<p>Hi guys,
I’m trying to narrow down my choice on where to apply ED and I think it’s between Barnard and Wesleyan. I thought Wes was my first choice for a while and i really love the student body, liberal arts curriculum, exciting campus, all of that. My main fears however are that the student body is too liberal/activist. I consider myself liberal, but I don’t want to be constantly discussing/complaining about politics. Also Middleton kinda sucks and while I know that there is a lot to do on campus at Wes, Middletown cannot compare at all to NYC. Additionally I have met some students at Barnard and they have all been so nice and welcoming but I don’t really know anyone at Wes so I’m not sure if Wes will be as nice and friendly of a community. I love the sense of community within a big city and connections to Columbia that Barnard has. Also the academics seem very strong at Barnard and Wes. Additionally NYC is my favorite city and I would love to be able to live there for four years while getting a liberal arts education. My fear with Barnard however is that I have gone to an all girls school my whole life and I take classes at the boys school and have some interaction with boys obviously, I feel like my college experience should be coed and I am afraid that I will have to go out of my way to experience college with boys at Barnard. Also, I know this is a hard question to answer because they are so different, but how does the social life compare? I love music/concerts and parties and all that. I consider myself a very social and fun loving person so where would be the better fit? Also, what school would have better job and internship opportunities? I assume it would be Barnard but Wes definitely has some notable alumnae. </p>
<p>I am largely undecided in what I want to study in college, but I have developed an interest in Urban Studies. I am also interested in History and English and just the humanities in general. Some other colleges I am looking at are Tufts, Vassar, Emory, Oberlin, Carleton, Tulane, USC, Berkley, Kenyon. Weird list I know but I think I narrowed it down to Wes and Barnard but I am still open to some second opinions about these other schools! Thanks so much!</p>
<p>Because I still have plenty of time to decide and I would rather know where I’m going in December as opposed to April. Also both of these schools accept a large majority of their class ED so it would be much to my advantage. That wasn’t the question I asked though thanks…</p>
<p>Neither school “accepts a large majority of its students ED”.</p>
<p>Both accept less than 20% of their students ED. </p>
<p>The ED students end up filling a larger percentage of the incoming classes, because the ED yield is close to 100% whereas the RD yield is less for each college, but still well under a majority. </p>
<p>For example, among the students who entered Barnard last fall, 240 out of 612 matriculants had been admitted ED (39% of the class, assuming all ED admitted students actually enrolled).</p>
<p>Barnard had admitted a total of 1282 students, so among the total spots it offered, less than 19% were ED applicants. </p>
<p>I’d also note that Barnard rejects or defers a majority of its ED applicants, so the odds are that applying ED won’t serve your goal of knowing where you are heading in December.</p>
<p>Ok thanks for the stats but I really just want to know which school would be better for me so anyone else want to address what I previously stated and provide something helpful?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I know you want the early security of “knowing” where you will go next year in December, but with all the choices you are considering, ED does NOT seem to me to be a good option for you. Try to be patient and give yourself the largest number of options when acceptances come out in the spring. And in the meantime, you can hopefully visit some of these wonderful schools you have listed (if you have not already done so) and maybe some will appeal to you over the others;</p></li>
<li><p>meeting and going to class with boys at Barnard will not be a problem. They will be in many, if not most, of your classes and they will be in campus clubs and such. </p></li>
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<p>I have visited both schools multiple times and i may or may not apply early to either but this post was mostly just supposed to help me decide between these two schools. I really like both and know I can’t go wrong or whatever, but with my specific interests which one would be the better ‘fit’ for me?? I’d like to hear from students or alumnae from these schools</p>
<p>I’m having the same problem deciding where to apply ED, but I’m stuck between Barnard and UPenn. Both of the schools I would consider “reaches”, so that’s my reason for being determined to apply to one of them ED, so it would increase my chance of admission as opposed to applying RD. So what I would do is make a list of pros and cons for each school, and then compare them. Try to envision yourself living at each college for the next four years of your life. That might help you decide. But, if you’re still stuck I would definitely suggest just applying to both regular decision.</p>
<p>Yes both of these schools are reaches for me as well so applying ED would give me a slight advantage. I really like both schools and I just need some outside opinions from other people</p>
<p>I went to a college seminar with my wife two years ago or so when my daughter was considering her college choices (she is a Barnard freshman). The speaker was a college admissions officer from Colby College with about 30 years of experience. He told the crowd that the best policy for considering ED is if you MUST go to that school. He stressed MUST in that you CANNOT envision yourself anywhere else than that ED school. His advice continued with if you do not find yourself in the MUST category, don’t do it because you may find yourself disappointed when you get there. He stressed that you should not ED if you just want security because there is a school out there for everyone. Sounded like good advice from someone who should know. </p>
