<p>mysteryflavored I just PMed you :]</p>
<p>hi im completely new to this thread, but i have a question for you barnardco12!
im trying to decide which sat subject tests i should take… and my ap teacher that went to rice said i should take the two spanish ones and the lit one. because i know i will get very high scores on all of those… do you think that won’t look good since my native language is spanish?! my teacher said no because that way I can prove that I am completely fluent in spanish and stuff, but i just want a second opinion. thanks!</p>
<p>Hi BarnardCo12! (and anyone else who can answer my questions honestly) </p>
<p>I’ve been going back and forth on where I will apply early this fall, but I think that I’ve come to the conclusion that Barnard is the school for me! </p>
<p>I just have a couple of questions: </p>
<p>1) I have attended a Christian school for all four years of high school; it’s definitely affected my views and the main reason I’ve been hesitant about applying ED to Barnard is concern that I won’t find a group of people that share the same faith as I do. I’m NOT, homophobic or against feminism in any way, just inexperienced. Would that overwhelm me?
2) What sort of Christian clubs/fellowship are available?<br>
3) Are Barnard students allowed to get involved with extracurriculars at Columbia? (I’ve read yes, but just to make sure…)
4) This would probably be a very cliche question, but sort of interaction is there with guys? I’m not set for finding a relationship in college, but I do treasure my guy friends quite a lot. 
I’ve read a lot of different perspectives on this…what is yours?
5) Also read many different things about FA; Barnard’s website says it’s need-blind and that they meet financial need…would this apply to ED as well?
6) - I have a weighted GPA of 3.8 (only with one AP in my junior year, however, our school limits the number of APs you can take each year, currently taking two)<br>
- SAT: 2150
- SAT IIs are both over 700 (USH and Lit)
- Outstanding extracurriculars; hold leadership positions in almost all my clubs and founded a benefit run that goes towards brain cancer
- excellent recs
- essays are in progress but I am happy with them </p>
<p>I’m not asking to see if you think I’ll get in or not…just if Barnard would be a super far reach for me or not ): </p>
<p>That was extremely long, but I would SERIOUSLY appreciate the help, I live in Asia and am obviously unable to visit Barnard itself ): (I am an American citizen if that helps, however!) </p>
<p>I don’t mind blunt answers Thank you again so much</p>
<p>I can answer/give you my perspective as the mother of a recent Barnard graduate on some of these issues:</p>
<p>1.& 2: My daughter is a Christian, though she did not attend a Christian HS. She had no trouble making friends on campus (boys, girls, all faiths). Just don’t limit yourself! There are Christian groups on campus and there are quite a few churches that you can attend locally. Don’t get me wrong: you WILL not be in the majority. But your horizons will be extended and, IMO, that is a wonderful thing!!! One of my d’s first year roommates was an Orthodox Jew and my daughter LOVED living with her and learning so much about her faith and practices.
