Barnard Class of 2025! What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Barnard College
1

Barnard is my top school, but I am afraid I am not doing enough.

Objective:
SAT: not taken yet (PSAT 1180)
ACT: not taken yet (multiple practice tests- 28-31)
Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Weighted GPA: 4.2037
Class rank: 20/313
Intended major: political science
Relevant Classwork: Mainly honors (except Criminal Justice, Theatre, and Digital Arts), 5 AP classes by end of senior year (Psychology, US History, Macroeconomics, Literature, Statistics, and maybe Spanish)
Senior Year classes: AP Macroeconomics, Literature, Statistics, and maybe Spanish, Sociology, Telecommunications (Criminal Justice 4), PAC Leader (kinda like you are a school administrator)

Extracurriculars:

  • Criminal Justice Competition Team- scored top 5 in regionals for extemporaneous speaking (5th place), evidence packaging (5th place) group investigation (4th place), criminal law test (3rd place),
  • Mock Trial/Criminal Justice Club member
  • Interact Club member (Volunteer service- around 30 hours with them)
  • Morning help with Criminal Justice teacher (volunteer, as well)
  • Over 100 community service hours by senior year
  • Online clothing resale company (my mom and I buy clothes and resell them)
  • Drama Club since sixth grade

Awards/Summer Programs:

  • Telecommunications Certificate (9-11 dispatch in the state of Florida) by end of senior year
  • Honor Roll all four years (never got below a B-)
  • FBI’s Future Agents in Training for 3 days (slightly competitive summer program- 35% acceptance rate- that discussed different fields in the FBI)
    -hope to study abroad this summer in Peru to increase my Spanish skills (I am Hispanic)

Background:

  • Ethnicity: Black, Puerto Rican
  • From Connecticut, currently live in Florida
  • Lower Middle Class
  • School: Public
  • Will need financial aid
  • First-gen to get a bachelors
2

You’ve cultivated a strong criminal justice spike, which will help - Barnard likes to see that you are committed to and passionate about your interests. You also have some unique honors that could set you apart from the pack.

GPA/rank is pretty good - according to their CDS, 84% of admitted students are in the top 10% of their graduating class, so I would make sure that you continue to take rigorous classes and keep grades where they are, because that’s an advantage.

Your ECs are a bit lacking in that you don’t have much leadership as far as I can tell. Your SAT is also somewhat low. Again referencing the CDS, the interquartile range of admitted student SAT scores was 1330 - 1500 last year. Depending on what your final SAT/ACT score ends up being, you might want to look into BOP, which is a program for students with lower test scores but higher GPA.

Also, be sure to write good essays - they weigh them more heavily than ECs or test scores.

3

hey i got into barnard this year! my sat was pretty low but i got in through heop. it’s an opportunity program for low income families, def check it out!

4

try to keep an upward trend in your academics. but, i’d say the most important thing is to find an extracurricular/outside activity that you are really passionate about and dedicate time and energy toward it. it sounds like you have some unique stuff going on, like with the reselling business. keep building on what you already are doing, don’t try to load up on meaningless extracurriculars. i think you’re on a great track! don’t stress too much about this. you can only do so much. enjoy your time in high school while you can!!