “Women in Development Economics.” By joining this class, I will ask: In what ways are the impacts of sexual violence gender-specific? Do such experiences have an impact on the way women’s economic roles are viewed in society? I would also like to lean into the legal implications of sexual violence cases. By taking the colloquium on “Law and Violence,” I could learn about instances where the law warrants different forms of violence. What makes violence permissible in these cases? What are the methods that inform these legal determinations? I believe I can start to answer these important questions as a student at Barnard College.

At Barnard, I also hope to learn about poverty and labor. In high school I started “BISC Comes Forward,” a social media campaign that revealed inequalities faced by janitorial staff. This campaign underlined the poverty experienced by working women. I questioned why the government fails to intervene in helping widowers with children who are living under the poverty line. As I major in Economics and Politics at Barnard, I will explore these intersections between class and gender. Through BC3019: “Labor Economics,” I hope to study various labor theories to understand the government's lack of intervention in cases of earnings gaps.

From a young age, my mother taught me to be an independent thinker. When I was young my questions were small. As I grew up my questions only got bigger. At Barnard, I can ask these big questions, hopefully finding significant answers along the way. 

— — —

Tips + Analysis

  1. Do your homework. This applicant clearly demonstrates that she understands the values and primary goals of Barnard. Go back to the Values Exercise so you too can show that your values align with Barnard’s. Again, the mission statement on any college website offers a gold mine to help you pick out the key values and then highlight how they line up with yours. For example, one of Barnard’s primary goals is to create “female leaders of tomorrow who will develop their voice so that they can inform, inspire, and persuade.” This student shows how she’s done this in her own community with her work aiding the janitorial staff in her school. 

  2. Ask probing questions. In this essay, the writer includes four questions she wants to answer at Barnard. She may not have the answers for them yet (and that’s ok—expected even!), but she includes a blueprint on how she envisions exploring them.

  3. Answer the “why.” Remember, the prompt asks why these questions interest you, so save some room in your word budget for that critical piece. This student doesn’t really answer the “why” behind her interest in sexual violence, though she digs deep into those questions and how she’d answer them at Barnard. But she was able to answer that “why” in the second paragraph by connecting her questions around poverty and labor back to experiences and learnings that sparked her curiosity. Then, at the  end of her essay, she shares  how her mom encouraged her from a young age to ask both big and small questions. It’s a nice tie-in, especially given Barnard’s emphasis on empowering women leaders and role models. 

How to Write Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #3

In college, you will encounter others with diverse viewpoints and experiences. Describe an instance where you engaged with someone who held a different opinion and explain how it shaped your perspective on the issue. (150 words max)

Technically, writing about the time you challenged your robotics team’s design methods fits within the prompt’s scope, but that will likely be a harder essay to write well, unless your impact and insights are pretty profound. You’ll likely have an easier time writing a stronger essay for this prompt by focusing on experiences that relate to something more connected to important beliefs or values.

That doesn’t mean you have to write about knee-jerk topics, or about completely changing your mind.

But look for instances which will allow you to show that you’re capable of having healthy, productive conversations around tricky, complex topics. That’s a fundamental skill in college.

Show that you understand how to challenge ideas, practices, or spaces in ways that are likely to lead to productive conversation and growth (whether your own, or that of others).

Example:

I grew up hearing my mom say she owed her success in life to faith and hard work, and my grandma’s regular reminders to “always talk to the Bhagwan (gods).” 

Unconvinced, I felt intimidated by my family’s faith. I saw religion as a divider, especially given the conversations in my Indian community on the Hindu/Muslim conflict. I repeatedly questioned Hinduism. 

Why was religion a safe haven for people in a way it never was for me? 

I enjoy confronting the unknown, so, naturally, I went looking for an answer, and found it while attending online services at a Unitarian Universalist church, which worshiped “energy” instead of god. Unitarians also question religion, searching for truth just like I am. But their perspectives, which they openly voiced, were different. One woman wanted to practice Christian lectio divina for her friend recovering from colon cancer. Another wanted to try Buddhist meditation. I was comfortable, which made me open to engaging with people and their ideas.

I finally saw how religion could bring hope and peace. It wasn’t our common belief in energy, but our belief in community. The realization changed my outlook on my Hindu family. We might not believe in the same gods, but we have the same desire for a safe space. I’ve since participated in Hindu rituals becoming more comfortable at our temple. 