If you want to REALLY get excited, pay a visit some time to the Brooklyn Tabernacle (about an hour’s subway ride) on a Sunday afternoon to hear their choir. They are AMAZING!!! And the service is guaranteed to move you. :)</p>
<p>3: Barnard students are an integral part of campus organizations. If you look around the various websites and at the Columbia Spectator online (the campus daily newspaper), you will notice that Barnard students quite often hold leadership positions in the various groups. They also participate on Columbia sports teams. </p>
<p>4: you will meet a few guys in classes and a lot of guys by being involved in campus groups (see #3 above);</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If finances are a concern for you and your family DO NOT APPLY ED!!! Barnard IS indeed need-blind and “guarantees to meet demonstrated need” (and that does apply to ED) but you must understand that what THEY think your “need” is may not equal what you and your parents think you can reasonably afford. And they will definitely “meet your need” with loans in addition to any grants you might receive. And being a US citizen is very significant since I do not believe they offer any financial aid AT ALL to those who are not US Citizens. </p></li>
<li><p>I think you sound like a potential great “fit” for Barnard. Just not for an ED application because of financial aid issues. If you are accepted ED, you will have no other “offers” to which you can compare what Barnard puts out there. PLUS, what they will tell you about initially is only an estimate and may change once all your parents’ tax info and such is received. If you wait and apply RD, then you will have other options and you can make comparisons and decide accordingly.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>There is a lot of discussion on this board (Barnard’s) about ED and financial aid. You might want to do a search and get some more input.</p>
<p>Best to you!</p>
<p>My 2 cents:</p>
<p>1) …the main reason I’ve been hesitant about applying ED…</p>
<p>I can’t answer your religious/social concern – but if you are “hesitant” about applying ED, please don’t. Apply RD, apply to at least half a dozen colleges that seem like they might be good for you – and decide in the spring where to attend based on the choices before you. I think you might want to include at least one college with a compatible religious affiliation in that mix - I don’t mean a bible college, but at least one school where you wouldn’t feel you have to ask the question about whether you will find others who share your faith. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to suggest that you would run into problems with Barnard – just that as it is an area of concern to you, I’d suggest that you “round out” your college list with some colleges that seem like good fits in that area. In the spring you will be able to draw up a list of pros and cons from the colleges which have accepted you, and you may find yourself somewhat surprised at what ultimately becomes the deciding factor for you. (I can’t tell you what that will be – but your gut and heart may end up telling you something different than your head, once all the results are in.)</p>
<p>If in fact you have a deep religious faith, then know this: you will get into the colleges you are meant to attend, so you really don’t have to worry about “chances”. If you don’t get into Barnard, then it means simply that God has other plans for you. (We’re Jewish, but I believe the statement above, and there’s certainly a lot less stress in the whole college admissions process if you can have faith in at least that much.)</p>
<p>2) Can’t help with that – I would suggest that you look at this list and try to email someone affiliated with one of the organizations that seems to be the best match for you. [Clubs</a> & Organizations | Columbia University Office of Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/university/campus/clubs.php#religious]Clubs”>http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/university/campus/clubs.php#religious) – some of the organizations have web sites that should also give you a sense of how active they are… </p>
<p>3) Are Barnard students allowed to get involved with extracurriculars at Columbia? (I’ve read yes, but just to make sure…) </p>
<p>Absolutely yes. Almost every association draws membership jointly from both campuses. I think the only exceptions would be the male-only fraternities at Columbia (there is at least one co-ed frat, though, open to Barnard women) — and respective student government positions. </p>
<p>4) This would probably be a very cliche question, but sort of interaction is there with guys? I’m not set for finding a relationship in college, but I do treasure my guy friends quite a lot. </p>
<p>My daughter’s closest friends her first year at Barnard were guys. She met them pretty much the way you would meet people anywhere – some were friends of Barnard women from high school, some were guys in the classes she took at Columbia, some were in clubs or other activities she participated in. </p>
<p>5) Also read many different things about FA; Barnard’s website says it’s need-blind and that they meet financial need…would this apply to ED as well? </p>
<p>You should NOT apply ED if you need financial aid – so with question #1 that is now 2 good reasons why you should not apply ED. </p>
<p>Barnard, like other colleges, meets financial need as THEY define it, not as YOU or your parents define it. They do require loans. Unless your parents’ financial situation is very simple and very typical, it is hard to predict how they will define your need. So you could easily have a $10K or $20K gap between what YOU (and your parents) think you need and what Barnard expects you to pay. </p>
<p>6) - I’m not asking to see if you think I’ll get in or not…just if Barnard would be a super far reach for me or not ): </p>
<p>You have good fit stats for Barnard. By that I mean that Barnard is a good target school for you. I don’t do “chances” but I certainly see no reason for you not to apply… just opt for RD. Please. I hate to see smart, promising young women cut off their options because of the inexplicable allure of ED. (I assume it comes from the false belief that it will somehow increase their “chances” — but see my answer to #1 above. )</p>
<p>Thank you, calmom & churchmusicmom for your quick replies regarding my whole Smith vs. Barnard choice! :)</p>
<p>But the thing is… while I would love to apply to both RD to wait it out and weigh one against the other (as you both suggested), the higher acceptance rates for ED are what really entice me since I understand that the selection process is really competitive (as it is in any good liberal arts school, really, I suppose). </p>
<p>And yes, I am interested in saving my family money in terms of FA, but I also want to make sure that I get in! 