<p>He did say though that if you were in the MUST GO THERE category, you should ED because you do have a greater chance of getting in (he cited that Colby got about 50% of their class ED, Barnard may be less) and that, more importantly, that there may be categories that are filled in ED that would keep you out regular decision. By categories he meant something like men from Maine who could pay or caucasian women on financial aid, etc. He said in the talk that if a specific category was filled from ED then all other applicants in that same category would not be invited. At least at Barnard there are no “men” categories!</p>
<p>I think the “category” that is most important for colleges to fill during the ED round is “full pay”. While they purport to be need blind, they can generally tell likely economic status based on other info – so it’s pretty easy to prioritize those factors that tend to equate with ability to pay. </p>
<p>I’d note that Barnard’s biggest problem in recent years has been underestimating its yield and ending up with too man students coming in. They are having difficulty these days finding housing for everyone. This year they converted a lot of larger singles in one of the off-campus dorm to doubles with very late notice to students – which must have been quite a shock to the students who had snagged those rooms during the room selection process and then found out at the last minute that they would be getting roommates to be assigned by the housing office. </p>
<p>So Barnard really doesn’t have to worry too much about hanging on to RD applicants. </p>
<p>ED always does favor “hooked” applicants as well – such as recruited athletes. </p>
<p>I guess the bottom line is that any applicant needs to be thinking in terms of what the student offers the college. ED is not and never has been a process by which the college lowers its standards and gives weak applicants a leg up. Rather, it’s a way that the college can hang onto applicants with particular strengths, bearing in mind that the “strength” is very likely something other than academics. </p>
<p>Colleges do have a quota that they are trying to achieve with ED, and the ED pool is by definition much smaller, so around the margins some applicants will be admitted ED who would’t make the cut in the RD round. But I think that applicants really don’t understand the process when they look at raw percentages, precisely because they are not accounting for the number of ED slots that are going to students who are selected based on their ability to fulfill an institutional need.</p>
<p>I think the problem with your question is that the only person who can answer it is YOU.</p>
<p>I can tell you that you won’t have to go out of your way to meet boys at Barnard. They’re everywhere. </p>
<p>As for the social scene, it’s up to you. I have absolutely no idea what social life is like at Wesleyan, because I didn’t go there. There are parties at Barnard/Columbia, there are people who like going out into the city for fun, and there are people who prefer to stay home and watch movies or chat with friends. I imagine Wes is similar.</p>
<p>Barnard might give you more internship OPTIONS, simply because New York is big and full of internships, but again, it’s up to you to pursue them. And having famous alumni probably shouldn’t factor into your decision. (I was home recently and my mother mentioned how much she dislikes Martha Stewart. “She went to Barnard!” I said defensively. “She also went to jail,” my mother replied.)</p>
<p>I applied ED to Barnard because I KNEW I HAD to go there. I knew that if I was accepted into every school in the United States, I would choose Barnard 100% of the time, without a second thought. If I hadn’t felt that strongly, I wouldn’t have applied anywhere ED. College is a big decision, and you should be as sure as you possibly can.</p>
<p>CalMom - I didn’t get the impression from this one college admissions officer that need or ability to pay was a factor at all. His point was that if someone applys to Colby ED the school KNOWS that person wants or even must go to that school. It’s the commitment to the school that gives the prospective student (and school) the edge. Also, he was very clear (again, for this one school) that no matter ED or RD, you aren’t getting in if you don’t meet the criteria. He said that the ED pool was large enough (50% of the incoming class came from ED) that they didn’t need to offer admission to people who didn’t meet the academic standards of the school. It wasn’t enough that the person only wanted to go to Colby.</p>
<p>I think Barnard’s pedagogy is more “academic” and traditional and Wes’s is more innovative. My D preferred Barnard’s approach; you may feel differently. We were happy with the process of her ED application.</p>
<p>mschipa – what a college rep tells you about ED is called “marketing.” There is a gap between what they say and what goes on in the backroom of the admissions office.</p>
<p>The primary reason ED exists at any college is to protect their financial bottom line. </p>
<p>Since Wesleyen has been brought into this thread, I’d highly recommend that you read The Gatekeepers – it will give you something of a sense of what is going on behind the scenes.</p>
<p>My daughter also was deciding between Barnard, Wesleyan and Brown as her first choice. In the end she decided that Barnard was absolutely her first choice. Being in NYC was a huge draw, and she felt that she was sacrificing nothing in terms of the quality of the school. She was also drawn to the unique quality of Barnard, as being a small liberal arts school, with a flexible and interesting curriculum, inside of a large ivy league university with access to all of those resources. She applied ED and is now a very happy freshman. She has boys in all of her classes but one (first year english), and is participating in university activities. Also- regarding financial aid and the assumption that one can only apply ED if they are full paid: My daughter needed significant financial aid, and I was nervous about her applying ED- I researched intensely the FA process, and became confident that Barnard would honor their commitment to meet financial need if she were admitted. We did every calculation available to determine what Barnard would assess as our financial need, and we were comfortable with the range that we found. Barnard came in right on target to what we expected. I now have one happy Barnard freshman.</p>