I still question religion. Yet I now have a greater appreciation for Hinduism as a uniting force. (241 words)

— — —

Tips + Analysis:

  1. Yours or theirs? You definitely have the option to write about how you directly challenged other people’s ideas, practices, or spaces, but in the example above the author focuses more on themselves, and how they expanded their beliefs and worldview while challenging their family’s traditional belief system. In doing so, they demonstrate a nice capacity for growth through curiosity. And if you do decide to write about challenging others’ views, be sure that you still take time to reflect on what you learned and how you grew through the experience. Speaking of…

  2. Focus on reflection. The strongest elements of the essay above are in the latter half, where the author focuses on the growth and greater understanding they’ve gained through challenging their old belief system. Keep this in mind when you’re brainstorming potential topics—the more you feel like you became a different person through an experience, whether in large ways or in subtle ones, the more likely that topic has potential to explore some useful layers of insight.

— — — 

Bonus example:

I could have never predicted that one conversation with my friend in middle school could change my entire outlook on the world. I walked back to my chorus room from a gun violence protest after hearing about another school shooting. Furious and desperate for a solution, I passionately proclaimed that all guns should be abolished. I was extremely surprised when my friend disagreed. 

He retorted that my statement was extreme, and then gave me concrete examples of why people may need guns, such as residents of remote areas who hunt for their food, or those whose neighborhoods are so dangerous that guns make them feel secure. But, his most poignant argument was, "You live in a privileged, white suburb where guns are not a necessity," he said. "Most people don't." I realized I needed to think about others’ lived experiences. 

That conversation is always in the back of my mind. When Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the country in May of 2020, I stepped back and listened to the voices of those most impacted before reacting. I'm a believer in justice, but I have also learned that the world is far from black and white. Being an advocate for the grey areas of life has opened my eyes and expanded my capacity for empathy. (215 words)

— — — 

How to Write Barnard Supplemental Essay Prompt #4

Applicants to the Science Pathways Scholars Program for Underrepresented Minority and First-Generation Students The Science Pathways Scholars Program (SP)2 aims to support underrepresented students of color and first-generation students as they pursue careers in science research. Please discuss your interest in science research and future career goals. You may choose to reflect on past experiences or projects, role models, or ideas for research that you would like to explore. (300 words)

If you’re applying to this program, you can treat this prompt as a “Why Major” focused specifically on science research, and then link those experiences to your future career goals.

For a larger guide to the “Why Major” essay, click here. Below is a condensed version.

One possible approach:

Think of this as a quick origin story.

Step #1: Imagine a mini-movie of the moments that led you to your interest and create a simple, bullet-point outline.

Step #2: Put your moments (aka the “scenes” of your mini-movie) in chronological order, as it’ll help you see how your interests developed. It also makes it easier to write transitions.

Step #3: You’ll likely want to include a specific thesis that explicitly states your central argument—in this case, what you want to study and why. This thesis can come at the beginning, middle, or end of your essay.

Once you have those pieces, you have a few structural options:

Opening

  • A. A quick hook that thematically sets up where you’ll take us, and, ideally, shows an aspect of your intellect/personality (If you do this, it can be stylistically effective to bookend—to end the essay by linking back to what you opened with.)

  • B. An initial moment that sparked your interest

  • C. Your thesis

Body (but to clarify, this essay can be a single paragraph if you choose)

  • The moments of your mini-movie, illustrating both the development of your interest and some of your core values

Ending

  • One option: Go narrower—perhaps link to specific aspects of Barnard’s program that will help you continue on your path toward a future goal.

  • Another option: Go wider—name the road you hope to follow (for example, career path, organizations you’d like to work with, the greater value/implications of studying what you want to).

And last, a quick tip: Be sure this essay is consistent with your personal statement if you’ve mentioned aspects of your major/career there.

Special thanks to Kathleen for writing this blog post.

Kathleen (she/her) has taught high school English for seven years after making a terrible decision to work in Disney World upon graduating from Gettysburg College. After making her own poor decisions after college, she has sought to help other students make better choices while still making magic. She received her BA from Gettysburg College and her MAT from Stonybrook University. In addition to coaching two sports, she has experience teaching AP and journalism courses.