Sadly, I fear rejection as much as the next eager, college-bound teenager, and I’m not really clear on where I stand in terms of the credentials of the other applicants. I’ve taken honor courses all my life, and I’m currently taking all AP classes for senior yr, but I feel like my extracurriculars are a bit lacking.</p>
<p>Plus, I was looking online at Naviance scattergrams and their respective standards for GPA/SAT scores; while I am above Smith’s standards, I am just below Barnard’s standards, so I’m really worried about whether that would cost me even more if I applied RD (and thus result in rejection)…</p>
<p>In this light, would applying ED/RD make a huge difference in terms of acceptance? I want to make sure I get in, first and foremost (of course, I know that nothing is definite, but a sense of some assurance would be nice for my nerves).
But thanks for all your help thus far! Really do appreciate it :)</p>
<p>starflavored, I truly do understand what you are saying. But here is what I think you must consider and discuss with your parents:</p>
<p>To me the worst case scenario is your being admitted to Barnard ED and your parents having to tell you that they just cannot afford to send you there. That is just an awful position to put yourself, and them, in. </p>
<p>You need to have a long talk with them and consider all the possibilities out there. And you need to understand that there is no way for us to know what kind of FA Barnard will offer you. And really, even if you go online and fill out the various Financial Aid calculators that are available, you will only have an estimate that could be off by tens of thousands per year. Literally enough to purchase a small house. </p>
<p>And, of course, there is no way for us to assess your real “chance” of admission, either ED or RD. In my opinion, this is only a decision you and your parents can make. IF they can assure you that they will make the financial part of the equation work no matter what, and they agree, then it sounds like ED might be something for you to take advantage of. But that is a pretty big “IF”. </p>
<p>Sorry, sweetie. I KNOW this is hard. Hang in there, though. Best to you and to your parents in making this decision.</p>
<p>
</p>
<ol>
<li> If you are below Barnard’s standards, you probably won’t get in ED. ED is NOT a time in which colleges open their doors to unhooked, below-par applicants. If they see stats or a GPA that seems weak by comparison to other apps, they will either reject or defer.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>The whole point of ED is to give a college the opportunity to lock in the applicants it wants – those who are strong, or who have hooks such as recruited athletes. It’s also a time when legacy status might be given a little more weight. </p>
<p>There is no benefit to any colleges to let weaker applicants tie up spots that could later be given to stronger applicants. I don’t understand why anyone would think that ED is some sort of process by which colleges offer some sort of leg up to applicants it would reject in the RD round. What could possibly be in it for the college?</p>
<ol>
<li> If you are concerned about costs and think your stats are strong for Smith, you are likely to get a better financial aid package at Smith than at Barnard. While the two schools have roughly similar financial aid policies, Smith does offer merit aid to some applicants – and may be more likely to package aid in a way that favors its stronger applicants. </li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>Based on what you say about your stats, you are likely to get accepted to Smith whenever you apply, but even more likely to get accepted ED. Barnard is uncertain in any case. If you feel that your GPA is below norm for Barnard, but if you also are doing well during your fall semester of your high school senior year, if you apply ED you would give up the possible benefit of a strong showing with your midyear transcript, so you could possibly hurt your chances by applying RD (if they chose to reject your outright rather than defer admission to the spring). The best thing you could do to increase chances for admission at Barnard is to use the added time for an RD application to strengthen whatever areas are weak for you. (My daughter had some fall semester EC’s that I think probably looked impressive on her college apps – so its never too late to bolster things in that area as well). </p>
<p>I have to repeat what I posted above: I hate to see smart, promising young women cut off their options because of the inexplicable allure of ED.</p>
<p>“…the inexplicable allure of ED.”</p>
<p>The allure is hardly inexplicable, the publsihed admit rates in ED tend to be much higher at many schools.</p>
<p>In my son’s HS last year 70% of ED applicants were admitted to their ED college.
We were told point-blank by a Vassar adcom that ED applicants had a better chance of admission, though the test scores may look similar as an aggregate, the bar regarding the holistic aspects was raised notably lower, he said.</p>
<p>It is inexplicable to you because you do not acknowledge that this factual and obvious admit % differential has substance to it, and attribute it all to legacies and athletes. Presumably. IMO that is some of it but by no means all.</p>
<p>I would agree that if comparative financial aid dollars will drive a decision then one is not in a financial position to avail themselves of this potentially substantial admissions advantage. It might then make one feel better about it if they decided no such advantage even exists, even for those who are not financially bound and hence, unlike the denier, actually can take advantage of it. It’s not impossible that there isn’t much difference for unhooked applicants, however the data I’ve seen plus the stuff like my paragraph #3 above leads me to conclude otherwise. </p>
<p>Some times, when observed %s are higher,consider that perhaps they are actually higher. YMMV.</p>
<p>There are no “options cut off” by appling ED, providing one has done all their homework suitably in advance in anticipation of this. Except for the option to compare FA awards. All research, visits, etc, just have to be done sooner so as to accommodate this accelerated time schedule.
If money will not be a deal breaker for you, and you have done all the necessary legwork in time to confidently make such decision, there is good reason to consider going the ED route. IMO.</p>
<p><a href=“Early-Decision Programs May Lift Odds of College Admission - The New York Times”>Early-Decision Programs May Lift Odds of College Admission - The New York Times;
<p>
</p>
<p>No, it’s inexplicable to me because I’m not lulled into drawing false conclusions from statistics. I’m looking at raw numbers in addition to percentages, and I’m not making the mathematical error of confusing a percentage with a probability. </p>
<p>If there are 100 applicants to a college, and 10 apply ED, 90 RD – and there is a 50% admit rate for ED, 30% admit for RD, then it would mean that 5 students would be admitted ED, and 30 students would be admitted RD. 30 is a lot more than 5. That example approximates the real numbers for Barnard, where the ED pool is roughly 10% the size of the overall pool. </p>
<p>There is no evidence whatsoever that the bar is set lower for admission for ED – and again it makes no sense. Why would a college deliberately weaken its entering class – and it’s reportable statistics – by making concessions as to GPA and test score for students that will make up a disproportionate number (close to half) of their entering class? (For those who are math challenged – the ED students will enroll at a rate of almost 100%, whereas somewhat more than a third of the admitted RD students will enroll – so even though many more students are admitted RD, most of those won’t actually attend. Since test scores are reported on the common data set and to US News for enrolled students only, the median score range for the ED group is significant – if a school is concerned about ranking, it is in their interest put much more importance on test scores for the ED group than the RD group, given that the highest scorers in the RD group are also in most cases the least likely to attend.)</p>
<p>You may be right that holistic issues are less important for ED – so a student with strong stats for a school but weak EC’s might do a lot better in ED – but I addressed my comments to a student who said that her stats were slightly below the typical reported stats for Barnard students.</p>
<p>I’m looking at things from the view point of the people running the college. ALL admissions decisions are done to serve the agenda of the COLLEGE in shaping the type of class it wants. There are many benefits to the college for ED, but tying up spaces with weaker-than-typical applicants who need financial aid and have no particular hook is not one of them. They know from experience what sort of students they will be seeing in the spring – the best they are going to do in the ED round for a weaker-than-typical student is defer. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Percentages are totally irrelevant when you don’t know the raw numbers – and statistics can be interpreted (or misinterpreted) a number of ways. For example, the most recent common data set for Barnard (2008-2009) shows 187 student admitted ED out of a total of 1218 RD admits. That means, roughly 85% of all Barnard admitted students are RD admits.</p>
<p>If you look the overall admit rate that year - 1218 students admitted out of 4274 applicants, or 28.5% – and apply that against the total size of the ED pool for that year, 392 – then the overall admit rate would predict admission of 112 students. Since in fact there were 187 students admitted ED, you have a raw differential of 75 students who you are assuming were admitted ED who would not have gotten in RD, or 6% of the total number of admitted students. </p>
<p>Percentages actually tell you very little about statistical probability, especially as it is likely that the number of ED admits is probably fixed by academic policy, so as the ED pool grows, the percentage of admits is likely to shrink. That is, if the Barnard ad com decides that for 2011 they will accept 190 students ED, then the previous admit rate of 47.7% would be preserved with 398 applicants. If there are fewer ED applicants, the admit rate goes up; if there are more ED applicants, the admit rate goes down. So, rather than increasing their individual chances of admission, students who increase the size of the ED pool (students #399+) actually fill the role of bringing down the percentage rate and decreasing the overall chances of everyone in the ED pool. Which is why, of course, that ED applicant is much better off if she has stats in the top half of the ED pool than bottom half stats. </p>
<p>That’s why I say its a total fallacy for some student who sees her stats as being bottom half to think she can increase chances by applying ED – she’s forgetting that more than half of ED applicants are either rejected or deferred — and if her stats are weak, then she’s rounding out the bottom half of the ED pool, not the top half. </p>
<p>That doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s got a better chance in the RD pool – but at least in the RD round, another factor comes into play – which is that the college has to consider yield. Yield considerations mean that very strong applicants are likely to be cross-admitted to schools that are more prestigious or can offer better financial aid than Barnard, which is why it becomes more important for the ad com in the RD round to look beyond the numbers at the holistic factors, in part because they provide a strong clue as to the likelihood of attendance. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The options that are cut off are the options to consider any number of other colleges. A lot changes between spring and fall of senior year, and students learn a lot about themselves and about the other colleges they are applying to during the interim. Often students may hear back from other colleges about special programs that they were unaware of that change their view of the college. A “safety” may start to look a lot more like a top choice when more information is known.</p>
<p>We have a student who is undecided between Smith & Barnard. If she applies and is accepted to either school ED, she forever loses the option to consider the other school. ED means she is potentially giving up 5 months of investigation and consideration time – the option that is cut off is the ability to make a fully informed and well-considered decision. What’s the value in being tied down to one school, if her actual preference if admitted to both would have ended up being the other? </p>
<p>Would you urge someone to make other decisions in their life the same way? Should a young woman take the first job out of college she is offered, rather than applying to several and considering options? Should she marry the first guy that comes along? </p>
<p>The problem with ED is that the applicant forfeits control early on in the admission process. The ED applicant gives up freedom of choice without any particular promise of admission-- only a vague hope that somehow their “chances” are better – but they’ve put the choice entirely in the hands of the other party, the college.</p>
<p>The NY times article you linked to is simply another example of the same fallacious reasoning. It argues that 3 out of 4 ED applicants were accepted… and then falsely extrapolates that figure to individual likelihood of admission-- when for all we know every one of those applicants would have been accepted to the same colleges anyway. </p>
<p>Moreover, the overall rate of college admission is probably significantly higher than 75%. That is, at any given high school, probably 90% or above of students applying to college get accepted to one or more of the colleges that they apply to, whether or not they get accepted to their top choices. My daughter, for example, applied to 12 colleges and was admitted to 9. Thus, not only was she admitted to 9 times as many colleges as any student who was admitted to any college as an ED applicant … but she’s got an equivalent 75% admit rate – she got into 75% of all colleges she applied to. As she could only attend 1, that means she had 8 excess admissions that she had to discard. </p>
<p>If college admissions could be represented by cards, then it would mean that 25% of ED applicants are left without any card (since only 75% of those applicants actually got in – and since we know that the top schools have acceptance rates of much lower than 75%, that ED percentage must include a lot of students who applied ED to schools with more lenient admission policies) – whereas the RD applicants have full hands of cards. Now of course, that analogy fails because the ED rejects go on to apply to other colleges … but the bottom line is that if the question was framed a different way to high school guidance counselors: “how many colleges on average did each applicant get accepted to” – then the RD applicants would come out way ahead.</p>
<p>“how many colleges on average did each applicant get accepted to”
is a completely pointless question, except to trophy hunters or people who need to compare FA awards…</p>
<p>Did you get accepted to the single one college you most wanted to get accepted to?"
is a much better question, and data and words of adcoms and guidance counselors all suggest this is more somewhat likely to be answered in the affirmative via ED. </p>
<p>THAT is the “inexplicable allure” of ED.
In addition to hopefully getting it all over with sooner.</p>
<p>I don’t like to tangle with the brilliant and genial Calmon or Churchmusicmom but monydad has given me reason to say I am firmly convinced that my D’s ED application is the reason she was at Barnard, where she desperately wanted to be.</p>
<p>We live on Long Island so Barnard is flooded with local applicants. Maybe a special case.</p>
<p>As for FA, yes we needed it. I believed the Barnard adcom person who assured us the money would be the same as RD and that we could back out if need be. We had already applied to state school and another EA school as back-ups. We did not require the best offer, just a workable offer.</p>
<p>As things turned out my girl was deferred, but the ED application provided a platform to submit a host of new materials.</p>
<p>As for FA, out of 10 schools Barnard’s offer was the second best, and the RD offer was slightly lower than the ED offer had been (we didn’t receive it, but we saw the worksheet at FA.) I guess something changed in our profile.</p>
<p>I am delighted we pursued the strategy that we did, even if others consider it risky. DD was willing to take the risks entailed. She desperately wanted to attend Barnard, and she wanted her application to reflect that.</p>
<p>ONTH – DS was sick of his ED school after his deferral and was thrilled to get an acceptance RD from a tippy top reach for all school.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Most students do not have a “single one college” they most wanted to get accepted to. A student who posts that she is “torn” between Smith & Barnard, first she really likes Smith, but now she is thinking she might like Barnard better – and she can’t figure out which one to lock into with an ED application is not a student who has a “single one college”. She is a student who is undecided, and is risking making an irrevocable, mistaken decision early on. (You could substitute any other pair or set of colleges – there’s another poster who is is wavering between U of Iowa and Barnard… which are two extremely different colleges – that is someone who very definitely would be better off diversifying the college search, given the range she is considering. )</p>
<p>
Actually, I seriously doubt that the GC’s know which students have a true first choice, and which students are strategically using ED under the theory that any of a number of choices are fine, but they want to increase their “chances”. GC’s might also make mistaken assumptions about their RD student’s top choices. For example, the only college that outright rejected my daughter was Brown – and because it is an Ivy, anyone looking at my daughter’s application list might mistakenly have assumed it was her top choice – but Brown was never any better than 4th place among her preferences. I think a lot of students probably throw in one Ivy or high prestige school mostly out of curiosity to see if they could get in, when their real focus is on schools that are more realistic matches for them. </p>
<p>I will note that ED makes the GC’s job a whole lot easier, which is one reason why they are a very biased group to ask. Definitely reduces their winter and spring workload to shunt kids off to ED, especially if they can manage to steer the ED applicants to schools that are likely to accept them anyway.</p>
<p>Believe what you will…
Sure, it’s all a big conspiracy theory of people lying due to self-interest,the statistics lie,
GCs don’t know the priorities of where their charges are applying to colleges (!!) , etc.</p>
<p>But even if all that is true, clearly you must be able to recognize that many people are not clued into the massive conspiracy of misinfiormation like you are, and hence will be duped by the statements of these experts and the published statistics. Hence, many, many people, falling for this elaborate network of misinformation, will be “misled” into believing that ED offers some potential advantage.</p>
<p>So the allure of ED should hardly be “inexplicable” to you. I would have thought.</p>
<p>Monydad,</p>
<p>I don’t know why you are so freaked out. </p>
<p>I’m not talking about any conspiracies. I am assuming that in any transaction, the other party is acting in their rational self-interest.</p>
<p>It is not in the rational, self-interest of a college to select weaker-than-typical, unhooked applicants during the ED process. It IS rational for them to use ED to select the top applicants, coupled with applicants who are hooked or who fill some sort of other institutional agenda or need. </p>
<p>The key to selective college admissions, whether in the RD or the ED round, is for the applicant to be able to see things through the eyes of the ad com, and answer the question, “why should we admit this particular student over all our other applicants?” in the application. The institutional priorities shift somewhat between fall and spring, but other than that the process is pretty much the same. Hooked applicants probably have a bigger advantage ED, especially if they are academically weak – their hook is more attractive if it comes with a guarantee they will attend.</p>
<p>Unhooked applicants who are academically weak are probably better off RD, if they can utilize their fall semester to build their credentials. They want a rigorous course load and a very strong midyear transcript, to start. </p>
<p>An exception might be candidate who knows that the midyear grade report won’t be impressive – for example, the student with a strong academic record from junior year who is running into some problems her senior year, and knows that the midyear transcript is going to be weaker – might deliberately opt to apply ED to get a decision banked before the college sees the fall semester grades. But that student still has to make the cut ED – and Barnard (just like any other college) is still going to select from the top of its ED applicant pool, not the bottom.</p>
<p>One virtue of ED for the college is having a group of students who are enthusiastic about the school and won’t be part of “summer melt”.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why one would conclude that most ED appliers don’t have a decided first choice and are just trying to game the odds. This is certainly true for some students, but there are many who do have a clear first choice and apply ED to express that.</p>
<p>For the sake of argument, let’s say a student is deferred, as my D was. Her ED application told Barnard that if accepted, she was most likely to attend, thus bursting its yield results. We can’t know how much of a factor this played in the adcom’s deliberations, but I don’t think it was negligible. For the record, my D’s stats were very competitive for Barnard, she was just part of an over-represented demographic: Long Island Jewish girl with Humanities interests.</p>
<p>Do Barnard students of different socioeconomic classes/religious backgrounds/interests intermingle? If I went to Barnard, I would have to be on generous financial aid, because my family doesn’t have enough money to pay for full tuition. I know that a good portion of students come from New York/the upper east side, and I don’t know how comfortable I would be with my own finanical situation with so much surrounding wealth. I’m also Catholic, and from a Catholic family, but I’m very interested in other faiths (potential major in religion) and I want to go to a school where background doesn’t play a factor in how well people get along. I know that at any school there’s going to be division among classes and beliefs, just because some people just act that way, but is there more than what is expected? Essentially, would it be likely that I make friends outside of my own homogeneous group? Is there diversity?</p>
<p>I’m also really interested in community service. Does Barnard have a community service program run through the school, or would efforts have to be self-initiated? Are there overseas projects that students can participate in during breaks? I’ve looked on the website, and I can’t seem to find any ‘official’ program that elicits this, but I could be looking in the wrong place. Are students interested in community service? Do they use the location of New York City to an advantage and find service opportunities? Or is service not as highly emphasized at Barnard as it is at other schools?</p>
<p>And finally, do things happen on campus as well as in the city? I’ve heard many people say that social life basically revolves around the city. Does this affect the community or traditions? Would someone from a more rural/open area of the country (such as myself) have ‘less-than-big-city’ things to do on weekends? Does the small campus affect how much people do things on campus or plan events? I’m also looking into Smith, and I’ve heard that it’s a very residential school, and many events happen on campus and people stay there on the weekends for entertainment. Obviously being in an amazing city has it’s advantages (one of the reasons why I’m looking into Barnard!), but I want to know if I could still get the more secluded, close-knit feel with so much going on off campus.</p>
<p>My D’s suite had young women from all walks of life and they all got along. Only two of eight were prep school girls. DD was on FA and so was her roommate. She was from rural GA. There were no NYC girls. Two were from Texas.</p>